@thinkofone saidJesus said there are two commandments we must follow.
In your eyes, what are the requirements for being a true Christian?
"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." - Matthew 22:37-40 KJV
@thinkofone saidYes, unless you bring in the "belief" requirement as stated in John 3:16.
By that standard, wouldn't that make everyone a Christian?
It seems belief, whatever that means, is necessary.
@suzianne saidThat certainly leaves Trump's U.S.A. out. They love themselves as they love themselves and love money as they love themselves.
Jesus said there are two commandments we must follow.
"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." - Matthew 22:37-40 KJV
However that does leave some interesting questions:
At what point do Christians (by your definition) have their sins atoned for?
At what point do Christians receive the Holy Spirit?
At what point do Christians receive eternal life?
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@chaney3 saidYes, unless you bring in the "belief" requirement as stated in John 3:16.
Yes, unless you bring in the "belief" requirement as stated in John 3:16.
It seems belief, whatever that means, is necessary.
DG didn't. He said that "everything else is superfluous".
It seems belief, whatever that means, is necessary.
Since it's ambiguous, when it comes to that, people seem to make up whatever suits themselves.
If John 3:16 were spoken by Jesus, then it would mean belief in the words spoken by Jesus while He walked the Earth.
@ghost-of-a-duke saidThis is exactly why the Trinity and/or Godhead scenarios are suspect.
In John’s Gospel, Jesus uses the Greek verb pempein to refer to “the Father who sent me” no fewer than 24 times.
Many I believe while He walked the Earth.
Jesus and "the Father" seem to clearly be entirely separate entities.
-Removed-I think there is wriggle room for a different reading of those passages.
Mr X, for example, might say that he and Mr Y 'are one' in the sense that they are of a shared belief. (United/inseparable). Such an expression does not have to be taken literally. I think the same can also be said of “When you have seen me you have seen the father” (a figurative rather than a literal meaning).