How much of the bible do I need to accept in order to become a Christian?
In order to become a Christian you need to accept a person, and that person is Jesus Christ. There is not a set of certain propositions that you have to intellectually accept before you can become a Christian. “Christian” means “little Christ,” and it was a term used to describe some of the early disciples of Christ. A disciple of Christ is someone who follows Him, trusts Him, and continuously learns from Him how to live his/her life. To become a disciple of Christ, you simply have to accept HIM into your life, to put HIM above everything else in your life. No matter how much information you intellectually accept as true about Christ, you do not become a disciple until you accept HIM into your life, which means that it is entirely possible to believe that every word of the bible is true and still not be a disciple of Christ. And keep in mind that “accepting” Him also does not mean accepting an idea of Him that someone has created that is not grounded in the truth of the bible.
So where is the balance here? How do Christ and the bible fit together? The bible is entirely about Christ, from the beginning to the end. When you accept Christ into your life you get the entirety of the bible as well. The Christ that you have accepted is the same Christ that the bible extensively talks about. So how much of the bible do you “need” to accept in order to become a Christian? You “need” to accept Christ, and when you do you get the privilege of reading and accepting His words, the bible. Christ says himself that, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” If we accept Him then we will also listen to and accept what he has to say to us. But this poses a problem for many of us. What happens when we come across some of His words that we don’t like? What do we do when the bible says something that makes us feel uncomfortable? This will be addressed in the next post.
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2 comments:
Good points. I think it's interesting that humility is so important when it comes to following Jesus. We don't get to negotiate the terms of the deal, so to speak, and we don't have to be experts in theology to follow Him. Yet, if we are truly humble, we will grow in our knowledge of God through obedience.
Indeed. I really like your last sentence. If you truly want to know God then you must obey him, follow him. How beautiful it is to truly give your life to God, to let his will be done in your life. No reservations, no regrets, just complete trust in Him.
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