Does a True Christian Exist?

*A true Christian is not necessarily a regular churchgoer who faithfully keeps the rites and rituals of his/her particular denomination. *A true Christian does not think it is important to be a member of a Church where one pays tithes. *A true Christian is not someone who was simply baptized in the name of the "Holy Trinity", as a child or adult. *A true Christian is not someone who unquestionably believes in the Christian Creed, or in the so-called inerrancy of the Bible. *A true Christian is not a selfish individual who is deceived into believing that "Jesus died for his sins" providing an easy and instant "salvation" by faith in His blood. *A true Christian is not one who approaches God out of fear, seeking an eternal "insurance policy". *A true Christian is not necessarily one who some time "went forward" during an evangelistic campaign and repeated a stereotyped "statement of faith", which a pompous "evangelist" dictated for him, boasting that by doing so is now "born again" and "saved". Who, then, is a true Christian? Unfortunately the name "Christian" has been so badly misused, abused and ridiculed over the centuries that it is very difficult now, and perhaps too late, to re-establish its rightful nobility and regain its true meaning. However, I will try to highlight the issue, hoping that the unbiased reader might gain some new understanding and even add fresh insights to it. ─A true Christian is a person full of love for everyone, and full of gratitude for the gift of life. ─A true Christian is not necessarily perfect (no one can be perfect...), but is a humble person who is ready to admit his/her mistakes, repent and apologize. ─A true Christian is ready to forgive those who have harmed him/her, bless those who cursed him/her and forget the wrongs they did. ─A true Christian is a person who at some point of his/her life, without external coercion, fear or expectation of a reward, turned repentantly and humbly to God, longing to be united with the Holy Spirit and follow Christ's spiritual path. ─A true Christian never calls himself/herself "Christian" for he/she knows that religious labels have no spiritual value, as they derive from pride and self-righteousness, causing divisions, antagonism and even hatred and violence among people. ─A true Christian is a humble and enlightened individual, who respects all other religions, recognizing that they are but different paths to the same God - The Source of everything, the beginning and end of Existence, Impersonal, yet personalized through the spirit of the individual, Intelligent Universal Spiritual Energy and Sovereign Law, incomprehensible, unfathomable and awesome! ─ A true Christian knows that organized religion, although useful for society and needed by the majority of individuals, creates bondage for its followers by forbidding them to seek the Truth for themselves, thereby depriving them of their divine birthright, namely the freedom of thought, the oxygen of spirituality. ─A true Christian maintains that when someone has experientially known God, the same drops religion and doctrine. Such a Christian can worship God everywhere and can pray together with people of other faiths. ─A true Christian is ever open to more revelation from Divine Spirit, ever ready to be corrected and guided deeper and deeper into the awesome realm of the vast spiritual Reality. ─A true Christian remains forever a humble student of Truth and would not dream of demanding followers to blindly believe every word he/she says. ─A true Christian can never be de-converted to an atheist or agnostic, for the same knows beyond the shadow of a doubt that God "IS". He IS the Great, Eternal "I AM", and we humans, by our inner spirit, are an inseparable part of The Deity. ─A true Christian knows that the word "Christian" (from the Greek verb "chrizo"=anoint) means the anointed one, someone who has had one or several interactions (mystical experiences) with the Spirit of God, and as a result his/her own spirit is awakened to the spiritual dimension. ─A true Christian is one whose "inner man" has been quickened by the Universal Spirit, realizing qualities and powers that he/she never knew before and putting these powers in the service of fellow human beings, without expecting any reward as a return. ─A true Christian is a mystic, a "Buddha" (enlightened one), an "alchemist", who endeavors to transform spiritual darkness to light, human pain to joy, sickness to health, strife to peace, hatred to love. ─A true Christian is a "keeper", a watchman, a warrior against falsehood, injustice, violence and every vice. ─ A true Christian is an intercessor for the kingdom of God to be established in the hearts of men and hence in the world as a whole. ─A true Christian is a peacemaker, a source of love, light and divine energy, comforting, renewing and refreshing every one who comes near him/her. ─A true Christian is an enlightened person who understands and endorses the esoteric meaning of the words attributed to Jesus, such as "I and my Father are one", and knows that this also applies to him/her. ─A true Christian wholeheartedly goes about his/her Heavenly Father's business, helping others, near and far, to realize and manifest their own divinity and fulfil the purpose for which we have been born in this life. ─A true Christian is the individual who has discovered the "kingdom of God", i.e. the precious spiritual "pearl" in the core of his/her being, knowing that this "pearl" is an inherent element of God, which also needs pure spiritual nourishment in order to mature and realize its full divine potential. ─A true Christian is a person who neither idolizes nor worships any individual, whether prophet or saint, for he/she knows that all people in this life are imperfect and fallible and the worship should be given only to God ─ the invisible Creator of the Universe. ─A true Christian neither wants any blind followers nor is he/she a blind follower of any prophet, teacher or mystic, however enlightened that person might be. ─A true Christian is not a person of a Book, for he/she knows that all religious books, including the Bible, were written by imperfect men or women, occasionally inspired by God, but often self-motivated, and thus inevitably contain some deliberate lies and deceptions among their great truths. ─A true Christian is never afraid to read material from every faith or "-ism", but studies everything prayerfully, seeking discernment in order to rightly divide the word and separate the wheat from the chaff. ─A true Christian is like a bee, knowing that nectar can be absorbed from every flower, and wisdom can be found in every spiritual or religious book, written by a great or small prophet. ─A true Christian never wastes time and energy arguing whether Jesus Christ were a historical figure or not, if he were a prophet, a revolutionary, a magician and the like. He/she is only concerned with the life-transforming teaching that is attributed to Jesus, and primarily with Christ's central message of unconditional LOVE. Now, in the light of these few simple thoughts, let all those who label themselves "Christians" ask their conscience: "Where am I standing spiritually? What is all this futile noise and boasting about being a "saved" Christian, a "born-again" one, an Evangelical, Pentecostal, Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant? Some critical questions for us to answer are these: ─Do I make a positive difference to my family, to my environment, to the world? ─Do I radiate love, peace, joy and light? ─Do I demonstrate in my life the power of someone anointed by the Spirit of God, using this power for the healing of the sick, the "binding" of the broken-hearted and the liberation of the "captives"? ─Which are my priorities in life? Are they simply to please myself and serve my selfish interests? ─Am I willing to sacrifice some of my comfort for the sake of others? Am I willing to "deny" myself, pick up my "cross" and follow the "narrow" path of Jesus? These are His words, not mine... If some answers to these questions are negative, then we would be wise not to boast that we are Christians, lest we be an embarrassment to the Spirit of Christ and cause others to mock His name. The Christ Spirit does not need advertising from us but a clean "vessel" to function through us. Are we willing to be such a "vessel"?