'A BELIEVER'

For many years even decades now, in fact all of my life since I was 'born again', if the subject ever came up in conversation, I would always say  “Yes, I'm a Christian”
But there was always a little internal niggle as to whether I was answering in the right way, using the right word.  So I have continued on using 'that word', for the simple reason also, that it is a word that people and the world at large are familiar with.

So, it was a mild shock when a close friend, declared a while ago, “using the word 'Christian' to describe myself is something I'm not too happy with, particularly because it has so many religious vibes and bad associations and images in many peoples minds, and can even give some non-religious people quite the wrong impression” 
There it was again – someone else putting into words what I had felt, but hadn't really thought through.

Then, recently it happened again .....
A woman from South Africa, made exactly the same comment, but went even further. “Not only am I not comfortable with using the word 'Christian' to describe myself, I now use the word 'BELIEVER' to people when asked and find that it invokes quite a different response in those I am speaking to.  Non Church going people, instead of being turned off by hearing the word 'Christian', because of bad religious associations, actually react and respond in quite the opposite way, and are open to continue the discussion. They seem very interested in God, Jesus, and ones belief and experience, but are turned off by the words 'Christian' and Church”

Wow,  I pondered  - why haven't I thought  this one through for myself a longgggggg time ago ?

Now, this is not merely –  “ what's in a name?”   or splitting hairs, but what I consider quite an important topic, with many practical and out-reach implications, just to avoid some peoples bad reactions.

The word 'Christian' is first mentioned in Scripture in Acts 11:26 in AD42  as in Antioch that the name was first given to those early believers and followers of Jesus the Christ, some 9 years after Jesus sacrificial death.  
BUT JUST BEING MENTIONED IN SCRIPTURE DOESN'T MAKE IT RIGHT IN ITSELF !      May be it was just some peoples continual fondness to 'pigeon-hole' most all other people, to give them a label, and an identifiable grouping in their minds that they are happy with -  what would seem to be a fond trend through every age and era.    (You just gotta have a label for others to identify you by !)

In those early days of persecution, being named a 'Christian' would have conveyed quite a different portrayal of a person.  Believers and followers of Jesus were intensely persecuted and hounded. Martyrdom was common.  Many believers paid for their belief with their very lives. The lions at the Roman Colosseum were hungry, and needed to be fed!

Peter used the word 'Christian' some 18 years later in AD60 in Peter 4:16, and the next and last mention of the word is by King Agrippa in Acts 26:28, another 2 years later, in AD62.   So the term must have spread and been in common usage for the King to use it,  but perhaps it was used in derogatory style, as were the early 'Methodists' (called so for their discipline and 'methodical' style of living) 
Acts 28:22 refers to the 'Christians' being called a sect, and everywhere spoken against, so it was possibly actually a term of derision also!

Since those early times, down through the centuries, and thanks largely to Constantine after AD323, the visible Church became an institution, religiosity has evolved, and many half converted people have found refuge in the visible Church groups. History and many people view the 'Church' splits, divisions, as absolutely disgraceful, resulting in the multitude of denominations that now abound – someone calculated there are 20,000 different denominations in America alone !

And so the word 'Christian' has become 'many things to many people'
Its use and meaning has become diffused and muddied, even polluted, with just about any variety of scandal being tolerated by those who have taken it to call themselves by that name.

Just as John Wesley would probably not recognise the Methodist denomination as what he founded if he popped into one of their services today.  Or perhaps Martin Luther, or John Knox, or even Bramwell Booth likewise.   Christianity has de-evolved in so many cases, across the whole religious spectrum. 
Contemporary Church-ianity, religiosity, powerless preaching, theology has been so watered down and infiltrated by 'the world'  as to be a shadow of the Book of Acts and what Jesus left behind. 
I suggest that instead of Christians converting the world, actually quite the opposite has happened and the world has converted the Church ! 
Just read Revelation 3:14 – 22 and John's words to the Church at Laodicea
If Jesus Himself were to show up at many assemblies with his name over the door, would He be embarrassed as to what He would find ?  One wonders if He even would be welcomed, or the Holy Spirit missed after he had left !

By many accounts, Africa and Asia are seeing so much more simple 'believers' and up-to-date demonstrations of the Book of Acts than the materialistic 'Western World.'

I have always presumed that the word 'Christian' meant follower of Christ, but I am told that it actually means 'Little Christian'  
I have a problem with this definition also.

So, the upshot of all of this as far as I am concerned, is simply this ....
If anybody asks me what I am, I am a BELIEVER  (in God, Jesus and his sacrifice, etc)  so lets continue the conversation from there, and forget about labels and contemporary Christendom.

I'll leave the word  'Christian' with all of its connotations for those in the Present Religious System to use.

Footnote ....
An interesting portion of Wm Paul Young's book ....  THE SHACK  ... Page 182
When Mack was talking to Jesus, about being a  Christian,  Jesus replied to him
”I'm not a 'Christian' ..... either !” 
How very interesting that observation was !

See you later .....  I'm off to meet with some other fellow  BELIEVERS