am I a Christian?
I suppose that in order to know if I AM a Christian, I should understand what it means to BE a Christian.
The Christ of this word is Jesus of the Bible. the Son of God [only begotten].
And -ian has several meanings: belonging to or relating to; a person belonging to or coming from; typical of or resembling; adhering to or following; and adherent of; a person who specializes or is an expert in.
So by these definitions, a Christian would be a person who belongs to Christ [I do, do you?]. aka: saved [by grace through faith]
But further than that, a Christian would be a person who resembles Christ and/or adhere’s to His teaching. or someone who is an expert in Who Christ is and what He teaches.
I do suppose that most of you reading this blog are, indeed, saved [Christians]; but are you [am I?] actively BEING a Christian?
Do I resemble Christ? [producing good works and the fruit of the Spirit as He did in His earthly ministry]
Do I adhere to His teachings [as opposed to blindly following a human]?
Am I striving to be an expert in Who He is?
Do I study His teachings [the Bible] and try to apply the truths learned?
Do you?
I suppose that in order to know if I AM a Christian, I should understand what it means to BE a Christian.
The Christ of this word is Jesus of the Bible. the Son of God [only begotten].
And -ian has several meanings: belonging to or relating to; a person belonging to or coming from; typical of or resembling; adhering to or following; and adherent of; a person who specializes or is an expert in.
So by these definitions, a Christian would be a person who belongs to Christ [I do, do you?]. aka: saved [by grace through faith]
But further than that, a Christian would be a person who resembles Christ and/or adhere’s to His teaching. or someone who is an expert in Who Christ is and what He teaches.
I do suppose that most of you reading this blog are, indeed, saved [Christians]; but are you [am I?] actively BEING a Christian?
Do I resemble Christ? [producing good works and the fruit of the Spirit as He did in His earthly ministry]
Do I adhere to His teachings [as opposed to blindly following a human]?
Am I striving to be an expert in Who He is?
Do I study His teachings [the Bible] and try to apply the truths learned?
Do you?
I will chime in. There is a huge misnomer that you can’t have fun if you are a Christian. I bleieve that you can have fun and live a Christian life. What my family considers fun may not be what another family considers fun, nor might the activities that my husband and I pursue individually be considered fun by another. For example (and I am sure that someone will be angry that I singled out a particular event, but I could list hundreds of examples and I am sure Kristi has a word limit ) attending a ball game with my kids and risking sitting next to a group of folks yelling expletives and drinking beer is not our kind of fun while an afternoon of creek wading and exploring, pond fishing, or eating an ice cream treat at Dairy Queen is.Will someone who has not publicly professed their faith in God go to Hell? Will someone who acknowledges Christ with their dying breath and not lead a Christian life for others to see, not make it in to Heaven? We will have to debate that at a time when I don’t feel under the gun to hammer out a response Witnessing, I definitely have an opinion there While witnessing and providing a biblical foundation for your argument for Christianity probably won’t garner many points with someone who has already made up their mind’ Quite possibly they know what Christianity entails and they are not prepared to depart from their worldliness? While we are all accountable with part of our responsibility as a Christian being to witness and lead others to Christ, I am not sure that we will be dinged’, for lack of a better word, for failing to convert another person even though we have tried our darndest. I bleieve that free will plays a huge role in the decision making process of some folks who may just want to wait one more day and have a little fun ‘ Lots of these folks are the folks who have issues following rules and just simply don’t like the idea of being told what to do That is where you, my friend, let your God light shine and let your life be an example so that others might become curious and want the same. Then game on you share the secret of your success’ There is that old adage You can lead a horse to water . yadda, yadda, yadda I suppose when witnessing you have a limitless supply of water in your trough right???
considering it has been a few years since you wrote this comment, I am not sure you will receive my belated replay (apologies)…. I am not sure I followed your whole line of thinking, but I am not in any way attacking whether people are saved or not. Salvation is simply between each person and God, though as we grow in Him we should change and people should be able to see something different. BUT, being a “christian” is not necessarily synonymous with being saved… that was MY point. The saved people in Scripture were called Christians as a derogatory term, because they were resembling Christ. My question of pondering here is, do I resemble Christ? Is my life such that I am literally… a Christian?
thanks for stopping by when you did 🙂