Why, do you think, when all of Jesus' words seemed to emphasise action and behaviour, is belief so supreme in Christianity?
(I am considering starting a Theology degree. Most colleges I have approached insist on belief, some don't. )
For clarity, I am willing to accept and submit to Nicene theology, but I cannot force myself to believe anything, and I think this is a crucial question - the nature of belief, it seems to me, is not a choice.
People should come to God/Christ out of a desire for such unconditional unselfish Love. Wanting that Love wants God to exist in them.
Remember: God is doing all He can to help you to accept His charity, but giving you “knowledge” of His existence will not make you humble to the point of accepting pure charity.
There is a huge problem with “knowledge” since it tends to “puff up” those that have it. Also “knowledge” is something the individual can obtain and thus become more self-reliant, when the need of the individual is to be humble and accepting of God’s help (charity).
Some people in the OT had direct “knowledge” of God’s existence (like those that walked through the Red Sea), but that did not help them to be humble.
God has given all mature adults the ability to express faith in somethings or some people.
If salvation was dependent on some other factor than “faith” such as knowledge, ancestry, physical strength, good looks, courage, or some kind of achievement,
God would not be fair/just.
Directing the little faith (we all have) toward a benevolent Creator is something the lowliest mature adult on earth can do, so extending faith toward God existence is a humbling experience (and very easy to do). That little humility is all you need to be willing to humbly accept pure charity (something man find hard to do).
God is doing all He can to help you to accept His pure charity as charity (these gifts of charity are unbelievably huge). Since, Faith in God helps us in our acceptance of charity, God allows us to extend faith toward Him, but having faith in the existence of a benevolent Creator is made as easy as possible yet it is still not knowledge.
If you do not “need” to believe (trust) in a benevolent Creator than you can avoid putting your faith in a benevolent Creator. You can believe (trust) that the universe and life was a random result, since it would make no difference unless you had a real “need” to believe in a benevolent God.
Atheist may say “I do not believe anything”, but practically they act like; they “believe” the Christian God does not exist and for most of my discussions with them, do not want or like the Christian God, so they have reason not to believe.
You will find you are on a “need to know bases” and if it would “upset” you to know, so God will not upset you, since all He wants to do is help you.
It is every Christian’s privilege and honor to have the Holy Spirit work through them to allow every human on earth to have the opportunity to experience Christ one on one first hand.
This is the best way and the way God/Christ set it up to be done and it works great when done right. This is also the quickest way if we followed the example Christ gave us (taking maybe 36 years to get to all 6 Billion+ on earth).
Christian is not a title, but a descriptive term so if a person was truly “Christ like”, that person would be a Christian. I am not finding many Christ like people in the USA, but there seems to be a lot in the underground church in China.