What is necessary to be a Christian?

I write this for two reasons. First let me explain something about myself. I believe that God gave us a structure for sound thinking and decision making. When I am at my best I am acting upon that groundwork, in my opinion anyway. So my first reason is to try to relay some of the groundwork for my beliefs on salvation. My second reason is to provoke thought and introspection.

So I will state that in my reading I have found 3 things critical. I would like to note now that I find that God claims responsibility for all 3 things . No matter what you accomplish as a Christian, what heights you reach, it is for Gods glory or it is nothing.

This now brings me to my first necessity to become a Christian. It is the Fear of the Lord. I will now try to make my brief case for this. The true logic behind this would be lengthy.

Scripture defines the fear of the Lord in Prov. 8:13

Pro 8:13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.
I take this to mean that when you are afraid of Gods judgement you will attempt to avoid all things evil.

Pro 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Psa 111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.

Now if the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and its necessary that you come to the knowledge of the truth. Then it seems you cannot have knowledge of the truth without first having the fear of the Lord. Its also the beginning of Wisdom you will not make wise choices without it.

My basic point is made but let me point to another few verses that show the ever deaper importance of the fear of the Lord.

Pro 14:27 The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.
Pro 19:23 The fear of the LORD tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.

In these two I believe it refers to our Eternal Life. Interpret them as you will.

Ecc 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

Certainly we can see that David and Solomon put the utmost importance on the fear of the Lord.


And now to my second necessity: Faith

Galatians 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

It is the only way to to be presented justified before God.

Heb. 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

You cannot please God without Faith.

For the sake of brevity I will not go further but there is significantly more scripture to further understand the absolute necessity of Faith for the work of salvation in every part.

And so to the 3rd thing and I am not sure where this puts me doctrinally: Works

Lets look in James.

James 2:14What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
15If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
16And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
17Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
18Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
19Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
20But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
21Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
22Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
23And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
24Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
25Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
26For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

I'm sorry but i cannot say it any better than James here. I will just say that I believe you must have a different understanding of the word "dead" than I do in order to separate works from this Salvation work done within a believer. This Gift of Faith will necessarily Cause believers to do good works. “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Let me refer to the most terrifying passage of scripture in the Word of God in my opinion.

In Matt 7:15-23Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

There is of course much more to talk about in this scripture but specifically in bold you see that every good tree bringeth forth good fruit. This is not up for debate. Also other Christians will be able to recognize you it seems by your works.

Now I must also say to you that I find no problem with these text as I believe that God is responsible in every way for a person dead in sins being quickened and beginning to do good works for Christ. The old man is passed away and behold all things are become new.

Now my full position is this: Faith is a necessity "...without faith it is impossible to please God..." but we know from Rom. 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. You cannot have faith except you hear the word of God. I would propose that that hearing begins to happen when you Fear the Lord. Also Faith necessarily brings good works. We are saved unto good works according to Eph 2:10.

So Fear of the Lord->Receive Faith->Do Good Works

From this viewpoint many things in scripture have become more clear to me. I am certainly not the man to clarify this fully for you, but perhaps I can bring you to think about something you havent considered fully.

God Bless you.

A Purpose Driven Life?

Honestly I have never read the book A Purpose Driven Life, but I would like to say a few things about making Christian decisions based on your purpose.
I believe that one of the most important things in understanding scripture is to define your purpose in doing whatever is placed before you or more importantly, what you are lead to do by the Spirit of God. I believe you should spend some time meditating about whatever it might be and determine the purpose and the rules within scripture which apply. If you have a selfish purpose remember that this will be unacceptable before God. Be sure to rethink your purpose if it is not scriptural so that you are on the right road.
I realize that I am being broad, but I believe that the Bible becomes a very broad book when applied in this way. In some of my recent conversations I've talked to some young people who seem to not recognize this. They are just kind of coming up with their own rules for dealing with situations and implying that the Bible doesnt really deal with this situation or forbid this action or command this action. I am saying that this purpose first thinking can resolve alot of these things.
Rather than give you a single example I will tell you some things that I believe that can be handled much better after expanding to this approach:

1. Building of, maintainance of, and breaking off of relationships. Be it, Male/female, Husband/Wife, Boss/subordinant, Pastor/Church member, Teacher/pupil, friendships, enemies, and the relationship between Children and their parents or Gods Children and God our father.
2. Your work within the church: Certainly: Pastors, Teachers, Deacons, Music leaders, Sunday school workers, and laymen can all improve and this could be a path to that.
3. All decisionmaking whether small or large: What to say or what not to, Where to take a job, who to spend your time with, what to spend your time on, Whether or not to purchase things, and many other things.

I think there are many other things that I wont mention but also I believe that adding this to your thought process can be greatly beneficial. Especially as you grow in Christ through Bible reading, being under the teaching or preaching of Gods Word, and meditating on these things.

God Bless you if you are a servant of our Lord Jesus Christ.