Friday, February 19, 2016

Trump vs. the Pope and the definition and measurement of "Christian"

A lot of silliness in this episode-- from the Pope and the Donald to the analysis done and the analogies used.

Most interesting to me: Trump insists that he's a "Christian". As is well known, the problems with the label are that:

A.) the term has various meanings:
1.) a cultural designation;
2.) a religious definition (e.g., believing that one is saved by being a good person); or
3.) a biblical definition (e.g., one is saved by embracing the grace of God to bozos like us).

B.) the label is self-styled-- with definition #1 as largely irrelevant to behavior and definitions #2 and #3 difficult to assess through behavior.

On #2, what's good enough?) On #3, the Bible says that we can't judge another's salvation, but we are supposed to engage in "fruit inspection"-- especially in ourselves, (prospective and existing) church leaders, and close friends.

In any case, this reminds me of my understanding of James 2: that we are justified before God by our faith and we are "justified" before men by our works. 



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