it seems by some posts here that some christians decide to take it upon themselves to dictate who is a real christian and who is not, based on comparison of their own prerequisites.
is this a cop out?
these people might aswell admit that they themselves are the 'only' real christian.
is this a result of when self validation goes to far?
or fear?
2007-07-27 03:10:33 · 22 answers · asked by brassmunkiee 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Since when are Christians supposed to make sense. They don't need logic when they have faith.... that's why many of them don't read the Bible. As for being "real" Christians - they are all just really delusional.
2007-07-27 03:15:36 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 3⤋
If you saw an advert for a Donkey Sanctuary and felt like donating to it, you might do well to first go along to see the premises, the owners, and what state their rescued donkeys were in. If what you saw matched up to the glowing advert, you'd donate with a clear conscience. You might even volunteer your own services for the good cause.
But if you donated and supported such a group without realizing it was badly treating the donkeys, the staff and volunteers, and fleecing the bank account, then someone took the trouble to inform you, what would you think? At first you might be angry and deny it. But if evidence was offered you'd be a fool not to check it out.
This is an illustration of what's going on in the Christian camp. Most Christians are genuine, sincere, and doing all they can, in good conscience, to promote Christ and his gospel. But there are some charlatans about who are really wolves in sheeps' clothing. And it's invariably the ones who shout the loudest at how 'genuine' they are, and that others are false, who turn out to be the rogues. Such ones need to have their credentials checked out in order to protect innocent people who could be duped into supporting them. Only God knows those who are his, but if any of us have good reason to believe deception is going on in the name of Christ, we ought to speak up about it. No Christian is perfect but God has a 'base-line' standard below which the Bible warns about.
2007-07-27 15:00:40 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
Christians are supposed to contend for the faith which was once and for all delivered to them. Phonies crept in, bringing heresies. It happened during the times of the early church, and it happens even now.
Guarding doctrine is one thing.
The only way we can get an inkling if someone is real is by their fruits of their life. That's the only way. We cannot peer into anyone's heart and discern what is or is not there. Their actions, the results of their actions produces fruit.
So is it the fruit a Christian produces, or is it the fruit of something else?
2007-07-27 10:24:17 · answer #3 · answered by Jed 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Every religion has a set of core believes or dogmas. Dogmas are believes that must be accepted and can not be proved.
For example, a Dogma for the Catholics is that the Pope is infalible, thus he is never wrong.
I think this is a good measure to tell if you are a member of a religion. If you call yourself catholic and do not believe the dogma, you might be christian, believe in jesus, god, etc; but you are not a catholic.
Religious debate is full of people that are "hollier than thou..." but the only real concesus we can achieve is based on reason, believes aside.
2007-07-27 10:17:38 · answer #4 · answered by Makotto 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I personally believe people don't have to be a christian to be a great person. I think sometimes there is some people who are just plain mean, but they made themselves that way. You don't have to judge people that there christian. I mean I have a friend who is catholic and a friends who agonoustic(She doesn't believe god really excists) and I'm friends with both of them.
2007-07-27 10:15:10 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Oh? I saw one where an Atheist was saying there were
only so many true Christians on here. Some guy who is a
believer of God asked a question and said no one has
a right to judge and some non believers jumped all over
him. You are thinking you have the right to judge.
There are some nice Atheists on here but are you one?
2007-07-27 10:15:37 · answer #6 · answered by Wacky Lady 00 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
To the Christian in the spirit what is more important is one can say to the Baptist, cathollics, anglican, Jehovah, scientology, Mormons, Protestants, Hebrew oriented churches, you are my brothers/sisters in Christ. The Christian in the spirit sees more the unity of the broken body of Christianity than over their divisions as a result of satan;s divide and conquer strategy. And this is through the truth that THE LORD JESUS CHRIST is the ONE WHO breaches the walls of divisions and walls of hostllities; and one of the titles of THE LORD JESUS CHRIST is THE LORD IS ONE. THANK GOD; FEAR GOD; PRAISE GOD; GLORIFY GOD; HONOR GOD; LOVE GOD AND WORSHIP GOD. Pls visit my website-http://groups.yahoo.com/group/THEGOODNEWSOFTHEKINGDOM/
2007-07-27 10:19:30 · answer #7 · answered by Prophet John of the Omega 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I worked for a guy once that was of a particularly wacked out Baptist cult. There were about 25 or so members of his church and according to them, the only "true Christians." They were convinced that only they were correct and only they were going to heaven. nut-jobs, all of them.
2007-07-27 10:18:27 · answer #8 · answered by Top Cat 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
True apolagetics help us to weed out the cults...There is a lot that is not essential christian doctrine, that we can lovingly debate over, The rest is up to Jesus
2007-07-27 10:30:04 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
It's ridiculous and judgmental. I don't think we can ever make this statement for anyone but ourselves. We all have ideas of how a Christian should act, and they vary from person to person. It's not fair to impose those on other people.
2007-07-27 10:15:14 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋