Has the meaning of the word “Christian” changed?
In Acts 11:25 we are told that the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch. We are not told whether the term carried negative or positive connotations. If it was used negatively then it may have meant something similar to being called a “Jesus Freak” today. If it was used positively then it meant that they were “Christlike” in character and action.
But, what does the word mean today?
I would suggest that it depends on your culture and religious beliefs as to how you interpret its meaning.
To some it means those who are the scum of the earth, to others it means anybody who is not Muslim, Buddhist or Islam etc. To some it means those who attend some church on a regular basis. To some it means that one time they repeated what is known as the sinner's prayer regardless of their lifestyle now.
Depending on where they live or what their religious experience is, it means different things to different people.
In spite of what we think any particular word should mean, it actually means what society interprets it to mean. Take the word gay. One time it meant to be happy, today it refers to sexual orientation. So although I was once gay, I am no longer gay, not because I’ve changed, but because the understanding of the word in society has changed and it no longer describes what I am.
So it is with the word ‘Christian.’
Jesus encapsulates its meaning this way: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. So it is all about love for God and a love for people! He is letting us know that it is a relational relationship with God and with people that is demonstrated by love and compassion instead of obedience to rules and regulations based upon some groups understanding as to their particular brand of religion. It’s all about love, my friend. People, including religious people may hate you for your unconditional love because it doesn't fit into their particular brand of their segregated group whose regulations you have to abide by in order to be accepted by them.
Unfortunately, in the eyes of many, Christianity is now far better known for much more and much less than love, this in part is brought about by the practices of the institutional religious organizations. The brand of christianity portrayed is far cry from the message of love that ultimately cost Jesus His life. Ask any person and, depending on where they live or their religious belief, they will tell you what they understand the word to mean.
Ask the question in the Middle East and you will hear the answer that Christians are killers who have killed thousands of innocent bystanders in Iraq with their bombs; murderers who have brutally killed thousands of Muslims in Lebanon. It is documented that Christian militia entered the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut in September 1982 where they raped, pillaged and murdered with impunity for three days during what became known as the Shatila massacre. The first suicide bomber in Lebanon was a Christian, blowing up Muslims. The scourge of the Crusaders is still alive in the Middle East. This is what ‘Christian’ means to many in that part of the world.
Hindus have killed many Christians. When you ask local pastors if it was because Christians followed Jesus, it may surprise you to hear them say no, it was because Christians means ‘Western values’ to the Hindus.
If you ask a patron on a downtown street in Ottawa who Christians are, they will likely tell you that Christians are judgmental, insensitive, hypocrites who are out of touch with reality. Or worse, angry right-wing bigots willing to resort to hate speech and violence to protect their narrow way of life. That they are a political group committed to a particular platform, willing to fight tooth and nail to enforce that platform.
The last thing that will come to their mind is the concept of sacrificial love or Jesus who showed us that love. Just like the word ‘gay’ the meaning of the word “christian” has changed, like it or not.
According to a Barna Group poll, only 9% of those outside the church think Christians in the western world are nice, loving people. What every happened to you shall know them by their love? Throughout most of the world Christianity is simply no longer associated with the core beliefs of agape love that Jesus demonstrated as the tell tale of being a Christian. We live in a post Christian world, many would say. They might be right. And who’s to blame them? No one wants to swim around in the dirty water of christianity that the religious world has caused it to become.
But hold on. There is more than religious bigots, self-made gurus and the religious elite in this dirty pool some refer to as Christianity. There is something precious and live-giving! And there is a rising generation of relational believers who are as eager to protect and cherish the true life of christianity as they are to throw out the dirty ideology sludge from the pool whatever its source.
We need to demonstrate the gospel truth, that core message of love that Jesus gave his life for.
If Christian means judgmental or bigot to most or even many, then they are not seeing real Christianity which may mean that the religious institutions of the day are not portraying the reality of what a Christian is. Relational people are neither bigots nor hate-mongers nor killers nor whatever else you might think a Christian might be, they are passionate believers in a person who came with a message of love, and his name is Jesus. Their identity is not stamped with any specific political party, denomination or ideology however good or bad it is, but to the person who avoided being identified by any political ideology or religious affiliation. Jesus was hated by the religious people of His day as the true nature of His gospel is hated by the religious world today.
Relational people are not defined by any specific social or religious agenda, however necessary or good, but by the love that embraces humanity in need of a helping hand. They do not follow any moral creed invented by man. They do not set themselves up as judge and jury by bringing judgmental renderings on people who do not conform to a regulation ridden agenda, but they carry the burden of love and forgiveness and step aside so that he who is without sin may throw the first stone, if indeed such a man lives.
It is not about the color of the church carpet, the signing of membership forms, or following some agenda to fill the time for a Sunday program. It is not about some professional promoting their particular brand of religion in a Sunday meeting. It is about destroying the monster of manipulation, control and expectation in their futile attempts to dash the hopes of the Great Lover. Perhaps Christians should be called Relational Believers, defined solely by the one they follow, not the institution that bears His name.
Relational believers believe that their calling is to love God with all of their hearts and to love people by demonstrating His love and compassion instead of heaping condemnatory judgments on them. That is not to say they uphold or condone sin, not by a long shot, but it does mean they love the person who is sinning as God loves them.
But, what does the word mean today?
I would suggest that it depends on your culture and religious beliefs as to how you interpret its meaning.
To some it means those who are the scum of the earth, to others it means anybody who is not Muslim, Buddhist or Islam etc. To some it means those who attend some church on a regular basis. To some it means that one time they repeated what is known as the sinner's prayer regardless of their lifestyle now.
Depending on where they live or what their religious experience is, it means different things to different people.
In spite of what we think any particular word should mean, it actually means what society interprets it to mean. Take the word gay. One time it meant to be happy, today it refers to sexual orientation. So although I was once gay, I am no longer gay, not because I’ve changed, but because the understanding of the word in society has changed and it no longer describes what I am.
So it is with the word ‘Christian.’
Jesus encapsulates its meaning this way: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. So it is all about love for God and a love for people! He is letting us know that it is a relational relationship with God and with people that is demonstrated by love and compassion instead of obedience to rules and regulations based upon some groups understanding as to their particular brand of religion. It’s all about love, my friend. People, including religious people may hate you for your unconditional love because it doesn't fit into their particular brand of their segregated group whose regulations you have to abide by in order to be accepted by them.
Unfortunately, in the eyes of many, Christianity is now far better known for much more and much less than love, this in part is brought about by the practices of the institutional religious organizations. The brand of christianity portrayed is far cry from the message of love that ultimately cost Jesus His life. Ask any person and, depending on where they live or their religious belief, they will tell you what they understand the word to mean.
Ask the question in the Middle East and you will hear the answer that Christians are killers who have killed thousands of innocent bystanders in Iraq with their bombs; murderers who have brutally killed thousands of Muslims in Lebanon. It is documented that Christian militia entered the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut in September 1982 where they raped, pillaged and murdered with impunity for three days during what became known as the Shatila massacre. The first suicide bomber in Lebanon was a Christian, blowing up Muslims. The scourge of the Crusaders is still alive in the Middle East. This is what ‘Christian’ means to many in that part of the world.
Hindus have killed many Christians. When you ask local pastors if it was because Christians followed Jesus, it may surprise you to hear them say no, it was because Christians means ‘Western values’ to the Hindus.
If you ask a patron on a downtown street in Ottawa who Christians are, they will likely tell you that Christians are judgmental, insensitive, hypocrites who are out of touch with reality. Or worse, angry right-wing bigots willing to resort to hate speech and violence to protect their narrow way of life. That they are a political group committed to a particular platform, willing to fight tooth and nail to enforce that platform.
The last thing that will come to their mind is the concept of sacrificial love or Jesus who showed us that love. Just like the word ‘gay’ the meaning of the word “christian” has changed, like it or not.
According to a Barna Group poll, only 9% of those outside the church think Christians in the western world are nice, loving people. What every happened to you shall know them by their love? Throughout most of the world Christianity is simply no longer associated with the core beliefs of agape love that Jesus demonstrated as the tell tale of being a Christian. We live in a post Christian world, many would say. They might be right. And who’s to blame them? No one wants to swim around in the dirty water of christianity that the religious world has caused it to become.
But hold on. There is more than religious bigots, self-made gurus and the religious elite in this dirty pool some refer to as Christianity. There is something precious and live-giving! And there is a rising generation of relational believers who are as eager to protect and cherish the true life of christianity as they are to throw out the dirty ideology sludge from the pool whatever its source.
We need to demonstrate the gospel truth, that core message of love that Jesus gave his life for.
If Christian means judgmental or bigot to most or even many, then they are not seeing real Christianity which may mean that the religious institutions of the day are not portraying the reality of what a Christian is. Relational people are neither bigots nor hate-mongers nor killers nor whatever else you might think a Christian might be, they are passionate believers in a person who came with a message of love, and his name is Jesus. Their identity is not stamped with any specific political party, denomination or ideology however good or bad it is, but to the person who avoided being identified by any political ideology or religious affiliation. Jesus was hated by the religious people of His day as the true nature of His gospel is hated by the religious world today.
Relational people are not defined by any specific social or religious agenda, however necessary or good, but by the love that embraces humanity in need of a helping hand. They do not follow any moral creed invented by man. They do not set themselves up as judge and jury by bringing judgmental renderings on people who do not conform to a regulation ridden agenda, but they carry the burden of love and forgiveness and step aside so that he who is without sin may throw the first stone, if indeed such a man lives.
It is not about the color of the church carpet, the signing of membership forms, or following some agenda to fill the time for a Sunday program. It is not about some professional promoting their particular brand of religion in a Sunday meeting. It is about destroying the monster of manipulation, control and expectation in their futile attempts to dash the hopes of the Great Lover. Perhaps Christians should be called Relational Believers, defined solely by the one they follow, not the institution that bears His name.
Relational believers believe that their calling is to love God with all of their hearts and to love people by demonstrating His love and compassion instead of heaping condemnatory judgments on them. That is not to say they uphold or condone sin, not by a long shot, but it does mean they love the person who is sinning as God loves them.
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