Are people who call themselves Christians Christ like?

[Justin Mangonel]

Dear All,

With regaurds to those who are not yet Christians is it really good for them to meet the average Christian? Do we provide a good example for them to follow? I wrote a song once that went.

Been there done that doin it tomarrow
You can't tell me nothing that I don't already know
My minds made up and its closed for the season
Besides all you've got is a religious show.

Been there done that it seems kind of shallow
you lay down the law but you break all the rules
The preacher man taught us all the rules to follow
but it was do as I say not do as I do

But if you'd show me Jesus Christ
The things he said seem so right
And if what He said was true
I'd want to follow Him too

But the thing I can't understand
And what confuses the common man
Is that the Jesus we all see
We wouldn't want to be

 

[Arnie Manitoba]

The first mistake is to think we are "christ like" ..... whoever came up with that slogan is terribly misguided. .... only Christ is christ like.

we are terrible sinners who have been forgiven by christ ..... and we should be telling the unsaved they can be too ..... pretending we are christ like is fake and phony and the unsaved know it ..... they are not fools .... but they think we are and i dont blame them

 

[Justin Mangonel]

Dear A,

Amen,

Blessings,

Justin

 

[7angels]

to me all your song tells me is that there are a lot of wanna-be christians out there. anyone that says we are not to be christ-like goes against scripture. whose fault is it that we don't live as the word tells us too?

God bless

 

[InquisitiveAgnostic]

In my experience, the Christians I have met have been no better or worse than any other demographic.

 

[Justin Mangonel]

Dear I,

Are you therefore agnostic because you have not met any real Christians or are you just agnostic because the implications of believing anything else requires a change of lifestyle on your part?

 

[Arnie Manitoba]

I think as Christians we certainly should be different .... we are forgiven which releases a heavy burden .... plus we have the HS inside helping us overcome our sinful nature , .... and we have a brighter outlook because our future looks positive.

But we are no better than the non-christian in the sense that we simply have something that they do not know about (salvation)

When we think we are better than the Christian next door it means we have been examining them instead of examining ourselves.

Our sinful nature enjoys examining the neighbour .... it is much more fun than examining ourselves

The proper Christian model is for us to examine ourselves with prompting from the HS living in us.

But that is not as much fun so we are always on the lookout for someone who "is a little bit worse" than we are .

And then we say "I'm not like him"

 

[Justin Mangonel]

Dear A,

Well said.

Blessings,

Justin

 

[Selene]

Dear All,

With regaurds to those who are not yet Christians is it really good for them to meet the average Christian? Do we provide a good example for them to follow? I wrote a song once that went.

Been there done that doin it tomarrow
You can't tell me nothing that I don't already know
My minds made up and its closed for the season
Besides all you've got is a religious show.

Been there done that it seems kind of shallow
you lay down the law but you break all the rules
The preacher man taught us all the rules to follow
but it was do as I say not do as I do

But if you'd show me Jesus Christ
The things he said seem so right
And if what He said was true
I'd want to follow Him too

But the thing I can't understand
And what confuses the common man
Is that the Jesus we all see
We wouldn't want to be

As Christians, we are supposed to follow Christ. We are called to be "like Christ" because God DID call us to be holy because He is holy (Leviticus 19:2) and to be perfect for He is perfect (Matthew 5:48). However, we cannot be holy and perfect on our own. Only God can make us holy and perfect because with God all things are possible. There are very very few true Christians who walk this kind of path. If there had been more Christians who were like Christ, Ghandi may have been converted. As Ghandi once stated, "I like your Christ, but I don't like your Christians." It's too bad he did not meet people like Mother Theresa or Archbishop Anastasios or others like them. The verity of a faith has nothing to do with the behavior of its adherents. In any Christian church, the wheat and tares will grow together, but you can know whether a believer is a true believer by seeing whether they bear fruit or not.

 

[Justin Mangonel]

Dear S,

Very well said.

I read somewhere that Gandhi wanted to attend a Christian meeting once but was turned away because he was Indian.

I think that people need examples of what a true Christian is in real life so that they can see how it is done. What speaks most powerfully to others around us is how we act in different circumstances. If we let Christ in us come forth and react as He would like rather than what seems good to us then people will be encouraged to do the same.

One woman told me of walking home from the grocery store with some food. She felt to go to a certain woman's place and give them some of what she had. She felt compelled to do this even though it was out of her way. When she arrived she found the family had nothing to eat since morning. That was Jesus in action through her and I believe that those people and especially the children never forgot that God remembered them through His servant than day. These types of small obediences are sometimes more powerful than words.

Blessings,

Justin

 

[Streetsweeper]

27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
Genesis 1:27

It is often observed that humankind is made in God's image, but I have rarely heard a good explanation of what this means.

I think a big chunk of our being that is in God's image is also what we should be developing to make ourselves more Christ-like.


Earlier this year my church did a series on Genesis and my study group spent quite a lot of time considering what it means to be made in God's image. As we were discussing the topic I remembered a thread on a Muslim forum about differences between Islam and Christianity.

The Muslims were claiming that Islam was a much more rational faith because it has clear rules that believers are expected to follow. They know [believe] that if they follow the rules they can be assured of eternal life. I was asked, 'what rules do Christians follow to be confident of eternal life'?

My response was that the Bible provides guidance for our lives, but that guidance does not specify compliance as the criterion for salvation. Christianity as a religion is concerned with relationships rather than rules.

Being made in the image of God I believe means we have been made with the capacity to have a relationship with God. Being made in Gods image is not a matter of being fat or thin, smart or dumb, handsome or ugly.

Being Christ-like is about the scope and quality of our relationships with God and with each other.

Of course there are plenty of Christians who have disastrous relationships, and there are non-Christians who have wonderful relationships. That's okay. As Christians we have faith in Christ for our salvation, and Christ is our model for living and improving our relationships.

Christ-like!
Am I there yet?
Not bloody likely, but God has created me with an ability to relate to Him and to others.
When I have the perfect relationship with Jesus then, I may be Christ-like.

 

[Arnie Manitoba]

One woman told me of walking home from the grocery store with some food. She felt to go to a certain woman's place and give them some of what she had. She felt compelled to do this even though it was out of her way. When she arrived she found the family had nothing to eat since morning. That was Jesus in action through her and I believe that those people and especially the children never forgot that God remembered them through His servant than day. These types of small obediences are sometimes more powerful than words.

Blessings,

Justin

.
Excellent .... I think that is a perfect example of the Holy Spirit in action in a Christian. That's the way it should be .... God himself sets it up

It has been my experience those promptings do not always seem enjoyable or make sense at the time ..... but a moment later we say .... aha !!! .... the Lord had his hand in it

 

[Justin Mangonel]

Dear A,

Amen,

Bessings,

Justin

 

[InquisitiveAgnostic]

Back from the family Christmas gathering

Justin,

I have met many christians. My great uncle was even a Dean at a seminary college and another was a missionary in New Guinea. I just haven't found christians to be any different than other people.

As for the Agnosticism, I just use that label because the existence of a god is unknowable. For all intents and purposes I'm an athiest.

 

[Arnie Manitoba]

Back from the family Christmas gathering

Justin,

I have met many christians. My great uncle was even a Dean at a seminary college and another was a missionary in New Guinea. I just haven't found christians to be any different than other people.

As for the Agnosticism, I just use that label because the existence of a god is unknowable. For all intents and purposes I'm an athiest.

.
Hope you had a good christmas.

i agree we are all quite similar .... but there can be some significant differences

I do not entrust one split second of my future to darwin and his monkeys.

do you ?

 

[InquisitiveAgnostic]

Well thank you, I had a great time!

The 'Darwin and his monkeys' statement is a little rediculous , but I do believe the theory of evolution is true. It not only accurately explains the reason we have variation in species, but also why species continue to change and evolve through the present day. It also explains why many animals have vestigial organs, 'junk' DNA chromosome fusions, why we can cross breed certain animals and not others, why inbreeding causes birth defects and it can all be tested.

-I have to go, but if you want to continue this discussion send me a PM I don't want to derail another thread lol

 

[Justin Mangonel]

Dear I,

Thanks for explaining where you are coming from. That helps to understand what you say a bit better.

For me, I simply could not deal with the notion that when I die that is all there is. I once was watching a program and a young astrophysicist was saying that there were perhaps fifty billion galaxies each containing on average a hundred million stars. She ended up by saying "it helps to know my place in the universe." I thought to myself that there is no word in our language that coveys how utterly insignificant that made her seem. I don't know how believing that you existence was simply random change and meaningless was comforting. Do you take comfort is such knowledge and if so I would be interested to know why. After all, after a few hundred years there will be no trace of you except some genetics (if you leave children) and some stray atoms from your decomposed corpse.

I was listening to a nurse one day who was often called to help people when they were passing away. She said that those who did not know God often fought death and died in terror while those who had faith often slipped away peacefully with a presence in the room that she swore was angelic. Do you feel you will face death peacefully and that at the time that you will breath you last that you will accept your end with peace?

I find it interesting that even though you have people who were really sold out to their belief system that you came along and decided what they so fervently believed is was essentially false. Was there a specific event that turned you away from that family tradition or did you never have the desire in the first place. I wonder if some people are predestined to miss salvation like Pharaoh. That would be a terrible thought that you were predestined to hell. It would violate the concept of free will.

So, if you are an atheist (more or less) what draws you to come on a forum such as this? Are you here to convince others of your philosophical persuasion? Are you here to see if anyone can "prove you wrong." I find it difficult to believe you actually are looking for someone to prove God does exist because that would presuppose that you are in some conflict about your stand...which I don't really think is the case.

Obviously, you are really banking that you do indeed cease to exist when you die because if there is life after death then that does present some difficulties to your position. You must not think that eternal punishment is real.

I guess, on the net, it is difficult to know where people are coming from and what are the root causes of their refusal to know God. Sometimes it is because of a sense of betrayal due to something terrible happening to them. If God was real they think He should have shown up when they needed Him. Sometimes it is lifestyle choices that are incompatible with Christian doctrine and so they reject the notion of God in order to not deal with the judgment of what they are doing.

I do agree that some Christians are, by and large, not a lot different than other people you might meet...especially in America. However, having a missionary in your family tree you must have heard some amazing stories from them. To me a Christian is someone who hears the voice of God and does His will. There is active interaction between them and God.

So I don't know what is your beef with God or with religion that would cause you to reject what so many plainly accept. However, I do know that we will both find out the truth in not too many years. I am banking on the blood of Jesus Christ to wash clean of the sins that I have committed and you are banking on ceasing to exist. I am sure you have heard it said before that if you are right then we both are in the same boat but if Christ was right then you are in a whole world of hurt.

In conclusion, one day God spoke to me during the middle of the winter when my business was doing poorly. I had only enough funds to make payroll for the week. God told me to put in five more phones that day. I obeyed and spent my employees payroll money on adding five more phones to my system. My brother was furious with me. The next day, due to a large storm that happened to blow in that evening, everyone one of those phones was lit up and I had to call in extra family members to service them. I made a quarter of a million dollars over the next month or so. If I had not listened to the voice God I would have missed a lot of that business. Listening to God was a good business decision for me.

 

[Arnie Manitoba]

InquisitiveAgnostic, ....... I agree my darwin comment was out of place ....... i use it sometimes tongue-in-cheek to my athiest-evolutionist freinds

if they ridicule the fact that I put all my trust in Jesus Christ ..... I ridicule them for putting all their trust in Darwin and his monkeys

it makes them stop and think for a minute

 

[InquisitiveAgnostic]

Arnie, use Richard Dawkins. He's contemporary lol

Justin: I know exactly what you mean about being terrified that there is nothing after death. It's actually my greatest fear and has kept me up for more nights than I can count.

However, on the other hand...it also shows how utterly incredible existence is! The fact that I have consciousness because a line of organisms lived, died, fought, traveled and changed over billions of years is beyond unbelievable.

The fact that life is temporary and short means you have to experience it the best you can. It makes you respect life more knowing that you and everyone around you only gets one chance.

It's a source of little comfort, I admit. But it shows how special each second of anyone's life really is.

 

[Justin Mangonel]

Dear I,

Carpe Diem.

Blessings,

Justin