Fear just plain stinks! Fear is the opposite of faith. Faith to some is an ambiguous concept of belief that there is something more than I know. Although this is a good start just believing there is something or someone bigger it is just plain foolishness, arrogance and laziness to find out what else is out there. Why am I a Christian? Some would probably say that I grew up in a home of people who go and meet at a building once a week. Others might point to the paper I have that says I studied Christian-like stuff at a university in the Christian category. What makes a Christian? Hard question isn't it?
Some people I have met in recent years believe that you can be a Christian and believe whatever you want. If this is true then anything and everything is a Christian? Sounds more like the Matrix than a belief system. Actually, it is a belief system but people call that Hinduism. It isn't that Hinduism is only evil it just is wrong. (ONE MUST ASK THEMSELF WHAT IS EVIL? Answer:Anything that sets itself against the true God.) Sure, right now you are reading this and saying, "What a narrow minded bigot?" It continues to puzzle me how if someone believes that all types of belief are valid how they can be so narrow minded not to fit in the narrow minded like myself. Is that a flaw in the belief that all roads lead to the same place (spiritually speaking)? It is almost comical how people will create new words to tack onto "Christian" to make themselves feel more comfortable. One friend over the years refers to herself as a "Christian Pluralist". Although that sounds convenient is it really Christian? The question must be asked "What is Christian?"
So... What is Christian? Christian... Sounds like those things having to deal with Christ. In this case the word comes from the Bible in the Book of Acts. In the 11th Chapter of the Book of Acts (yeah, the Bible is actually a book of other books...pretty cool, huh?) in the city of Antioch the people were first called Christians. These people were the followers of Jesus who were given the name Christian.
Following someone can be such a cavalier thing in this day and age. You can follow a band, a college basketball team (GO UCONN!!!) or just about anything. When the Bible talks about following it talks more about a surrendering of your life to God. Sounds like it costs a lot, huh? It does. There is nothing better though. Why? Well, God is just hard to understand. He is hard to understand because we were made for fellowship with Him. Yeah, God wants to hang out with you! The God who created the Pacific Ocean, pumpkins, snowflakes, gravity, pi and the Pythagorean theorem wants us to live in relationship with Him. Hard to believe. In all this, He not only wants us to hang out with Him but to experience the greatest joy in the universe, becoming like Him. The daily walk that begins with surrendering your life to God's great love and just living in a trusting relationship with Him daily...That's what being a Christian is.
Yeah, there might be bands, bumper stickers, voting guides or whatever else with the Christian label on it (these might be cool or helpful) but a Christian is one who is a ton more interested in what God's got to say than what any other book, professor or so called guru. Check out God's story in the Bible. It changed my life and keep changing me more and more every time I open it and see what God's about.