What are the Characteristics of a NT Christian?

[Catholic_Lady]

See, that's the thing though. You say most Christians hate foreigners, like war, and don't have compassion for poor people/imprisoned people. I simply don't see that. What you describe above seems like really shitty people, and that has simply not been my experience. I mean, sure, there are bad seeds everywhere and we are no exception, but it has definitely not been my experience that most Christian people, or even many of them, are like that at all. I can't say I even know any Christian people being that way (not saying they don't exist though).   

I mean, my family and I were foreigners. We moved to the US from South America when I was 7 years old, and while we have become citizens since then, both my parents still have really heavy accents. No one was unwelcoming to us when we got here. I started off here at a Catholic school (2nd grade) and knew absolutely 0 English. None of those Catholic teachers/students/parents were ever mean to me or my family.  

I don't see anyone liking war, either. Or not having compassion for the poor. There are a TON of Christian charities. My church was always advertising volunteer opportunities and running fund raisers for the less fortunate.

I'm not saying we're all saints. Far from it. But I do think the majority of us are just normal human beings who really do try to follow the basic teachings of Christ. Again, I have lived in several places, but never lived in the deep south like you have, so maybe that's where our different experiences come to play.

I didn't actually say that most Christians hate foreigners, or anything that could be considered reasonably close to that. One, 'not welcoming' is not a synonym for 'hate'. Two, I was listing subgroups that would constitute a majority of Christians if added together, no claim that any single subgroup constitutes a majority by itself. I try to be careful about what I claim, please read my posts going forward as if you understand that. That said, 53% of Americans want to keep Syrian refugees out of our country, but 11% would make an exception for Christian refugees. Since 75% of Americans and a very high percentage of Trump voters were Christians (he got 52% of the Catholic vote and 80% of the Evangelical vote), I infer a very strong level of support by American Christians for keeping out refugees, especially if they're not Christians.

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/artic...settlement

Fair enough, my apologies for the misunderstanding. 

As for being against Syrian refugees coming in, I wouldn't go as far as classifying that as being "unwelcoming to foreigners" in such a broad sense. Personally I think the right thing to do would be to let them come in, regardless of the risks. But many who disagree do so out of fear of bringing terrorists in, and some out of concern that we just don't have the resources to take on so many of these people... not out of any sort of dislike or prejudice against foreign people.  

Nonetheless, I think on that regard, there can be room for different opinions of what Jesus would think is acceptable. I've specifically heard the argument "Jesus never said we have a moral obligation to compromise ours and our children's safety/well being for a cause like this." I'd argue that indirectly you can see that His will would be for us to take these people in regardless of the risk, but I can't claim that someone is acting unchristian if they disagree with me on that. It isn't like someone saying they hate gays, or someone who cheats on their spouse, or someone who goes around hurting people or is just an overall greedy person... because on those things He was very clear. And on those basic things, I can definitely say "you are not acting like how Christ called us to act."
     

However, if you're saying that most Christians are just average morally, no better or worse than non-Christians, I tend to agree. I thought with that 'striving to follow the teachings of Jesus' stuff you were holding them to a higher standard than most of them can actually meet, but you seem to be okay with the ones who are  just 'Team Jesus' average Americans who are not particularly devout being counted as 'true Christians'. It seems like a disconnect to me. Either you accept people who say that they are Christians but can't reasonably be described as 'striving to follow the teachings of Jesus', or you hold them to that standard and call out the ones who aren't actually striving to follow Jesus as 'not true Christians'. 

strive
verb
gerund or present participle: striving

make great efforts to achieve or obtain something.
"national movements were striving for independence"

•struggle or fight vigorously.
"scholars must strive against bias"

I don't know if they are more moral than the general, unchristian population. I wasn't saying that. All I was saying is that from my experience, I don't see these bigoted/crazy/hypocritical Christians that are so often talked about here. I see people who are mostly kind, normal, and who do try to live by the words of Christ. Whether that makes them more moral as a whole than others, I don't know. There are many people who are not Christian but who still live a life that would be in accordance to the values of Christ - being generous, humble, loving, etc.   

I don't subscribe to the "true Christian" or "not true Christian" labels. All I can do is see the beliefs/actions of a person and say whether they are directly contradictory to basic, fundamental Christian principles.  For example, to the Westboro Baptists who picket funerals with nasty posters about God hating people and saying we should celebrate death, even death of children, I would say "you are not acting according to the teachings of Christ. As He made it specifically clear that we are called to love, not to hate. He expressed sadness at people's misfortune and healed many people, even bringing some of them back from the dead. He condemned the pharisees for being overly judgmental of people."