Spotting a Christian - What to Look For

Submitted by M. Tovey (United States), Aug 9, 2011 at 11:35

Spotting a Christian – PART II

It became apparent that the earlier response was insufficient to the task of answering your inquiries, for the reasons I am sure you have already contemplated. I am keenly aware of the way I communicate in English as being complicated and hard to understand; it has been called arcane by some: acknowledged. In that it is so, an attempt at simplicity appears called for, if not anticipated.

Let us return to these parsed phrases of yours, of your (rhetorical?) inquiry "would it not have been better to give that 'biblical' understanding rather than verses you know I do not believe in?" And again, " on a theological point – Muslims fail to understand why Christians think that God has to lower Himself and not the other way around – Humans have to rise up to meet understanding of divinity…..", following with, "I cannot fathom that one…." and "that is why I describe Christianity as among the weakest faiths. It is illogical to the extreme."

You make the statement elsewhere that the force and effect of Christianity has no value in these times, thereby using this ideological theme as a reason for the supplanting of Islam as a religion for your cause. But in doing so, the same mistake is made that even certain of the 'Christian practice' do as well, forgetting that Jesus Christ does not call for followers to practice religion, but calls for relationship based solely on faith in His love.

I am sure you are aware of the phrase, "religion is the opiate of the masses," penned by Karl Marx I am told for his reasoning (reasoning of a theological student) that religion failed him in trying to understand how humanity is to relate to Almighty God. Human reasoning, even under the guise of religion, will always fail to understand Almighty God and His relation with mankind.

Read the Biblical words of Jesus Christ and realize even He taught against religion, realizing further that Christianity was never meant to be ritualistically religious in practice, but that the relationship He developed with His followers was founded in the love the Father has for those He calls His own. Christianity is therefore not supposed to be about religion. When it is caught up in religious debate, it has no more standing as a religion as any other that does not deal with the loss of relationship that mankind lost with Almighty God in the beginning because of sin. That message was clouded by the time of the Islamic Prophet, so it should be no wonder he did not get it.

But now there is that word: sin! Recognizing that humanity is mortal, that death is as sure as there is birth and life, how that word sin interferes with religion in life is as problematic now as it ever has been. Why, we ask? It is because we ARE sinful creatures. And since we are, that we need redemption as told by Jesus Christ is a reality that religion cannot help us solve. But truly, what should this mean beyond the debates of which religion is better than the other? Is this not the basis of your statements: "would it not have been better to give that 'biblical' understanding rather than verses you know I do not believe in?" And again, " on a theological point – Muslims fail to understand why Christians think that God has to lower Himself and not the other way around – Humans have to rise up to meet understanding of divinity…..", following with, "I cannot fathom that one…." and "that is why I describe Christianity as among the weakest faiths. It is illogical to the extreme."

Faith from the human perpsective is weak (Jesus Christ even said so!); but it is the returning of faith from Almighty god that gives faith its strength for belief.

So, not to make too fine of a point of it, Biblical understanding does give an advantage if one really desires to know what Jesus Christ is trying to do for us. Let me put it this way. Jesus Christ gave me freedom of choice, to escape the trapping of religion and to seek His truth free of the religiosity that was ingrained from my youth. His truth set my mind free of the human reasoning that so easily blocks our access to a relationship with Almighty God. I could not reach God in my own understanding, my own reasoning. Go back to Job, who had a talking relationship with Jehovah, could not argue with Almighty God, even as he had better reasons to believe he had been wronged, though not wronged by Almighty God. Just as Job realized he needed his Redeemer, I came to that same realization and found no human argument was ever going to set me free from my sin. Only Jesus Christ could, and did, set me free.

Religion does not set anyone free; rather it traps an individual in ritualistic bondage of the mindset that some action or reasoning of humanity can be good enough for Almighty God to accept that person. Religion, no matter if 'Christianesque' or otherwise, cannot set anyone free, spiritually or otherwise. Only faith in Jesus Christ, belief in His Gospel of His death on the cross and His resurrection to redeem us from sin is the means to freedom. Want to spot a Christian that truly has freedom from religion? You can't, unless you are looking to share the same freedom that gives internal peace of mind, the freedom that comes only by sharing the love of Jesus Christ, just as He has said we must. Want to spot a Christian that truly has that relationship? See that he/she is obedient to the truth of Jesus Christ and is willing to share that love with you.

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