Sunday, March 1, 2009

Who are you?

What makes a christian? I have thought about this before. When I thought about this in a different way was when I was listening to a church history class. The instructor was talking about Justin Martyr and how in the 2nd Century the early church did not have the whole canon that we have. So, that makes me ask what did they believe? What we know as the Bible was not the order in the books we have today.
Did they understand penal substitutionary atonement? What was their understanding of the Trinity. They had to know the key truths. That Christ was and is God. That he was born of a virgin and die for our sins on the cross. That he rose on the third day and sits in heaven with God.
In a day where there is so many different versions of the gospel how do you come to grips with what is true and what isn’t? We have different views on Elders, Baptism, Spiritual Gifts, Election and a host of other things. How can we as christians say that we truly understand what we believe? I encourage anyone who is reading this to search out what God’s Word says and what does that mean to you. We must be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Does the Scriptures transform the person that once were before meeting Christ. In other word is you life different. Is the the holy spirit working in your life and changing you? Search deep into your soul and find out what God is doing in your life. Look for, search for, yearn for the moments in your life that God is working in and you have not seen previously. God is everywhere just because you don’t feel him does not mean that he is not there.

2 comments:

  1. Mmm. Good questions. It does make you think what convictions early followers had. On the other hand, there is many evidences in literature, quotes of early followers of Christ, that would depict at least a form of doctrine they held to. For instance, the writings of Paul. Those have been around. Maybe not all of them were in the order they are now, but there were some that were definitely held to. These writings were quoted by people, like Clement (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Clement_I).

    Good questions though. Even when we find truth, we should never stop digging into that truth and allow it to powerfully work in us.

    Good charge!

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  2. My most recent post may be of interest to you

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