On Being a Christian
The word “Christian” is not protected by copyright. This
means that anyone can use it. A terrorist may call him or herself a Christian,
and so may a corrupt politician. People have been known to slaughter other
people and march to war with the cry of “Christian!” Many cults also attach the
word “Christian” to themselves, and so do many well-meaning people who are
nothing more than pew-warmers or do-gooders. In the midst of all this
name-grabbing there are many genuine, sincere people who are authentic
Christians, but how can we really know them from the others?
It is also possible
to sincerely believe that one is a Christian but in reality to be deluded by
false teaching. When the matter is ‘boiled down’ so to speak, the whole
question of whether one is a Christian or not depends on an accurate
understanding and an accurate definition.
By way of example,
let us suppose a friend of yours tells you that he has just bought a car. Your
friend tells you that the new car has lights, a steering wheel, windows, an
engine, gears, a dashboard and seats. From his description you are sure he has
a car, but when you see his purchase you realise he has a boat. The definition
of “car” has to be more specific before you can tell the difference between car
and boat. In the same way the definition between Christian and non-Christian
has to be quite specific, otherwise it may be misleading.
This is why many
cults fool people into thinking they represent a Christian organisation. They
define themselves by only a few things, and miss the most important details. If
your friend had mentioned a propeller, hull, rudder and sail, you would have
known straight away that his “car” was not really a car. Cults usually hide
essential details.
Just picking one
cult out of the hat, here are some of the things which Mormons usually will not
tell you when they stand in the doorway:
The Mormon’s
so-called prophet, Joseph Smith, was heavily involved in the Occult, Spiritism
and Freemasonry when he founded Mormonism. Mormons also encourage visitation
from dead relatives from the ‘spirit world’ – a practice repeatedly forbidden
in the Bible. They won’t tell you that
they considered the Negro and all brown-skinned people to be inferior. They
won’t tell you that Joseph Smith taught there were inhabitants of the moon who
dressed like Quakers and who lived about 1000 years. They won’t tell you that
Joseph did not die as a martyr, but was killed in a gun battle. That he killed
two men and wounded another before he died. They won’t tell you that they
expect to become gods themselves one day. They won’t tell you that they believe
God the Father is really an ‘exalted man’, that Mary wasn’t really a virgin,
that Jesus is Lucifer’s brother, that Jesus had 3 wives, that the Bible is
untrustworthy and full of errors, that their ‘church’ is the only right one . .
. and so on.
So when you get the
whole definition from them you find that Mormons are not Christians, nor is
their organisation a Christian church. Exactly the same can be said about all
the cults, false religions and spiritual movements in the world. They all
disqualify themselves by a full definition.
So how do we define
a Christian accurately? In a nutshell, a Christian is someone who loves Jesus
devotedly, worships him sincerely as God, trusts in him solely as Saviour, and
obeys him willingly as Lord. The whole Christian definition is based on the
written Word of God, and not on experiences or feelings.
There are, of
course, many key verses which could be quoted here, but that is an area which has
been dealt with thoroughly by many other writers. (John 1:12, 3:3-17, Eph.2:8,
Rev.3:20 and so on)
The three
circles.
The Christian life
can be represented as three concentric circles – like the pattern you get when
you drop a stone into a smooth pool.
The middle circle
represents correct doctrine. True Christianity must begin with true
doctrine, otherwise it cannot produce true fruit. The Bible must be the
foundation on which Christians rest, from Genesis to Revelation. There is no other source of reliable truth in
the world.
The second circle
represents understanding. Christians should work hard at understanding
how the world relates to the Bible and how the Bible relates to the world. This
means listening to what unsaved people are saying, reading what they are
writing, evaluating what they are drawing and painting, dancing and sculpting.
The world presents a daily supply of philosophy and beliefs, and Christians
must learn how to see all these things in the light of what the Bible says.
The third circle
represents living the Christian life. The world is watching and
listening to see whether Christians are consistent. Christians are supposed to
live in a one-to-one relationship with God, and not conform to the world’s
expectations.
The Christians of
the first century faced almost everything which Christians today are facing.
(There was paganism, idolatry, religion, broadly accepted vices such as
prostitution, drug-abuse and gambling. There were a multitude of customs and
traditions, corrupt politics, greed, monopolies, slums, high taxes, ‘rape’ of
the land, war, violence, domestic infighting, immorality, and there were plenty
of people who had a laissez faire attitude to life (who cares?) Roman streets
had their brothels and dens. Wealthy people lived near slums and abject
poverty. Beggars walked the streets while ‘millionaires’ were carried by in
expensive carriages. Nothing has changed)
Christians in those
days also received similar treatment to that which they often receive today.
They were accused of being anti-social because they avoided some relationships,
they were accused of being narrow-minded
and ignorant by the intelligentsia, they were wrongly slandered and ridiculed.
People liked to draw a false picture of Christianity and then shoot it down.
Jewish Christians especially came in for a lot of flak because they abandoned
circumcision, and the Sabbath, and welcomed Gentiles into their company, and
acclaimed a certain man, a mere carpenter, as God.
Tacitus
wrote that the Christians were “hated by the populace for their crimes” and
were “both guilty and deserving of the severest penalties”.
Suetonius
accused Christians of “a novel and pernicious superstitio”.
Pliny wrote
that they had a “depraved and excessive superstitio” and that they were a
people who hated the whole world because they were secretive, cohesive, and
withdrawn from much of social life.
Plato
referred to them as “Any man incapable of participating in mutual respect and
law must be put to death as a social plague”.
Christians would
not bow to emperors, or attend Imperial Games, or attend plays or shows, or
read pagan literature, or take up the work of painting or sculpture, or become
school masters, or enter building contracts. They avoided any situation where
they might be called to bow to false gods, teach error or deny their Lord and
Saviour.
The moment a person
decides to follow Jesus, they step through a doorway on to a road which leads
to the
The road.
It is also very
important to know that every Christian is at a different point on the
road. Some are just beginning, still ‘babes’
in Christ, still entangled in sins and habits, still bound by ignorance, while
others are far down the road, reading, thinking, gaining understanding like
hungry children at a feast. Despite the huge range of differences between all
Christians, all are equally valuable to God. There is absolute equality in
value in God’s eyes, though people may think otherwise.
This essay is
called ‘On Being a Christian’ because it is commonly forgotten how different
from the unbeliever Christians ought to be. Though the differences between them
are always blurred, there is a greatly simplified view which places
believer beside unbeliever this way:
Unbeliever – materialist, devoted to amassing possessions, money is
security, happiness is tied to earthly things, frequently apprehensive about
what material possessions might be lost or damaged.
Believer – content with what he has, willing to part with all material
possessions without too much bother, secure in God’s promises.
Unbeliever: Death is a terrible disaster, a destroyer of dreams and
plans, the final mockery of life’s promise.
Believer: Death is a doorway to eternal life, a mere shadow to be passed through.
Unbeliever: Pleasure is elusive because whatever he tries it always
becomes boring or jaded in the end.
Believer: Richly enjoys all the good things in his Father’s world – music, food,
travel, physical pursuits, sports, etc. Knows all the time that this passing
world is but a taste of the everlasting one to come, rejoices in the hope of
everlasting pleasures.
Unbeliever: sees prayer as rather pointless, hates to think of having
to depend on
some deity for help.
Believer: enjoys prayer and sees many answers, knows that prayer changes things
and loves to allow God to help.
Unbeliever: sees giving and excessive generosity as foolish, cannot
understand how giving things or money away can actually be a way to increase.
Believer: Enjoys giving because of the blessings it brings, finds that the
little he has remaining actually accomplishes more than if he had kept the
whole amount. (Divine economy sounds like madness to the unbeliever!)
Christians have, at
all points in history, been in conflict with the establishment. They have never
been happy with the prevailing culture, because the culture has always been
based on non-Biblical foundations. When Jesus clashed with the religious
priests, he also clashed with the culture of his day. He stood before Herod and
Pilate on charges that challenged the system they were a part of. Caesar was
challenged, the cultural power-structure was challenged, the order of society
from rich to poor was challenged, the payment of taxes, the place of the sick,
and the place of economics were all held up as being in need of reform.
As the supreme
evangelist, Jesus was rejected from society, libelled, slandered and accused.
He was threatened and abused. He provoked the anger of hundreds of people
simply because he lived the way he was supposed to and they did not. This is
what it quite often, but not always, means to be a Christian, and it should not
come as a surprise. If it happened to the supreme leader of Christianity, why
should his followers be immune?
The first evangelists.
The
The following is a
summary of the sort of preaching which Paul worked at. He was an example to all
Christians in his methods and enthusiasm:
- Paul spent about two years in
- He spent all day arguing with
Jewish theologians (Acts 28:23)
- He talked all night till daybreak
(Acts 20:7-11)
- At Pisidian
- He argued with passers by in the
marketplace at Athens, held discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus and
entered into extended dialogue with Felix and Agrippa (Acts 17:17, 24:10, 26:1)
- Different Greek words show us the
sort of effort which went into this preaching:
Diamarturesthai = to testify strenuously (used in Acts 2:40,
8:25, 10:42, 18:5, 23:11, etc)
Kataggellian = to proclaim forcefully (Acts 4:2, 13:15, 38,
15:36, etc)
Dialegesthai = to argue
(Acts 17:2, 17, 18:4, 19:8,9, 24:25)
Diakateleuchein = to confute powerfully (Acts 18:28)
Euaggelizein = joyful proclamation of good news (Acts 5:42,
8:11,12,25,35,40, etc)
- Sometimes Paul preached by patiently comparing scripture
with scripture, to help an
enquirer. (Acts 9:29, 17:3, 9:22)
- Sometimes a word is used in the Greek which means ‘the
utter defeat of an
objector’ “sunchunein” (Acts 9:22)
- Early preaching meant far more than a mere proclamation.
It meant the able defence of the truth, using the intelligence and a skilful
use of Scripture. It came out of careful study and hard work, and it resulted
in clear teaching and patient discussion.
- Finally, Acts 5:21, 25, 28 and 5:42 combine both teaching
and preaching in the same phrase.
Christians
are, and have always been inconsistent. They have ideals which they never
reach, and they preach a message which is so radical no individual or society
has ever managed to embrace it completely. The best church fellowships are
always wanting in some area. No Christian has ever presented a perfect, totally
balanced witness. It is always like clay pretending to be gold, but at least
Christians can point at some of the things they have collectively achieved over
the centuries. For example:
Christianity
has always had a civilising effect. Where it goes, superstition and destructive
lifestyles are changed for the better. Animism and the occult are banished,
self-destructive bondage is broken.
Christianity
has given scientists the correct basis from which to study the physical world.
For hundreds of years Christians have led the way in the fields of science,
medicine, industry, commerce and all aspects of culture.
Christianity
has been the great motivator of good works and self-sacrifice for others.
Christianity
has led the way with teaching the poor and helping them with agriculture,
medicine, schooling, housing, diet, and so on. Without looking for a return,
Christians of high qualification have repeatedly given up lucrative careers to
help the weak and oppressed.
Christians
have been behind the great reforms in civilization. They have established such
movements as the Salvation Army, the YW and YMCA, the Samaritans, Radio and TV
stations, Alcoholics Anonymous, Life-line, Drug Rehab and many others. As well
as this they have set up and run the British and Foreign Bible Society and many
others.
This is not to say
that Christians have a monopoly on good works. Far from it! Cults and
religions, atheists and agnostics, all do many good works, but Christianity is
by far the greatest motivator because Christianity is taps directly into the
Source of Goodness. It also has a lot more than good works to bring to the
world. Behind the good works done by Christians is a power, which drives
the good works as a motor drives a vehicle. (Unbelievers glorify God in their
good works too, but only because whatever is done that is good is a reflection
of God who is Good like free water:
everyone may drink it and benefit from it, but nobody owns the spring.)
Conclusion.
David Watson once
wrote “Having known the love of Jesus in my own life for many years, and having
seen the revolution of love taking place in the lives of hundreds and thousands
of people whom I have personally met or known, I can never, never understand
why some people do not want to get involved. There is nothing so beautiful or
totally satisfying as the love of Jesus. It is always fresh and new, and it is
a love which never fails”.