RE: Blurring the lines.
January 12, 2015 at 2:48 pm
(This post was last modified: January 12, 2015 at 2:53 pm by Jenny A.)
(January 12, 2015 at 11:47 am)Drich Wrote: Just an open ended question.
What's with blurring the lines between those who claim Christianity and those who actually practice it? We've had a couple of recent examples of you guys assuming everyone who claims to be christian happens to be Christian just on their proclaimation. Why is this? I have brought up that Christ himself says in Mat 7 that not everyone who claims to be a follower is indeed a follower. What's more he even went so far as to say even some of those who do great things in His name are followers of Christ. But only those who do the will of the Father.
This means that a Follower of Christ is one who follows the instructions given to us to follow. Not anyone who just calls out 'Lord, Lord.'
I hope none of you think that God is bound by your understanding of some death bed effort on your part to keep you out of Hell.
What do you mean blurring the lines? You sound as if this is something new.
I look at Christianity from a cultural and historical standpoint. Just looking at the Gospels and Paul's letters, it's clear to me that Christians couldn't agree on what it meant to be Christian from the get go, and none of them really followed what Jesus said in any of the Gospels (the Gospels are quite different and following all of them as opposed to one requires some theological decision making). Further, the Bible wasn't canonized for another 1000 plus years after Jesus' death and we have a number of unCanonized writings that suggest yet more controversy.
What Jesus actually taught, and what he was, if he was at all, is not historically provable. But I'm really sure that none of you is doing what he actually taught, or even anything close to it. Therefore, from the outside, I define Christians as anyone following what they think is Christ, or his teachings.
Catholics, Mormons, all brands of protestants, Orthodox Christians, and I'm sure some others I've missed, all fit that definition. I don't think Protestants (evangelical or otherwise), Catholics, Mormons, or Orthodox Christians have any better claim to the title of "true" Christian. Should you have a problem with that, take it up with the other claimants. Who are you to say deathbed converts aren't Christian?
If there is a god, I want to believe that there is a god. If there is not a god, I want to believe that there is no god.
