August 8, AD 2011

Norway's mass murder headlines raise the question:

The New York Times has labeled Anders Behring Breivik, the 32 year old Norwegian accused of the mass murderer of at least 76 people, a Christian.

And other liberal media types have hopped on the bandwagon of the Time’s smear campaign, referring to Breivik as a “Christian Fundamentalist,” “Christian extremist” or “Christian terrorist.”

Out of their hatred of Christianity, anti-Christians in the media are attempting to make Breivik the poster boy of authentic Christianity.

But, I’ll let the Bill O’Reillys deal with the liberal media; my concern is for the Church and about a question that is infrequently asked and rarely given an adequate answer: “What is a Christian?”

And now, of all people, an accused mass murderer has brought that question to the forefront.

Granted, in Breivik’s 1500 page “manifesto,” he refers to himself as a “Christian,” though he says he neither has a “personal relationship” with God or Jesus, nor is such relationship essential to being a Christian. Rather, he indicates that he is a Christian on the basis of his particular beliefs and his perception of an historical “Christian culture” that he wants reestablished in Norway and throughout all of Europe.

It boils down to this: Breivik considers Christianity to be a relativistic belief system upon which Europe’s historic culture should be reestablished.

But is Christianity no more than beliefs and culture?

Whose set of beliefs?

Catholicism? Any of thousands of variations of Protestantism?

And which culture?

The Holy Roman Empire? Europe after the Reformation? Colonial America? “Christian Germany” during the Nazi era?

Breivik’s self-description of himself as a Christian is not unlike the self-descriptive views of history’s Thomas Jefferson or today’s Barack Obama—along with countless members of a plethora of professing Christian denominations, sects, cults, and other fringe groups and individual eccentrics.

Furthermore, Breivik embraces his own perception of an historical Christian culture in Norway and Europe—in much the same way as many professing Christian traditionalists, dominionists, and Civil Religionists on this side of the pond consider America is an historically Christian nation and are intensely focused on turning America back to God and changing the world into a global Christian culture.

Interesting that so many of the above base certain beliefs about God, country, and man on certain Universalist, humanist and natural law precepts of Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights, but rarely even attempt to support such beliefs with references to Scripture.

Within the Church itself, some have inadvertently contributed to the misunderstanding that Christianity is a belief system. For example, a local church’s Statement of Faith. More common than not, such statements are comprised of a short list of abbreviated beliefs, each of which begins with: “We believe....”

Have you ever had someone respond to what you have said with a voice of dismissal: “Well, my church doesn’t believe that!”

Frankly, my theological radar switches to “skeptic” mode whenever I hear a professing Christian, whom I don’t know, say on TV: “I believe that....” I usually stay tuned for a while to decide whether to turn off my “skeptic” mode or to turn off the TV.

How better to cite the source of the truth one believes by saying something like: “The Bible teaches...” or “According to the Bible...” and quote an applicable passage.

Better also in a Statement of Faith to reword the statements to start with: “We acknowledge the truth of the biblical teaching (or Bible doctrine) that....”

Even then, it takes some Spirit-illuminated discernment as to whether the interpretation and application is consistent with the original intent and meaning of Scripture.

But back to the question: “What is a Christian?”

While natural man, along with many professing Christians, may identify a Christian in terms of beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and culture, the Bible defines a Christian as one chosen by God for salvation, who is placed in new spiritual relationships, is positioned in God’s spiritual realm, and is ontologically a new creation, with identity in Christ Jesus:

...God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:13b).

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:4-7).

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statues, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances” (God, as quoted in Ezekiel 36:26-27).

...that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:17-19).

Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.... (Romans 6:3-9).

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9-12).

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20).

Those are but a few of many Bible verses that could be cited in answer to the question: “What is a Christian?”

To learn more, click below for more in-depth reading on this web site. It’s free, and no registration or log-in is required:

The Whole-Hearted Christian (on-line booklet)

The Christian’s New Heart (on-line, more detailed Advanced Study)
______________

To Forward this Article

1. Use the Forward feature on your email app, or
   
   
2. Copy the above URL for this page and send it via email, or
   
   
3. Select this entire page and copy it, then send it as html email content or an attachment.
   

Get a FREE SUBSCRIPTION to Frank's articles
For an absolutely free subscription to "Frankly Speaking," simply Contact us. You will be taken to another page and asked to provide your name and email address. Then type "Subscribe" in both the Subject field and the Message field. To unsubscribe, type "unsubscribe" in the subject field.
_______________

©Copyright AD2011 Frank Allnutt. All rights reserved.