Suppose I were to say to you, “I am a Lincoln Continental?”
Would you think it so? Just because I choose to call myself a Lincoln
Continental must you consider me one?
“Look,” I say, “I know I have two legs instead of four
wheels. I know I have arms instead of a steering wheel. I also know I have a
heart instead of an engine. But that does not matter. I want to call myself a
Lincoln Continental and since this is a free country, I can do so.”
Would you consider me to be a Lincoln Continental? Why not?
Am I not correct that this is a free country and I can call myself anything I
want to?
The issue is not whether I CAN call myself a Lincoln Continental;
it is a matter of proper and effective communication.
If I choose to depart from the collective understanding of the
meaning of “Lincoln Continental” and decide to refer to myself as one, that
breaks down the communication between me and others. The others either have to
consider me to be crazy or eccentric or they have to go along with my delusion
and change the meaning of the words, “Lincoln Continental.”
As a society, we have done that with such things as marriage,
sexual relations, parenthood and many other formerly understood terms.
If I call myself a Christian, can I ascribe to “Christian”
any meaning I choose? Can I use the term in any undefined way I want to?
A Christian is not a person who is not a Jew, not a Muslim,
not a Buddhist, not a Hindi, not a pantheist and not an atheist, therefore the
only thing left for to be is a Christian. A Christian is not a person who
associates himself with a certain group. The word, “Christian,” has a specific
meaning, and ascribing to it any other meaning leaves a great gap in our
communication with each other.
A Christian is a person who has acknowledged sin in his
life, realized that sin is an affront to the sovereign, holy God, has repented
of that sin and has turned to Christ in faith, trusting in, and only in, His
finished work at the cross of Calvary. That’s the definition of a Christian
espoused by the Bible.
A Christian is a follower of Christ. “Christ” is the Greek
word for the Hebrew term, “Messiah.” Jesus is the Christ; therefore, Jesus is
the Messiah. His birth, life, death and resurrection were all predicted in the
Old Testament and He fulfills every one of the prophecies perfectly.
Many call themselves Christians when they are not. Many
cannot really define the word. They just think Christians are fairly nice
people (sometimes) who subscribe to a religious dogma. If a person calls
himself a Christian, society usually considers him someone who is narrow minded
and more than a bit of a misfit. They would be only partially right.
Jesus said that the “road to eternal life” is “straight and
narrow” and very few people are on it. “Straight and narrow” is not a
description of a behavior, it is His recognition that not many people will
actually repent and follow Him.
A Christian is someone who does. No one else is a Christian…no
matter how sweet they smell.
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