how can you be a christian in todays society?

[antv113]

I have always said i'm a christian when asked but more recently i have been on a journey of discovery to find out and understand what it means to say you are a christian. Some of the things i have found are hard for me to understand.

It seems that todays society is focused around temptations and is delebratly hard for people to be a good person and more importantly a christian.

How can you become a true christian with so much temptation around us all day and night? Does anyone know of any specific reading i could do? :)

[Lisa0315]

I have always said i'm a christian when asked but more recently i have been on a journey of discovery to find out and understand what it means to say you are a christian. Some of the things i have found are hard for me to understand.

It seems that todays society is focused around temptations and is delebratly hard for people to be a good person and more importantly a christian.

How can you become a true christian with so much temptation around us all day and night? Does anyone know of any specific reading i could do? :)

We do nothing on our own. We are no better than anyone else. We are not perfect. What we have is guidance from the Holy Spirit. The best way I know how to describe it is a heightened awareness of when we sin. However, it seems that many Christians seem to stop focusing on themselves and their walk with God, and focus on what other people are doing around them.

The Bible is supposed to be a mirror rather than a magnifyng glass. We are supposed to see ourselves in it rather than others.

The distinction that I have found in being a "true" Christian is this: 1) It is more than believing there is a God and it is more than believing that Jesus IS God. It is about believing ON Christ as in putting your whole life into His hands. When I became a Christian, I hardly remember my prayer except for three words, "Whenever, However, Whatever". It was a complete submission to the will of God in my life. 2) Obeying the command of Jesus to love God with all of our hearts and to love one another.

Without love, the whole thing falls apart. Christian love is called agape. It can be visualized as Jesus standing with His arms outstretched to the world, and that is how we should act as well. To follow Christ is to love everyone we meet with arms wide open. If you know the Creed song, it was an intentional Christian metaphor for the love that God has for His Creation as a Father loves a child.

I haven't read too many books on HOW to be a Christian so I gave you what I have learned over the last 4 years.

I hope this helps.

Lisa

[antv113]

Thank you,

That does help but i so still wander how it is possible not to sin in a world where anything which society tells us is good could be deemed as a sin. I like to go for a drink, the problem witht that is that others who also like to go out for drinks in the same places tend to be placing temptation right in front of me making it harder to be a christian in my opinion.

You may be able to question parts of this post but like i have said i am on a journey and finding it intriguing.

[Lisa0315]

Thank you,

That does help but i so still wander how it is possible not to sin in a world where anything which society tells us is good could be deemed as a sin. I like to go for a drink, the problem witht that is that others who also like to go out for drinks in the same places tend to be placing temptation right in front of me making it harder to be a christian in my opinion.

You may be able to question parts of this post but like i have said i am on a journey and finding it intriguing.

Not all Christians believe drinking is a sin. The key is moderation in all things. An alcoholic cannot be moderate in drinking, so for him or her, that would be a sin. Paul said it well. He said that all things are permissable, but we should not allow anything to have power over us.

1 Corinthians 6:1212 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

Lisa

[Brendan1000]

This might sound a little silly but it is nevertheless true - sometimes the cruelty of this world is reason enough to look for more.

Seek and ye shall find.

[nopekp]

do not drink but if you drink do not drink babywater only drink hard vodka and relief soel of sin

[Bouke285]

God doesn't expect us not to sin. It is 100% imposible for us in our flesh not to sin. The "awesomness" about this is this...

Once we accept Jesus as our savior, accept the works he did for us. We bring to life our spirit which was dead before. This is where the term Born Again Comes from. We bring to life a third part of us that we can't physically or emotionally feel, but this third part is dead to sin. If you think there is no way to break the temptation of the world today remember this third part of us. Our spirit is pure it is what God sees once we are saved. And our spirit with the help of God is always urging us to turn away from the temptation so often put before us.

[Criada]

We all sin. But, the Holy Spirit in us gives us power to resist temptation. Christians are not 'good people', we are forgiven people. Christ's death and resurrection mean that w can come back to God... the sin that separated us is gone. And if we sin again, and repent, we are forgiven again.
And as we learn to listen to His voice, to lean on Him more and more, it does become easier. The Hebrew 10, verse 14 says:

By one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

We are made perfect.. but growing in holiness, in learning to do things His way, to resist temptation and to do God's will, is a lifelong process.

[RestoreTheRiver]

The first Christians lived in a pluralistic, hedonistic world, that was hostile to them. So, the place to start with how to be a Christian in such a society is always the New Testament. Look at the lives of the people in the NT, without a "stained glass filter"; and with the object of learning how they grew in following God, how they grew in practicing the presence of God.

This study can then be continued with great profit by looking at the desert fathers, and others throughout the history of the church who have made it their live's goal to know God, and to live in union with Him.

Michael

[RadicallyTransformedMom]

You be a Christian in this society by following Jesus Christ instead of the world and its ways. The Holy Spirit living in you will guide you into all truth and will show you how to live. The more you surrender and give your life to Jesus the less you WANT to sin. Jesus said the main two commandments are Love God with your whole heart, mind and soul and love your neighbor as yourself. If you do those two things you won't sin. When we do sin we have to go to God and ask forgiveness and repent and stop doing whatever our sin is. Nothing sinful about having a couple drinks with friends. Getting Drunk is sinful according to the bible. (so dont drink to drunkeness because you lose all faculties..then you make poor decisions) Paying a prostitute would be sinful or going to a strip bar or stealing money from someones wallet or getting into a bar fight..but why would you WANT to do those things? Don't let anything get a hold on you except for GOD! We are able to say NO to sin through the Holy Spirit living IN us! God bless you!