The Good Christian

The Good Christian is a well meaning person who tries to have all the attributes of Jesus Christ. When Jesus came to the Earth He was sinless, we all should try to match His goodness. We should do good deeds as these will show others what good Christians that we are. By helping others we are helping ourselves.

If the whole world was helping each other there would be no crime, no hate and no badness and even though it appears to be not impossible for this to happen it seems unlikely that it would ever happen given mankind’s past historical record. We can fight crime, hatred and all bad things by helping others. Jesus showed us to forgive, to love and be kind. Somewhere in history people got confused and decided that violence was the answer, yet this is not what Jesus taught.

We must lead by example and show the world that Christians are good people with hearts that care. More people will follow the faith if they see the good that we do and not the hatred that we cause by protesting and going to marches cursing people, with banners and waving placards. This only does us damage and separates us more from those that we should be trying to save. We must be willing to go to the world and offer our services to everyone and anyone just like Jesus did. Jesus wanted to save those “who came to Him”, those who wanted to learn, those who asked questions.

I have so far found nowhere in Christian teachings that we should go door-to-door talking to people about being a Christian and trying to convince people to go Gods way. Gods system is based on voluntary choice, not trying to convincing people and be a pain to the general public. Jesus showed us that if we had something to say then people will listen and ask questions about the faith that we have, they will want to know why we have that faith. By being in the publics eye and being a good Christian and showing kindness and doing good deeds you will be giving a wonderful example that will make other people wonder, they “will” have questions.

When people ask, you answer as best that you can. If you do not have the answer that they seek then pass them to somebody else who may have that answer. Do the best that you can and pray to God and ask for Gods Guidance to help show you the way to helping people who are seeking Gods Word.

To be a good Christian all you need to do is do your best to be a good person. Lead by example and always be willing to help someone in need. The more people you help then the better the world will be. Read your Bible daily, read other religious books, watch religious videos. “Live the faith” don’t just preach it. People will see the good way that you live and see the good examples that you show and they will see their own lives and wonder why you are so happy. Some may not, but some will – this is people having choices which is what God wants us to have.

Originally God tried to guide people, He went to great efforts to help people. But even with all the great miracles that God showed people we still did not understand, we still went astray, got lose, faltered and fell flat on our faces. God needed another plan, one that would suit people better.

The Choice System was installed when Jesus died, this was when God decided that we would choose our own paths. This system took away the need for God to be present in the physical sense, now God can reside in your heart spiritually because your body is now Gods temple. You now have the choice to call (pray) to God and ask for His assistance.

But it must be remembered at all times that God will only help you if you choose to change your lifestyle. You must state that you want to change, you must tell God that you want to follow the guidelines that God set in the Bible. You must also ask to be forgiven for those things that you did in the past that did not follow Gods rules for people. Those things of the past that you did which were wrong, that hurt people, were considered bad behaviour, bad thoughts that you had, we all did these things because we had no decent guidelines or rules. The Bible satisfies this need by being a rule book for mankind. This is why it is often said that those that don’t follow the rules of the Bible are “lost”, because to live without these rules to “show us the way” then we are lost in a sense.

It is no good trying to get a known criminal who has a bad attitude and bad reputation, to follow good wholesome rules that you set if the criminal does not repent or apologise for the past mistakes that he or she did. We need to start with a clean slate, from a new beginning, start afresh. This can only be done if we admit our wrongs and “are willing” to move ahead and “try” to be a new person, then we have a good chance of not only following the good rules that you have set but also becoming a new person. This is what God wants you to do.

The problem with societies rule book is that it “is not set in stone”, but the Bible is. Society is always changing the rules, like the laws are always changing on a yearly basis. We people cannot get used to one set of rules when society changes them yet again. The rules of the Bible were set a long, long time ago and they still apply to people of today. Mankind cannot make up our minds what rules we want to follow, this only causes much confusion for each generation, this is why the world is the way that it is today. Societies rules were made by man, the rules of the Bible were made by God and this is obvious because Gods rules are everlasting, they have a meaning to them which is good and will never die.

Read the Ten Commandments, they are all worthy rules for people to follow. Not one is bad or evil, none can possibly hurt us. Look at mankind’s attempts at making rules, they are so confusing, buried in red tape and they change on a yearly basis because mankind claims that they are not modern enough or someone has got a new idea and once again confusion reins as we all struggle to change our ways to suit the latest rules set by our governments. Old rules are tossed away and new rules are brought in.

If a person wants to be bad then let them be bad, if they want to be helped then by all means help them. The Earthly laws will deal with bad people, your life should be dedicated to helping those that want to be helped. The Choice System allows people to do as they want and make choices. Its the people who want to change that you should help. The early Christian only preached to those who would come and listen, nobody was preached to by force.

The early Christians use a system that was guaranteed to bring in new members to the flock. They tended to the needs of the poor and helped those who were lived bad lives, those that did wrong. They showed their love to those who needed love most and they claimed many souls for God during these dark and dismal days of human history. These were hard working dedicated people, many died doing their work, many suffered, but they had a dedication that went beyond this world to a place far away and full of love and happiness, and these early Christians wanted to go there, they also wanted to take as many people as they could with them – out of the kindness of their hearts.

The people that these early Christians helped were so grateful that they wanted to know why these people of Christ helped them when the Romans obviously didn’t care and none of the other religious groups of the time did either. This group of people were obviously different and special and those who were helped wanted to “know the Truth”. To them it was clear that these early Christians were to gain nothing by helping those who were considered “losers” and “helpless” by the authorities of the time who only wanted to collect taxes of them or be rid of them for they were considered of no use at all. But the early Christians came like Angels from Heaven, casting a rainbow of hope, they spread their words of love, they had charity for all regardless of social status. These early Christians “had” to be messengers from the “real” God.

Bad Christians make the mistakes and God pays the price in reputation. How many people do you know or have heard of who have been brought up in a religion and who now has a deep dislike for the faith? There are many people around like this who have suffered because Christians got it wrong. These people followed God either for their own agenda or for their own selfish hope that they would be saved for eternity, they forgot to live the way that Jesus Christ tried to show them, they forgot to follow the rules set by God. They caused unhappiness in their tracks and left this world an unhappier place for their being here – but they still believed that they could call themselves Christians and thought that they were following the faith.

The world has people who call themselves atheists, agnostic, Humanist or many other names or beliefs, how many of these people used to be Christians? And why have they lost faith in Gods word or in Gods people – Christians?

According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary: ATHEISM is the theory or belief that God does not exist.
AGNOSTICS believe nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena.

When trying to learn about Christianity you can feel very hurt. It sometimes feels devastating to look at our own pasts and realise all the wrongs that we have done to others and ourself. This pain can be very deep and disappointing. Many tears can be shed while we try to understand why we did bad things and why we have to admit our faults and bad past to become a Christian. This would be a major reason why many people do not become Christians. I can easily understand why some people would refuse to do this because of the pain alone. Reading the Bible and trying to be a Christian can be a shaming experience, some people just don’t seem to have the heart for it and some are just to arrogant to want to admit their mistakes.

We are told that the day that we are born we are sinners. This is only explained by the Adam and Eve story, not by any facts that we can see or clarify. To be told that we didn’t even get a chance to become a non sinner is hurtful enough, and this turns many people away from Christianity. I would have preferred to believe that I could have been called a sinner after I was sixteen years old or at least once I became an adult because I “should” have known better, but to be told that from the day I was born that I was an outcast from the garden of Eden, I am a sinner because Adam (Note my name is not Adam) sinned so long ago, its almost unbearable to consider and apparently so unfair. It feels unfair when it is told to me. Some Christians say that we are imperfect because we are humans, so we start off on the wrong track the day that we are born. Hows that for motivating? Its not is it?

There is obviously more to this than what first meets the eye, and answering this is the hard part. My opinion is that before we are born we made an agreement with God about being born. This agreement covered many things, all people born did this. If you believe in God and believe that God created all things then you shouldn’t have much trouble believing this, but people coming to the faith may struggle with it all, and I can easily understand why. All the “tools” are available to mankind once he or she is able to read, the main tool being the Bible. The Bible is supposed to show us the way, to prepare us for the coming of Jesus. It is also easy to see why so many people scoff at the Bible because of its old text and strange old stories.

One of the hardest things to do is become a Christian and still make mistakes or sin. To sin after you become a Christian is like wearing a sign and walking around town and on the sign are written the words “I sinned this morning”. Your conscious feels it deep because you “believe”. The reason it is like this is because we know that God and all His good angels can see all and therefore see whatever sins we do. Its hard to look back on our past and remember sins let alone doing them again and feeling so very shamed. So when we sin as an honest Christian we feel very sad, depressed that we failed yet again, and we feel miserable. God may forgive us but its very hard to forgive ourselves. To be a Christian is to be good, not a sinner.

All the best from
James Martin Sandbrook.
‎Sunday, ‎10 ‎October ‎2004, ‏‎10:56:56 PM.