On Being the “Right” Kind of Christian

I never cease to be amazed at how many people are quick to inform us (meaning Believers) how to be the “right kind of Christian.” Some of them are Christians (according to their profession), while others would seem not to be. It is almost as if we (Believers and unbelievers alike) were void of a definitive authority on Christianity.

I remind you that this blog will not endorse a candidate for President of the United States, but we need to learn from the candidates and the “media,” who thinks what.

Governor Rick Perry is taking some “hits” for his current advertisement in Iowa in which he indicates he is a Christian and is not happy with “gays in the military,” and the de-emphasis on Christmas in public schools.

Yahoo News contributor, Elizabeth Danu, writes the following:

What does any of this have to do with being a Christian? I wonder how many kind, compassionate, humanitarian Christians do not choose to keep company with Rick Perry?

I’d like to answer that question (if I may). Being a “Christian” normally means that one is a follower (read: disciple) of Jesus Christ. As such, there is a commitment to Truth and a desire to be obedient to that Truth. While every Christian is instructed by Scripture to be kind, compassionate, and humanitarian, our first allegiance is to be true to what God has revealed to us in His Word. It often (not always, I am sure) appears that society at large would suggest one who is “kind, compassionate, and humanitarian,” must also be one who chooses to ignore  those very Truths clearly delineated by God.

We have reached a time in the United States where tolerance for every religious belief except Christianity (which is not a religious belief, but a “new life in Jesus Christ) is a virtue. I, for one (and I believe there are many, many more), Ms. Danu, will keep company with anyone who keeps company with the Truth. I long ago learned that Christianity is not a religion or a religious belief. It is, rather, a deliverance from the curse of sin and death by the grace of God, a new life empowered by the Spirit of God living within the innermost being of the Believer, who is consistently being changed by the Truth of God’s Word into a new creation of God ultimately conformed to the image of the Savior.

That isn’t being the “right” kind of person – that is being a NEW person – and I am interested in hanging out with any and or all of ’em.