what is a true christian?

[the preacher]

The true Christian believes in Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and that the Bible is the word of God.
A true Christian does honor the Sabath (for one day - usually on a sunday)

the sabbath according to the bible cannot be changed, Lev. 23:3 "There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the LORD."

Sabbath is one of Christ's 10 commandments:
Exodus 20:8 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy..."

Sabbath day changed by man:
"In the decision to celebrate the weekly festive day of rest on Sunday, (rather than Saturday) it may be that Pagan Roman usages played as large a part as in the fixing of the Christmas festival." (The Catholic Encyclopedia, p. 781, vol. 12.)

Deut. 4:2 "Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you."

Christ kept the Sabbath:
Luke 4:16 "He went to the synagogue as his custom was, on the Sabbath day."

As did the Apostle Paul:
Acts 18:4 "He argued in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded Jews and Greeks."

Do as Christ did:
1Pet. 2:21 "To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps."

Sabbath to be kept forever:
Exodus 31:12 "For this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations.
Exodus 31:16 "...a perpetual covenant..."
Exodus 31:17 "...a sign forever..."

Even in the future after Christ's Second Coming:
Isaiah 66:23 "...from Sabbath to Sabbath all flesh shall come to worship before me, says the Lord."

Heb 4:19 "The promise of entering his rest [the Millenium] remains...so there remains a Sabbath rest (in Greek: 'Sabbatismos') for the people of God."

Sabbath made for all men:
Mark 2:27 "And he [Jesus] said to them, 'The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.

that God (triune God) is the ultimate power and that all things come from him (through Jesus Christ).

completely wrong on two counts. Bible describes two personages, not three:
John 1:1-3 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made."

"In Scripture there is as yet no single term by which the Three Divine Persons are denoted together." (The New Catholic Encyclopedia Online.)

Holy Spirit is not a person; the original Greek indicates 'it' not 'he':
John 14:15 "I will request the Father and He will give you another helper to be with you forever, the spirit of the truth, which the world cannot receive because it neither beholds it nor knows it. You know it, because it remains with you and is in you."

When 'he' is used in scripture, it is referring to the Greek word, 'paraclete', a word which Jesus used to personify the Holy Spirit as: The Comforter; The Counselor; The Helper.

All of Paul's letters contain this greeting:
"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
Could Paul have neglected to included the Holy Spirit if 'he' was one of the 'Holy Trinity'?

Holy Spirit is the power that emanates from God:
Romans 15:19 "...by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Holy Spirit..."

Fairy tales happen when truth becomes mixed with fact.

hence why so many suffer with the religious mind virus, add a little fact to your fantasy, and it sounds more feasible, but it will always remains a fantasy.

The fact that we can now name that Roman, locate the tomb and the benefactor that supplied the tomb, etc... states not a fairy tale, but a truth.

and who is this roman and where is this tomb. irrefutable objective prove please, not subjective crap.

there is not such thing as a true christian.

 

[Lawdog]

What are TRUE CHRISTIANS?
Some fundamentalist christians and
most traditionalist catholics and orthodox.
It depends on each case.
A liberal christian is either decieved by the Devil
or terribly misinformed.

Christ himself explicitly warned about "wolves in sheep's clothing."
Therefore we must hold that some enter the ranks of the Church
who seem to be worshippers but are not, they are decievers.
These are the Liberal Catholics. They are trying to change our
precious traditions. Angry Protestant-fundamentalist goats
are much more trustworthy than those 'friendly' wolves.

A sheepdog like me knows those wolves well and we guard the flock.

 

[Satyr]

What are TRUE CHRISTIANS?
Some fundamentalist christians and
most traditionalist catholics and orthodox.
It depends on each case.
A liberal christian is either decieved by the Devil
or terribly misinformed.

Christ himself explicitly warned about "wolves in sheep's clothing."
Therefore we must hold that some enter the ranks of the Church
who seem to be worshippers but are not, they are decievers.
These are the Liberal Catholics. They are trying to change our
precious traditions. Angry Protestant-fundamentalist goats
are much more trustworthy than those 'friendly' wolves.

A sheepdog like me knows those wolves well and we guard the flock.

A “True Christian” is like anything ‘True’ and absolute: a hopeful guess and a needful hypothesis – a gamblers role of the dice.

 

[Lawdog]

ice.

 

[Hapsburg]

The name Jesus has a hebrew origin and means "savior". The word Christ is a Greek term and means messiah. Everyone was hoping for a savior around that period so naming was very optimistic.

Well, the name "jesus" is a corruption of the greek spelling of what would've been his first name: Yeshua. Gradually, the "h" and "a" got taken out and the Y turned into J. The word "Christ" comes from the greek "Khristos", meaning "the anointed one", which is what "messiah" means. Infact, jesus isn't even the first person mentioned to be a messiah in the bible. That honor goes, I think, to Emperor Cyrus the Great of Persia, who freed the jews from their captivity in Babylon.
So, the name of the character commonly referred to as "jesus" would really be "Yeshua ben Yosef", or "Joshua son of Joseph".
The definition of a christian, in a broader sense, would be "one who follows the teachings of jesus", because not all christians believe in YbY's divinity, and some don't even think he existed. In addition to the mainstream sects, there are gnostic sects.

 

[Diogenes' Dog]

What are TRUE CHRISTIANS?
Some fundamentalist christians and
most traditionalist catholics and orthodox.
It depends on each case.
A liberal christian is either decieved by the Devil
or terribly misinformed.

That's progress LD! Not long ago, no fundie would never have admitted Catholics to heaven, and vica-versa. Watch out or you'll wake up one morning and find yourself an ecumenical liberal!

Christ himself explicitly warned about "wolves in sheep's clothing."
Therefore we must hold that some enter the ranks of the Church
who seem to be worshippers but are not, they are decievers.
These are the Liberal Catholics. They are trying to change our
precious traditions. Angry Protestant-fundamentalist goats
are much more trustworthy than those 'friendly' wolves.

A sheepdog like me knows those wolves well and we guard the flock.

Yeah, burn the b*st*rds - it's one of those precious christians traditions we must preserve! Ah, I forgot - you think Jesus will do it for you.

 

[Diogenes' Dog]

many times religious people like to label themselves as "True christians"
could you explain WHAT EXACTLY is a TRUE CHRISTIAN?

The difference between a "true christian" and a "nominal christian" is the true christian genuinely seeks to follow the spirit and teachings of Jesus.

The difference between a "liberal" and a "fundamentalist", is the liberal has read more than one book.

 

[(Q)]

If all Christians aren't 'true' Christians, and agree with one another whole-heartedly, then Christianity is all just bugsquat.

 

[Diogenes' Dog]

If all Christians aren't 'true' Christians, and agree with one another whole-heartedly, then Christianity is all just bugsquat.

Just good natured banter Q. Some people want to be nominal. I'm a nominal supporter of the UK Labour Party. I vote in elections and do bugger all in between. It suits me. Why shouldn't religion be similar for some people?

Besides, humans never agree about anything - it doesn't make Christianity bugsquat. Science, politics, history and philosophy are just the same - full of passionate disagreement and debate.

 

[Zephyr]

Well, science accomplishes something ...

 

[Diogenes' Dog]

Well, science accomplishes something ...

...while religion inspires our values! A necessary combination don't you think?

 

[Archie]

Watching non-Christians trying to define Christianity is like watching liberal Democrats trying to define 'assault weapon'. They don't know anything about it, but they know what they don't like.

Incredible!

 

[Avatar]

"If I were a good christian I'd be a terrible person" (forgot who said that)

 

[redarmy11]

...while religion inspires our values! A necessary combination don't you think?

Why do Christians imagine they have a monopoly on morality?

 

[imaplanck.]

Watching non-Christians trying to define Christianity is like watching liberal Democrats trying to define 'assault weapon'. They don't know anything about it, but they know what they don't like.

Incredible!

What is there to define? It's hardly something a preschooler couldn't master.

 

[Diogenes' Dog]

Why do Christians imagine they have a monopoly on morality?

I don't RA! However, many of the values of our society have come from it's Judeo-Christian roots. Whether you are a christian or not, you will have imbibed many of it's values as part of the culture. We are all expressions of our language and culture.

 

[Avatar]

What values are those? Please name a few.

 

[(Q)]

Just good natured banter Q. Some people want to be nominal. I'm a nominal supporter of the UK Labour Party. I vote in elections and do bugger all in between. It suits me. Why shouldn't religion be similar for some people?

Besides, humans never agree about anything - it doesn't make Christianity bugsquat. Science, politics, history and philosophy are just the same - full of passionate disagreement and debate.

Where in the bible or any other religious scriptures is the concept of disagreement and debate? And if you are disagreeing and debating Christianity, isn't that against the will of your god?

Wouldn't that make Christians hypocrites for doing so?

 

[(Q)]

Watching non-Christians trying to define Christianity is like watching liberal Democrats trying to define 'assault weapon'. They don't know anything about it, but they know what they don't like.

Incredible!

Gee Archie, from this side, it's not funny at all watching Christians trying to define themselves while imagining they know something about it. It's quite tragic, actually, to see mankind in its ignorance and slavery.

 

[Diogenes' Dog]

What values are those? Please name a few.

The Romans admired virtues such as courage, strength, pride, assertiveness as well as practicality, wittiness and friendliness. They also saw wealth and power as the rewards of virtue.

With Roman christianation, pride now became a sin, and values such as charity (concern for the weak or poor), mercy and humility became virtues. These became codified as the knightly virtues of chivalry in mediaeval Europe; Courage, Justice, Mercy, Generosity, Faith, Nobility and Hope.

Politeness became an etiquette in the 17th centuary as the practical application of christian values in a mixed society. The basis was deference (humility) to avoid shaming those of lesser social standing and to avoid conflict. It is also arguable that the 'values' of the French revolution: Liberté, égalité, fraternité are the summarised values of christianity.

Sorry to give such a potted history, but I want to show how our modern values are developed from original Christian principles of love, humility and respect for all people. We thus value concern for the poor, freedom of the individual, equality of opportunity, lack of discrimination etc. I could quote lots of bible passages to show where these values come from, but I don't want to be a bible bore!