What Christianity Is And What It Is Not
Posted: Saturday, September 24, 2011
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
The world, in large part, has a misconception of just what Christianity is, or should be. According to Adherents.com, an organization which puts much research into such things, reports that there are 2.1 billion adherents to the Christian religion world wide. This figure places “Christianity” as the largest of all with approximately 33% of the worlds population. BUT, that is the count of every person who simply says they are of the Christian faith. It includes the following drastically different religions:
Christian is a term indicating one who is following Jesus Christ. It was so given first in the New Testament scriptures. (Acts 11:26) Since that date, every variation imaginable has been integrated into the apostolic doctrines by men’s own thinking and ideas. But how many of those innovations are valid and/or acceptable to God? If you feel that some, many or even all of them are fine, then we must have scriptural evidence for that. Here are some words of caution in the bible itself.
I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:6-9 KJV)
Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. (Jude 1:3 KJV emphasis added-jhh)
If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds. (1 John 1:10-11)
So this is very plain, that in order to follow Jesus, one must abide by the doctrine left in the New Testament by Jesus and his inspired writers. Nothing else. So let’s see what they were and what they were not. These men were simply followers of Jesus Christ and his teachings as given them by the Holy Spirit. And here is a description of what that is.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:16-17 KJV)
There are things which we need to study in order to determine exactly what those people did to become Christians and to live their lives as such. These things are also laid out for us through the New Testament. We must keep in mind that Jesus himself, did not live under his own law. He was born, lived and died under the Law given the Jews through Moses.
And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. (Hebrews 9:15-17)
Jesus, immediately before his ascension into heaven, instructed his apostles to go to Jerusalem and wait there until they would receive power from on high. On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit descended upon them and gave them the power to speak in languages they had never studied and they preached to all the Jews who had gathered in Jerusalem for the Pentecostal Feast. They were instructed as to what they must do to become a member of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom and over three thousand were added unto them on that day. (Acts chapter 2) And the same chapter says that the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
The book of Acts is filled with examples of people being converted and baptized into Christ, His spiritual kingdom. Now, the real question arises here. Which body of “Christians” listed above, were these people added to? There were people added to the spiritual body of Christ and are discussed throughout the entire New Testament. The fact of the matter is, not one single group in the listing of the Adherents.com were in existence then. You may look in the historical accounts and find every one of them started by men. His is not a physical organization. It has no name, or more especially no headquarters managed by men. It is referred to throughout the New Testament by a descriptive term, The Lord’s body, His kingdom, His church, the church of God, the church of the first born, the churches of Christ, the church, the body, the kingdom, the called out, but never a formal name.
The scriptures have not changed. His followers were/are simply Christians. If we accept and render ourselves to obedience of His teachings, He will add us to His church just as He did on that first Pentecost. We will not have to state that we are Christians, we will be Christians, and as long as we abide in Him, we will remain Christians.
Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. (Revelation 2:10 KJV)
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)This is interesting, Joel, in this age where Christianity can be used to represent almost anything, no matter how un-Biblical.
Recently I've read Ayn Rand's words that one can not be both a Christian and Libertarian, because one practices love of neighbor and the other requires self-reliance.
I'd love to read your thoughts on this.Hi Bruce, I don't know enough about Libertarians to comment very heavily. Love thy neighbor is of course part of Christianity, but just how far our responsibility goes with that, I do not know. If we take the biblical example of the good Samaritan, I can buy into that. But if you are suggesting that we break our country trying to help illegals, I cannot see any responsibility there. On an individual basis, I'd give the shirt off my back to someone I ran into who needed it. But believe me we simply cannot take on the hunger of the world. Jesus even told his disciples that they always had the poor, and there will be. I've given to just causes all my life, to the point that I am now one of the needy. But I don't regret it. I help support some Christians in Kenya on a regular basis. In fact, one family just had a baby girl and named her Nadine, after my wife.I don't just see Christians unwilling to take on the hunger of the world, Joel. They are unwilling to take on the hunger of their next door neighbor. Somehow they say that their neighbor 'deserves' hunger. They're unwilling to give up their many options for healthcare so that their neighbor has any options. And they're incredulous at the idea that they should be in the least bit inconvenienced so that their neighbor has a better life. (Look at the issue of incandescent light bulbs.) I don't see anything Christian about this.Well, the attitude you are describing is not Christian. Any Christian ought to want to help anyone they reasonably can. And as far as the incandescent bulb bit, I 've been converted over to flourescent bulbs long before they even come up with what is now the controversy. I have full flourescent light fixtures in four rooms and we use the little curly screw in ones elsewhere, with the exception of one table lamp which won't accept those. But, I don't base my political stance on these factors.Well, we agree on that, Joel. Thank you for your response.
Joel, This is a good piece. That there is so much confusion about who is and who is not a Christian is, to me, a clear sign of spiritual warfare. It seems an affirmation of the Gospel that in the 21st Century Jesus is Great - in spite of those of us who claim to be followers.Thank you Dane, most of the confuson is being caused by the fact that most people will not study the bible on their own. In order to Obey God, one has to know what he says. And simply taking hearsay is a hazardous way to risk your soul. I sincerely appreciate your coment.A sad but true statement regarding study of the Scriptures.
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