CHRISTIANITY

being a christian is...

at my sleepover the other night, dorian, netta, arielle, &&i were talking about God and Christianity.

as teenagers we are suppose to be curious and question so of the basis of our religion.

like most young people we were handed our moral, beliefs, and religion from our parents and/or guardians,

and never really chose one for ourselves. but now that we are moving out and moving on with our lives and going to college where tons of different things happen [moral &&immoral] we should know where we stand with religion and how we feel about the one that dress ourselves for on sunday mornings.

i juhst read the book of James in the bible. [i know it sounds like a lot but i really was juhst like 4 pages]

&&he writes about what is means to be a christian and how a christian lifestyle is. .

a little background info: James is Jesus' brother son of Mary&Joseph but was conceived by sex.. not by God [like Jesus] he became the leader of  the church of Jeruselem. first book of the New Testament to be written [the books are out of order, ummm..]

the first thing that my bible includes in the summary of this book is that :

christian. just saying so doesn't make you christian. it's not just saying you believe the bible; or believe in jesus. being a real christian will make a difference in the way you live. not that you'll suddenly be perfect. not at all.

James speaks of trials and temptations, coming from the devil, that all Christians will go through in life.

consider is pure joy, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (james 1:2-4)

Christians, by James standards, also read the word of God [bible] &&take what they have read for life.

do not merely listen to the word, and so decieve yourselves. do what it says, anyone who listens [or reads] to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in the mirror and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. (james 1:22-24)

Because God created all people the same way, he sees them all equally &as Christians we're suppose to do the same, and not show favoritism for one over the other.

don't show favoritism. (james 2:1) if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. (james 2:9) mercy triumps over judgement. (james 2:13)

Christians do good things for others.

as the body without the [holy] spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. (james 2:26)

Christians have power over the things they say.

with the tongue we praise our lord and father, and with it we curse men who have been made in God's likeness. out of the same mouth come praise and cursing...this should not be. can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? (james 3:9-11)

Christians know that tommorrow is never promised here on earth.

instead [of today or tommorrow we will..], you ought to say, "if it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." All boasting is evil. (james 4:15-16)

Christians are here to help bring other wrongdoers to Christ.

remember this: whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins (james 5:20)

i hope this bible lesson gave some insight in what characteristic inbody a Christian. I know it is knew impossible to become all of this &&more... but the idea is to try to become as close to this as you can.

jesus already knew we would go away from the idea and plan that is why he died in the first place.

other ideas of piercings, tattoos, and even abortions are in the bible and are used by people today to group people as Christian or non-Christian. ..i think all of that is wrong. &&it is never anyone's place but God to do the judging.

God bless.