It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.
Romans 4:13
The self-checkout grocery store machine knows me.
I scan my Kroger card and it greets me personally, “Welcome valued customer!”
Oh! It feels so good to be valued.
But the feeling was temporary.
How did this machine decide that I’m valued?
Surely, it doesn’t value every customer!
There must be some criterion!
Something must set me apart from the unremarkable, non-valued customers.
I listen to the machines speaking to those other customers.
They get the same greeting that I got!
The machine never says, “You again? I told you not to come back!”
I’m disappointed!
I suspect that ‘Valued’ is a meaningless term.
There is no value in calling me ‘valued’.
Just like calling me, ‘Christian’.
Imagine the checkout machine saying, “Welcome, Christian Customer!”
What would happen?
Some people would be upset.
To them, the label is an insult.
Other people would be pleased…
…for absolutely no reason.
These are people who, before COVID, occupied church pews every Sunday.
Because they’ve ALWAYS occupied church pews on Sunday.
That’s what you do when you’re a ‘Christian’.
You go to church.
You go to the RIGHT church!
And you don’t cuss, at least not very often
…and you don’t steal things…etc
And the ‘value’ of Christianity becomes following the rules consistently.
Christianity by criteria.
My cherished, beloved, valued criteria
29 Responses
I decided to give this post a little while, to see if the Know-it-All would speak up. Historically, he has had LOTS to say regarding what a Christian should or should not do, but I guess he’s shy all of a sudden. Here’s the list I’ve complied based on his comments.
A good Christian…
-Cannot make room for evolution
-Cannot be sarcastic
-Must “be respectful” (even of stupidity)
-Must adhere to (KIA’s understanding of) the Bible
-Cannot get divorced
-Must refuse modern medical treatment, in favor of prayer-and-oil ONLY
Let me know if anyone wants to see the links to the original statements. Hilarious!
Hey Amamda
Does that mean I can insult and hate on you guys since I am disqualified?
We do have a problem, though. Our butchering was supposed to be Christian on Christian. Based on your list, neither of us qualify. Or SoM either, I forgot his invitation.
Whatever shall we do? We all know atheists never kill each other.
That’s an excellent point.
How can Christians butcher each other when there are only, like, 12 Christians in the entire world?! 🙂
Anyone who doesn’t take their kid to the doctor, and (I’m guessing) probably the Westboro Baptists will have to slaughter eachother without us.
As for you and I, we’re only “Christian” when one of the Atheists wants us to act more like Jesus… weird…
I am a little surprised Mike isn’t here too, maybe he’s found something better to do with his time.
What is this butchering you’ve been talking about?
Invite James to the butchering, Peach!!!
Oh, Wally and I scheduled a war with each other awhile back. lol.
Here’s the link to the original conversation, when Ark explained that people who believe in the “Lake Tiberius preacher” can’t even go “five minutes” without “butchering each other.”
https://branyancomedy.wordpress.com/2017/02/06/why-bad-things-happen-to-good-folks/comment-page-1/#comment-12601
Well that was an issue threshing exchange.
As you can imagine, I have close to 80 butcherings scheduled this week so I won’t be able to work you and Wally in until Saturday. Actually, it will have to be after 6:00 on Saturday, I am withholding medical care from children until 5:00 and then we are going to stone homosexuals for an hour.
Interesting exchange I meant. “Issue threshing” is bizarre even for auto correct.
Ha. Now that was classic James!
It was something, I guess
LOL!!!
If it takes an hour to get the stoning done, those are some tough homosexuals!
We don’t rush, have to make sure it’s done right.
JB –
Perhaps this is a “minimum” requirement of sorts.
Peter (in Matthew 14:22-33) walked on water with Christ. And then what happened? Peter began to sink – because he had “little faith.” I’d say at this moment – Peter had less faith than a mustard seed – even though he was right there with Christ.
So – at a minimum – we need less faith than a mustard seed.
~CQW
http://i1266.photobucket.com/albums/jj531/TheCrimsonQuarterWit/jesusonwater1_zpshz61lrfj.png
http://i1266.photobucket.com/albums/jj531/TheCrimsonQuarterWit/Cricket%20South%20Africa_zpsoylfr62e.jpg
————– WORTHLESS RAMBLING TO FOLLOW – PLEASE IGNORE —————–
The problem here is, if there was a dedicated Christian check-out machine one would need thousands/em> just to address the different schisms …. your Protestants and Catholics, baptists, Anna baptist ( whoever she is) , Jehovah Witlessess, Calvinists, Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, and a seeming endless number of denominations and schisms within different denominations etc etc ad nauseum.
Let’s be perfectly honest here, when it comes to their faith, Christians are nothing but a bunch of disagreeable sects maniacs.
As the check out lady once said:
”Have a nice day, (you schmuck) ”
Like the clinical terms idiot, moron, and imbecile, it seems that the word Christian used to be more useful and precise.in describing a particular person. But alas, that’s what happens to words. As jargon enters the populous, the meaning generalizes to things it was never meant to mean in the first place.
From what I understand, Christian has had a lot of different connotations since it’s inception [needs citation]. But yeah, currently there are many people who identify as Christian that seem ~questionable~ and others who dislike the term, but seem to be closely following Jesus’s teaching.
I would agree with this assessment.
And, for what it’s worth, we’ve allowed others the chance to define the term however they’d like. (I’ve been told I’m “not really a Christian” and “actually a Deist” multiple times. Which is fine, if we can be more precise and consistent with that term.)
Unfortunately, many people try to label others not for clarity and better communication, but just to better insult the individual they hate for personal reasons…
Many people take idiot, moron, and imbecile as synonymous with ‘Christian’.
The meaning of words does shift. I was sort of hoping we might have a conversation about what the bare minimum requirement might be for the ‘Christian’ label to be appropriate.
Sorry to dash your sort of hopes ^_^. Unfortunately, I don’t think that there is a “minimum” that is useful, since those in the know won’t be the only ones using it. But in attempts to make your dreams come true – it literally it means “little Christ” or “of Christ.” According to Acts 11, it seems that others first called believers “Christians” rather than believers self-identifying (though, there is some ambiguity in the text).
Now whether we should use it the term for active followers of Christ, those who have ever come to a saving knowledge of Christ, or those raised in a Christian culture. I’m not sure. Maybe we should abandon the term altogether (or maybe just not care about the term).
What a coincidence, this very question was the focus of the Bible class I was in on Sunday. What is the minimum requirement to be a Christian? It’s the start of a new class on Discipline and this was the first lesson. As you can imagine from the title of the class, our general conclusion was that discipleship is not a checklist and if we’re just looking for the least we can do and still be considered a disciple of Christ, then we’re not really being a disciple of Christ.
You make a great point here Whitney. As a society that seems to always be looking for the easy way, it’s not surprising people look for the easiest way to be a Christian. Too bad even Christ Himself never promised anyone that following Him would be easy.
And when the teacher posed the question initially, we all automatically started listing things that we consider the “minimum requirements” before realizing that we were looking at it all wrong.
It’s really good when people change their thinking and begin to focus on what’s important.
Great points! I would agree that Christians ought to be reflecting INTERNALLY when answering this question–rather than trying to come up with a definition of Christianity solely for the purpose of measuring other people.
I think that’s where the Atheists who comment here get tripped up. They’re trying to put a label on Christians, in order to criticize and accuse. (Down below, I’ve posted a list of the things Pastor Mike has actually said a “good Christian” CANNOT BE…even though he no longer ascribes to the label himself.) That’s the difference between striving to be Christlike as an individual, and becoming a judgmental Legalist.
People who strive to be Christ like should be the least judgemental amongst us because they know we all fall short of the glory of God and because we are all at different places in our walks.
Atheists behave like judgmental legalists but I think their motivation is different. Legalists are quick to note the failings of others because it makes them look better by comparison. Atheists make Christians look bad in an effort to discredit them and God.
And Mike. He is a special individual to he sure. I would like for him to explain why he believes he is the be all end all arbiter of “proper Christian conduct” when he watched a YouTube video, had some sort of epiphany, and now thinks the whole thing is a myth. I am more likely to get a physical exam from my plumber than I am to take anything Mike says about Christianity seriously.
Well, I suppose when YouTube giveth, then YouTube can taketh away…
LOL!
What a world we live in, huh?
You also don’t censor comments if you’re a Christian.