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Post 2 What is a Christian?
Hello and welcome to Pastor Vic’s Video Nuggets. Our focus today is to try and develop a clearer understanding of what it means to be 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 a judgment is made. Now of course we should not be judging others, but as human beings 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, 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 desire 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 see at least four segments of the Christian population. Let’s see how they fit into the dictionary definition we have of a Christian; “professing a belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ”.
First, let me list them and then we will take a deeper look…
- A Nominal Christian
- A Generational Christian
- A Syncretic Christian
- A Born-again Christian
First 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:
People who convert to Christianity in order to marry or convert because of social/cultural pressures fit into this category.- They may have to fill out a form stating their religious affiliation and they know that they are not Jewish, Buddhist, Islamic and therefore check the category they think fits; Christian.
- They may want their children to develop Christian values and attend a Christian church for that reason.
- 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.
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:
- It is only natural that a child will adopt the religion of their parents, it is no different for Christian families. Unless a child has a personal experience with Jesus Christ, they will just continue in the traditions of the family.
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.
The fourth category is how Jesus defined a 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). 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. Going to church does not make one a Christian, any more than going into “McDonalds makes you a hamburger”. The real issue is and always has been, do you know Jesus as personal Lord and Savior!
So, until next time ponder these thoughts, God bless!
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Post 1 Introduction to 3C’s
Post 1 – Introduction to Christ Basics – Transcript
Hello, and welcome to the first installment of a new VLOG called “Christ Basics”. These videos will be 5 minutes or less, just enough time to provoke some serious thinking about Jesus Christ, Christians and Christianity, so let’s get started.
Jesus said 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. What I would like to examine is one aspect of this statement and that is, Jesus is the truth.
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 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 ideas and concepts about Christianity that are not based upon truth. As a matter of fact, even many Christians have misconceptions about what Christianity is or what it is not. The purpose of this vlog is to reveal Bible-based insights as to who Christ is, what a Christian is and Christianity.
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, 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.
The second important consideration is that being a Christian means that there has been an “encounter” with God and that encounter instilled a desire to “know” more about Jesus.
I 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 is 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, “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 the spiritual things of God; after all, as I have said earlier, God is spirit. 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 walk with God, we will always be frustrated by our misunderstanding of what Christ did, what a Christian is and the nature of Christianity.
