Subject:
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What does it take to be a true Christian?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Fri, 26 Oct 2001 21:43:41 GMT
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Viewed:
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455 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Christopher L. Weeks writes:
> How's that? I'd call Koresh a Christian, just not a mainstream one. What
> does it take to be a 'true' Christian?
I'm very interested in some answers to this, actually-- particularly from a
Christian perspective. I think I've tried to define Christianity a couple
times as certain sets of philosophical/moral beliefs combined with
supernatural beliefs, however, those have seemed to prove "holy" (as in
hole-filled :).
So. Really, there's two issues behind the "what does it take to be a true
Christian", I think:
1. What are your beliefs?
2. How closely have you adhered to those beliefs?
I mean, I don't think Christianity endorses murder, but yet Crusaders in the
1000's AD probably saw themselves as Christian when killing Muslims. Or when
killing Protestants during the Reformation. Or killing Jews in WWII. Or
enslaving blacks in the south. Were they all true Christians? Honestly, I
think they were-- though I just think their interpretation of the Bible just
wasn't in sync with what the "common" view of Christianity is today.
*OR* their knowledge base was off. After all, back then, some of the
oppressed were viewed as "sub-human"; and I don't think there's anything
about killing/enslaving animals in the Bible. So perhaps if they viewed the
oppressed as "human" they wouldn't have acted so? Not in all cases, though,
since clearly (I think) the Reformation doesn't fall under that category...
Hence, does the measure of being a true Christian necessarily include how
well you've adhered to your own beliefs? Or is it merely what principles you
believe in, regardless of how well you've followed them?
Lemme try my hand at it. Correct me, please.
In order to be a true Christian, you need to:
1. Believe that the New Testament is divinely inspired. Perhaps not directly
(I.E. perhaps parts are flawed as it was written by people), but at least
that some sort of divinity inspired its authoring.
2. Believe that Jesus was similarly divinely inspired, if not actually
perfect. Again, maybe there are those out there who would deem themselves
Christian (whom I might agree with, dunno) who think that Jesus was more of
a 'direct link' to God, rather than God in human form... I'll leave that
open for the moment.
3. Believe that (obviously inferred from above) some sort of supernatural &
universal being is out there "somewhere", and that this being's intents
towards humanity, or at least 'creation' in general are good, even if not
*perfectly* good (I'll leave that open too).
4. Believe in a moral system derived from the New & Old Testaments, more
closely following those from the New Testament, particularly where the two
conflict on the matter.
Now, with #4, perhaps we can expand that moral system's definitions a bit
more? Does every morality derived from the Bible necessarily share certain
traits, or even a single one? For example, can you be Christian and somehow
derive an ethic of "rape is great" out of the Bible? Why or why not? To what
extent can we generalize these derived moralities?
DaveE
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: What does it take to be a true Christian?
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| (...) To be a true Christian, I'd say that one must be first squarely in agreement with the essentials of the faith--the clearest and most basic beliefs that the early believers held regarding the person of Christ, and have which been a bedrock of (...) (23 years ago, 27-Oct-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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