Originally posted by FabianFnas
If I use Wikipedia, it wouldn't be much of a debate, would it?
I'm looking for a definition that we can agree upon. So when someone says "I'm a christian" I can tell if he is or not.
Like:
Does a christian have to believe in creationism?
Must a christian kill homosexuals, because it says so in the bible?
Must a christian be against abortion?
Is ...[text shortened]... can anyone say that "I am christian and therefore I have the truth about --- in my hand!"
To be a Chrstian is to receive the life of Christ.
Compare this to being a human. To be a human is to possess the human life.
To be a Christian is to possess the life of the resurrected Christ Who is Son of God.
Now having said that let's consider again being human. There are different ages of human and different degrees of growth and maturity in being a human. So it is with being a Christian.
There are baby humans. There are toddler humans. There are pre-adulescent humans. There are teenage humans. There are adult humans. And there are very mature humans.
Sometimes I think people think just arriving at being a Christian is the end all. Well, not completely. Suppose I said at the aqe of forty that the only thing I accomplished in my life was that I was born? That would not be too impressive on one hand.
"You mean that after forty years you are only impressed with the fact that you were
born a human? What else?"
So with being a Christian. It is wonderful to be
"born again" as a genuine Christian. But simply being
"born again" or a
"born again Christian" is not the end all of the Christian life. It is only the beginning.
Then there are naughty humans beings. And there are more successful human beings. So there are some naughty Christians and there are some successful Christians.
You may ask, "But haven't they ARRIVED? Are they not Christians?"
They have been born again -
regenerated. But once you are born again , just like being born naturally, you are expected to gradually grow and more and more LIVE by that life by which you were born.
As a born human grows, and if her growth is normal, her functions come more and more into use. So with being
born again. As the born again Christian matures, her or his life functions mature and come more into use.
There is retardation in human growth. One is born but for some sad reason is retarded. So with the spiritual life. One can be born again but be retarded as to the new life in Christ.
Of course as to being born again one has arrived at eternal redemption by the grace of God. That person will never perish forever but will have eternal life. But to be simply forgiven is not the goal of God for each one who is reborn in Christ. God's desire is that that new life would grow, spread, and saturate that person until thier soul is transformed into the same image as Christ.
So in this discussion on defining what and what not is a Christian, I would caution everyone. In the Bible simply arricing and being a Christian is not the sole end all of the matter. That is as true as not simply being born a human being is the end all of everything related to the human life.
Birth is the initiation. Birth is the beginning as far as LIVING by that life that you have received in a moment by moment and daily way.