Nothing on this earth can be more important than eternity. As I like to say, “we are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings having a human experience”! It is incorrect to think that we are simply physical beings hoping to touch the eternal spiritual realm. We are in fact spiritual beings in human bodies that will one day pass away, but we will live on in the spirit.

The Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:18, “while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary or transient, but the things which are not seen are eternal”.

Join me as we delve into the deeper things of God to help you, make your own decisions based upon God’s words, the Bible. Let’s begin by looking at what Jesus said to His followers in the Gospel of John 14:7,” I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”. This is a profound truth about Christianity, Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. He is all of these things but, for now, I would like to examine one aspect of this statement and that is, Jesus is the truth. 

The Information Age

We now live in an age referred to by some as the Information Age. We are overloaded with information or data through the internet, social media, TV, radio and movies– lots of data or information, but is everything we hear or read true? Because we deal with so much information, we don’t have time to analyze its truthfulness! Not all the information we get is accurate and we can’t count on the world systems of government and media to give us the truth. As a result, we may have accepted as true many ideas or opinions which are in fact not true at all! 

As a result of misinformation many people outside of Christianity have formed ideas and concepts about Christianity that are not based upon the truth. As a matter of fact, even many Christians have misconceptions about what Christianity is or what it is not. The purpose of this Podcast Show is to reveal Bible-based insights as to who Christ is, what a Christian is and the nature of Christianity. 

It’s all about Jesus

The most important consideration, the root if you will, of the Christian belief system is that it is all about Jesus Christ and Him alone. A Christian’s identity is not in a religion, denomination, local church, or group of people. A Christian’s identity must be in Jesus Christs, because He was the one, God in the flesh, who came to earth, died for your sins, removed the wall between you and the Father, and promised eternal life to those who would follow Him.

Having an encounter or experience with Jesus.

The second important consideration is that being a Christian means that there has been an “encounter” with Jesus and that encounter instilled a desire to “know” more about Him. 

I want to emphasize the word “know” because so many rely on an intellectual knowing with the mind alone. What is more important- is to know Jesus on a spiritual level. John 4:23 Jesus says, “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him”.

This point is so important so let me repeat it, Christianity is not something you can understand with only the intellect or mind. Christianity, in fact must be spiritually appraised. That is, we must use spiritual eyes, spiritual ears and spiritual openness to comprehend spiritual things. 1 Corinthians 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 

That’s not to say that some aspects of the Christianity cannot be intellectually understood, but we have to recognize that there are going to be areas that are too deep for the human mind to comprehend. In Isa 55:8-9 God speaks through the Prophet Isaiah and says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts”.

When we encounter those areas that are too deep or too high for human understanding, we are called to accept them by “Faith”. Faith is how we appropriate or connect to the spiritual things of God; after all, as I have said earlier, God is spirit. It is by Faith we Understand Him, Hebrews 11:1 defines faith in this way, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”. The things not seen, of course, are spiritual in nature

Until we come to grips with the fact that being a Christian means a spiritual relationship with God, we will always be frustrated by our misunderstanding of what Christ did, what a Christian is and the nature of Christianity. 

What is a Christian?

Like most people I am sure that you have had this thought; “How can they call themselves Christians”? or more pointedly, “And he or she calls themselves a Christian”? Looking at the behavior of some “Christians” can be puzzling! That’s why it’s important to clearly understand what a Christian is before we make those kinds of judgments. Now, of course, Christians should not be judging others, but as humanbeings this is often difficult to avoid!

There are 7.6 billion people on the face of the earth today. The largest religious group are the Christians. There are about 2.5 billion people, almost a third of the world’s population, who identify themselves as being Christians.

A definition of a Christian

A definition of a Christian, according to Merriam-Webster, “is one who professes belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ”. I think it would be fair to say that 2.5 billion people “profess” Jesus Christ, at least intellectually or with their minds, that is they believe that Jesus existed, was a good person, and died on the cross for our sins. Let’s look at Webster’s definition again, the key-words are, “profess belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ”. Frankly, many “Christians” in the world don’t even know what Jesus taught and therefore have no motivation to apply those teachings to their lives. 

As a result of doing ministry in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, the Caribbean and of course the United States, I can see at least four segments of the Christian population. Let’s see how they fit into the dictionary definition we have of a Christian; that is “professing a belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ”.

First, let me list them and then we will take a deeper look…

1. A Nominal Christian
2. A Generational Christian
3. A Syncretic Christian
4. A Born-again Christian

1. 1. A Nominal Christian is a Christian who identifies with a particular church or a Christian denomination. That person may or may not be a church attender. Some examples of Nominal Christians are:
   1. People who convert to Christianity in order to marry or convert because of social/cultural pressures fit into this category. 
   2. They may have to fill out a form stating their religious affiliation and they know that they are not Jewish, Buddhist, Islamic or Hindu and therefore check the category they think fits; Christian.
   3. They see value in Christian morals and ethics and want their children to develop those Christian values. They attend a Christian church for that reason.
   4. They don’t want their children to go to a public school and put their children in a Christian school and therefore state that they are Christians.  

1. 2. A Generational Christian, is one who’s Christian identity is taken from their parents or family. That person may or not be a church attender. For example:
2. a. It is only natural that a child will adopt the religion of their parents, it is no different for Christian families. However, unless a child has had a personal experience with Jesus Christ, they will just continue in the traditions of the family.

1. 3. A Syncretic Christian, the word syncretic or syncretism when applied to religion means that two religions are blended together to form one religion acceptable to the population (politically correct). So, a syncretic Christian is one who takes on the Christian label but practice a Christianity that is blended with other non-Christian religions or cults.

1. 4. The fourth category is how Jesus defined a Christian. They must be Born-Again Christian. A born-again Christian is a Christian who professes repentance and faith in Jesus Christ and understand the spiritual nature of Christianity (John 3:1-21 -Story of Nicodemus). That person may be a church attender, or not. We will have much to say about Born-again Christians in our next post.

As we close, you can see it isn’t the fact that you go to a Christian church that makes you a Christian, although you should go. Going to church does not make one a Christian, any more than going into “McDonald’s makes you a hamburger”. The real issue is and always has been, do you know Jesus on a personal level!