Maybe Obama is right: This is not a Christian nation.
A good 75 or 85 percent of Americans may identify themselves as Christians, but how many are actually striving to live according to the principles taught by Jesus Christ in the Bible? I've heard disturbing things this week, and not just from...you know, I was going to name a popular liberal talk show host, but, can you imagine--I have never heard of any!
But back to my first point, which is
You cannot be Christian if you are not willing to share you faith with others.
Have we all fallen for the progressive doctrine of "Thou shalt not trample another's beliefs" so fully that we now fear we are infringing on another person's rights if we make any mention of prayer, church, Jesus, or sin? Many of us call ourselves Christian and then kowtow to anyone who considers a "Choose Human Life" bumper sticker religious oppression. If you think that you have no moral right to share the good news of Christ's gift, then you are right. You have an obligation:
Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. Matthew 10:32-33.
And what of those who cry that your faith in Christ tramples their beliefs or lack thereof? I have thought of many intangible things that can be trampled: rights, desires, freedoms. But beliefs? I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and my savior, who alone can forgive sin and grant eternal life. This belief has been suppressed, marginalized, ridiculed, and even criminalized. But trampled? It's not possible. Anytime someone accuses you of trampling his beliefs, realize that he most likely means his prejudice, entitlement, or willful ignorance.
You cannot be Christian if you are not willing to hold up Christianity as the one true and right faith.
Worse than these closet Christians are the "worship and let worship" Christians. That is, those who are of the mentality that "I have my God, and you have your God, and it's all good."
Sorry, but it isn't. God the father of Jesus Christ is the only God, and if you consider him equal to every other, then why are you Christian? By adopting this egalitarian view of religion, you are saying that Christianity is no better than Buddhism or even atheism. Let me tell you, I have been anti-God, non-Christian-but-pro-God, and Christian, and being Christian definitely is best. Mark Twain said, "The man who can sleep in but doesn't has no advantage over the man who can't." Well, the man who considers his faith on par with every faith has no advantage over the man who has none.
If you wonder what right you have to invite others to your faith, you have the right that right gives you, as a life for Christ is the only right path.
It is better to be a Christian hypocrite than an non-Christian who can sin with impunity.
Of course, once you do share that you are saved by Christ and He is the only way to Heaven, non-Christians and even some misguided people who call themselves Christians clamor for every opportunity to point at your sins and crow "Hypocrite!" It's like we're the lepers of Biblical times, except the pointers are gleeful rather than horror-stricken. Everybody and his brother feels free to hold you up to public scorn for acting "non-Christian," even if they do this while setting fire to a home for terminally-ill children.
Chances are you will never be able to dissuade non-Christians' suspicions that you are sitting in judgment over them for being saved when they are not. You can, however, realize that it does not matter whether any mortal man believes or acknowledges that you are Christian. All that matters, of course, is what God believes. They cannot see your hear, but He can.
Of course, the saddest part thing about the hypocrisy-mongers is that many of them believe that only those who believe in sin can sin. That is, it's wrong for Christians to commit adultery, because the Bible forbids it, but atheists can have a harem! And it's not wrong, because they don't believe it's wrong! Yes, friend, you are a real sucker for signing up for this faith that has all these rules when you could be living it up where anything goes. To a lot of people, you can't go to hell if you refuse to acknowledge its existence. As before, there's not a lot you can do about this, except to explain that there is absolute right and wrong, and all sin is sin. Furthermore, being Christian does not mean you are good, but that you know that Jesus is, and that you need His help to be good.
God cannot be divorced from anything.
Someone, maybe even a fellow Christian, may ask you to "take God out of it," when you discuss politics, or sports, or dieting, or any other aspect of your life. How can you? You can't. God is life, and, if you are Christian, He rules every part of yours.
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