CHRISTIANITY BUT NO CHRIST .2

Many have been led to believe that Christ was Jesus’ surname or last name. That would be incorrect.

Christ comes from the word Christos which is a tile. It describes a function not a person. Christ means the expression of God embodied.

There are many things that are associated with Christianity that just aren’t Christian.

It’s been reported that there are now more than 2 billion people out of the 8 billion people in the world who associate themselves with Christianity.  (That’s 1 out of every 4 persons) But there are also 45,000 different denominations of Christianity globally and 200 in the U.S.

That’s a lot of Christianity, or is it? In math a denominator is a way to separate. That’s what denominations do; they separate. Denominations were formed by men as a play to leverage for power. Man wants control of Gods story. Still more denominations are being formed today.

How can you tell the difference between them? “You will know them by their fruit” is what is says in the book of Matthew. Watch their behavior and what they do, not just what they say.

Having so many divisions, denominations, and types, it would be easy to conclude that there are many types of Christianity. But that’s not correct.

There is only one Christian Faith, with various interpretations of what it should be, and how its followers should conduct themselves. Again, we see that man trying to excerpt his control over God’s story and its causing numerous conflicts.

Many people want benefits but don’t want to follow a process.

Which is to say they like the package/title/stature but don’t want the content/commitment/accountability that is required.

The package makes for good theater, while the contents require real change. Change is not a one-time event, it’s part of the process.

Change occurs when the whole can be broken into parts and pieces. Then goes through a thorough examination to make sure that each piece/component adds up to the correct/same sum total. That’s Change!

Judaism is not Christian. Even though many of the early pioneers of Christianity were Jewish people. Judaism and Christianity both receive Abraham as their father in faith, though he himself was not Jewish.

Sometimes things can get off track with an attempt to short cut or restate Christianity. Christian Deism is one such attempt.

Deism is a humanistic attempt to explain the theology behinds God’s relationship to the world. Deist believes that humans can only know God through reasoning. Other methods like revelation or supernatural manifestations are scoffed at, and ridiculed. In short, they don’t believe in miracles or the unexplained. They have an explanation for everything!

All biblical references to miraculous interventions by God are omitted.

Christian Diest are philosophical in their approach. They adhere to combine deism and moralism. They say, God created the universe and then became it, after its creation and no longer exists as a separate being.

They claim a form of Christianity, but make no mistake about it, this is not your grandparents Christianity!

Christian deists accept Jesus as a great teacher of high moral ideals without having any connection to the Divine.

Another attempt at explaining Christianity to man is called Christian Scientology, with estimates of 400,000 followers who want to understand God in scientific terms. They believe fully in the Divine Mind, their term for God. They assert that his infinite intelligence when partnered with man’s mind will yield spiritual healing and insight.

The list goes on and on of what Religion and religious people say and think about God. Man cannot explain God, but God can explain man.

Being religious and in a “religion” was never the design of God. Religion says, Christians should only listen to a certain type of music, dress a certain way, do good deeds to earn their salvation, meet on certain days to perform rituals, GIVE when you are told to, and, and, and. Religion has added their own personal requirements that God did not require from us to be in relationship with Him.

Religion says you must EARN your salvation. Christianity says all we need to do is BELIEVE that The Christ has already paid the price.

Much of today’s Religion is Moralism, which was like the Pharisees religion during the birth of Christianity.

The obvious difference between Christianity and all the others is, the others tend to focus on man trying to relate to God, whereas Christianity’s focus is about God’s relationship with man.

Even when you read the Old Testaments biblical staple known as the 10 Commandments it speaks only about relationship. Either how to improve our relationship with God or how to conduct our relationships with other people.

Religion is all about what mankind must DO to be in right alignment with God. Christianity is about what God has already DONE to provide a way to be in a relationship with Him.

So please don’t look at what has been done by some religious people and discredit or fault God because of them.

Fake Christianity talks about all that we can get from God. True Christianity talks about all that we should give God. 

Here’s the Fruit.

Christ is not a person; no more than the church is a place. Christianity is not a religion but a relationship. Christianity is not a denomination, a system of valuation/numbering set up by man. The Church is not an event center or organization but rather it is a living organism, with parts of the body located all over the world. Christ is not a man, but rather an answer for all of man’s issues.

So, don’t allow yourself to be misled by “Religion” or religious people.

Get to know Christ for yourself, not someone’s depiction of Christ.

This is a Thompson Truth