Christians?

[th1b.taylor]

Heb 11:1 Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen.
Heb 11:2 For therein the elders had witness borne to them.
Heb 11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen hath not been made out of things which appear.


There are many kinds and types of Christians today but there is only one that will enter into the Kingdom of God. Abraham followed God, by faith, into a land he had never seen that he and Sarah could become the parents of a great nation. Abraham believed God in spite of the truth of their inability to produce a single offspring before they were about fifty years past the age of birthing a child.


When we study the entire Bible and discard the Oxymoron Ideology of a New Testament Christian, we are taught from the beginning to the end of scripture that we are to have the same “small child-like” faith in God, the Father that we had in our dads when we were 2 to 8 or better years old. Do you remember when your dad knew everything there was to know in the world and he could beat the socks off of Super-man, Bat-man and all the Super Heroes of the Justice League at the same time?


I do! And it is that complete and unreserved faith of a small child that we are to place in God! The doctors tell me that I'm in the final stage of MS and have removed me from the terrible meds they use to fight the disease and I'm happy as a lark... I'm going home! I was saved a little over twenty-one years ago and I have been home-sick ever since. Unlike Paul and John, I have not been to Heaven, neither in spirit nor in body and yet My heart aches to be there! Now, the doctors are foolish for believing they could keep me alive and for believing that they can know when I will die. (Read the book of Job.) God, my Adopted Father, has known that from before the Earth was created but there is no man that knows such things!


And, finally, on this matter of defining a Christian. This is a very dangerous area to walk into in the culture of today, a man can have his fellowship removed at the drop of a hat in this area... requiring both self examination and the examining of one's friends! I am familiar with these reactions, having been kicked out of one church and being banned from a few web sites that have moved over to a “liberal” view of the scriptures. The ?pastor? that booted my family, I should mention, has had his license removed and can no longer preach in a Missionary Baptist Church, even though I did no more than to pray for God's love and leading for the Church Family there. The web sites? I'll not mention them either because there can be no profit for me in Heaven for such and they are prayed for to become aware of the truth of God and to cease leading the Lost into a false sense of security.


So, how do we know a Christian from a pretender? Remember the World's favorite scripture? If you live your life for Christ, you have had Matthew 7:1 used to quiet and to shut your mouth. The truth of the matter is exactly the opposite of the misuse of that single verse ripped out of context, we are to judge by the same standards we wish to be judged by. Couple this with Philippians 2 telling us to work out (to practice) our salvation in our daily lives and it is clearly seen that a Christian, a follower of the Christ, lives as much like Jesus as he or she can and is daily getting closer to perfect.

 

[Rach1370]

The doctors tell me that I'm in the final stage of MS and have removed me from the terrible meds they use to fight the disease and I'm happy as a lark... I'm going home! I was saved a little over twenty-one years ago and I have been home-sick ever since. Unlike Paul and John, I have not been to Heaven, neither in spirit nor in body and yet My heart aches to be there! Now, the doctors are foolish for believing they could keep me alive and for believing that they can know when I will die. (Read the book of Job.) God, my Adopted Father, has known that from before the Earth was created but there is no man that knows such things!

My grandpa just passed, and the amazing comfort I have knowing that he is now with Jesus soothes me like nothing else could. I know he is not gone, just not here!! I will see him again one day. I very much hope your family is drawing on the same comfort! As Paul tells us...'to live is Christ, but to die is gain!' I often long for that day myself, when I see Jesus face to face and the struggles of this world are gone....of course, I probably have many years before that day (although, yep, only God truly knows the day!).
It's been so nice reading your posts here, how faithful they are to scripture. God bless!

So, how do we know a Christian from a pretender? Remember the World's favorite scripture? If you live your life for Christ, you have had Matthew 7:1 used to quiet and to shut your mouth. The truth of the matter is exactly the opposite of the misuse of that single verse ripped out of context, we are to judge by the same standards we wish to be judged by. Couple this with Philippians 2 telling us to work out (to practice) our salvation in our daily lives and it is clearly seen that a Christian, a follower of the Christ, lives as much like Jesus as he or she can and is daily getting closer to perfect.

I would say that we can know a true Christian by their 'fruits', wouldn't you? If people claim to be saved, but only produce fruit of this world, then we can honestly conclude that something is not right!
As far as 'judging'...well, I feel the Bible does tell us to be careful, in that we should not be hypocrites. But it also tells us that we must be discerning. The truth of the matter is that as Christians we must discriminate a bit. The wolf in sheeps clothing must be kept out of the Church...stopped from doing harm to the flock. The sexual preditor must be kept away from our children, the abusive away from our daughters. We must discern about more mundane things, like government and teaching issues...perhaps more mundane, but in the end it can have just as devistating effects on Christian freedom. These are all things that we must stand up for, that we must wisely make a choice for or against. Is this making a judgment against a person or peoples? Sometimes....but the Bible does call for it, and had past Christians ignored it then very likely we would be living in a country just like Iran at the moment.
Always prayerfully, always Biblically....but discernment is a must.

 

[th1b.taylor]

My grandpa just passed, and the amazing comfort I have knowing that he is now with Jesus soothes me like nothing else could. I know he is not gone, just not here!! I will see him again one day. I very much hope your family is drawing on the same comfort! As Paul tells us...'to live is Christ, but to die is gain!' I often long for that day myself, when I see Jesus face to face and the struggles of this world are gone....of course, I probably have many years before that day (although, yep, only God truly knows the day!).
It's been so nice reading your posts here, how faithful they are to scripture. God bless!



I would say that we can know a true Christian by their 'fruits', wouldn't you? If people claim to be saved, but only produce fruit of this world, then we can honestly conclude that something is not right!
As far as 'judging'...well, I feel the Bible does tell us to be careful, in that we should not be hypocrites. But it also tells us that we must be discerning. The truth of the matter is that as Christians we must discriminate a bit. The wolf in sheeps clothing must be kept out of the Church...stopped from doing harm to the flock. The sexual preditor must be kept away from our children, the abusive away from our daughters. We must discern about more mundane things, like government and teaching issues...perhaps more mundane, but in the end it can have just as devistating effects on Christian freedom. These are all things that we must stand up for, that we must wisely make a choice for or against. Is this making a judgment against a person or peoples? Sometimes....but the Bible does call for it, and had past Christians ignored it then very likely we would be living in a country just like Iran at the moment.
Always prayerfully, always Biblically....but discernment is a must.

I have lived a full life with a string of medals to hang on my chest if I choose to do so and God has always blessed me with people of like mind as my partners and friends. My wife is rock solid in her faith in the LORD and has already told me I had better be right there by the Jordan when she crosses. Of course it is just as you have said, only my Savior knows the hour of my crossing... the doctors can only stand by and guess.

God bless.

 

[Amazing Grace]

Can I just ask one thing th1b.taylor?

You obviously have an older more conservative understanding of the Bible, not that of today where we get lots of variations away from the preaching of Old.

I became a Chrsitian many years ago, longer than yourself. I became a Christian through Protestant teaching and the various Protestant Churches I have attended over the years are conservative but well grounded in the Bible.

In your understanding of receiving Christ in this way do you also have a belief of repentance.

I was brought to Christ at a time where it was not uncommon to go to any kind of good Bible based Protestant Church and you would always hear about repentance when they preach about salvation.

I have mentioned already I am old school in my faith and understanding of God's Word.

2CO 7:8 Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it--I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while-- 9 yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. 10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

I only ask because I have noticed the absence of the teaching of repentance these days.

I am pleased you have such a peace with your sickness and situtation. I have a number of chronic illnesses and just beat cancer. God does give us His peace so we are able to cope with them. Praying for the Lord to sustain you through the days ahead. Amen

PS I am not writing expecting you to agree with me if you do not. Sorry if my wording sounds like that. I was just sort of thinking out loud after I read your post. I thought I would ask as I am curious what other people think about repentance?

 

[th1b.taylor]

Can I just ask one thing th1b.taylor?

You obviously have an older more conservative understanding of the Bible, not that of today where we get lots of variations away from the preaching of Old.

I became a Chrsitian many years ago, longer than yourself. I became a Christian through Protestant teaching and the various Protestant Churches I have attended over the years are conservative but well grounded in the Bible.

In your understanding of receiving Christ in this way do you also have a belief of repentance.

I was brought to Christ at a time where it was not uncommon to go to any kind of good Bible based Protestant Church and you would always hear about repentance when they preach about salvation.

I have mentioned already I am old school in my faith and understanding of God's Word.



I only ask because I have noticed the absence of the teaching of repentance these days.

I am pleased you have such a peace with your sickness and situtation. I have a number of chronic illnesses and just beat cancer. God does give us His peace so we are able to cope with them. Praying for the Lord to sustain you through the days ahead. Amen

PS I am not writing expecting you to agree with me if you do not. Sorry if my wording sounds like that. I was just sort of thinking out loud after I read your post. I thought I would ask as I am curious what other people think about repentance?

I do agree with you because the scriptures teach us that without repentence there is "no" salvation. i.e. I was a popular local CW singer before I was saved. Today you will never see me in a Juke Joint nor will you see me with a Turkey 101 and water-by. If there is no change there is no salvation!

 

[aspen]

It is interesting....I have been accused of not placing enough emphasis on repentance, as well. I can see why Christians have misunderstood what I am saying on this subject because I tend to focus on love rather than restraining oneself from sin and constantly taking inventory of all the bad things that one has done during the day. I do this because I do not think repentance taught correctly in most Christian circles.

Repentance means to turn from sin - being born again means to become a new creature. A new creature that views the world from God's perspective - love. If you are loving perfectly, you cannot sin. Now, this can be misunderstood - I am not talking about enabling others, accepting people's sin, permissiveness - none of these things are examples of love - they are self-love. Not wanting to "rock the boat", being silent in the face of evil, being permissive with our children's bad behavior are all for our benefit, at the expense of our neighbors. Loving perfectly, is not something we can possible do on our own - it requires a relationship with Jesus - He has to teach us to love perfectly through justification and sanctification - and we need to practice!

So, becoming justified - a new creature in Christ means looking at the world through a new lens. Restraining yourself from sinful behavior is looking at the world through an old lens - and it ends up hurting people and it is completely ineffective. People who struggle with addiction understand this idea - the more you try not to use the better chance you will be engaged in the practice.

So, repentance is important! It is critical to recognize your sin as where you failed to love perfectly so that you can rely on Christ to teach you how.

 

[Amazing Grace]

It is interesting....I have been accused of not placing enough emphasis on repentance, as well. I can see why Christians have misunderstood what I am saying on this subject because I tend to focus on love rather than restraining oneself from sin and constantly taking inventory of all the bad things that one has done during the day. I do this because I do not think repentance taught correctly in most Christian circles.

Repentance means to turn from sin - being born again means to become a new creature. A new creature that views the world from God's perspective - love. If you are loving perfectly, you cannot sin. Now, this can be misunderstood - I am not talking about enabling others, accepting people's sin, permissiveness - none of these things are examples of love - they are self-love. Not wanting to "rock the boat", being silent in the face of evil, being permissive with our children's bad behavior are all for our benefit, at the expense of our neighbors. Loving perfectly, is not something we can possible do on our own - it requires a relationship with Jesus - He has to teach us to love perfectly through justification and sanctification - and we need to practice!

So, becoming justified - a new creature in Christ means looking at the world through a new lens. Restraining yourself from sinful behavior is looking at the world through an old lens - and it ends up hurting people and it is completely ineffective. People who struggle with addiction understand this idea - the more you try not to use the better chance you will be engaged in the practice.

So, repentance is important! It is critical to recognize your sin as where you failed to love perfectly so that you can rely on Christ to teach you how.

Yes Aspen I would agree with you and I love how you summarized repentance at the end here (highlighted in blue).