What does it mean to be a Christian?

 He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Micah 6.8

The easy part of answering this question is what sets Christianity apart from the other faiths in the world. According to St. Paul that is very simple and straightforward. “If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Rom 10.9) There is some disagreement over what “saved” means, and I will address that in a later post. (My to do list is growing.)

                The first thing is that we believe that Jesus was raised from the dead. This also means that we believe that he died on the Cross. Afterall, there is no resurrection unless one is dead. While this might seem to be an outrageous requirement, if Jesus was God (or part of the trinity), then rising from the dead would be a snap. And while there might be humour in the idea of the “zombie” Jesus, the seriousness of his resurrection is that not even death can separate us from the Love of God. It also establishes his authority.

                The second requirement for Christianity is that we make him Lord of our life. In other words, he is what we aspire to be. I personally believe that the spirit of God gives us a boost to do so. I find it interesting that when people find out that I am a Christian that there is a compulsion to tell me what Jesus as “Lord of my Life” wants me to do. But this actually where my faith gets interesting.

                To quote one of my favourite bloggers, Jenny Hawkins, the essence of Christianity is a way of being in the world. In his teachings Jesus moves the entire question of following the will of God, obedience, to principles. He quotes the Shema from the Old Testament, the Tanakh, with “Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” and “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” (There is something about the English of the King James Version that resonates for me.)

                He further condenses this in the Sermon on the Mount to “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” (Matt 7.12)  “The law and the prophets” is code for the entirety of scripture. Saint Paul repeats this sentiment with, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” (Rom 13.9)

                Do not think that Jesus has done us a favour. By shifting the focus of how we are to follow Jesus, there are fewer hard and fast rules. I write fewer, for there are still some absolutes. This shift moves us from a checklist style faith where people would tithe down to the spices in their cupboards, to relying on a relationship with God. This way of being also calls for a mindfulness of how we go through our days.

One of the ways that I think get “off track” is by turning our faith into a self-improvement program that focuses on not sinning. This usually involves abstaining from the “sins of the flesh.” These are generally reduced to acts of sexual immorality. However, the “sins of the flesh” include hatred, fits of rage, greed and the like. When our focus is on not doing the “bad”, those are often ignored. Don’t get me wrong, if one is engaging in acts such as adultery, spousal or child abuse, an addiction, or illegal activity, these should stop. While I do think that we need to clean up our act, that is not the end of the matter.

The apostle Paul writes, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law. (Gal 5.22&23) My experience is that when we concentrate on being those things, we don’t have to worry about the nastiness that we can do. If I go through my day focused on the love, respect, and dignity I am to afford others, my way of being is much less likely to harm another.

From my perspective, if more of us went about life in this manner, the world would be a much better place. We, and those around us, are better served when I concentrate on this life rather than a life after death.