True Christianity

     I was talking to a man about Christianity when he pointed to a large church building and asked, “What do they do in there?  I see them go in and come out, but I don’t see them do anything else.”  I was stunned.  After all, he was an astute individual, a lettered man.  So I assumed he would know about church meetings.  However, I have arrived at the realization that many non-Christians, and even professing Christians, do not know what Christianity truly is.  Nowadays, when you ask someone if he or she is a Christian they usually respond by telling you the title of the church building they meet in.  “Just going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in your garage makes you a car.” (G.K. Chesterton)  I’m convinced that were they to be informed, many professing Christians would consider true Christianity offensive and reject it.  Someone once said that modern Christians are so subnormal that if they ever became normal they would be considered abnormal.  At the risk of sounding “preachy” I want to explain what True Christianity is.

To begin with, I point out the fact that the term “Christian” is now so loosely defined and applied that it has been expanded to include just about everyone who desires to appropriate it.  The only criterion for claiming the term appears to be the act of claiming the term.  As a result, it has lost its distinction.  People who have no intention of accepting the Lordship of Christ or in any way conforming their lives to God’s will glibly apply “Christian” to their religious status. It is a common belief that no one has the right to challenge such a declaration no matter how lacking in evidence the professor may be.  Imagine if that were to occur with all terms and titles.  Suppose people were to go about declaring themselves medical doctors, lawyers, or police officers, with no other qualifications but their claims.  If Christianity is subjected to such an unreasonable rule then it is defenseless against everything that could potentially destroy it.  In fact, that is what has happened to Christianity.  There are few distinctive qualities left in the religion.  The secular world despises it and Satan does not fear it.  Sadly, many people who profess Christianity have got God wrapped up, boxed in, and shrunken down to an insignificant asterisk in their lives.  When it comes to choosing between paying the price to identify with Christ, or being an incognito Christian in public, they choose the latter.  They may have enough faith to enter a church building, but not nearly enough to enter God’s presence.

However, let’s counter the false notion that unlike vocations there should be no standard for determining true Christianity.  In fact there is a clear and definitive standard in the Bible.  No matter how people abuse the term, Christian still essentially means “follower of Jesus Christ”.  True Christianity is very simply the practice of following the example of Christ Jesus.  It has mutated into a religion that makes simple things complicated.  The result is millions of high maintenance, low impact professors that cling to the title while ignoring its implications.  A true Christian must do more than pay lip service to Christ. The Spirit of Christ must possess an individual with the resulting evidence.  The evidence is called “fruit”, which is the product of a person’s true nature.  Christ said that the difference between fraudulent and genuine Christians is that the former produces bad “fruit” and the latter good “fruit”.  The “fruit” of a genuine Christian should be the same “fruit” that flows from the nature of Christ.  It is expressed in the workplace, the marketplace, the neighborhood, and in every other avenue of life one moves in.  Christianity is the light of pure love and truth shining from souls endued with power from God, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and who are fearless but compassionate disseminators of the nature of Christ.

The fact is true Christianity has been obscured by the vast number of different versions, the greater part not agreeing with God’s word.  One could declare that many of these versions are based on the word of God and not be completely wrong.  However, they are based on God’s word like different colors can have the same base color.  As other colors are added, the color mutates from its original hue and becomes something entirely different.  One cannot call yellow white just because there is white in the base.  Likewise, one cannot call those versions true Christianity when colors of secularism, sexual perversion, pop psychology, cults, and even the occult, have been mixed in.  Additionally, multitudes practice Churchianity, which is the ritual of attending meetings with ends in themselves.  They hide themselves in the masses that make their weekly (or less) pilgrimage to a church building.  There they listen to either dry lectures or attempt to siphon spirituality vicariously from whoever is in the pulpit.

The truth is, God does not want or need our stuff or our rituals with all the religious trappings.  He does not want or need our frivolous attempts to purchase His love. He does not take joy in our dry church attendance, our half-hearted genuflection, or bland hymn singing. Unless we are crying out for His fire to fall in our souls, God does not accept our fleshly temples filled with the smoke of faith’s dying embers. The Son of God, Jesus Christ, did not visit this earth and die just so that we could have church meetings.  He gave specific instructions about what His followers should do.  They should bring souls into His kingdom, and help them to become productive followers of Jesus Christ. Christianity is not a game that where everyone makes up his or her own rules.  It is a life and death struggle between good and evil.  If we are followers of Jesus Christ, then we should emulate Him.  Christ declared that His followers are the light of the world.  That light should not attempt to shine only on Sunday morning, but at all times.