Christianity

[Suzanne]

Originally Posted by rahrah79

So we have been debating this he says that you can't be half half, you are either fully Christian or you are 'spew' and going to hell, so in his opinion, no swearing, drinking etc you have to be an example at all times.
Thanks!!!

'Spew'? What hubris! oh dear, someone's commiting the sin of pride...

If there is any judging to do it certainly won't be by the likes of us.

You sound like you have a lovely interpretation and relationship with your God, Rahrah - don't let anyone else run you down or try to make you feel less worthy.

[pebblemuncher]

Mary - My FIL recently preached at our church a sermon about judging. And the jist of it was that Christians should only judge other Christians (in other words, hold each other accountable according to what WE believe). But none of us should be judging non christians because they don't believe the same as we do so whats the point of judging them, and it's only God's place to do the judging of everyone.

It made total sense to me.

[LovetheChaos]

Thank you for your replies.

I find this really interesting, I hope I didn't make DH sound like he runs me down or judges other people, I may have worded it wrong but what he believes and says is about himself IYKWIM. He believes that because of his choices he will probably be going to hell. In his opinion he is not a Christian as he believes it really is all or nothing.

I was just wondering what other people thought, as DH and i were brought up in completely different families and never agree on this point! I love that we can talk about it though.

[amielou]

Originally Posted by rahrah79

I was just wondering what you think it means to be Christian, are there exceptions to the rules or is it all or nothing.

Thanks!!!

I think to be a Christian is to believe in, love and know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour and accept the gift of salvation from sin that is given us through Him. Here is **SOME** (there is lots more, have a look for yourself or look at biblegateway.com if you don't have access to your own bible.) of what the bible says about it (the best place to go for answers about Christianity IMHO as it is God's own word to us -by the hand of men, guided by the spirit-) if you do not have your own bible and would like one PM me and i will have one sent to you i have bolded the parts i think are most pertinent to the question you asked...


John 14

1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God[a]; trust also in me. 2In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am going." 5Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"

6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

**from the mouth of Jesus Himself that one, the promise of a home in heaven for eternity with Lord God, and the instructions as to THE way (as there is only one) to Him.**

and also these which i think explain some of the basic and most importnt things to understand, believe in, act upon, and follow...


Genesis 1:27

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Psalm 139:14

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

**we are lovingly and wonderfully made by an almighty creator God. In His image, as creative and relational beings.**

Romans 3:23

23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

**the problem, we cannot be near God in our current state**

but ...

John 3:16

16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

**The solution offered in love and grace... how wonderful!!**

John 20:29

29Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

Well, that's my 2c worth, and some passages from God's own word. I hope this goes some way to helping you find the answers you seek

God is a loving and forgiving God, and while in a perfect world, every Christian would seek to glorify God in their every word and deed, and to guard their hearts, minds, tongues, ears and body from the things of this -imperfect- world (we are called to be IN the world but not OF the world) God knows we are not perfect and forgives us our sin if we ask it of Him, then we are called to repent (turn away from) the wrong doings... two verses that explain this:

LINK TO PASSAGE ABOUT LIVING THE WAY GOD WANTS

**that one is a bit long to post, but you can read it all there at the link **

1 John 1:9

9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

** the promise to forgive our sins **

[amielou]

Originally Posted by Suzanne

'Spew'? What hubris! oh dear, someone's commiting the sin of pride...

If there is any judging to do it certainly won't be by the likes of us.

You sound like you have a lovely interpretation and relationship with your God, Rahrah - don't let anyone else run you down or try to make you feel less worthy.

not a nice thing to say, that's for sure, i think he may have been referring to the following passage, (but i could be wrong, i'm just guessing here) but still, to call someone spew is a bit mean... IMO.

Revelation 3:16

16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

**i think it is talking about Christians who are neither "hot" nor "cold" in other words - the ones who couldn't care less really, but say they are Christians still... i think this could have been what her dh was referring to, although i could be wring, but it's still not a nice thing to say to someone, perhaps if he really was worried about her standing with God he could have gone to the bible and showed her the passage instead of saying that to her, but i suppose everybody does things differently?**

[LovetheChaos]

Thanks for your responses again,

Amielou, yes that was the verse he was referring to but in the King James Bible is actually says spue instead of spit.

With everything he has said he still didn't mean it as putting me down.. he was talking about himself more than anything, he just told me now that this passage was exactly why he stopped being a Christian.

[eire]

hey rahrah...

just random thoughts i had - some Christian religions have different views on salvation e.g. once saved, always saved (regardless of what choices you make after that. how important is baptism? is there such thing as a mortal sin (grieving the holy spirit) etc. the Catholic church teaches that we are saved, are in a process of being saved and will be saved when Christ returns (if that makes sense lol). there are scriptures that can be isolated to support any one of those statements but you need to look at the whole bible in context.

i think generally pebble is on the money - it depends on your heart, God doesn't look at the outside appearance like we do, he looks at the heart. that being said, you would think that what's in your heart would direct your words/actions a bit. that is what being "born again" is about anyway, a renewing of your heart.

at the end of the day, no-one is perfect and while God wants us to become more like him (in terms of gentle, patient, loving to others, serving etc) the reality is we will all die as sinners, saved by the grace of Christ's blood IYKWIM.

interesting thread

[uptheduff2009]

I totally agree with Pebble and Mrs Whan... what I find really sad though is people in the greater community's lack of understanding about the term "Christian" as a label, for want of a better word.

It seems a few of the posters in this thread have the opinion that there are many different brands of christianity that can be followed and that it is pick and mix. Sorry, but unless you believe what the bible in it's entirety (And not out of context! It all refers to itself) then you are kidding yourself with all these "Seperate doctrines" and these are the things made up by man... God is the only one capable of telling the truth and he is the only one that tells us what we're really like! But he is also the only one that seeks to have relationship with us.
Therefore nothing we do is good enough. No making or following rules for ourselves, or getting baptised or whatever. It doesn't get you a ticket to heaven. Cripes! All it does is make more washing for the dryer if anything!

God is interested in the heart and if we are willing to turn it over to him. He forgives and forgets, then gives us a fresh start. That is all he wants to do for us. Accepting that truth and living it is the ONLY thing that makes you a Christian. Believing that God exists isn't enough. Why? Because even the devil believes that! Searching for answers...? Now we might be getting somewhere!

I'm not even going to attempt to answer the trouble makers who leave comments and then bugger off with no thought for the consequences. This thread is about defining what Christians are... not saying "They are crap and I don't want anything to do with them"... that is just juvenille.

[zeeeb]

i'm not reading the responses, but my response to your post is:

i don't like the black and white perception of christianity (there are tonnes of grey areas) and i believe (if you believe the bible) that you can ask for forgiveness on your death bed and be forgiven, therefore not go to hell. so you don't have to spend your whole life fussing about every little detail. and i presume (being not particularly christian) that if there is heaven and hell and if you are going to be judged, that you would be judged on the whole. Generally, have you been a decent and reasonable person, have you made an effort to care for people and not hurt people, are you intentions generally good.

not whether you swore, or cheated on someone once, or got into trouble in your youth or whatever. it's about being a good person overall, not about if you turn up to church every week, don't swear and say your prayers every day.

i was speaking to a catholic priest (the one who has been in DP's life since he was born) and i was having a discussion about the fact that the catholic faith needs to update it's ways a bit, because alot of it is just not applicable to now. which doesn't mean everything we all do now is wrong, it just means the church has to move with the times about issues like contraception and update itself to be relevant to todays society. he didn't disagree with me.

it's a contraversial topic. but even though i'm not a christian, i don't believe i would be sent to hell, because i don't intentionally hurt people or do wrong by people. there are plenty of hard core christians out there that should go to hell if life is fair, for the wrongs they do (like all those paedophile priests) they should definitely be in the hell line infront of me. *shrug*

[TimeTraveller]

Originally Posted by uptheduff2009

I'm not even going to attempt to answer the trouble makers who leave comments and then bugger off with no thought for the consequences. This thread is about defining what Christians are... not saying "They are crap and I don't want anything to do with them"... that is just juvenille.

alternatively - those 'troublemakers' might just have a different opinion to yours......

novel idea hey?