I think the issue that's forgotten here is that many will claim to be Christians and will be shocked when the Lord Jesus say's, "I don't know you!".
Meaning, that what the above posters call bad examples of Christians, are folks that may only think they're Christians, because they attend a Christian church, or their parents were Christian, or they intellectually believe in Jesus, but not in their hearts in a sacrificial, contrite, humble and repentant way.
Intellectual accent by the world, saying that Jesus did what He did, does not qualify an individual as a Christian, therefore many will claim to be Christians by reason of association with groups, churches, people or belief systems, good works, but will not be true Christians.
A true Christian: Is one who "Jesus" says/said is born from above, or born again, spiritually. They have received the Holy Spirit/Holy Ghost, or the Counselor, or the third person of the trinity of God almighty, the "I AM", by an act of God, not by their works of charity, intellectual ascent or good works.
A true Christian will have a life that is reflected in change in attitude, in the areas of worldly needs, priorities, habitualy sin, and human relational aspects. Conservative politics will not be their priority-mantra, but glorifying God will supercede all things. Love of the unlovely, and even of enemies will mark them as weird by the World or the secular community. To love your enemy is not to agree with your enemy, but to love your enemy as fellow, imperfect, human beings as yourself, yet knowing that you have received God's mercy and desire it to be realized by others/enemies too.
As much as Conservatives and even those that claim to be Christians will say the harshest, and meanest things about their critiques......i.e. Ted Kennedy, Jane Fonda, Howard Dean, Rosie O'donnel.....etc......God still loves these folks and wants them to come into His fold. Do we who claim to be Christians, actually pray for these folks with earnest? Do we ask God to bring an understanding into these before-mentioned folks of His love, mercy and grace, or do we ask God to remove them or bring blight upon them to punish them?
We must remember as Christians that once we were enemies of God, when we were in zero fellowship with God. There was a time when we thought being a Christian might have been just thinking/believing Jesus was a wise and good fellow, and nothing more. There may have been a time when we even acted out our lives just like the Kennedy's, O'donnels, Dean's, Fonda's, too, but now see through different spiritual eyes. Do we look down on those that differ politically/religiously from us? Is that what was typified by Jesus's life as revealed in scripture? No! Jesus did not curse his enemies, nor did he ignore them. He entertained all people.........and welcomed a willness in people who wanted to know the truth. The truth was not a comfortable thing to hear from Jesus's lips, yet those that were willing to look at themselves objectively, were rewarded for their honest willingness to change through God's total help.
Basically, the true Christian will gradually change in their lives to a more Christlike, biblical behaviour, and personality.
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I tire of those that use the monikers of hard core, or fundamentalist Christian to typify what Christianity is. This argument from the non-Christian, only temporarily assuages the guilt that all humanity must live with until they relinquish it to God through honest repentance, and introspection of their lives.
Just crack open the bible and read the first hand accounts of Jesus's life, and you will see vast differences between what the secular world, or non-Christians define what is true Christianity is, versus their argumentative and skewed-away of a notable Christian leader/preacher of a church or organization is brandished across the media wires, superceding all other news? It's because Christianity exudes God's truth and way versus man's homemade version of truth and perfection. Man tries to mimic God's mercy yet holds God at arms length. Man is inherently fallen, but cannot or is not willing to own-up to that. The pain of being "wrong" is too much in man's eyes/soul. He/man must be at the helm of his ship of life. He see's no other alternative except the frightful mystery of God's alternative, that he/she believes, entails "letting go" and "letting God", and losing self identity/control. Man fears that he will or must give up enjoying life, and will be constrained in discomfort when embracing God. This is the lie of the Enemy of man's soul. He works in concert with fallen man to keep man from taking what seems to him a life-constraining risk in trusting what God says. He, the Enemy of man's soul paints God as the cruel, restrictive taskmaster, that has no sense of humor, and no room for human enjoyment/recreation. This is all lies from the Pit, yet man has been sold into bondage to the the one who is inevitably bound for that hell hole.
God is not your earthly mother or father. He is perfect in every way possible. He doesn't make mistakes in disciplining those that He loves. He is likened to a Good Shepherd that watches His sheep with such acuity, that no wolf/enemy can snatch one of His from his fold. He not only watches His sheep, He seeks them out from the bramble and the bushes of life where they helplessly entangle themselves. He loves His sheep and His sheep love Him and they know His voice.
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Jesus had concern for the poor, but was more interested in the spiritually poor, not the materially poor(Sermon On The Mount - Matthew). God was not calloused towards the materially poor, as evidenced in accounts both in the O.T. and N.T.. Bottom line is this folks; whether a person is materially poor or not, wealth/material possessions, will not add one iota to their being "saved" in God's economy. God is interested in the "heart" of humans, not their status, or their good deeds. Good deeds can have all kinds of motives..........to please, to assuage self guilt, to impress, win favor, win recognition, etc.. Although the deeds of true Christians will not always be from good reasoning/intentions, often they will, in most cases be interpretted by the secular world as harsh at times, or too forgiving at other times.
The deeds or lives of Christians are to be sacrificial in every aspect.........as a resultant commitment or a life offering because of the unmerited favor/mercy given them and all mankind via God's son. I.E. a thankful life. A thankful-based life has a hard time being embittered or "hard", as typified by many who claim be Christians.
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It is up to mankind to accept God's mercy, and His often mysterious wisdom in how things orchestrate-out for both us personally and the world as a whole. The world may seem at times to get better and then cyclically get bad again, yet the overall trend is downward, as said by scripture. Inevitably it will culminate in Christ's second advent.
Know this for sure, that God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son.......That we/us fallible humans could have life everlasting in communion with Him. God has been orchestrating a restoration process for thousands of years with human kind. We, humans have the one responsibility to acknowledge and come out of our self-seeking, agrandizing lives, and let the cataracts fall off our eyes spiritually and see things for what they really are.
True Christians will do wrong things. They will sin, but they will not make a habit of it, as they will be constantly convicted in their souls about it by the Helper, the Holy Spirit, that now resides hand-in-hand with their human spirit that was once dead to God and is now alive to God through Jesus Christ's, human-life, attoning work.
The world will continue to monitor and judge Christianity by what it wants Christianity to be.......imperfect, and unharmful towards those that reject God.
People don't hate Christians, they hate God; God as revealed in the bible. Christians in most cases make the unsaved uncomfortable, because the Spirit of God in the true Christian's life is ever-working to touch others through that Christian's life. God is seeking human lives to save and bring into the fold of fellowship with Him.
It can't happen unless human kind gets off of it's own constructed podium of self assurance, self contentment, and self vindication, and admits that it hasn't, can't, and will not in the future be able to change it's basic inner nature on it's own. Man has not changed from His inception/creation. He seeks to be like God, and to control his/her own destiny in every aspect. He/she may allow God to partially co-pilot their life, but it's in reality just superficial, and not a deep-hearted commitment of the soul.
Isn't it interesting how most folks who are true Christians, in most cases have come to this new identity after realizing that they were weak human vessels, that couldn't really cope with life, and all it dishes out. They were once folks who had to be in control of everything, and now with a peaceful sigh, can gladly allow God to hold the reigns and lead in all aspects.
A contrite, repentant heart/soul is foreign to the non-Christian world, yet biblically that is the doorway of a human soul to enter into the eternal life/communion with God through His Son's crucified, ressurrected, and ascended life.
