Christian Opposition
If you are a Christian, don’t be surprise when you discover that the people who will to give you the hardest time, are not those who do not know Jesus Christ, but, it will be those who claim to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Yes, it will be fellow Christians,who will probably give you the most difficult time. This, however, is not really unusual, because, it was always the people, who claimed to know God, who gave the prophets of the Lord, such a difficult time. This was also the case with Jesus Christ, who met the hostility of the Jewish priests and the Sadduccees, who were the religious leaders at that time, and, it was their entrenched hatred, and bitterness,which brought about his death on the cross. King David, experience the same thing in Psalms 55: 1-23, in which he clearly expressed in verses, 13, and 14, how he was deceived by a fellow believer, that he thought was his friend. So, as a Christian, don’t become discouraged, if you as facing a great deal of animosity and chaos from your fellow Christian sisters and brothers. Remember, as I pointed out in the article on, ” The Christian “, that the bible reveals different levels of spiritual growth, and as Christians, we are all at different levels of spiritual development. John P. Newport and William Cannon, years ago, wrote a book entitled, “Why Christians Fight Over the Bible”, brought out some of the problems, that Christians have among themselves. Christians must understand, that it is not the denomination, which makes one born again, it is the individual accepting Jesus Christ as his or her Lord and Savior. Therefore, it does not matter whether one is Baptists, Methodists, Church Of Christ, Episcopalians, or the Church Of God And Christ. When one has accepted Jesus Christ as his or her Lord and Savior, that individual is saved by the grace of God. Being born again, does not mean that one does not sin anymore, but, as an individual continues to grow spiritually, he or she will sin less. Being born again, does not means that one has to be in church, every time the doors are open up. Don’t listen to fellow Christians, who will tell you, that you are not saved, if you do not speak in tongues, because that is not biblical. As a Christian, one can still listen to some secular music and go to the movies, however, one must be careful about, what type of music, he or she listens to, and what type of movies, he or she goes to see. Living for Jesus Christ, is not bondage, but it is freedom, so don’t let other so-called Christians, put you in illegitimate bondage.
The Bowtie Professor Speaks!
Tags: The Christian
This entry was posted on Saturday, January 9th, 2010 at 7:45 pm and is filed under Religion and Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
I agree that the so called “Christian” is some of the hardest people to get along with. But this notion of “accepting the Lord as your personal savior” and that it doesn’t matter what Church you’re in is very misleading! And once someone is born again why wouldn’t they want to be in Church as much as possible?
It is not misleading, because, you read something in the article that was not there. I did not say that once a person is born again, he or she does not have to attend church. What I said was, that it does not matter, which church an individual attends, as long as that church believes in Jesus Christ. Why? Too many Christians get hung up over denominations. It is not the denomination which saves the person, it is the belief in Jesus Christ, as one’s Lord and Savior.
The Bowtie Professor Speaks!
You say that it doesn’t matter which Church someone attends, as long as the Church believes in Jesus? How is this concept in line with the New Testament scriptures? The Mormons believe in Jesus, but say he is actually Michael the Arc Angel! Is this ok? What about the Catholics? They believe in Jesus, but say the Pope is the acting mediator between God and men on Earth. This is why I say it’s misleading to make general statements like that. Yes I know that belief in Jesus Christ is essential to salvation, but that’s not all of it. You cannot talk about Jesus and try to disassociate him from his Church. The Church is what he shed his precious blood for. Is it not the case, that once someone obeys the Truth, they are placed in “Christ body… which is the Church” Eph 1:22. So yes I do think it’s very important which Church someone is in. Jesus said in Matthew 16:18 “…upon this rock I will build my Church…” That’s singular! There is but one Church spoken of in the Bible. It’s always been that way and will stay that way. Christ Church wears his name and abides in the doctrines contained therein. Denominations are not biblical! And yes I agree they don’t and can’t save you. But Christ body can which is the Church, when you obey the Gospel like those 3,000 souls did over in Acts 2… “If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God…”1Pe 4:11
This is one of my primary reason for not supporting Christian ministry that is on T.V, because of the hatred that a lot of Christians have towards people who don’t look like them . These ministers call themselves ministers but are they really, for an instance the stupid comment that Pat Robertson made about the Haiti quake, now we all know that earthquakes happen, but his big headed self tried to stir hatred towards the people of Haiti about the are cursed of God because of Voodoo. Now that made my stomach churned, because he does not speak like a Christian, I mean you never hear Atheist saying this happens becasue we are cursed or because God is mad at us, this is probably why we have so may Atheist in the world today, because Christians claim that their God is all hate and no love.I do believe that it does matter what type of church you go to,because if the minister is not preaching from the bible then he or she is teaching doctrines that can and will lead some one astray, like Pat Robertson.
I want to make a correction in the post above. It is the Jehovah Witness that believes that Jesus is really Michael the Arch Angel, not the Mormons.
I believe that it is going to be hard for Christians to gather in churches pretty soon, so we should start now getting use to not going. Now we who are Christians should not use our freedom to practice sin the bible says to use our freedom to love one another,and to serve one another. Now you have some Christians who believe that they can get their freak on and still love the lord, now while a person is getting his or freak on outside of marriage and their is no conviction then I would personally question my salvation. When a person becomes born again he or she will not feel comfortable with the sin they are practicing. With our walk with the Lord we should be growing and growing,a nd also praying because I had my hair cut short, whatever!! People are just people,and unfortuntly for one another to grow. I have experienced a lot of hatred from believers because of my hair poof that I have on my head.Especially when I get to church early, and someone decides to sit behind me, one time this lady said “this girl’s hair is in the way of me seeing the pastor, and was just making rude comments about my hair. Now one time when I had my hair shaved with a tight female fade a lady told me that I was not saved Christians are the main one who claim to be angles, but are sometimes the devil themselves. Jesus called them wolves in sheeps clothing.
Professor I think you are on it. I think all the division that comes with denominations are just that, division that the enemy has to divide the body of Christ. When you get right down to it we are all talking about the same Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
It is going to be 2 years in July since I became a born again Christian and I cannot feel more Blessed than I do know. And you are totally right about getting gripe from fellow Christians more than anyone else. Some of the Christians I know keep questioning me about having Faith in God. But if supposedly there consider themselves true Christians then who are they to judge and question me. No one is perfect and I truly am not perfect but as long as we believe in Jesus Christ as our only Savior we will be okay.
Well, as I read this short essay I had to agree with you on a lot of things that you pointed out. For me, there is not anything to go against you for in this essay. It does not matter what denomination you are, as long as you have the love of God in your heart and you serve him to the best of your abilities and acknowledge him in all your ways. However, I will admit that I believe that some denominations let tradition and religious morals get in the way of how they serve God. Because they were brought up a certain way by their parents, and have watched the religious attitudes of being in the church on Sundays and attending bible study whenever they have it, and smoking, gambling, clubing, etc. during the week or every other day of the week; I think it clouds their judgements of how to truly serve God from the heart and not from the flesh just doing it because they have to, or because thats how they were raised. When every denomination gets this understanding, then all of them might be able to be on one accord and not judge what each other do so much (including myself). Although some people feel like they don’t have to go to church in order serve God, I find its necessary for spiritual growth; just like going to school is necessary for educational growth. Other than what I have pointed out in the essay, everything else is fine to me.
Anyone who is a real Christian has a church-home that they are very active in and dedicated to, so they are well aware of the fact that they will receive the greatest opposition from their brothers and sisters in Christ, that is just part of the walk. However, their love for Jesus overrides any opposition they have to deal with. It does make a difference which church-house you attend because you want to receive the true Word of Jesus Christ from a real man of God. If you notice I’ve been using the word church-home or house because in this instants I am referring to the building, because the church is the body of Christ with Jesus being the head and the Christians represent the body. I agreed that denomination does not matter because man created denomination which represents division which is in opposition to what the Word of God teachs. Jesus was of no denomination.
It couldn’t have been said any better. This is completely true and the reason I support this is because the only people in my life that give me a a hard time are those who claim to be close to god and claim to be “Perfect Christians.”
I totally agree with this. I have had personal experience with some people who say they are christians and yet still try to get people to sin and think that always trying to do whats right is boring. These “christians” claim to know God and yet think that living for him is boring and not as fun as doing what they want and what other poeple are doing. Not saying that this applies to everyone but supporting the claim that there are some christians that will say one thing but act in another.
I don’t care if Christians never sin and that they really are better than every one else, they don’t have to flaunt it. I understand if you are excited because you’ve found something that makes you whole or you have finally found meaning in your life and i even understand you wanting to share it with someone else but there is a right and wrong way to do it. I have stepped into a church only once and that was when I was 13 and I am never going back. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to hear about how happy everyone was or that I needed to be saved, it was the way it was done. I could listen to the preacher(that’s fine) and sing the songs(that was fine too) but when it came down to having to listen to the people in the congregation talk about eveything thats wrong with me(thats not cool). Maybe its in the Bible somewhere that your supposed to criticize someone until they give in and say ‘hey, I want to be like you!” (I don’t know, haven’t read it) but let me just say that they will actually drive people away from you. And maybe I shouldn’t be saying this at all, maybe I just went to the wrong church with the wrong clothes on but if there are any more churches out there like the one i went to, then no thanks. Not interested! Im not against Christians or what they believe in and i understand that everyone wants something to believe in but it seems to me that Christians are really harsh. (Apologies, if this offends anyone but I had to say it somewhere. If I can’t be real anywhere else than I’m gonna be real here)
Whether one works for the benefit of others or the goals you try to accomplish are for the good of the church, there will always be someone coming against you. It’s true that no one is perfect and that no one is in the same spiritual level. The never-ending cycle of pessimist Christians vs optimistic Christians is what makes it a bit difficult for churches to really show who Jesus is or can be in someone’s life. We are human; in such nature we will always have that flaunt of not being content with everyone. Jesus Christ had the same issues. However, He was able to overcome those people with love. Though not everyone accepted Him, one can clearly see that He never fought back with anger or despise. There’s nothing wrong with a disagreement. How you handle it is what makes the difference. We should follow Jesus’ example. This essay brings out a good point about an ongoing problem. I don’t agree with some statements made at the end of the essay; however, I won’t go into a bitter fight about it. To set the standard on certain topics and issues as a Christian, we must always consult the Bible.
I completely agree with this article. As a Christian, I see this everyday. My fellow Christians are the same people who are quick to judge the way you live your life. No one is perfect and each religion has different views on what is right or wrong/good or bad. These views are strictly opinions. The opinion of how one interpruts the Bible. If you have accepted Jesus Christ into your heart and know him, you are a believer and that should be all that matters, in my opinion. You just have to remember that everyone, I mean everyone that goes to church is a sinner in one way or another so they should not judge a person based on their sins. God’s judgement of me is the only judgement I even care about.
Kristen Darisse M&W 7:05~extra credit
Yes, you said it right “when one has accepted Jesus Christ as his or her Lord and saviour, that individual is saved by the grace of God” Christians come from a large variety of experience and backgrounds. In our christian life, foolishness along with sin and selfishness wins too often. God expects every christian to be a model for the rest of the world.He expects us to be the peacemakers and comforters. Born again means you have accepted Him as your Lord and saviour and that person is growing in the Lord more, and getting closer to him. “I am right, you are wrong” attitude should be deleated from every christian’s life. Each persons relationship with God is unique and each experience is unique. The truth is we do not walk in the same paths in life. Christians should be the role model for others, our way of dealing with others should explain that “YES, WE ARE CHRISTIANS” Most importantly God expects us to love Him first and love each other.
class Tu/Thur. 11:00
I totally liked this article. I would like to add that if the bible only had one verse and that verse was John 3:16 then that is enough to know. The rest are just guidelines and examples on how we should lead our life. I am a PK and grew up in the church. The worst politics I ever saw was not in Washington but in the church. The problem is that everyone thinks they are talking for God and if you do not agree with them then you don’t agree with God. A side note - Do you know how a church member says no when ask to do somthing? They say I will pray about it and get back to you. Once they say this you better go find you another person to ask
Proffesor I agree with you 100% i like this artical to many people are hung up on the denomination and forget that important verse John 3:16 “for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only begotten son that whoesoever beleives in him shall be saved and have eternal life” the key is Jesus Christ and people forget that from my personal experience in the church i attend if we are not there everytime the doors are open then something is wrong with us. i have earings and a tattoo i just recently got and it is an alpha and omega symbol with hebrew script a god related thing and they tend to look down upon it even though its god inspired. i would have to say that JESUS is the key factor and everything else is trivial when it comes to church. Way to go proffesor bowtie!!!
I agree with this article. Being a Christian is not all about reading the bible or going to church. It’s also about making good deeds. Many times actions speak louder than words. There are so many different religions now in days that everyone goes so strongly into believing that what they believe in is right that many times it creates arguments or disputes. But every religion comes down to one man, God!
I dont believe that it is for us to judge who and what churches are not in the will of GOD biblically. GOD is the only judge that any of us should know. If things are not appropriate in your life or your church is not practicing the appropriate values that the Bible teaches. GOD will be the one to say to them “Well Done my faithful servant” or Flee from my presence.
I thought it was ironic to read this because last Friday I went to a school related dinner and some students from a life group that I attend at Richland College, were there and didn’t partake in dancing when the music started. They all stood there just watching everyone else dance. I felt like they were judging me. I later found out that they don’t listen or dance to secular music. To me in my view, I was having fun with friends and not dancing in any provocative way at all. I’m a preacher’s daughter and I know how it feels when people look in and have this image of a preacher’s daughter before even getting the chance to know me. The preconception usually consists of being a “Jesus Freak” 24/7 and though it’s not wrong to be into God like that it’s just, I’m not like that. I love the Lord from the pits of my heart and out but it is hard to walk in the right path all the time. We must remember that the only Holy one is the Lord and he is the only one who can do no wrong. We are still human. He can only judge us.
It seems that nowadays so called religious folk are so content with agreeing to disagree. This is the mindset of one who will compromise the precious word of God. How is it any truth in that? People don’t want to step on anybody toes and tell them what the Bible says. Are perhaps they don’t know or want to know what the Bible says…
I agree there are many Christians who state they live day by day by gods sayings, when truly they don’t and they sin. Now don’t get me wrong we are not perfect and we all make mistakes and we all are sinners but we can’t sit there and preach when we are not free from guilt. Who are we to judge and control others life when our lives can’t even me consider a bit of perfectness. We must first revised our own lives, correct our mistakes first before trying to correct others life.
I agree with you professor. It is other so-called Christians that tear one another down. There’s nobody that is perfect in this world. So we just need to worry about our Christian walk and leave other people’s business alone.
Barry, I agree 100% with your reponse.
The Bowtie Professor Speaks!
This is very true. The Born Again Christians are persecuted by those Christians that are so stuck inside Christianity the Religion not Christianity the Lifestyle. People claim Christianity is a religion which it has taken the form of, but initially Christianity was meant to be a lifestyle. “To live like Christ” is what Christianity should be. We are meant to RE-present Christ not to represent Christ. When you RE-present Christ you produce the original product to it’s last unique detail whereas representing Christ it has been dulled down. This is what being born again means.
I agree that so called Christians can be some of the hardest people to get along with, but we must not let that stop us from knowing what God’s will is for us. Contrary to everyone else, except the post by EJ, I disagree with you professor stating that it does not matter whether one is Methodists, Church Of Christ, Episcopalians, or the Church Of God And Christ. I agree that to say this is very misleading, to correctly obey God’s word we have to study the truth and our whole life must coincide with the Holy Bible, for this is our guide from God Himself. A perfect example of people being converted to the only church that Jesus Christ established (Matthew 16:13-18) is in Acts. You do the research yourself and tell me how was one saved…
Well with all due respect I disagree with Barry and the Bowtie Professor and a lot of other comments on this page. Unfortunately John 3:16 is not the only verse in the Bible. And “guidelines and examples” are you saying we are at liberty to follow his commandments and examples? Jesus himself said over in Luke 6:46, which is before you get to John 3:16, “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”… See if we are going to talk about religious things we must speak where the Bible speaks. Me giving my opinion and you giving yours don’t mean anything at the end of the day. We are going to be judge by God’s words which are put forth in the Bible. Everybody giving their opinion on what God said without respecting the authority of the Bible is what got us in this mess in the first place. ONE BIBLE and over 38,000 different Christian religions? And all teaching conflicting doctrines? Amidst all this mass confusion we throw up our hands and say “ well I guess it doesn’t really matter what Church you got to as long as they believe in Jesus”… We are playing games here!!!! I know most of you don’t believe that notion of any Church will do. And if you do, try having a Methodist preacher visit and preach his Methodist doctrine at your Baptist church or have the pope preach his catholic doctrine at your Pentecostal church. Not picking on any Denomination in particular, just proving a point. I hate false doctrine. I only read of one Church in the New Testament and it is referred to as (the Kingdom, Churches of Christ, Church of God, Household of faith etc… all speaking of one Church) and they all worship the same and believed the same. And if there is more than one Church mentioned of in the Bible than somebody please correct me. If you can’t find your Church in the Bible than that should throw up a red flag!!!! Let’s get back to the Bible!!!! That’s enough for now! Hello? Is anybody there?
I agree that so called Christians can be some of the hardest people to get along with, but we must not let that stop us from knowing what God’s will is for us. Contrary to everyone else, except the post by EJ, I disagree with you professor stating that it does not matter whether one is Methodists, Church Of Christ, Episcopalians, or the Church Of God And Christ. I agree that to say this is very misleading, to correctly obey God’s word we have to study the truth and our whole life must coincide with the Holy Bible, for this is our guide from God Himself. A perfect example of people being converted to the only church that Jesus Christ established (if you want to know which church He established read Matthew ch.16 for yourself), is in Acts. You do the research yourself and tell me how was one saved…
I recently started attending a Christian church, although I was raised in a Catholic church, and I have to say that I disagree with the bow tie professor because that is not what I have seen, in that church at least. On the contrary, its non-Christians who seem to always have something to say, “Oh that’s not very Christian like” almost as if they are waiting for them to mess up so they could throw it in their face, disregarding that they too are only human. The members at this church encourage each other to become closer to God and if they have questions to ask a fellow church member or pastor himself.
I agree and disagree with this post. Yes during Jesus’ time there were some fellow believers that gave him a very hard time, but nowadays as a young chrisitian woman i feel as if most of my problems are coming from the people who do not know jesus christ as their lord and savior. Maybe it is who you surround yourself with that will be the cause of your problems. You are right about what it means to be born again because some people do have the wrong idea about what it means.
I do agree with this. Most ” chirstians” are the one who are the ones doing the opposite of what they preach to others. No one is perfect, but several christians go around turning the nose up at people who come out and say they have sinned. All humans are of flesh and blood, and i think it is wrong for so called ” christians to lookd down on people. No one can say they are high enough to judge someone except god, so everyone who goes around judging people should think twice.
i agree with the fact that christians give each other hard times and also that our faith is based on our faith in Jesus and that we are saved by the grace of God. But I believe that saying that all the other churches believe in the same thing is an understatement because if they truely believed in the same then we wouldn’t have so many different denominations out there. Mnay of those churches dont even believe that Jesus is the messiah or the son of God. Many believe that he was just a prophet. Now i believe the reason there are so many different denominations and that christians give each other a hard time is because first off they are not sticking to what the Bible is saying they have a disagreement with something in there because it conflicts with their way of life and second because a church isnt just filled with praise and worship anymore but also with politics. If we were all to just go back to what the Bible says then everything would be fine and dandy of course it wont be perfect cause we are only human and we do sin, but it would be better than what we are dealing with now these days.
I agree with you Professor! I am happy to see most people who commented agree with you too! It is unfortunate that fellow Christians do not always act like Christians. They are human though, like you said, just because you become a Christian, doesn’t mean you will stop sinning. The really unfortunate thing though is, these people are effecting others from becoming Christians. They are giving us (Christians) a bad name. I get so upset when I see other Christians acting so “unchristian” because it hurts my witness, and others! Our goal (as Christians) should be to become Christ like, as best we can! Secular activities can make it difficult for us to accomplish this goal. That is why I think we (as Christians) should avoid these activities as much as possible so that we can become more Christ-like. We shouldn’t avoid being around non-Christians alltogether though, otherwise we would be avoiding all chances of bringing others to Christ.
yes what you say in on the mark. christians have started a lot of battles do to their belief. i am a christian and i know that their is animosity towards other branches in the religion and not to mention wars because of indifference between other religions. just to the new comers to the faith just read the bible and accept christ into your heart is the only thing you have to do. Don’t say someone is wrong in their beliefs cause they differ from yours. like my beliefs are different from Jehovah witnesses but i don’t confront them about it.
by the way if the jehovah witnesses believe there are only like 60,432 people going to heaven. Then why do they go door to door recruiting people?that kind of slims there odds.
Christian opposition is a perfect title for this article because opposition is exactly what you get when you decide to take up your cross and follow Christ. Both sides of the fence will give you a hard time. Christians will harass you if you don’t go to church three days a week and read your bible every day. While non-christians will follow you around waiting for you to mess up so they can say “See! You christians are no better than the rest of us. Your just hypocrites!” People think when somebody becomes a Christian that they are now all of a sudden perfect and without sin. Your right bow tie professor, that’s just simply not the way it works. All we can do is trust our God and try our best.
I agree with this article in that a majority of the opposition a Christian faces on their way to heaven is from their own people (fellow-church members). However as you mentioned earlier in the article one must realize that they are not the only ones who went through trials, and that these trails are used to bring one closer to God. I also realize that when we become Christians we automatically do not turn over a new leaf the next day but that it is a gradual progress in which one must decide what enhances his spiritual growth and relationships with God and other people and stick to it whether your fellow Christians agree.
Its true that sometimes as christians, the most people we face problems with are other christians themselves! In a way, its sometimes a trial to call yourself a christian and then be faced with another “so-called christian” that gives you a hard time. What are you supposed to do then? I understand that no one is perfect, thus making anyone capable of acting a wrong way, but it is true that there is a christian opposition. But as a good christian who understands their own purpose for God, we should just keep walking forward and forget about anyone else. Its our walk with God that counts!