Shattering the myths about Christians

In the past few years, I have begun to take notice of the way that Christians are being portrayed. Some of this portrayal is brought upon, not only by non-Christians, but by Christians themselves. I will begin by looking at what a Christian is and what they are called to be Biblically.

A Christian is someone who believes:
1. The universe, as we know it, was created by God, a Being who is outside what we consider our plain of existence (our space-time continuum).

2. Around two thousand years ago, God came to Earth in the form of a man, though a virginal birth, to offer a new covenant to all Jews and Gentiles.

3.At the end of this ministry, He was crucified, taking responsibility for the sins of the world upon his own, thus becoming a "sacrificial lamb".

4. Jesus rose from the grave on the third day following His death, as evidence of His divine nature.

5. The Bible is a collection of writings, considered to be inspired by God. Some books are written accounts of the life of Jesus, while others are letters to between Apostles and to churches. This is used not only as a historical record, but also as the guidelines of how a Christian should live.

6. To gain salvation, you accept that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and ask forgiveness for your sins.

How a Christians should behave
Now that we have defined a Christian's beliefs, it is important to define who a Christian is. Christians are called to be merciful, loving (of friends as well as enemies), peaceful, meek, gentle, joyful, and giving.

Judging a Christian's actions
Point 5b is very important to this blog, because Christians are called to test other Christians to determine if they are true Christians or not. Jesus said "Beware of false prophets...every tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit...Wherefore by their fruit ye shall know them.(Matthew 7:15-20)"

This is not contrary to "Judge not, that ye be not judged (Matthew 7:1)", which is saying that we should not determine if someone is saved or not, thus possibly condemning them to hell without having the ability to judge their heart.

What makes this important, is that anyone can verbally say that he/she is a Christian, but if they live contrary to Bibical principles, we are under no obligation to accept their claim. People who swindle money through a faux-TV ministry for their personal use, people who blow up abortion clinics, people who picket with signs reading "God hates fags" and such all fall under the category of people who should not be considered Christians because they are producing evil fruit.


The New Atheism's claims
Claims are currently being made by the ones leading this so called "New Atheism"; Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens. The argument is that Christianity is evil because it has produced a wealth of evil and corruption in the name of God, from the Salem witch trials to the Spanish Inquisition. The flaw in this argument, of course, is shown with reductio ad absurdum.

When we grant them their argument, that is, showing a sample from a group, determining the sample evil, then applying the conclusion to the group, then we are free to use this model and take it for a test drive. Let's use policemen for example.

P1. Local policemen are free to go above the law for the purpose of serving justice.
P2. Any one who is corrupt, shouldn't have the freedom to go above the law without suffering legal consequences.
P3. Corruption exists in local police departments, in the form of drug abuse and racially charged violence, such as in the Rodney King case
Conclusion: Policemen shouldn't have the freedom to go above the law.

Given this argument, I could safely force policemen to forgo their right to carry firearms, speed after fleeing criminals, etc... The flaw in this argument, of course is the correlation between premise 2 and 3. I state that if someone is corrupt, they shouldn't have the right to be a police officer then I condemn the whole US police force, by citing a few examples. This is, of course, absurd and considered bad logic (biased sample fallacy).

Christians on TV
Another detrimental portrait of Christianity can be found perpetuated on so-called Christian networks and shows. TBN (Trinity Broadcast Network) is one of the most criticized and rightly so. Many of the week day shows consist of Word-Faith teachings. These teachings are basically that God will do whatever you ask of him as long as you have enough faith. Word Faith teachings are based on scriptures that are taken out of context and are not part of the fundamental Christian doctrine.

Another highly controversial aspect is the ultra-charismatic doctrine. This consists of misuse of the gift of speaking in tongues (which is controversial in its own right) and the healings done by people such as Benny Henn. (I may actually devote an entire blog to this issue)

The Misrepresentation of Christians
Many people like to portray Christians as Southern, backwoods, illogical, uneducated, inbred, rednecks who are trying to keep the US in the sociological dark ages, by not being "progressive". Of course, there probably are those who could be considered backwoods that are Christians. This doesn't take away from the credibility of Christianity. I'm sure they also believe that the sun is warm and that grass needs water to grow.

The idea behind this line of thinking is that you would have to be uneducated and still believe the Earth is flat to accept the truth claims of Christianity. People like Dr. Hugh Ross, Michael Behe, J.P Moreland, William Lane Craig and others have proven that you can be highly educated in the sciences and philosophies and still be a Christian.

The Acurate Portrait of a True Christian
At the end of the day, who is a true Christian. A Christian can be anyone from your professor, to your sibling, parent, or the girl waiting your table. We aren't planning a jihad or speaking in tongues and passing out in Wal-Mart. We just love the Lord and we are trying to use Jesus Christ as our example in how we interact with one another.