ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Christianity For Real

Updated on February 11, 2015

Are you a Christian?

I have a friend who when asked this question responds, "Well that depends on how you define a Christian. If you define them as narrow-minded, intolerant, self-righteous people that only want to control you, then I'm not. But if you define a Christian as a person that loves Jesus, tries to model their life after His, is loving and kind to all and demonstrates peace and Joy, then yes I am.

There are so many misconceptions about Christianity and many of them come from within the church. Those that call themselves Christians are far too often misrepresenting others. In this lens I hope to identify real Christianity not as most see it, not even as the church sees it but by looking at Jesus.

Rules, Rules and More Rules

Does God want to control you?

One of the most common misconceptions about God is that all He wants to do is control us. Christianity is too often understood to be a bunch of rules that God requires us to follow in order to earn His love or approval. Nothing could be further from the truth!

If control of us is what God wants then He could have easily made us to be obedient all the time. Instead He made us with the ability to choose. The reason He gave us the capability to make our own choices is love. You see love doesn't exist without choice. You've probably heard it said that, "love is a choice" well that's absolutely right.

God created us for one reason and one reason only, to love us. He enjoys loving us so much that it wouldn't be right for Him to keep us from experiencing that same enjoyment. But in order for us to know the incredible joy of love we have to be able to refuse it.

Just to be clear it would probably be a good idea to define love. I define love as caring more about another than you do yourself. So essentially love is selfless-ness and along with that love would have to be sacrificial.

What God really wants from us is nothing, what God really wants for us is everything. Because His love for us is perfect there is nothing about us that He has not considered. He wants the very best for each of us.

Now back to the control thing. Over the years I've heard many people say things like, "Since I've given God control of my life, I have found incredible joy and peace. He has met all of my needs and the things that used to seem like big deals, don't any more." And when I hear things like this I can't really disagree I guess mainly because they are stating that they made a choice to give God control.

However, I think it would be more accurate to describe what they have done as that they have chosen to trust God because they know that He knows and wants the best for them. They have entered into a relationship with The One that loves them perfectly which after all is how God wanted it from the very start.

Rules, rules and more rules; God only has one rule; love. He asks us to love Him and to love others and the scripture then tells us that all the other rules are tied to this. His love for us doesn't change based on whether we choose to love or not. His love is forever for all.

It's our choice.

He Loves Me! Learning to Live in the Father's Affection
He Loves Me! Learning to Live in the Father's Affection
This is a great book. It helps you grasp how much God truly loves you. He Loves Me is non fiction and very scriptural.
 

Christian Poll

How do you define a Christian?

See results
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)