Who Is A Christian?
“I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are -- I in them and you in me, all being perfected into one. Then the world will know that you sent me and will understand that you love them as much as you love me.” -- John 17:22-23
Who is a Christian? The short answer is anyone who believes that Jesus is God’s son, that He came to earth as a man, lived a perfect life, died on the cross to take the sins of the world onto Himself, then rose three days later and now sits at the right hand of God.
If that is your definition, then what denomination a person worships with shouldn’t matter. But it does matter to a great many people. I know people who believe that Catholics aren’t Christians. And I know Catholics who think Protestants just don’t get it.
That doesn’t even touch on some of the other nitpicky issues. Are you really a Christian is you were sprinkled rather than dunked? Is it okay for someone from another denomination to take communion when visiting your church? For some groups the answers to both of those questions would be no.
Jesus obviously knew how we would be. He knew we’d get off topic and fuss about things that don’t really matter. Why else would He ask God to let all believers be one in Him? And we are one, even when we don’t act like it.
Another division that rises up is between conservative and liberal Christians. Sometimes it seems that conservative Protestants and conservative Catholics have more in common than conservative Protestants and liberal Protestants. It’s like the debate that rises up between traditional worship services and contemporary worship services. Does it really matter? We focus so much time and energy on our differences that we miss all the ways that we agree. We miss Jesus.
So who is a Christian? How do you define a person of a different faith, with different interpretations and different traditions, but the same core belief in Jesus that you have? Is that person a Christian? So why does admitting that sometimes make you squirm?
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