Re: What is a Christian in your opinion ?
Submitted by Ben on October 03 1999 at 19:56:24
In reply to Re: What is a Christian in your opinion ? Submitted by (Ben - read) - d on September 28 1999 at 13:16:57
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d - Before I became a Christian, I simply saw Christians as people who comprised most of America, "who believed in Jesus", and "who celebrated Christmas". Because I had no previous experience with actual conviction I did not compare Judaism and Christianity in a spiritual way. It was more a matter of "we do this and you do that". More than anything else, I was keenly aware that the American over commercializing of Christmas seemed like a fun thing that I was missing out on, but it didn't really have any meaning other than what people wanted it to mean. Today, I have a vastly different definition of both Judaism and Christianity. I guess my church would come closest to the baptists, though we probably differ a bit in the degree to which we live out "The Word" in our lives. To me a Christian is any person, Jew or Gentile, who has accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior, and who accepts that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. The problem is that most people 'pledge' this acceptance blindly and without true conviction, for few Christians in modern society are willing to live their lives sacrificially and in accordance with the conviction that they are pledging. If we accept Jesus as our LORD then we are accepting his teachings and his plan for our lives. Since a man cannot serve two masters, Jesus must be our only master and our lifestyles should reflect this. If we are living in sin, then Jesus is not our master and we have not truly made him Lord. This being said, I cannot honestly say that I am not still a slave to sin. I don't have a good excuse for myself....perhaps I have no right yet to call myself a Christian. On the other hand, Paul also was a slave to his flesh and hated what he 'did'. It is for this reason that I need the sacrifice of Jesus to cover up my own falling short. You are not alone. Ben |