interesting. are you asking what people think of Christians, what Christians are doing now, or who we should really be?
At the most basic level, I believe a Christian should be someone who is interested in learning more about Jesus. Wanting to understand His heart better so that they can better live their life in that same way.
Purpose? To continue His work. Loving people, taking care of one another, sharing His fathers story.
This might sound like your typical Bible answer, but honestly - where else should we go to answer this?
A Christian is someone who (this is all backed up by observable, scientific proof, by the way) is to vote, live in a big house, make lots of money, spend even more money, have 2 kids, and a dog, and a mortgage they can't afford.
hmm... the intriguing thing is that, when i read the bible i understand it to pretty much say what you wrote jen. but when i look at the culture of the church and how the majority of christians actually ARE living, it seems to be more like what blake said.
Christian?...hmmm, i think this is probably an important question.
I would say being a 'christian' isn't what God called us to. History has made a martyr of what Christianity was and is meant to be. Today we see in many places a 'christian culture' that finds western-Jesus holding a sheep and we just smile at his portrait as we pass it in the halls of church. Or we view Noah's journey in the ark where the world was wiped clean of everything except him, his family and a multitude of animals as a thing to laugh at with our children because he's in a boat. Sorry to cut it you but those waters were littered in decaying bloated bodies and what birds might have survived were probably feasting upon the filth. And we have misinformed church leaders that do more harm to the members because they are uncomfortable hearing about how God has allowed S#&T to happen in someone's life.
We may be in a 'christian' context, speaking to those who go to church (myself included) but it is something much deeper than just waking up to read your bible, having a smile on your face (because its the nice thing to do), going to church because your friends do and your parents when you lived with them told you to, or just saying to everyone you don't know (or do know) 'Jesus loves you, so...you should love him back'.
It doesn't suffice to just say that we as christians should learn more about him, or live our life in a way that loves people and shares His story. Don't get me wrong, it does involve that. What i'm saying, though, is that there is something unique about being christian, something about it that takes your whole being and more.
Boenhoffer said once 'when God calls someone, he calls them to die'. You might question, 'who is Boenhoffer...he probably has no clue about this whole Christian thing?' Well, he lived in the time of WW2 and while in America was mailed a letter from his dear friend in Germany, Karl Barth, saying that he should come back to germany to help with the 'spiritual battle'. So what did Boenhoffer do? He goes back and a little while later after feeling a call from God to be in on a plot to assasinate Hitler is put into a internment camp and killed as a prisoner. Whether it was right or wrong to be in on that plot i am not going to talk about. But Boenhoffer has a point. It takes everything and i mean everything when we follow God. And our very cultured existence as Christians in America doesn't undertand the urgency that God is calling us with.
'When God calls someone, he calls them to die?' Wait, i'm suppose to live for Christ, right? Progress his work in this world, right? What does Jesus say?
'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.'
What is the cross? what is Jesus telling these disciples? To face their death! To follow the road that finds no regard for themselves!
So, what does that mean, losing your life? Listening? Questioning? Being Attentive? Letting God Reveal Himself Through You? ...It's a hard question for anyone. What, in this culture (and probably many others) do we cling onto so much? Our self image? Our individuality? God says to deny it! Follow and obey (but use discernment, i wouldn't like to go through another Crusade)!
I think being a Christian is knowing the Bible, not just reading it...KNOWING it. Knowing who we are as 'children of God', and knowing what God wants of each of us, and in our gratitude of what he has done...respond in obedience. To lift each other up...by knowing the person on your left and right wherever you're at. Not just saying 'hi' to a person in the pews at church or anywhere else, but knowing how to love them by knowing them (and that takes time, all your time...if you let it).
When Jesus was doing his ministry around Gallilee, as you might observe in Mark, he is constantly on the move. Criss-crossing the sea and going all over the place. I'm not saying that you should loose sleep trying to reach everyone in the world at midnight, but you'll have enough time to rest when God takes you. And as for trying to be something important, as Mother Teresa says 'It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.' God call us to himself, and God calls us to love. So love, and love some more. It doesn't matter how you do it, just make sure that it's real.
What is the purpose of being a christian? Listening and obeying God, Loving and being a Jesus (what he actually was, not the happy tamed Jesus) to the people around us. In the early days, our religion was considered 'the way', boy have we lost track of that. It is a journey, and i'm not saying i am better that any other, but that we must work with what we have...or even that will be taken from us.
4 comments:
interesting. are you asking what people think of Christians, what Christians are doing now, or who we should really be?
At the most basic level, I believe a Christian should be someone who is interested in learning more about Jesus. Wanting to understand His heart better so that they can better live their life in that same way.
Purpose? To continue His work. Loving people, taking care of one another, sharing His fathers story.
This might sound like your typical Bible answer, but honestly - where else should we go to answer this?
A Christian is someone who (this is all backed up by observable, scientific proof, by the way) is to vote, live in a big house, make lots of money, spend even more money, have 2 kids, and a dog, and a mortgage they can't afford.
hmm... the intriguing thing is that, when i read the bible i understand it to pretty much say what you wrote jen. but when i look at the culture of the church and how the majority of christians actually ARE living, it seems to be more like what blake said.
interesting.
Christian?...hmmm, i think this is probably an important question.
I would say being a 'christian' isn't what God called us to. History has made a martyr of what Christianity was and is meant to be. Today we see in many places a 'christian culture' that finds western-Jesus holding a sheep and we just smile at his portrait as we pass it in the halls of church. Or we view Noah's journey in the ark where the world was wiped clean of everything except him, his family and a multitude of animals as a thing to laugh at with our children because he's in a boat. Sorry to cut it you but those waters were littered in decaying bloated bodies and what birds might have survived were probably feasting upon the filth. And we have misinformed church leaders that do more harm to the members because they are uncomfortable hearing about how God has allowed S#&T to happen in someone's life.
We may be in a 'christian' context, speaking to those who go to church (myself included) but it is something much deeper than just waking up to read your bible, having a smile on your face (because its the nice thing to do), going to church because your friends do and your parents when you lived with them told you to, or just saying to everyone you don't know (or do know) 'Jesus loves you, so...you should love him back'.
It doesn't suffice to just say that we as christians should learn more about him, or live our life in a way that loves people and shares His story. Don't get me wrong, it does involve that. What i'm saying, though, is that there is something unique about being christian, something about it that takes your whole being and more.
Boenhoffer said once 'when God calls someone, he calls them to die'. You might question, 'who is Boenhoffer...he probably has no clue about this whole Christian thing?' Well, he lived in the time of WW2 and while in America was mailed a letter from his dear friend in Germany, Karl Barth, saying that he should come back to germany to help with the 'spiritual battle'. So what did Boenhoffer do? He goes back and a little while later after feeling a call from God to be in on a plot to assasinate Hitler is put into a internment camp and killed as a prisoner. Whether it was right or wrong to be in on that plot i am not going to talk about. But Boenhoffer has a point. It takes everything and i mean everything when we follow God. And our very cultured existence as Christians in America doesn't undertand the urgency that God is calling us with.
'When God calls someone, he calls them to die?' Wait, i'm suppose to live for Christ, right? Progress his work in this world, right? What does Jesus say?
'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.'
What is the cross? what is Jesus telling these disciples? To face their death! To follow the road that finds no regard for themselves!
So, what does that mean, losing your life? Listening? Questioning? Being Attentive? Letting God Reveal Himself Through You? ...It's a hard question for anyone. What, in this culture (and probably many others) do we cling onto so much? Our self image? Our individuality? God says to deny it! Follow and obey (but use discernment, i wouldn't like to go through another Crusade)!
I think being a Christian is knowing the Bible, not just reading it...KNOWING it. Knowing who we are as 'children of God', and knowing what God wants of each of us, and in our gratitude of what he has done...respond in obedience. To lift each other up...by knowing the person on your left and right wherever you're at. Not just saying 'hi' to a person in the pews at church or anywhere else, but knowing how to love them by knowing them (and that takes time, all your time...if you let it).
When Jesus was doing his ministry around Gallilee, as you might observe in Mark, he is constantly on the move. Criss-crossing the sea and going all over the place. I'm not saying that you should loose sleep trying to reach everyone in the world at midnight, but you'll have enough time to rest when God takes you. And as for trying to be something important, as Mother Teresa says 'It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.' God call us to himself, and God calls us to love. So love, and love some more. It doesn't matter how you do it, just make sure that it's real.
What is the purpose of being a christian? Listening and obeying God, Loving and being a Jesus (what he actually was, not the happy tamed Jesus) to the people around us. In the early days, our religion was considered 'the way', boy have we lost track of that. It is a journey, and i'm not saying i am better that any other, but that we must work with what we have...or even that will be taken from us.
Blessings!
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