by James Smart

Created on: May 05, 2008

A true Christian is someone who trusts in Jesus Christ and the work of Jesus Christ through His life, death, and resurrection. It is no more complicated than that. Different denominations of Christianity, particularly the more obscure "cult-ish" type ones, will say you are not a TRUE Christian unless you believe and live by their specific principles and interpretation of the Bible, or some other supplementary writings.

My own journey into Christianity took me through some of these extreme Christian organizations. My conclusion is that every argument is equally convincing and will leave a person who is seeking salvation utterly confused. There are a few things which I suppose 99% of those who profess Christianity will agree on: Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he died on the cross, that He rose from the dead to save us from the penalty of our sins, that if we trust in Him and accept His salvation we will be saved. I believe that if this was all you believed and knew, you would be as true a Christian as anyone else.

I don't believe that God looks at the denomination, but the individual. Perhaps the best way to separate yourself from true Christianity is to try to earn salvation through your own effort. The Pharisees who were very good at keeping the rules and had pride in the strength of their flesh offended Jesus to the core. He preferred to spend time with publicans and prostitutes. These people knew they were helpless. A part of trusting Christ is trusting Him to give His strength to you to live a holy life. This means you will increasingly live according to the basic biblical moral principles, but it is Christ Who you will look to in order to achieve this, rather than trusting yourself.

I often read some very good stuff from seemingly lone Christians on the Internet who say things which fly in the face of mainstream Christianity. The trouble is that these individuals are very judgmental and seem to have a chip on their shoulder. This doesn't make the things they say wrong, but if you chose not to believe the things they say, that doesn't make you any less a Christian either. I would go careful subscribing to any points of view which would make you feel that you are in some kind of Christian "elite" if you believed them. Anything which makes you feel superior to other Christians is not what our faith is about.

Jesus said that the world would know we are His because we love one another. How many thousands of different Christian denominations are there? I often think the bible is vague about certain things in order to test our love for each other despite differences of opinion. The bible is certainly clear about the important things which I have already mentioned. Should we not then all meet at the cross and put away these differences which divide us?

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