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Jesus Christ died for the sins of all. He promises eternal life to those who truly follow him. Note: I said follow, not simply believe or belong. After all, that is the whole reason this page was created. It was made in order to show that one has to follow Jesus Christ, or have discipleship, to truly be a christian. Jesus tells us to 'go and make disciples of all nations', not just, 'believe me'. (See Matthew 28:39) "What good is it my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but no deeds? Can such faith save him? Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." James 2:14,17
I say anyone who does not acctivly follow Jesus Christ, is not a Christian. This is a hard pill to swallow for some. (Yes that's right I just said that person who is in Church Every Sunday, and gives ten percent to the church may not be a Christian.) Jesus Christ died for ALL people, that is he gives the offer of Eternal life to all people. However one must accept this as well, that is they must Follow Jesus Christ.
So if someone belonged to a church but didn't actively follow Jesus, of course they will (eventually) find it empty. It may take them a while to realize it, and they may not realize that their whole life is empty, but it is. I have been their and done that. (Which is exactly how I know that.)
Here is my story of my personal experience of that. It has a double purpose, it shows you a concept of what atheism and agnostism is, and how I know it is empty. Also, it gives an example of what not being a christian is, without offending anyone.
Hay,
I'm offended, you've insulted me.
myself.
See what I mean? It isn't very likely.
Now, on with the story:
I was once a person who attended
church every sunday. I attended Sunday School on sunday, never
did anything against the rules. I wasn't perfect, but I was an all
arrond good kid. However, instead of truly accepting that Jesus
died for me, I only accepted the concept that some Jesus figure had
supposedly died for everyone. I didn't accept God, but the concept of
God. I have since started truly found God, and truly found Jesus.
I now see that being a christian requires doing good deeds and
telling people about Jesus. (Contrary to what
some may say. Those that say that, can claim to tell people whatever
they want though, if it is true or not.) I have now
truly accepted Jesus, and God, and am now following him. Now, I
am a Christian in truth as well as word,
unlike before when I was not truly a
Christian. Before, I might as well have belonged to another religion
for all the good it did me.
Following Jesus Christ can take several different forms. One can follow Jesus Christ with any of these, or any combination of them, as long as one truly follows Jesus Christ. For example, I can tell people about Jesus Christ by making this web page, while there are others that haven't ever seen a computer, much less know HTML.
However there are some things that are 'not following' Jesus. If someone is doing this and it doesn't have anything to do with Christ, it is often called "commercializing the gospel". Anything that is not directly following Christ that is religious is commercializing the gospel. It is for this reason that I sometimes differentiate Christianity from Faith. Christianity being attending Church, having Sunday school, an occasional dinner, and nothing more. (Zero connection with Christ or God with this.) Faith being giving ones life to following Christ, a combination of doing 'Good deads' (feeding the hungry for example) and telling others about Christ's salvation. (Which does have a very strong connection with both Jesus Christ and God.)
I often see the different denominations trying to commercialize the Gospel. They are supposed to be the Religious head quarters. I define the Churches that are Christian or non-Christian by those that are Christ Centered and those that are not Christ centered. (Christ centered meaning that their purpose is to do good deads & tell people about Christs salvation so others can accept it too.) I don't include the vareous little beliefs in the defionition. Based on that defionition the Church Denomination (protestant) I attend service at and belong to is not Christian.
John 18:33 "Jesus said 'My kingdom is not of this world'"
To summarize this whole page, If you do not follow Jesus Christ
in action, then you are Christian no more than the Hindew, regardless of if you believe or not, regardless of if you are baptized or not, regardless of how much you attend church. (I'll also imply that there are probably a lot of people that don't follow Jesus, and therefore find it empty and discard it as false because they never knew what it really is.)
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The absolutely basic facts about God.
Jesus Christ's salvation and call to action
Frequently asked questions
About the Author
Misculaneous links
link to this site
Biblical prophecies
why not e-mail me at jojensen1@juno.com I should be able to get a response to you by this time tommorrow, or the day after at the latest.
This site made and maintained by Joey Jensen (ND, USA)
Last modified 3/25/99