Not long ago CNN ran a special story on the subject of “What is a Christian”. It truly is sad that people really do not know what a Christian is. In fact many times people think of Christians as a plague of hateful self righteous people who want nothing more than to send them to hell.

Absolutely nothing could be farther from the truth! Let’s get the real picture of Christianity. After you know the truth of what a real Christian is then you can decide for yourself what you want to do with the rest of your life (since your life is affected by it). Even if you believe yourself to be a Christian please open your heart and examine yourself…or else you may be giving God a bad name.

A Christian foundation.

The true view of a Christian has been so distorted over the years that many people do not even know what the basic foundation of Christianity is! In fact this distorted view has led countless people into professing they are Christians without even knowing what they believe. No wonder people don’t know what a real follower of Christ is…all they have seen are people saying “I am a Christian” while they live like the devil all week long.

Contrary to popular opinion these things do not make one a Christian:

• being a good person
• going to church
• saying a prayer
• reading the bible
• Or even preaching to others about how “bad” they are.

I grew up watching a show called Mamma’s Family. The star of the show was depicted as being a God fearing old lady who went to church every Sunday. She had the pastor to dinner every so often even. Did that make her a Christian?

I can’t count the number of times when she would say grace before the meal and then cuss at her family. She had absolutely no problem with yelling at everyone and anyone…unless the pastor was in view that is. What does that tell you about a Christian?

It tells you absolutely nothing! Except perhaps that a real Christian is hard to find because of all of the fakes. Now it is true that Christians are not perfect people. Can you name a single person who is perfect? I can’t name a single person other than Jesus…but I can name some people who try to follow Jesus.

This is the foundation of what a Christian is. A Christian is someone who believes in the God spoken of by the bible and who lives by it! Here is the simple truth:

• A Christian is not perfect
• A Christian has openly committed his life to follow God
• A Christian is forgiven of his imperfections because of his acceptance of Gods mercy
• A Christian disciples himself to be more like God
• A Christian acts with love (sometimes tough love)
• A Christian learns to follow God through understanding the bible

The sins of the “church”

People almost always point out how bad the “church” is. Most of the time they point to the Catholic Church and events such as the inquisition. Other times they point to the televangelist who is only after their money. Or they will tell you a story about how their “Christian” father abused them.

I feel a great deal of pain when I hear of these things because I know that the “church” many people have seen has been anything but a Christian church. Remember what I told you about what makes someone a Christian. A Christian acts with love.

Sometimes that means telling you something you don’t want to hear…like “there is a literal hell that people will go to if they do not turn to God.” This isn’t done out of hate, it is done out of love. Love is the reason you are told of this place…it is also the reason that even Satan has not been thrown into hell yet. It is because God loves…and yet love will not allow evil to go on forever.