From: ragraca@vela.acs.oakland.edu (Randy A. Graca)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: And what *is* a Christian?
Date: 16 Aug 92 04:42:41 GMT
Organization: Oakland University, Rochester MI.

smayo@wang.com (Scott Mayo) writes:

>What is a Christian? What does the term mean? I think I have a pretty good
>idea, but in discussions with non-Christians it has become apparent
>that the definition I thought was universal and accepted by everyone
>is now in fact open to question, at least by these non-Christians.

>I'm posting the question here because there is a spectrum of believers
>here. If there isn't even agreement here, I can hardly blame non-Christians
>for not agreeing with my definition. If there is agreement here, among
>a wide spectrum of believers, I'll be a bit less worried about my use of the
>word.
>--
>I have always believed that a Christian is a person who has taken Jesus as
>his personal saviour. 
>--
>When I proposed this definition, I was informed that 1) it was a
>protestant-only definition - I'd like to hear the opinions of the Catholics
>in the audience on that, and 2) it was an evangelical/fundamentalist

I am a Catholic, and I would agree with that definition, although those
Catholics who take their religion seriously (there are, unfortunately,
those who do not) would probably wish to expand upon your definition to
include the fact that as Christians, we need not only to just believe in
Jesus but also to show love for our fellow man.  In other words, both of
Jesus' commandments, (... love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with
 all your soul, ...) and (... love thy neighbor as thyself ... ) must be
followed.  Some of my Christian friends who are not Catholic have taken
issue with this viewpoint (which is primarily a Catholic viewpoint, in
my experience) and have claimed to me that only "accepting Jesus" is
necessary for salvation.  I think that might be why your (1) and (2)
above were mentioned.  Nonetheless, your definition is fine with me as
far as it goes.
I might mention that many Catholics (at least of those that I know)
interpret "love of fellow man" to mean such things as being involved in
charity work (donating time and money, etc.) in addition to the obvious
interpretation.  This was where my non-Catholic friends took issue.

>As extra credit, I'd be curious to hear what people here mean by "accept"
>Jesus and "believe on" Jesus, since these terms are in danger of becoming
>buzzwords without content. This is not an invitation to a flamefest - I
>just want to make sure that my dictionary has not gone out of date. :-)
>--

Once again speaking as a Catholic, from what I have been taught in my
religion and what I have read in the Bible (I'll admit I cannot quote
from any verse in the Bible the way some other people can), I take these
terms to mean that I believe that Jesus suffered and died for my sins
(of course, not *only* mine, all our sins, but you get the idea), and he
came to deliver all of us from sin and death into salvation.  I believe
that many denominations of Christianity would stop here and say that
"accepting Jesus" means accepting what was just stated.  However, I
would go further and say that it also means that, as Catholic priests
have been saying in their sermons for years, we must each take up our
own individual cross each day (small though it may be), which to me
means being prepared to accept any misfortune that may come your way
(disability, illness, losing your job, etc.) and not losing faith in God
as a result; also, removing from your life the importance on material
and worldly items and placing more emphasis on spiritual enhancement.
This is included in "accepting Jesus" because that is what he taught us
to do.

No doubt my response to this will draw some argument and criticism from
other reader's, especially those who are not Catholic.  Fire away!  I'm
always interested in other opinions.

[Remember that in Protestant usage, "faith" or "believe in" is fairly
broad.  For most Protestants (though the "free grace" movement may be
an exception), saving faith involves repentance and commitment.  For
various theological and historical reasons, the Christian life is seen
as a result of this commitment and not part of its definition.  But
there is still a very close connection between the two.  --clh]