I'm a Christian and So Can You

What exactly is a Christian?

Seems at first like a pretty simple question. But my last post (in which I critiqued a "Born-Again" Christian's perspective in that famous "Hate Religion, Love Jesus" video) caused me to stop and realize that, even amongst Christians, we all seem to have different answers to that question. You'd think that it would be obvious what essential qualities cause one to become a Christian, but it isn't. I would venture to say that, for those of us on the Christian Journey, the answer to this question is pretty important. So I figured I'd take a stab at the question from my standpoint, while addressing other views along the way.

1. Someone Who Believes in Jesus

I'd wager that this would be the most common answer you'd receive if you asked this question. It's short, sweet, and to-the-point. However, it's also pretty vague. A better wording might be, "Someone who believes in Jesus' teachings." Anyway, this response leaves it up in the air as to what it means to "believe" in Jesus. For instance, Muslims believe in Jesus. They consider Him amongst the greatest of the prophets, second only to Muhammad, as well as the awaited messiah. But they do not consider Jesus to be divine in any sense. In light of this, ask anyone the question, "can a Muslim also be a Christian?" I think you'll find that the answer tends to be no. Time to expand our definition.

2. Someone Who Believes that Jesus is God Incarnate

This obviously eliminates Muslims from the list of possible Christians. It also eliminates Jehovah's Witnesses, oddly enough, because they equate Jesus with Michael the Archangel but not God. Those who consider Jesus simply a wise, good man get cut from the roster by this definition. So we're getting somewhere. However, this answer forces us to define "God." Is there just one God? Many Gods? A few? Mormons (considered to be one of the fastest growing Christian sects) believe in a Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. However, in the LDS Church, each person of the Trinity is considered to be of a distinct substance, mean not one God but three. Most folks would say that the Christian God is the monotheistic God, so...

3. Someone Who Believes in the Trinitarian God as Put Forth by the First Council of Nicaea

One God, three Persons, sharing one substance but distinct in relation to one another, etc. etc. This definition makes us cross Mormons off of the list of Christians, as well as all those other non-Trinitarian sects of Christianity. Starting to see why the question is important now? It makes one consider the ramifications of defining one's beliefs. But now we're back to the question of what it means to "believe" in someone. If someone wakes up one day, decides to believe in the Triune God, and then goes about his life as usual, is he a Christian? Probably not, which means we now have to start treading in dangerous territory.

4. Someone Who Agrees with 1-3, Believes in an Earthly Church

We're starting to get exceedingly dogmatic here. Now, I don't mean to say that to be a Christian you have to believe in the (uppercase-C) Catholic Church, or any other particular church for that matter. It stands to reason, however, that if we've gotten so far as accepting a Triune God (not something one just comes up with), then there must be some divine inspiration directing the beliefs of the unified faithful, also known as the "Church." But since there are so many different individual conceptions of what "Church" means, we must find something that more closely unifies us in belief.

5. Someone Who Accepts the Christian Bible as the Inspired Word of God. And All that Other Stuff Above, Too.

This relates to number 4 because the Canon of Scripture as we now have it was compiled by the earthly Church with varying degrees of completeness until the Reformation era. It's worth noting that not every denomination has the same Bible. For instance, Catholics have more books than Protestants, and the Eastern Orthodox have more books than Catholics. So even belief in the Bible is not quite enough to initiate one as a Christian. If only there were some Biblical ritual that was used to initiate Christians in the first century that all mainline denominations practice today!

6. Someone Who Receives Christian Baptism

At the Great Commission, Jesus said to His Apostles, "Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matthew 28:19). Though beliefs on what exactly Trinitarian Baptism does or to whom it should be administered differ, essentially all mainstream Christian denominations practice it. This again eliminates groups that either don't Baptize under the Trinitarian formula, or don't believe in the Trinity as a single being (i.e. Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses). It also eliminates groups that do not practice Baptism at all from mainstream Christianity. However, Baptism seems to clearly be the preferred form of initiation over the past two millennia. It seems to me that one could also make the case that someone who intends to Baptized as soon as possible but cannot yet do so could be considered a Christian by desire, though I won't push the limits into hazy territory. Let's just keep it at Trinitarian Baptism.

I think we have a winner! However, there's one more question to ask...

Can Someone Cease to Be a Christian?

Now, obviously from the standpoint of someone leaving the faith, of course you can. But to those that remain Christian, does the ex-Christian actually become "less" Christian? I would venture to say no.

1. If Baptism, not strict belief, is what initiates someone into the faith, then a person who ceases to believe does not necessarily cease to be a Christian.

2. Baptism may be the initiation, but is there any un-initiation? In short, no. One does not formally become de-Baptized.

3. Central to the Christian Journey is the forgiveness of sins - all sins. And like with all sins, a repentant lapsed Christian is free to return to the faith at any time. Committing a sin doesn't make someone less of a Christian, and leaving the faith is no different.

I hope this post made you think as much as it made me think, even if you disagree with my assessment. Have a good one!