RE: What are the Characteristics of a NT Christian?
April 7, 2017 at 2:05 pm
(This post was last modified: April 7, 2017 at 2:11 pm by Harry Nevis.)
(April 7, 2017 at 12:09 pm)Catholic_Lady Wrote:(April 7, 2017 at 12:02 pm)Harry Nevis Wrote: I'd have to have some sort of benchmark to decern who was a true christian and who wasn't.
I'd say believing that Jesus is who He says He is, and striving to live by the teachings of Christ as depicted in the bible.
I think that's as basic and fundamental as you can get. If someone says they are a Christian but then they say they don't believe that Jesus was the Son of God, I'd say that person's beliefs are not in line with Christian beliefs. If someone says they are Christian but they live a life of greed and hatred, I'd say that person is not living the Christian lifestyle.
But there are people who call themselves christian, but would disagree. Newton called himself christian, but didn't believe in the divinity of Jesus. The Prosperity Gospel folks seem pretty greedy to me.
(April 7, 2017 at 12:33 pm)Neo-Scholastic Wrote:(April 7, 2017 at 12:02 pm)Harry Nevis Wrote: I'd have to have some sort of benchmark to decern who was a true christian and who wasn't.
That would be the NT. Your inability or unwillingness to refer to it has no bearing.
And christian's inability to agree on their own word of god has the greatest bearing.
(April 7, 2017 at 12:45 pm)vorlon13 Wrote: Here's how the Westboro Baptists are like the rest of the Christian schisms:
They themselves pick and choose which Bible strictures and edicts to enforce and which to ignore. That they cherry pick different scriptures than some other denominations doesn't confer on those other denominations the right to criticize Westboro for cherry picking scriptures, only for cherry picking the wrong scriptures in their opinion.
And of course, Westboro is just like all those other Christian denominations since they are ignoring so very, very many scriptures, despite a scriptural injunction against that very practice.
And if you think about it, "cherry picking the wrong scriptures" doesn't invalidate those scriptures, it instead indicts those also cherry picking, it absolutely doesn't invalidate those unchosen scriptures! So declining to rebuke the denominations not selecting the same scriptures as the Westboro folks doesn't absolve them of homophobia, it instead condemns them for heresy/apostasy.
So, all the Christin denominations are 'like' Westboro in that regard, or they "'aren't doing it right" and a similar indictment of Westboro is of course valid since they "aren't doing it right" either.
And I hear more Muslims denouncing radical Islam than christians denouncing Westboro.
"The last superstition of the human mind is the superstition that religion in itself is a good thing." - Samuel Porter Putnam