Quote:And how is "having the holy spirit" any different from a subjective declaration of "true" Christian or not?
Being born again is a spiritual experience in which people are grafted into God and they become a new person. God changes their desires and they receive grace and power from God in order to live a Holy life. God speaks to people and directs them and does miracles in their lives. This is the normal way that Christianity works.
Quote:I assume that by "false converts" you don't mean violent criminals who are suddenly religious but rather anyone you don't consider a "true" Christian...correct?
The difference between a false convert and a true convert is not a difference in sin. A false convert is someone who has never been born again and never received the Holy Spirit. They have never understood Christianity and they have never had a sense of the supernatural reality of God.
A true convert is someone who has been born again and received that Holy Spirit and who does know God and has experienced God's grace. It is possible for true converts to fall into sin. This is a serious thing, and it does happen.
But it is different to talk about people who are true converts who fall into sin (which happens, there have been many pastors and ministry leaders who have done things which disgraced the name of God). This is totally different than when people who have never known Christ, have never experienced the power of the Holy Spirit who go and sin. In some ways, it is worst for true converts to sin, because they should know better.
At the same time, it is really a stretch to consider people that were never real converts to the Christian faith Christians. Maybe they represent a failure of the church to disciple its members and engage them in real spirituality. But they are not really Christians unless they have real, life changing faith, and this faith leads them into a supernatural experience of God.
The experience of salvation is a real, discernible, measurable experience. When people are saved it changes their whole lives and they have testimonies of the reality of God. This is different from people superficially engaging with Christian theology and considering themselves to be Christian.
