Let's be honest and face reality. There is no such thing as a
"true" Christian.
It's common to observe Christians advertising the virtues of
their faith and how they live their lives to honor and praise
their God. Many Christians are fond of saying that
"true" Christians are role models for the rest of the
world which is hopelessly lost and wallowing in sin.
According to these shallow and superficial preachers,
"true" Christians want to glorify God by their words
and deeds.
Here are some actual and typical statements made by a zealous
believer.
[Christian claims:
To be a Christian you must turn over your life to God and live
according to his will.
In American society today, among criminals, you will not find any
true, Biblical Christians.]
Beneath the shiny veneer of all this pious sermonizing lies a
hypocritical theology that does not live up to it's own
advertising.
Since most Christians claim they believe that the Bible is the
infallible word of God, testing the claims of zealous believers
is relatively easy to do. After all, when a zealous believer is
preaching the word of God to you, it's always a good idea to make
sure the preacher is the genuine article, a real Christian.
Nobody wants a cheap imitation of the real thing. We skeptics
want real Christians.
We skeptics want to be sure that the real thing is telling us how
the universe has been set up and what it's rules are.
How can skeptics recognize a "true Biblical
Christian"???
To begin, Jesus stated that God's laws were to be followed until
heaven and earth passed away.
Matt 5:18-19
I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the
smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means
disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and
teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom
of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will
be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
The "Law" is the statutes and regulations God gave his
people in the Old Testament.
The Bible God declares all his laws are perfect(Psa 19:7),
last forever(Psa 119:152), and are eternal(Psa 119:160).
Do Christians follow these laws? No, they do not. If Christians
like a law they will quote it as God's word. However, if they
don't care to observe a law, they will claim that they are not
under the law because Jesus did away with the cumbersome and
inconvenient laws of the Old Testament.
Where do they get this idea from? Jesus said in Matt 5:18-19
that all the laws were to be followed until heaven and earth
passed away. Why do Christians ignore what Jesus said?
The answer to this question is that Christians follow the
teaching of Paul, not Jesus.
It was Paul who canceled God's laws with his pen.
Col 2:13-14
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your
sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all
our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations,
that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it
away, nailing it to the cross.
Paul's declaration is based on his need to win converts from
non-Jewish populations.
Greeks for example, had little use for the Hebrew God's
complicated laws. The Law was Paul's competition as it hindered
his efforts to gain converts to his new religion. Of course, a
rational person can see that Paul directly contradicted what
Jesus stated in Matt 5:18-19 but that matters little to
zealous Christians. One also has to wonder how laws which are
declared perfect and eternal in the Old Testament become
"opposed to the people" and "canceled" in the
New Testament. Does this sound like an infallible God who
inspired this type of confusion?
Paul also put an end to God's laws with this statement:
Rom 10:4
Christ(or Messiah) is the end of the law so that there may be
righteousness for everyone who believes.
The problem with this statement is that it once again contradicts
both Jesus and the Old Testament.
Perfect and eternal laws don't end because a writer who is trying
to sell a new religion to people says they have ended.
HOWEVER:There is nothing in the Old
Testament which states that the coming of a Messiah would be the
end of the Law.
On the contrary, when the messianic age comes, the Law will still
be fully observed:
Ezek 37:24(God speaking)
"`My servant David will be king over them, and they will all
have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to
keep my decrees."
Paul's new invented theology contradicts God's earlier holy word
and Christians who follow Paul's teaching(apostasy) and ignore
Jesus and God's instructions DO NOT serve the Lord their God.
They are raising Paul's word above the word of Jesus and God.
Just a few of the examples which show the hypocrisy of
Christians:
If Christians really want to do God's will as they so often
claim, they would worship on Saturday which is the Sabbath(Exo
31:15) they would observe all God's dietary laws(Lev 11),
they would not celebrate Christmas, they would not wear mixed
fabrics(Lev 19:19), they would not eat meat with any blood
in it(Lev 17:10), and they would not follow a man as a God(Num23:19).
So we see that Christians ignore many of God's Old Testament laws
because a writer named Paul said observing the Law was no longer
necessary. Such is the shallow nature of the faith Christians
have in the Old Testament and the words of Jesus regarding the
status of the Law.
But the problem gets even worse for these pious self proclaimed
mouth pieces of God.
The New Testament also gives some instructions on how a
Christians should behave:
1 Tim 2:11-12
A woman should learn in quietness and full submission.
I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man;
she must be silent.
According to Paul, who Christians follow, women are to be silent
regarding religious issues.
This means that ordaining women as pastors or teachers is not
permitted. How many Christians observe this regulation? How many
women teach Bible classes against the instructions of the
"holy inspired" Paul?
Jesus stated that those who wanted to follow him should sell
their goods and give the money to the poor.
Luke 12:33
Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for
yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will
not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.
Of course, Christians today will claim that Jesus only meant that
to apply to his followers who lived at that time. The actual
instruction from Jesus has no such qualifiers attached to it but
since so few Christians want to obey this instruction, it's
little wonder they'll try to wiggle out of it's implications.
Jesus stated, as most cult leaders do, that those who left their
families to serve him would receive a great reward.
Matt 19:21,29
Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your
possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven. Then come, follow me."
And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father
or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a
hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.
How many Christians who claim that they want to "serve the
Lord" have given their hearts to Jesus and left their
families to devote their full energy to the Lord Jesus? Don't
these pious mouthpieces for God really want to "turn their
lives over to God" as they say they must to be a
"Christian"???
How many self righteous Christians live in nice homes, have wives
and children, and possessions while all the time preaching that
they live to serve Jesus? The depth of Christian hypocrisy speaks
for itself as these people will ignore any teachings which are
too inconvenient to follow.
Jesus stated that anyone who divorces and marries another women
commits adultery.
Luke 16:18
"Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman
commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman
commits adultery.
Also note the penalty for adultery according to God's word.
Deut 22:22
If a man is found sleeping with another man's wife, both the man
who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the
evil from Israel.
The New Testament itself shows how a "true" Christian
can be recognized.
1 John 2:3-6
We know that we have come to know him(Jesus) if we obey his
commands.
The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he
commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone
obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is
how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must
walk as Jesus did.
There is no wiggle room in 1 John 2:3-6 for hypocritical,
self proclaimed Christians who don't want to follow the clear
instructions of Jesus regarding the selling of worldly
possessions, divorce, keeping all the law, or putting one's
family ahead of serving Jesus and following him. If a person
claims to be "in Christ" but does not obey the word of
Jesus, they are liars.
How many Christians have ignored these Biblical commands and the
direct commands of their Savior Jesus? Remember that God's law is
perfect(Psa 19:7) and eternal(Psa 119:160). If
Christians really want to do God's will, as they constantly
advertise, why do so many of them divorce and fail to punish
wrongdoers as God instructed. Are God's laws outdated now?
Does this God's moral standard change with the times? Why should
skeptics be impressed with a God whose moral code changes and
follows the evolving customs of human society? Why should
skeptics be impressed with believers who ignore the very word of
God they claim to believe?
Jesus made the following promise:
Mark 16:15-18
He(Jesus) said to them, "Go into all the world and preach
the good news to all creation.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does
not believe will be condemned.
And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they
will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;
they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink
deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place
their hands on sick people, and they will get well."
Does this ring true about Christians? Do Christians really do all
these things as Jesus promised they would?
Faced with the obvious dilemma that this failed promise entails,
Christians will once again claim that this promise of Jesus only
applied to first century believers.
Of course, there is no such qualifier in the actual text which
says this promise would only apply to first century believers.
This particular Christian apologetic tap dance is done out of
sheer desperation.
Jesus also promised:
John 14:12-14
I(Jesus) tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do
what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than
these, because I am going to the Father.
And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may
bring glory to the Father.
You may ask me for anything in my name, and
I will do it.
Once again, modern Christians will claim that this promise by
Jesus only applied to first century believers.
Isn't it amazing how much of the New Testament is outdated and
only applied to the people of that time?
Paul gets into the act again when he strongly advises that
Christians not marry but stay single and celibate for Jesus.
1 Cor 7:8-9
Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to
stay unmarried, as I am.
But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it
is better to marry than to burn with passion.
While Paul also states that it is not a sin to marry, he makes it
quite clear that it is a lack of spiritual strength which
underlies the need to marry.
1 Cor 7:29
What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short.
From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none;
Paul expected Jesus to return in his lifetime and so he urges
Christians to stay unmarried.
Jesus has never returned, so Paul's prophecy here was false. Time
was not "short" at all.
Paul also made it clear that the unmarried are fully concerned
about serving the Lord and not distracted and preoccupied by the
"affairs of this world" and childish lusts.
1 Cor 7:32-35
I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is
concerned about the Lord's affairs--how he can please the Lord.
But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this
world--how he can please his wife-
and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is
concerned about the Lord's affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to
the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is
concerned about the affairs of this world--how she can please her
husband.
I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that
you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.
As Paul points out, the unmarried live in a right way, which is
in undivided devotion to the Lord.
It is these unmarried and celibate believers who demonstrate that
they want to please the Lord and do his will fully.
How many "true" Christians have followed the
recommendation of Paul in this matter?
How many Christians give in to their lusts, marry, and divert
their devotion and attention away from fully serving God's will
and affairs?
How many Christians have decided to ignore these strong
recommendations of Paul despite having the extra moral strength
that being "filled with Jesus" is supposed to give
them?
Remember what the zealous, pious sounding Christian stated:
"To be a Christian you must turn over your life to God
and live according to his will."
Perhaps these pious, hypocritical Christians think skeptics are
too stupid to be able to see past all their candy coated
rhetoric. Perhaps they think that the whole world lives in the
same myopic eggshell universe that they reside in.
These Christians want all of the benefits and rewards of being
God's "chosen" people and his "elect".
However, when it comes to actually obeying the instructions their
God gives, they'll offer up nothing but hundreds of mealy mouthed
excuses as to why they are excused from following the mandates of
their Savior.
In reality, Christians engage in just as much self gratification
and self exaltation as they say unbelievers practice.
Christians(and other religionists) create two objects, themselves
and the object of their worship.
But this is both vanity and idolatry.
When a Christian praises the object of his worship, his
"God", he is really praising his ideas and views about
the object of his worship.
The Christian exalts himself using a surrogate ego which he calls
"God".
Whenever a pious Christian preaches to a skeptic about how
Christians serve God, expose them for the charlatans they are. There
is no such thing today as a "true" Christian.
-- BACK