/christian/ - Christian Discussion and Fellowship

Jesus gave us a simple test:

Mark 16:

17 These signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

So just look for the people who are handling snakes, drinking poison, and speaking with new tongues.

>>857081

No, He did not say this, so that we would have a 'test' to discern those who really know HIM from those, who only think they do!

You can clearly see this, when the Lord himself discribes people who think of themselves as christians but will come to know, that they never were:

"Not every one saying to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens; but he doing the will of my Father who is in the heavens. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have we cast out evil spirits, and in thy name done many powers? And then shall I confess to them that I never knew you. Go away from me, ye working iniquity." (Mat 7:21-23)

See, they did the things youve mentioned and they would surely pass your 'test', but not the Lords'! He himself says here, what the nature of true christians is:

1. They really know HIM, as a real person, because He revealed themselves to them

2. They do the will of the Father!

In the verses 15-20 He gives the real 'test', if you want to call it that, when He says that 'ye shall know them by their fruits'. The fruits of the spirit are listed in Galatians for example, cant say which chapter/verse right now.

But the thing is, it is not always even possible to put people on the internet to that test, simply because we dont know them really and if they do not reveal an obvious bad fruit/behaviour/thought etc themselves, how could you really tell?

For myself I found, that when a person/his teachings/opinions contradict the very Word of God, it is ALWAYS a red flag and maybe a sign of still being spiritually dead.

Also I am convinced, that the spirit Himself will help us discern one from the other. But this is only true when

1. We are not lying to ourselves about our own status before God

2. We are in a state of obedience to Him (being 'in Christ') and therefore we don't 'quench nor grieve' the holy spirit.

I do think, the main problem here might very well be, that we spend time on the internet, to engage in useless discussions, in the first place.

If it is indeed the revealed will of the Lord to you personally, to further His cause online, then His spirit will lead you in this task and will provide everything you need, to accomplish it!

>>857078

Id like to ask you how you can tell, that someone only talks like a christian, when you, from your own words, lack a 'standard' to determine the false from the true ones? I dont understand this..

>>857085

I don't call myself a Christian. But I'm interested in Christianity. When some users said something sounding strange to me, I did my own research and found it's not christian at all.

I don't have a clear standard. But I have some "sense" or personal preference. I've met Christians who are very proud, and who are humble, who are demanding and unwilling to share, and who are happy to share and not demanding, who are very articulate, and who don't speak much but are very nice, who don't pressure others to follow them, and who think others should just do what they do.

I personally don't think those who are proud, demanding and want others to follow them are as christian as those who don't do so.

I need help to understand Christianity and possibly become a true Christian one day.

>>857085

I don't think Christians should try to burden others.

If they do so, and even give tons of excuses, they should not be called Christians. Am I right?

You truly believe that Christ is God the living god the thrut and that he died in the cross because the only sacrifice that could please the father was the sacrifice of God incarnated itself? If yes you are christian

You can go.on on all the edgy bois that say they are christian to seem edgy or all the believers of new age bulls— and fake religions that believe other stuff

>>857093

I know some Christians that meet your criterion. But why can some of them be easily triggered, while some of them are quite the opposite? Why are some of them pretty mean while some of them are quite the opposite? Why do some of them always expect to receive something, while some of them do the opposite? Can't their belief have some effect on their temperament and behavior?

And the most important question:

What exactly does Christ want His followers to do?

If the above last question can be answered, then I can have the criteria to determine who is a true Christian.

>>857110

> unhealthy to judge

You said "unhealthy". Did you judge?

> It is an occasion of pride

Just like what you showed here?

> focus on the darkness in their heart.

Did you focus on the "darkness" in MY heart when you wrote your post?

You even see darkness when there's no darkness. It tells something about yourself.

And, do you commit a sin if you don't want to be fooled or follow bad examples? Is it darkness?

>And it seems to usurp God's authority, placing your judgement above His will.

The only thing I want is truth to help myself. You think it usurps God's authority? Is it judgment?

But, isn't it what you did here? Did you try to usurp God's authority, place your judgment above His will?

>Not to say you shouldn't be vigilant against false teachings, just that heretics ought to receive the same Charity as any other brother in Christ.

That's up to God. I don't decide what heretics should receive. And I was not talking about heretics, but what a true Christian was like to help myself.

You exposed yourself.

You are never alone. Many do what they tell others not to do. That's one of the reasons I search true Christians.

It's interesting to see how hostile this Christian board is to my question.

OK, I've got the message.

Pragmatic christians, cultural christians are easy to spot from a mile away. They see christianity as a series of morals and the bible is a series of moral stories and we need to live our lives very good and we might go to Heaven. These people usually need to read the Gospel or need to have explained to them the historical reliability and reality of the Bible. They need to understand that Jesus is who he said he is and you have to go through him supernaturally not naturally. You need to give up yourself to him.

A lot of Christians start off as pragmatic christians so that's fine. These also include academic Christians, Roger Scruton, Jordon Peterson type people. They can understand everything about christianity, better than many real christians except they don't understand the centre of it. They do not truly accept the reality of it and the spiritual truth.

I don't know what to call unsaved christians who accept the reality of the spirit and God. What they are missing is a true change of heart and an opening of heart. We don't earn blessing we position our heart to receive blessing and these people will likely sooner or later coming to Christ fully.

Churchers can be found usually in Catholic and Orthodox people or completely lost churches with rainbow flags. These people whether they like to admit it or not whether they notice it or not put their church first and God second. And usually they'll be very hostile about this because they unlike the previous two types believe they are saved already by their good works and their church. These people are hard to get to especially if it's a lost church because who is going to help them. At least in something like an Orthodox church there's going to be real christians who can help.

Netizen christians are usually like pragmatic/cultural/academic christians but I put them in their own category because they're also aggressive and insane since they are netizens. You can see these on imageboards for example. They will still use profanity they'll be obsessed with race and nationality or be a massive weeb. The internet culture still overshadows their path to the truth the light the way.

I don't know for sure but I believe every born again christian knows they are born again, true christians know if they have the Holy Spirit, I think so. Of course you can be an unsaved christian that's how 90% of Christians start out and that's fine but I think you can ask someone if they are born again or if they are in the spirit and if they say no then make sure they're going in the right path and correct faults they may have.

>>857138

It helps. I appreciate.

>>857138

You see things the way I do. I understand everything you said here. I am one of those "academic" Christians, who had a brief moment, and fell from it. I was baptized, but I don't believe I received the Holy Spirit. I can't pin down what it is, but it pesters me so much that I can never actually find a way to "believe" in Jesus like everyone says, and I think that's the problem. This isn't me being some atheist/agnostic, I have no problem with Christianity, I want to be saved. I don't know how to just "believe" if it isn't in me. I don't know how to change that. Maybe it's a hardened heart. I've lived a life of willful ignorance for a very long time.

>>857078

This is a silly question, because there is no test. Some people are gravitating towards Christ, others are orbiting steadily, and others are on an escape trajectory away from Jesus. Stop judging your neighbour and all will be well.

>>857144

>"academic" Christians

If you want a cause-effect sort of reason for what you believe, you may become an "academic" Christian. I am sort of too.

I also understand a little bit psychology. So other types of Christians are those who don't need reasons but certain psychological state to become Christians. They just feel and act naturally like Christ. It's just my opinion.

>>857145

>This is a silly question, because there is no test. Some people are gravitating towards Christ, others are orbiting steadily, and others are on an escape trajectory away from Jesus. Stop judging your neighbour and all will be well.

But God disagrees with you. If you are a Christian, you may have learned the 10 Commandments of God. Did God say you can ignore my commandments and still be a Christian?

This is a very important question, or even the single most important question because if you don't have a test, evil may slip in disguised as Christian.

>>857144

If you feel like you haven't truly received don't stress about it. There's just something that you need to let go of or change or learn. Some event, some video you watch or whatever it is, you might really realise some kind of truth to go all the way. And you can be sure then that God has saved you from the wreckage. Doesn't have to happen right away. It also might just be one day that you realise you already received the spirit and you're sure of everything.

Some people just know at some point even without any dramatic event. Not a problem, God makes the correct appointed time for everyone.

>>857156

>No judgement, bud. Just advice on growing in holiness. Christians grow by drawing closer to God, obsessing over the progress of another is counterproductive before its time.

No advice is better than one's own actions.

I've observed so many people do what they tell others not to do. It's too late to fool me.

There's a huge difference between do what I do and do what I say. Even if someone advises by action, people can still question, unless you call blind followers better Christians.

> instead of spitting venom when challenged.

Challenged by a question and then spitting venom?

> I recommend attending the local Catholic Church a couple times.

It's too much to attend the Catholic Church a couple of times. I've attended one once and never again.

The session lasted a little bit more one hour. The pastor spent about 20 minutes reading the Bible and the rest of the session performing rituals.

I have yet to understand the importance of rituals to Christianity, how rituals could help Christians draw closer to God.

I wonder why OP thinks it's important for him to know who the true Christians are?

Is Op our judge? No.

God is our Judge, and God knows his people from the devil's.

>>857189

I'm afraid God disagrees with you.

Have you heard the idiom "a wolf in sheep's clothing"?

Did God tell you "'Don't judge people' means you should be a blind fool", or "I'll tell you every time I see a wolf in sheep's clothing"?

If everyone can claim that they are Christians, then Christianity is nothing. Have you heard the term excommunication? Or does this Christian board mostly cater for the expelled?

>>857078

"Christian" is the one who is like the Christ.

Being like the Christ means that he can apply the Law in the right way, or does walk through the teachings of the OT, applied with a wisdom that comes from the Gods authority.

God made men as his image and likeness, and the Christ was the perfect man, but remember that God didn't gave the Law to Adam.

The ones that follow the path of perfection are the so called "Christians", the Law (Pentateuch) is a good reference for this path, but is a limited reference, the complete one comes from the Holy Ghost inspiration.

Thank you annon.

>>857194

>The ones that follow the path of perfection are the so called "Christians", the Law (Pentateuch) is a good reference for this path, but is a limited reference, the complete one comes from the Holy Ghost inspiration

It's clear what Pentateuch is. But what is the inspiration of God? Could you please tell more?