I heard someone say that you can’t be a democrat and be a Christian. Sadly in our country, the term Christian has been hijacked by a political agenda.
So what does it really mean to be a “Christian”?
A Christian is someone who follows the teachings of Jesus Christ.
That’s quite a loaded definition and is interpreted in many different ways.
So what exactly did Jesus teach?
Jesus’ teachings taught love, compassion, forgiveness and being kind to others. He wants us to love our enemies and to treat others as we would like to be treated.
Sure, it can get deeper than those basic points of his teachings but you can see that none of these teachings give anyone a political agenda or permission to be weird. You don’t have to be weird to be a Christian.
Look, I grew up in a very emotional Pentecostal church denomination where it was fueled on emotion and strict rules of holiness. To put it plainly, it was pretty weird at times. I have always had an introverted personality so I never fit in with the things that went on in the church. Now I know some people need that type of church but just because I wasn’t “weird” never meant that I wasn’t a Christian.
When I went on a tour to Israel several years ago, our guide told us that most people there do not refer to themselves as Christians due to the historical issues that occurred during the crusades but they prefer to be known as “believers”.
When you look at today’s Christians in the United States, it is looking more like the crusades during the middle ages. Christians have become very aggressive and militant. Spanning most of the High Middle Ages (1050-1300 CE), a series of military expeditions called the Crusades was launched from Christian Europe against the peoples of the Near East. Sparked by a zeal to rid the Holy Lands of infidels. This is NOT what Christ had intended. We can’t force people to believe in Christ. This isn’t a belief done by force but with love and being the physical representatives of Christ in this world.
There is a false belief that the new administration is going to usher in a new Christian nationalism but it is destined to backfire and become like the ill-fated Crusades for the Middle Ages. You can’t force Christian. It won’t work. Many will say that we need the Ten Commandments in our schools or the Bible in every classroom. That is not how it is done. If someone isn’t a football fan, you can’t put a football in front of them and expect them to become a fan. They have to feel the excitement and become a fan on their own and in their own way. Not by force or hate.
Yeah, I might not agree with someone’s life choices or their lifestyles but I can still love them and associate with them. Didn’t Jesus do that too?
