What does it actually take, to be a Christian?

-Well, traditionally, in its simplest form, all one really has to do is accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior and live their lives according to the teachings of Christ. This may be a good place to start...........

To be a good Christian, one should stop going to church, stop reading the "bible", and stop praying.

I would say a christian is someone who takes the bible as their primary source of scripture.
This obviously doesn't hold for pre-Nicean periods, where the huge variety of christian sects makes it hard to define.

The widely accepted perception of Christianity today, have been transformed and changed so much, that most Christians of today would not have had a chance to be recognized as one of His followers, and certainly not by Christ himself when He was here. Can we today claim to be Christians, when we have trashed what we dont like from the scriptures, transformed/translated the meaning of other things in order adapt those words to a modern society that noone could foresee 2000 years ago? - and even more questionable, adapted the perception to our own convenience?

This is very true. Many early christian sects have more in common with todays muslims than todays christians.

Hi,

I was in the US lately and I was fairly shocked by the number of Evangelical program on TV. Yet the most extraordinary of them all (all I've seen I mean) is defently the Jack Van Impe's funny journal set at four in the morning in the middle of commercials.

This weirdo is presenting news took from whatever newspaper around the world with his wife aged 60 trying hard to look like she's 21. He constantly quotes the bible about anything and is explaining us that not only the Armagedon's coming but that it's going to be soooo cool. No use to say that he is pro-Israeli to a point that would disgust Mr. Sharon himself. But he has a special trick of his, the Apocalypse's coming of course with the four infamous horsemen. One of them's the Arab world, the second the Russian, the third the Chinese and the last is the EU. Yes the EU, backed by the Catholic church, is the Anti-Christ in person...

This could be almost fun if it wasn't dangerous. Indeed, what should you do against the Antichrist? Kill him whereever you find him. So on the air, you have a madman saying in the most powerful country of the world that I am to be killed as a dog for the sake of humanity. I do not understand how people can watch him, give him money , support him. He should be in jail for insitation to murder.

M.

Just another God-loving evangelist - Benny Hinn.

Edited by flyingzone - 06-Aug-2006 at 15:45

BMC said:
Adhere to teachings... accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior and live their lives according to the teachings of Christ. This may be a good place to start...........

Armenian said:
No bible... I didn't know Jesus said that we need to read the Bible in order to be Christians

Flyingzone said:
No church ... Being good -  Just listen to the little voice of "goodness" inside you. That is already God.

cok qec said:
Behaving.... spreading the word by good behaviors to others.

Omar said:
Bible as source... A christian is someone who takes the bible as their primary source of scripture.

I agree with all of you that these are signs of a Christian - but Armenian ... how can we know about Christ if we dont read the Bible?
I also agree with Maharbbal, Flyingzone, Barbarossa about their remarks on the Teleevangelists.

However, the question remains: Is this really enough? Didnt Christ ask more of His followers?

I think Menumoret hit the nail by saying:

As a Saint of the Orthodox Church sayed, the scope of the life (of a Christian) is the achieving of the Holy Spirit. for that, we have to leave in continuously contemplation. Any second we are ocupied with something else is a lost for us, a wasted time and an abrutization of our mind. Because everything we do is changing us. If we live like animals, we become animals, if we dedicated our whole life to God, we get closer to Him each second.

Doesnt that imply a whole lot more than what we consider to be a Christian life in our modern world. How many think about achieving the Holy Spirit? - how many is living in continuously contemplation?
Only very few as I said in the original post - but isnt that really what Christ said and asked from his followers?
 
A couple of questions more from the top of my head - can a wealthy man be a Christian? - can a soldier (who is learning to kill) be a Christian?

 

Edited by Northman - 06-Aug-2006 at 18:06

     I should have probably noted that while I didn't read the bible, I had taken courses in religion and was taught about Christianity and the bible by some priests. I never actually picked it up and read it though.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

That's all it takes to be a Christian. The debate then really should rest on what does it take to be a good Christian? Yet to talk about this kind of treads on dangerous ground (who are we to say who is a good and bad Christian?)...

I'll address my views on some of the points made so far.

I didn't know Jesus said that we need to read the Bible in order to be Christians

Eh, maybe, but there were texts (i.e. the Law and the writings of the prophets). These were taught - wait, supposed to be taught - in the temple by the priests. Jesus even asks people "Have ye not read?" but I can't remember off the top of my head who He asked. Christ quoted from the Old Testament all the time.

To be a good Christian, one should stop going to church, stop reading the "bible", and stop praying.

I disagree, though I see where you're coming from. Going to church, reading the Bible (as many Christians do it), and praying don't make someone much of a Christian. I heard someone say once that sitting in church didn't make you anymore of a Christian than sitting in a garage made you a car.

I think that people should read the Bible, but with understanding. This allows people to receive the message of that "goodness" that's inside. Being a Christian is a lot like being a citizen; you can be a citizen and do your own thing, or you can be a productive citizen and improve the lives of others. By reading the Bible, you understand what God expects from you and how to imrpove your life and other people's lives. But...this doesn't mean just "reading" the Bible as some people do, in a methodical "look at how religious and holy I am" way.

Prayer also should be done. It's communicating with the "goodness" inside of you. It's how you repent. God is pretty basic about prayer...He doesn't want you to go all fancy and make a big scene, He doesn't want you to add a bunch of pomp and special words to it...it's just talking to Him.

If one's desire to seek "God" is real, and if "God" is really omnipotent, I can't see why one needs the church or anyone or anything else to act as an intermediary between God and you.

Exactly. God is His own intercessor, according to Christianity, though some have failed to recognize this.

Indeed, what should you do against the Antichrist? Kill him whereever you find him.

That is a dangerous thing...if you think you know who the Antichrist is and you go off and kill him...then I hate to break it to the killer, but that wasn't him. You can't kill him. He's cast directly from heaven by Michael and is meant to rule over the world...until Christ returns and Michael throws him in the pit. People who propose that you can just go around killing him are not only proposing the impossible, but are trying to interfere in God's plan...also that, they're endangering people's lives.

And these people think that a person that wants to make the world better by having a UN or EU type deal is the anti-Christ. Of course, the anti-Christ has to be European, because no American could be the anti-Christ.

How can a European or an American fool people into thinking they're God? How can any human? Why would the Antichrist bother to take up a human body? These things age and get sick...wouldn't it make more sense if he appeared more Christ-like?

Didnt Christ ask more of His followers?

He did. But he never said "You must do X and Y and Z as well as believe on me in order to get into heaven".

A couple of questions more from the top of my head - can a wealthy man be a Christian? - can a soldier (who is learning to kill) be a Christian?

Why not? The Law prohibits murder, but people are always killing each other in battle throughout the Bible. As far as a wealthy man...there is nothing wrong with being blessed by God, but there is something wrong with extortion. It is possible to gain wealth through honest means, and these people aren't punished. Those who extort and don't repent are. I think a lot of people quote the verse where Jesus says that it's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to pass into the gates of heaven as proof that God hates rich people. But in Jerusalem, there was the Needle Gate, which was smaller than the others and was open during the night when the main gate was closed. Camels that passed through here had to unload everything that they were carrying in order to pass through. As such, so must a rich man unload all of his wealth in order to pass into heaven.

Has he repented of sin? Does he emphasize accepting Christ and having a personal relationship with him? No.

Agreed with you up to here. I think it isn't for us to decide whether or not Benny Hinn has repented of sin. We don't know. He might. He might not. We might see in his actions a man who is greedy and power-hungry. That much we do know, but the rest we don't.

As far as the second part goes, this is a very important thing to emphasize and teach on, if not the most important. BUT...it does little good to preach salvation to a group of people who are already saved. The Bible says that that's like crucifying Christ all over again, and is definitely unkool with God.    

Not me. I know there is only one God.