Top Ten Signs You're a Christian

[underdog]

What difference does it make if I agree with them or not? I didn’t write that list. As a Catholic, I’d say that’s a reasonable list, but my opinion doesn’t change the fact that your accusations of “legalism” are way off base, rude, and uncalled for.

I am most certainly NOT saying that you need to agree with that or any other list of anyone’s “top 10” things that make one a Christian. I am not saying you aren’t a Christian, or that anyone who would not agree with every point of that list is not a Christian. Unlike you, sir, I do not pretend to judge other people’s souls, so I cannot say who is “really” Christian or not. For me, the summation of the bare essentials of what it means to be a Christian are found in the creeds, which I affirm weekly at mass. They’re good enough for me, and they’ve been good enough for the Church for over a thousand years now, but I recognize that they don’t make an eye-catching list for people to post on the internet.

Whether you are a recipient of any “divine revelation” or not, you are being very rude. That’s all.

Re: Top Ten Signs You’re a Christian

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1. You celebrate the Eucharist on Holy Days of Obligation, paritcularly Sunday
2. You listen to God in His Word at least once a day
3. You act charitably toward others, especially when it’s unsual to do so
4. You give alms to the poor and needy
5. You confess your sins to God through a priest in preparation for Holy Communion
6. You give material aid to the Church when it is needed
7. You give thanks in every circumstance and pray without ceasing
8. You fast on the appropriate days and make spiritual sacrifices every day
9. You have complete trust in God’s infinite mercy
10. You deepen your knowledge of Jesus Christ whenever you can, panting after Christ as a bride pants after her groom

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Please look at the title and then the list. If you think these are the top ten signs to tell you are a Christian, then you are preaching legalism. It’s not being rude, but being truthful. I don’t want anybody to think they are not a Christian because they do not do the 10 signs to determine they are a Christian. Christianity is not a free for all where we can make up personal views and rules.

 

[dzheremi]

Well, I should say that I disagree with a “top 10” anything, because Christianity is not a David Letterman monologue, but if others want to make their top 10 identifiers, that’s fine. I’ll consider them.

As far as “legalism” is concerned, I still fail to see how things like trusting in God, praying unceasingly, giving alms, etc. can in any way be construed as legalism, but if that’s how you view it, fine. You’re wrong, but that is your right. I suspect that you may be dancing around the idea that Catholics, with all their “legalism”, are trying to advance the idea of salvation by works rather than by grace, but that is not Catholic teaching at all. None of these things work like a list of groceries, where once you attain them all you’re “done” and can proceed safely and confidently to the check-out line/Heaven. Living the Christian faith as a Catholic is a continual process of growth, struggle, and renewal and the things Eucharisted listed are his take on some of the activities and attitudes that we try incorporate into our day-to-day lives so that we may deepen our faith. To have that reduced to charges of “legalism” by someone who clearly does not understand the meaning of the enumerated points to Catholics everywhere (and other Catholics may choose to emphasize different aspects of the faith, or phrase things in a different manner) is incredibly insulting and false. It is even farther from legalism than you can imagine, as you seem to have trouble with the idea that your underlying assumptions regarding what others believe and their motivations for believing so might not actually match the reality of their lives and religious observance.

I will be praying for you that God may soften your heart so that you re-think your approach to dealing with members of the Apostolic Churches.

 

[Eucharisted]

Allow me to explain my list, underdog, since it has become a scandal. My apologies for this.

10. You celebrate the Eucharist on Holy Days of Obligation, paritcularly Sunday
9. You listen to God in His Word at least once a day
8. You act charitably toward others, especially when it’s unsual to do so
7. You give alms to the poor and needy
6. You confess your sins to God through a priest in preparation for Holy Communion
5. You give material aid to the Church when it is needed
4. You give thanks in every circumstance and pray without ceasing
3. You fast on the appropriate days and make spiritual sacrifices every day
2. You have complete trust in God’s infinite mercy

1. You deepen your knowledge of Jesus Christ whenever you can, panting after Christ as a bride pants after her groom

#10, 6, 5, and 3 are the precepts of the Catholic Church.

#9, 8, 7, 4, 2, and 1 are found in the Word of God.

#9 is the only one, though, you could call my personal opinion. But I am basing it off the Church’s command of Sunday, in that, should a Christian be unable to attend Mass, than he must read the Word - or, if he is unable to read the Word, than he must pray for an appropriate amount of time.

Now, if you want to know how to tell who is a Christian, than look no further than the imitation of Christ: baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit and communion with the Catholic Church. In essence, Baptism and the Eucharist. These two sacraments - represented as Blood and Water which poured forth from the Heart of Christ when He died on the Cross (literally, He gave the Church to the world) - are what make the Church and what makes the Christian.

But since all spiritual benefits and every good thing comes from God, who for our sake is in the Blessed Sacrament, than the precepts of the Church and the instruments in the Word come from Him, and since that is what my top ten signs of being a Christian is all about, I would see nothing wrong with them.

 

[Prodigal_Son1]

It sounds like legalism and works righteous to me. Can you support your presuppositions with Scripture references?

Because men can misinterpret scriptures to their own means, not all truth can be found in scriptures through private interpretation.

1Ti 3:15 But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

Eph 3:10 That the manifold wisdom of God may be made
known to the principalities and powers in heavenly places through the church

I am open to correction, if you care to provide scriptural references that support sola scriptura, or individual private interpretations of scriptures.

Christ demonstrated that many had problems with their interpretation during His life.

Mat 22:29 And Jesus answering, said to them: You err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.

Joh 5:39 Search the scriptures: for you think in them to have life everlasting. And the same are they that give testimony of me.

St. Peter warned that there would be some who wrest the writings found in scriptures.

2Pe 3:16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are certain things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction.

 

[Blade_and_Blood]

**I will be praying for you that God may soften your heart so that you re-think your approach to dealing with members of the Apostolic Churches./**QUOTE]

You do know I’m a Catholic, right? :ehh: Or, I’m sorry, was that directed to someone else?

Ironically Yours.

 

[Eucharisted]

dzheremi;4549021:

I will be praying for you that God may soften your heart so that you re-think your approach to dealing with members of the Apostolic Churches./

QUOTE]

You do know I’m a Catholic, right? :ehh: Or, I’m sorry, was that directed to someone else?

Ironically Yours.

Don’t turn down a prayer. It is God’s gift to you

 

[dzheremi]

dzheremi;4549021:

I will be praying for you that God may soften your heart so that you re-think your approach to dealing with members of the Apostolic Churches./

QUOTE]

You do know I’m a Catholic, right? :ehh: Or, I’m sorry, was that directed to someone else?

Ironically Yours.

That was for Underdog, who is no longer with us. However, if you feel it should apply to you as well, I have no problem praying for you, too. It can’t hurt, right?