A true Christian is someone who's life is completely dedicated to helping others while putting little to no attention on themselves. I do not know of one. I do know pseudo-Christians love to dish it out, but cannot take it. They are the first ones to judge others but do not want their lifestyle judged.
I am a purist. You follow it or you don't. I'm not a "well sure I can go to the Bahama's instead of giving my money and time to others" kind of person. I know I don't follow the teachings of Jesus. But at least I'm not kidding myself.
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I asked you the question so that I could see if I measure up. I do not. I know I do not and can not possibly measure up to your's or anyone else's idea of a true Christian. That is why I try to measure up to God's view of a Christian. That is all I can do. That is all He asks me to do. Am I going to quit and find another religion because His requests seem too difficult or because I fail at it? No.
Am I going to shop around for a religion that suits my lifestyle more or is easier? No.
There is no such thing as a true Christian. When I realized this fact is when I realized my total dependence on God. I try to be a true Christian but fail miserably and therefore, have to repent daily (or as Paul said, "I die daily").
You would make a good Christian, John, because you understand the impossiblity of being one.
Again, pseudo-Christians want to do what they want when they want to do it and disregard any of the truly "hard stuff." Mother Theresa would be my definition of a true Christian. Anything less than that doesn't cut it. Sorry.
Attention Arizona Christian insurance agents: in the spirit of charity I am asking for $100 from each of you. Oh yeah, and the coat off your back. And if you are really a true believer I also have a bottle of poison for you to drink that should cause no harm. Only true believers need apply. Thank you.
You "prove" what (who) is right by the Bible. "...and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." (Acts 17:11)
One of Satan's tools is to cause division in the church, and all too frequently he is successful, more so with the biblically illiterate. He accomplishes it by questioning God's Word "...Yea, hath God said...?" (Genesis 3:1) <-- note how early this began.
I will concur with an earlier post that "I don't know" the origin of the universe. I was raised a Christian, but I have many doubts about the viewpoints shared by many Christians..
The thing I find funny is that even openly self-proclaimed Christians don't understand their own religious texts (Bible). I hear Christians reference the Word of God in the scripture. The Bible never refers to itself.. if it does it uses the word scriptures.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (1 John 1:1). The "Word" is Jesus, the son of God, not the Bible. How could the Bible have ever referred to itself if the people writing the scriptures had no idea a book of several different scriptures was going to be compiled.
I am open to intelligent argument, but Christians not understanding their own text and then using that text to try to disprove others is silly. The other thing I don't understand is why Christians use Bible passages to try to disprove atheists? If atheists don't believe in God, than the Bible has no bearing on their thinking...
I usually steer clear of religious discussions but................
Atheists in foxholes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The statement "There are no [COLOR=#0000ff]atheists[/COLOR] in [COLOR=#0000ff]foxholes[/COLOR]" is used to imply that atheists really do believe in a [COLOR=#0000ff]god[/COLOR] deep down, and that in times of extreme stress or fear, such as when participating in warfare, the belief will surface, overwhelming the less substantial affectation of atheism...........
I will concur with an earlier post that "I don't know" the origin of the universe. I was raised a Christian, but I have many doubts about the viewpoints shared by many Christians..
The thing I find funny is that even openly self-proclaimed Christians don't understand their own religious texts (Bible). I hear Christians reference the Word of God in the scripture. The Bible never refers to itself.. if it does it uses the word scriptures.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (1 John 1:1). The "Word" is Jesus, the son of God, not the Bible. How could the Bible have ever referred to itself if the people writing the scriptures had no idea a book of several different scriptures was going to be compiled.
I am open to intelligent argument, but Christians not understanding their own text and then using that text to try to disprove others is silly. The other thing I don't understand is why Christians use Bible passages to try to disprove atheists? If atheists don't believe in God, than the Bible has no bearing on their thinking...
You are absolutely right...the early church did not have the bible as we know it, just the Old Testament which they called the scriptures.
But, I still think it is safe to call the bible the Word of God since as a Christian I believe that is exactly what it is. Man wrote and compiled the scriptures...but the end result I believe is the Word, authored by God.
However, the phrase "the word of God" is used 49 times in the OT (1 Sam 9:27, 1 Kings 12:22) and NT (Mark 7:13, Luke 8:21). When used it usually means the commandments or teachings of God. So, in essence, the bible actually does refer to itself as the word of God.
I love that verse John 1:1 (don't confuse it with 1st John). It clearly tells us that Jesus Christ was God manifest in the flesh...this of course is substantiated elsewhere in the bible as well.
You are absolutely right...the early church did not have the bible as we know it, just the Old Testament which they called the scriptures.
But, I still think it is safe to call the bible the Word of God since as a Christian I believe that is exactly what it is. Man wrote and compiled the scriptures...but the end result I believe is the Word, authored by God.
However, the phrase "the word of God" is used 49 times in the OT (1 Sam 9:27, 1 Kings 12:22) and NT (Mark 7:13, Luke 8:21). When used it usually means the commandments or teachings of God. So, in essence, the bible actually does refer to itself as the word of God.
I love that verse John 1:1 (don't confuse it with 1st John). It clearly tells us that Jesus Christ was God manifest in the flesh...this of course is substantiated elsewhere in the bible as well.
Excuse me.. the passage is John 1:1. There were so many books left out when the Bible was put together, I do not understand how anyone can put so much faith in a book and call it the word of God. There are so many times that God contradicts himself in this perfect book. Why would a God of mercy kill so many people so many times? Why would God, the almighty being require animals to be sacrificed to him? God is a jealous, angry god as depicted in the Bible... a dictator of sorts... that I suppose gets amusement out of tormenting humans and bending them to his will..
I honestly don't know if there is a God, but I cannot agree that the Bible is the end all. I believe if any self proclaimed Christians were born in another part of the world... say.. India, that they would be just as avid a Hindu. Or if born in the middle east, perhaps a devout Muslim. I think it is fairly egocentric to think that the God that Christians pray to is the correct God and everyone else is condemned to hell no matter how great a person they are just because they were born in the wrong part of the world. If there is a God, a god that evil as to send billions of people to burn in hell is not one I would want to spend eternity with!
Another politically incorrect topic that I find to be a huge Christian contradition is the aversion to homosexuality. I am married and straight, but the Bible clearly states that homosexuality is a sin. Most Christians agree with this, but most Christians also agree that God created all animals. There are over 300 documented species of animals that engage in homosexuality or bisexuality.. If God created these animals than he created homosexuality... but that can't be because the Bible is perfect and it says homosexuality is a sin? It's contradictions such as this that prove the Bible is an excellent literary work of man and should be treated as such. Not a perfect book essentially written by God.
To those members having the intelligent discussions on this thread....I have not the intelligence nor the education to debate any of you in the area's of Faith for God and Bible nor those of you without faith in God.
All I can say is that I would not mind the prospect of living forever in a glorified body alongside my loved ones who've passed on ahead of me into that place called Heaven outside description of even my wildest imagination.
So this is my mission statement and I am sticking to it till my last breath here on this earthly plane......Goes like this;
[COLOR=red]"I would rather live my life as if there is a God, and die to find out there isn't, than live my life as if there isn't, and die to find out there is"[/COLOR]
(The later would really suck).
As a Christian and a man I realize that I am not capable of of entering the Kingdom of Heaven on my own merits (ever). The only thing that saves me from going to hell is that I believe in what and why Jesus did what he did.
I fail every day to meet the Jesus performance target. And so every day I ask forgiveness that I may try again to be a better steward and soldier to my future King. I will never give up trying (ever).
Joshril: There really are good answers to those very legitimate questions but I sense that you, like John, are asking them rhetorically. Please correct me if I am wrong and I will answer them for you.
I think the "I try but fail" stuff is a load. We all know exactly what it takes to follow the teaching's of Jesus and the simple truth is it's just too hard and we'd have to give up too many of life's pleasures. You're not fooling Jesus with the "I try" bs. What did anyone do yesterday to benefit people less fortunate? Nothing. Do you know you're supposed to do things to benefit the less fortunate? Sure...but we don't wanna. Then you're gonna look to God and say "I'm trying!" I'd love for judgement day to come, you stand before God and he says "Ok, let's take a look at how hard you tried."
Trying and failing is one thing. Failing over and over and over when you already know how to succeed is another.
I certainly know people who try harder than others. My brother has a friend who's an activist for the poor. He helps run a soup kitchen and in the winter a team of them drive around Baltimore and give hot soup and blankets to the homeless and also direct them to shelters.
He's also one of the key organizers of the local Pax Christi chapter: http://www.paxchristiusa.org/ which heavily promotes activism. His entire life is completely dedicated to the less fortunate and he lives in an apartment.
I'm going to fool myself into thinking that God sees me and him in the same light? I'm going to end up in the same place at Pat just because "I'm nice" yet I do 1 1000000th of the effort? I know I should be living the life he does to be more like Christ. I don't want to and anything less and you're completely and utterly fooling yourself.
Here is how we are able to call ourselves Christians, even when falling short of perfecting ourselves: Grace
Grace defined is: the unmerited favor of God
All of those works, or merits, are awesome but they do not save a person.
That means there is only one way I can make it to heaven...through God's grace. How has he given us grace? Well, you know my answer: through Jesus Christ. But I still have a choice, receive that grace or reject it. I choose to receive it. By receiving it I have to live by a higher standard of course (which includes good works)...but I will still fall short...always. So it always goes back to grace. We just have a hard time grasping how much grace God really does give us...all we look at are the hypocrites in the church, the animal killings in the bible, and unperfect saints...but they all point back to the grace of God.
The reason you have a hard time accepting less than perfect people calling themselves Christians I suspect is because you were falsely taught (either in a church, school, or home) about condemnation rather than grace. You think, "well I could never live up to that standard so why bother? God is going to condemn me anyway"
Again, it's justification so you can make it through each day knowing you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing yet thinking "but I'll be fine." Lazy Christians have adopted this "I admit I'm a sinner" mentality which allows them to mentally relax while basically doing nothing to help the lives of others. I think 99% of all Christians are in for a big fat surprise come judgement time. Can any of us properly explain to God just what steps they took every day to follow the teachings of Christ? Or are most of us gonna be left to explain how cool the HD TV was while guys like Pat are out feeding the homeless.
You are absolutely correct: Jesus Christ is my only justification:
Rom 5:16-21
16 Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
18 Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
20 The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
(from New International Version)
But, you falsely assume I do not back up talk with good works...I just understand that those works do not get me anywhere with God.
I'm not trying to dig into your personally Kyle. What I'm trying to say just as a general message is there are indeed a very small percentage of people out there doing God's work. The "new SUV and iPod" Christians simply cannot fool themselves into thinking that both will end up in the same place. They will not.
I'm not trying to dig into your personally Kyle. What I'm trying to say just as a general message is there are indeed a very small percentage of people out there doing God's work. The "new SUV and iPod" Christians simply cannot fool themselves into thinking that both will end up in the same place. They will not.
I agree. I know if there is a magical place called heaven I'm not going there, but neither are millions of people that call themselves Christians. I find Christians to be some of the most egocentric people out there. Very quick to judge, but when the finger is turned around and pointed at them they start throwing scriptures at you to justify their behaviour (no offense to anyone here quoting scriptures).
I know some "great" christians that donate 25% of their money to their church, yet her mother is slowly dying and they only go and visit her once a month maybe. Is what Jesus Christ would do? There are just too many that think that believing in Jesus or donating is a get out of jail free card.
In the meantime they are having affairs, buying lavish homes and cars, lying, neglecting the elderly and the poor, and so on. At least I can openly admit I'm a self serving bastard.
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