can a Christian have fundamental disagreement with your point of view and still (from your perspective) be a Christian?
I haven't read your other threads but I'm curious if you came to become a Christian as a way of overcoming/replacing some problem in your life such as alcholism or something else. Just wondering?
I think there are always going to be some disagreement amongst Christians because of the human factor. However, all Christians must do the following, without exception:
- Believe that God is who He says He is
- Believe that Jesus is the son of God
- Believe that Jesus died, and rose again for our sins
- Confess by mouth that you are a sinner and accept Jesus as your Saviour
- Know that Christ is the only way to the Father
My relationship with Jesus is not a result of any personal problems I had to overcome. In fact, my childhood and teenage years were, from a world's perspective, very good. I come from a middle-class family, I was a jock (despite being small in stature) in high school, I was voted most popular male my senior year*, and I enjoyed a similar experience when I went off to college. Do not misunderstand me, I had my share of ups and downs, but for the most part, I was a happy and well-adjusted kid. I put an asterisk by most popular because there is a caveat. I come from a small southern town and we were still practicing a version of Jim Crowism. I was voted the most popular black male of my senior class. We had a black and white version of everything.
Throughout my life I have had religious experiences. For whatever reasons, there have been things revealed to me. I know that must sound crazy to a non-believer, but those who know God know what I am talking about. There was a thread about miracles on this board. I was tempted to share some of the ones I have seen, but I just do not think this is the place to do that. I will share the first one I had because it was shortly after that when I began to "know" things. When I was about seven years old, I had my left leg run over by my father's truck. My father was backing into the yard, and I was sitting on the little side step of the truck. He was going very slow. I fell off the truck. The thing I remember was being slightly under the truck, but thinking I had enough time to clear the truck. Some how it seemed as though I started moving in slow motion. When I knew the truck was going to run over my leg, I just looked away. The front tire passed over my leg, but t did not break my leg, nor did it even break the skin. My mother witnessed the whole thing. In fact, she was screaming for my father to stopped. I got up and walked away. My dad knew that he had ran over something, but refused to believe it was my leg. My mother was screaming and crying, but when I took her hand, she stopped. For the next few days, she actually seemed a little afraid of me. At least that is how it seemed to me at the time. We never really talked about it until the next "event" happened.
The things I began to see shorty after that are almost unbelievable....well maybe unbelievable to most. I wish that I could tell you that I got right with God after that, or even later as a young teen. The truth is I have tried running away from God for quite some time. I know how tempting the pleasures of this world can be. I have lived the lie of pretending to be a Christian. I have fooled my people for a number of years (including some ministers) that I was saved. This is one of the reasons I have extreme patience with people like yourself. You do not know Christ; you are a sinner, therefore, you are going to do what sinners do. I knew Christ, but still sinned. That made me worse than what you are.