@pb1022 saidYou may think it's the "Holy Spirit dwelling" in you, but I think it's actually just your online disinhibition syndrome that makes you feel entitled to personal information.
Nor am I interested in it. And nor would I believe it based on the lies you’ve told in here and your casual relationship with the truth.
@kellyjay saidFirst of all, I think the word "genuine" is a bit of a red herring. In this context, it's little more than an intensifier word connected to competing assertions, used in discourse, like the words "real" and "true".
How do you define a 'genuine Christian'? What is it that is lost if we say we lost our faith?
Secondly, the way that Christian faith permeates a believer's life ~ and manifests itself ~ will vary from person to person: there are as many ways to walk the Christian walk as there are Christians ~ it's a highly personal thing.
So, with those two provisos in mind, but set aside for the moment, I'd say the bare bones of what a Christian is are as follows.
A Christian is defined by his or her beliefs with regard to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
A Christian believes that God sent his son Jesus, the messiah, to save the world.
A Christian believes that Jesus was crucified and died in order to offer the forgiveness of sins and the opportunity for what they see as "salvation".
A Christian believes that Jesus rose from the dead and later ascended to heaven.
A Christian believes these things and endeavours to obey God's commandments, including those that Jesus is believed to have stipulated while he was alive, and demonstrate, by doing good works, that their faith is not dead.
Not every Christian subscribes to that last one.
There may be more tenets that some denominations add [or subtract] from those basic shared beliefs.
If one stops believing in these things and their significance, then one might be said to have lost their faith. And whatever ways that this Christian faith had permeated the believer's life and manifested itself will cease.
@josephw saidYou have spent almost all your time indulging in sanctimonious trash talk and often commenting on how much you revel in doing so. For you to mention "Jesus" in the context of how you choose to conduct yourself sounds really tawdry. You let yourself down. Constantly.
Well, before I lose this thread into oblivion, I just want you to know that I have given my very best to try to make you see the excellency of knowing Jesus, not just as savior, but as Lord.
@fmf saidThank you for your answer.
First of all, I think the word "genuine" is a bit of a red herring. In this context, it's little more than an intensifier word connected to competing assertions, used in discourse, like the words "real" and "true".
Secondly, the way that Christian faith permeates a believer's life ~ and manifests itself ~ will vary from person to person: there are as many ways to walk the Chr ...[text shortened]... r ways that this Christian faith had permeated the believer's life and manifested itself will cease.
There is an issue with it; however, it resides with us alone.
Christianity is something that comes to us from the outside.
Christianity is Christ in us, something that occurs from outside us, that occurs to us.
If it is all us, if it is just our mindsets, it is no different than being a Republican, Democrat, conservative, liberal, or progressive any other label of ideology out there. Salvation would only be how we figure out to deal with our guilt, our regrets.
While in our history, we see people who encountered God who became a man to redeem us. They wrote things that we can look at and see when He came into our world as one of us.
John 3:11
Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.
Acts 2:32
This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.
1 Peter 5:1
So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed:
We trust God, or we don't; faith is not about us, but who we put our faith in, Jesus Christ, one who is a sure foundation or something else, another, or ourselves, all of which falls short of Christ.
@fmf saidIt's the nature of this forum.
You have spent almost all your time indulging in sanctimonious trash talk and often commenting on how much you revel in doing so. For you to mention "Jesus" in the context of how you choose to conduct yourself sounds really tawdry. You let yourself down. Constantly.
The truth will out.
In spite of your objections to it.
1 edit
@kellyjay said
Thank you for your answer.
There is an issue with it; however, it resides with us alone.
Christianity is something that comes to us from the outside.
Christianity is Christ in us, something that occurs from outside us, that occurs to us.
I have a feeling that you are seeking a definition of Christianity that is tailored to reflect exactly what you believe about yourself and, perhaps, in so doing, exclude millions and millions of fellow Christians who are not exactly-the-same-as-you enough to qualify.
I anticipated this because you used the word "genuine" and I thought you were intent on being totally subjective ~ not the best way to be when defining something as broad and diverse as 'being a Christian'.
Christianity is something that comes to us from the outside. Christianity is Christ in us, something that occurs from outside us, that occurs to us.
Like I said, the way that Christian faith permeates a believer's life and thoughts, and manifests itself in deed and in word, will vary from person to person: there are as many ways to walk the Christian walk as there are Christians ~ it's a highly personal thing.
The same goes for how you articulate your perception of these deep-seated beliefs, their source, and their effect. You can riff on the "it's from the outside" thing and the "it occurs from outside us" thing. And that's your prerogative.
But, as important as those descriptors may be to you personally, adding them to the definition I offered doesn't really augment what I wrote.
@kellyjay saidI think each Christian can articulate how they see their faith - its foundation, its source, and how they see it affecting them - in whatever way they want, as you are doing here. I don't see how my definition above contradicts or excludes your declaration that: "We trust God... faith is not about us, but who we put our faith in...Jesus Christ".
We trust God, or we don't; faith is not about us, but who we put our faith in, Jesus Christ, one who is a sure foundation or something else, another, or ourselves, all of which falls short of Christ.
@fmf saidIt is exactly what the scriptures teach, we are to test ourselves.There is an issue with it; however, it resides with us alone.
Christianity is something that comes to us from the outside.
Christianity is Christ in us, something that occurs from outside us, that occurs to us.
I have a feeling that you are seeking a definition of Christianity that is tailored to reflect exactly what you believe about yourself and, perhaps ...[text shortened]... y be to you personally, adding them to the definition I offered doesn't really augment what I wrote.
2 Corinthians 3:3
And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
Romans 8:9
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
Romans 8:11
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
1 Corinthians 1:9
God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
2 Corinthians 3:3
And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
2 Corinthians 13:5
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!