by Richard Ellis

Created on: February 17, 2010   Last Updated: February 20, 2010

No! Christians as a whole, or in part, have not left behind the teachings of Christ. The reason is simple. No true Christian is capable of deliberately abandoning any part of the teachings of Christ. To be a Christian is to be an imitator of Christ. To be like Him one must accept all of Him and His teachings.

To be a Christian one must first turn away from sin and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. To do so means to give your life to Christ and follow Him. This does not mean that a Christian will not slip back into sin sometimes; it happens - we are only human, but we do not leave Christ behind. We ask forgiveness and go on following Him and learning and growing in His word.

Unfortunately, there are those who call themselves Christians but are not. It is they who have left behind the teachings of Christ. It is they who, for a variety of reasons, have watered down the word of God in the interest of tolerance and all inclusiveness of base religions and beliefs. It is the "feel good" religious proponents who have abandoned the teachings of Christ. They are the eclectic Christians who pick and choose from Christ's teachings whatever they feel is useful to them and ignore the rest. One might call them "salad bar" Christians. Anyone who has "left behind the teachings of Christ" was not truly following Him in the first place.

Those who truly follow Christ are generally referred to as Fundamentalist Christians (usually Protestant); that is, those who believe in the fundamental teachings of God's word; that the Bible is literally true and inerrant. But the wider world sees true Christians as being intolerant, bigoted, opinionated and even ignorant and stupid for believing that Christ is the only way to heaven and eternal salvation. This, however is the basic teaching of Jesus Christ, Himself.

As followers of Christ we are to reach out to all the world with the offer of eternal life through God's salvation. We must be accepting of all who accept Christ and love those who have not yet done so in the hope that one day they will. Christians will always remember that Christ died for all the world. To follow Him is to reach out to the whole world in love and compassion and to stand firmly on His word. Christian martyrs the world over have died and will die for the love of the Lord. A willingness to do anything less is leaving behind the teachings of Christ.

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