What is a True Christian

Genesis1315

Genesis1315

Ladies
This has been brought up many time in the past months, so I figured we need to actually figure out what a true christian is. Please post your thoughts and Biblical passages to support if possible.

Gen
 
someone who confesses with their mouth that they are christians and spiritual fruit visible along with a constructive relationship with Jesus. that is what i believe a true christian is.
 
Good answer Atown. You definitly can not claim to be a Christian if you don't have any fruit to show for it.

To be a true christian we have to be obedient to God and the calling He has placed within our lives. We need to be willing to be a witness for Him. We have to be willing to back up what we say by living it ourselves. If we don't we are, for lack of a friendlier term, hypocrites.

To back up Atown with scripture:

Matthew 3:10 (MsgB)
What counts is your life. Is it green and blossoming? Because if it's deadwood, it goes on the fire.

Matthew 7:17-19 (KJV)
Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. [18] A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. [19] Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

Luke 6:43 (MsgB)
"You don't get wormy apples off a healthy tree, nor good apples off a diseased tree.


A true Christian will bring forth good fruit.
 
That's exactly right, what Priceless said. We can't go simply by what people say, because a staggering lot of people claim to be Christians and show absolutely no fruit, or worse yet, bad fruit. That's why the secular public believes Christians are hypocrites, because that' what they have been shown.

So God tells us how to be sure; judge a tree by its fruit. Very well said.
 
Tonight, the part of DarkVirtue will be played by Genesis1315 :)

true christian we have to be obedient to God and the calling He has placed within our lives
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so, what about a homosexual pastor?

Gen
 
Genesis1315 said:
Tonight, the part of DarkVirtue will be played by Genesis1315 :)



so, what about a homosexual pastor?

Gen
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A Christian who has been one long enough to be a pastor cannot be a practicing homosexual. Living in sin is not an option. We all sin but 'living in sin' is different.

As I have said in other posts...a homosexual can become a Christian, but over time God will change their lifestyle.

A mature Christian will not live a lifestyle of homosexuality period . Hopefully a pastor of a Christian church will be a mature Christian.
 
Sounds to me as if you're judging both God and Man there, Didasko. I was also told that God worked miracles in his own way and in his own time - and that man couldn't predict or demand them!

If a practising Christian is a homosexual then God may WELL change his lifestyle - but who are you to say how long it will take, and therefore sit in judgement of another mans faith?

And ALL those quotes are from the apostles - not from Jesus and not from God. I regard those as opinion - unless you believe these 12 men just happened to be infalliable. That smells like church politics to me - and I don't understand how protestants can believe the apostles are infalliable when Peter was the first Pope!
 
Eon said:
Sounds to me as if you're judging both God and Man there, Didasko. I was also told that God worked miracles in his own way and in his own time - and that man couldn't predict or demand them!

If a practising Christian is a homosexual then God may WELL change his lifestyle - but who are you to say how long it will take, and therefore sit in judgement of another mans faith?

And ALL those quotes are from the apostles - not from Jesus and not from God. I regard those as opinion - unless you believe these 12 men just happened to be infalliable. That smells like church politics to me - and I don't understand how protestants can believe the apostles are infalliable when Peter was the first Pope!
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I constantly sin, but I repent, meaning I ask for forgiveness and try to change it (Or actually, ask God to change it). That is the difference Didasko is talking about. If you knowingly sin but do not repent, then you're not a true Christian.

Which quotes are you talking about? I do not believe the apostles to be infallible, but I believe the Bible to be infallable. The words that they say in the Bible is the word of God, and thus, I treat it as such.
 
Fair enough on the answer to the homosexual minister....now let me pose this question

You definitly can not claim to be a Christian if you don't have any fruit to show for it.
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But someone who has been a Christian for 2 days would still be a true Christian even though he may not be producing fruit. True?

Gen

(Please note, I am not trying to be argumentative, just trying to dig through all of the questions)
 
But does not the new Christian show fruit as well by a change in his additude or in the way he feels convicted whenever he starts to do something that, he is now learning, is wrong?

Of course that is my opinion.
 
Priceless3110 said:
But does not the new Christian show fruit as well by a change in his additude or in the way he feels convicted whenever he starts to do something that, he is now learning, is wrong?
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Exactly right.

You seem to be responding faster than I have been, and I'm thrilled about it. I was away from my computer all day and you are here to back me up, like a second line of forum defense... I love it. :D
 
But the words the apostles say in the bible are the words that the apostles said. Not words that God said - of course in order to preserve the concept of Biblical inerrancy, you have to say that every word the Apostles put in the bible was inspired divinely. But God didn't decide which words from the Apostles made the cut - Constantine did that when he "trimmed" the bible down.

The quotes I'm referring to are the ones used earlier in the thread to "explain" this situation.


Regarding fruit - it comes back to this point again. Who says how fast the fruit will develop, and who says it will be apparent to YOU? And yet you're quite happy to judge in God's stead who is or isn't a proper Christian.
 
Eon said:
But the words the apostles say in the bible are the words that the apostles said. Not words that God said - of course in order to preserve the concept of Biblical inerrancy, you have to say that every word the Apostles put in the bible was inspired divinely. But God didn't decide which words from the Apostles made the cut - Constantine did that when he "trimmed" the bible down.

The quotes I'm referring to are the ones used earlier in the thread to "explain" this situation.
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Eon you can't have it both ways either the Bible is inerrant or it is not. You can't just pick and choose the parts you want...in this case you want to only use what God said and leave out the apostles. If we let in just one small bit of errancy then the whole book comes into question.

I believe that the Bible is infallible! God inspired the apostles, there is no room for fallibility. You and DV always accuse us Christians of putting God in a box, but now you are doing it.

You've used this Constantine argument a couple of times now. You must be reading a different church history than I am. What exactly are you referring to?


Eon said:
Regarding fruit - it comes back to this point again. Who says how fast the fruit will develop, and who says it will be apparent to YOU? And yet you're quite happy to judge in God's stead who is or isn't a proper Christian.
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The first fruit is instantaneous. Repentance is the first fruit.

Repentance is not just saying oops I messed up but now I'm forgiven so I can do whatever I want. Repentance is a feeling of remorse. It includes a desire to make it right.

When we repent and accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, our whole outlook on life changes. It is an obvious change. Not an immediate perfection but an immediate desire to follow the Bible's teachings. Repentance is obvious for all to see. It is not a stealth operation.

Eon said:
Sounds to me as if you're judging both God and Man there, Didasko. I was also told that God worked miracles in his own way and in his own time - and that man couldn't predict or demand them!
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There is a huge difference between judging God and accepting his word. It's not my judgement of man either Eon, it's God's.

Eon said:
If a practising Christian is a homosexual then God may WELL change his lifestyle - but who are you to say how long it will take, and therefore sit in judgement of another mans faith?
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It is not my place to say how long it will take. We were talking about the pastor of a church. A mature Christian. Someone mature enough to lead God's flock. That is a huge difference from what you are trying to imply here.

Eon said:
And ALL those quotes are from the apostles - not from Jesus and not from God. I regard those as opinion - unless you believe these 12 men just happened to be infalliable. That smells like church politics to me - and I don't understand how protestants can believe the apostles are infalliable when Peter was the first Pope!
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See above.

As for Peter being the first pope...you must be reading Roman Catholic church history:)
 
I've read some of the "other" supposed books of the Bible that were allegedly "trimmed out" and let me tell you they are not Biblical at all and they don't even line up with themselves a few chapters down (and this is after I studied them).

That is a false doctrine just like so many others, and Revelation warns about adding to the Bible.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Priceless3110
But does not the new Christian show fruit as well by a change in his additude or in the way he feels convicted whenever he starts to do something that, he is now learning, is wrong?


Exactly right.

You seem to be responding faster than I have been, and I'm thrilled about it. I was away from my computer all day and you are here to back me up, like a second line of forum defense... I love it.
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LOL. As long as what we are talking about is Biblical that is the way it should be. As far as how fast. I am a SAHM so I can get on whenever I get a little break. :D
 
Another thing that needs to be made VERY clear to all of us.

We are to judge a person ONLY BY THEIR ACTIONS. Never are we to judge a persons heart. We leave that to God because only God can know what truely lies within one's heart.
 
I love it when people refer to me and I'm not even part of the thread!

My question to Christians would be this...who are you, as an imperfect being, to decide who is a TRUE Christian and who isn't? Since there isn't one, unified sect, your definition of TRUE won't be the same as another Christian's. I don't think you can claim true or false, I think you can only claim differences.

You can't even agree on a DEFINITION of Christian.
 
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