How do we define ourselves?

My wife recently came across a comment on a Christian website that from an atheist. The creator of the site asked an atheist that had been visiting the site for several months to come and comment on a question that they had been discussing. Before he made his comment he shared his experience in reading the website for the last several months. One of the things that he found interesting was before he started reading the website that Christians thought sex was only for the purposes of procreating and Christians were pretty much anti-sex. I thought it was interesting that the atheist from his experiences with Christians was that the Christian was against having sex. Now it is true that the Christian is against having unmarried sex but to think that a Christian would be against having pleasure though sex in the marriage relationship was standard practice for those in the church.



How do we define ourselves?

So why is there such a vast opinion about the Christian in general society as well as in the church itself? One of the reasons is because we have over the years allowed ourselves to define ourselves by what we DO NOT DO as opposed to what we do. Let me give you an example.

“I am not a Christian because I do not smoke cigarettes.” If we were to ask the majority of the Christian population I would guess that they would say that this is a true statement. But let’s take a close look at it. Does not smoking make you a better Christian? Aren’t there people who do not smoke that are not Christians? What about the person that has an addiction to smoking for years and gives their life to the Lord. They struggle with this addiction for all of their life and have occasional victory. Is this person less of a Christian? Sometimes does not a process take place to be free of this addiction? So to say that I do not smoke is not necessarily an accurate description of a Christian believer.

“I am not mean to my neighbors so I am a Christian.” Again if we ask the majority of the Christian population they would say this is an accurate statement. But let’s examine it a bit. Are you a Christian because you are not mean to others? Are not their people that are nice to their neighbors and are not Christian? Is this an accurate definition of a person’s spiritual condition?

“I do not watch movies so I am a Christian.” Would this be an accurate definition of a Christian? Because a person stays away from the movie house does that make them a Christian? If so many people that could not afford to go to the movies would qualify as well.

What I am not saying is that Christians should not have restraints. I believe that over this a person can be freed from smoking. I believe that is the desire of God. I believe that being nice to your neighbors when it is called for is a Christian thing to do. I believe that there are certain movies that we should steer away from. All of these things are good. But what I am not in agreement with is how over the years Christianity has become defined as what we do not do as opposed to what we do.



What do you think?