Well, there is no specific genetic makeup to a Christian, right? Any Christian can say any other Christian, isn't one- Does that make it correct also? After all, lots of Christians have different ideas about what a true Christian IS. Example- Christians often deny Hitler was a Christian- Which doesn't bug me so much, except they always pin him as Atheist, just because he's a bad guy- Not too nice...Anyway.
I can say I'm a plumber, and not be doing it to the standards of other plumbers, so does that not make me a plumber? (I'm not a plumber). Thoughts?
2007-09-09 15:37:48 · 40 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Guru: How did he not represent a true Christian? He hated gays, persecuted Jews for crimes against Christ, killed people he believed to be 'inferior' or 'unclean' in his eyes...He seems far more like the son of the Biblegod than Jesus does.
2007-09-09 15:47:28 · update #1
Hence part of the hypocrisy of the Christian religions.
2007-09-09 15:41:43 · answer #1 · answered by ? 6 · 3⤊ 5⤋
Generally it's a way to disown those members of the religion that one disagrees with certain actions of, to maintain the image of whiter than white.
All christians will call themselves "true" christians, despite also admitting "sinning". Calling another christian "false" because they have sinned is hypocritical.
To continue your analogy, it's like me saying someone isn't a plumber for messing up the toilet, when I've just screwed up installing the sink (again!) and still call myself a plumber
However, if christians feel they can do that, they should have no objection to atheists doing the same thing - i.e. Mau wasn't really an atheist, neither was Idi Amin etc.
2007-09-09 15:58:28 · answer #2 · answered by Tom :: Athier than Thou 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you want to determine if they are a true Christian, then compare them to the image of Christ in the bible. If they do the same things, and act the same way towards people as Christ did, then they ARE a Christian. Hitler was not a Christian, just someone using the name to attempt to justify he's actions. Christ never went around killing those he thought inferior, he tried to teach them. Therefor, Hitler and anyone else that claims to be Christian, yet does not what Christ did is not a Christian. Should allow for a easier comparison for you.
2007-09-09 16:00:09 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I use to claim to be a Christian and Jesus was in no way shape or form in my life as my Lord, even though I believed in him and God I was not at all on my way to heaven. I was lost..I was the center of my own self and lived for the moment so to speak, never really caring what God thought of me. Now that is all that I care about is how God looks at me, it is him I want to please rather than myself, have I hit the mark? no. Because becoming like Christ is a process, but I am in no way shape or form the same person I was before I met him, he is awesome. So I use myself as an example even though I would have called myself Christian when I was younger, in hindsight I was not a Christian at all, I was hedonistic.
Edited, Jesus did not hate anyone nor did he ever persecute Jews or anyone for that matter, so you claiming that Hitler was Christian was so far from the truth, besides the fact he set himself up and claimed to be a God, clearly a no no for any Christian or Jew for that matter. many believe he was the Anti Christ at the time of his reign so to speak, and NO he was not persecuting Jews for any Christian cause, true Christians know that the Jews are the chosen nation trough whom God would bless all nations.
2007-09-09 16:31:10 · answer #4 · answered by candi_k7 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The dictionary definition for a
Christian is; Manifesting the Spirit of Christ or of His teachings.
In other words being Christ like. Since no body is perfect, all we can do is strive to be more like Christ.
But some one who calls them-self a Christian will show it in all they do. You will know a Christian more by their actions then their words. A true Christian will show the love of God in every thing they do. "You will know them by their works."
I can say I am a plumber too, but does that make me one when I don't know a thing about plumbing just because I call myself one.. A person who calls themselves a Christian. but doesn't know the first thing of what it means to be Christ like, or doesn't show it in what they say or do, does that or does it not make them a Christian. You decide.
2007-09-09 16:02:35 · answer #5 · answered by jenx 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you are a Christian then you ought to accept the testimony of those whom God has appointed as His ministers. The Apostle Paul makes this statement in Romans 8:9
"...Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him."
Jude say something quite similar in speaking of false brothers:
"These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, not having the Spirit." Jude 19
John says the same thing and elaborates greatly on this subject in his first letter (epistle).
So you see we do have criteria in the writings of the New Testament to distinguish between who is a true and who is a false follower of Jesus Christ.
You might claim to be the Son of the Queen of England. However if she says it isn't so, your testimony is empty.
2007-09-09 15:53:27 · answer #6 · answered by wefmeister 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Bible lays out the standards for a true Christian very plainly. It also gives standards to recognize false ones as well. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, has feathers, it is probably not a plumber as well.
By their fruits or what they produce you will know them. Having unity in belief without divisions is one of the major signs for true Christians. Fighting each other within the congregations and between nations is a sign of false ones. That one thing eliminates most of the pretenders. Plain and simple.
It makes a difference as God is not inactive. Neither is Satan. This world will not be able to take much more stress. Whose side will you choose to be on? Or will it be chosen for you?
2007-09-09 15:50:53 · answer #7 · answered by grnlow 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Hitler was NOT a Christian, for one thing. He was a member of the Nazi party which devoted loyalty to the Nordic deity.
The "standards" are set by God - not humans. Christians can correctly be defined as: anyone, wherein, the Holy Spirit dwells. Claiming one is a "plumber" does not qualify him or her to be one. That goes for anyone claiming ownership to Christianity too. For example, in the Bible, Jesus makes reference to the time when, many are going to stand before Him claiming that he or she is a Christian and He, personally, is going to say to them "I know you not" (Matt, chapter 7, verse 23). A word for the wise: "By their fruits you shall know them" !
2007-09-09 15:59:37 · answer #8 · answered by guraqt2me 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, that's how they apply the "No True Scotsman" fallacy to disassociate themselves from any Christians of unsavoury disposition.
To those saying Hitler wasn't a Christian:
"My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Saviour as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded by a few followers, recognised these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God’s truth!"
(Adolf Hitler, in a speech on 12 April 1922 (Norman H. Baynes, ed. The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922-August 1939, Vol. 1 of 2, pp. 19-20, Oxford University Press, 1942) Martin Phipps, October 18th, 2004)
2007-09-09 15:49:16 · answer #9 · answered by H.u.S 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
When I hear that 80% of Americans are Christians, I have to question that. Believing in God, and living for God are two different things. Am I really a Christian if I say I'm one, but do not live according to God's Word? I don't think I am. Really only God knows our hearts and if we are real or hyprocrites. It's his place to judge. However, If I say I'm a Christian but am having an affair on my husband, I might believe in God, but I'm not a Christian.
2007-09-09 15:54:27 · answer #10 · answered by michelle 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You'll know who the christians are by what they are doing. Hitler?...Not a follower of the Messiah. Just as you know a tree by the fruit it produces, you will know people by what they produce. A "confession of faith" means absolutely nothing if it is a false confession. In a courtroom it's called perjury.
The very word "christian" has become soiled by the fakes and phonies who are paraded across their own networks. I refuse to be known by that label.
2007-09-09 16:05:19 · answer #11 · answered by NXile 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋