A question that was once posed about the Christian faith, posed seriously despite its seeming irreverence, runs thus:
“If one day you were haled into court and compelled to face the charge of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”
Just now, here in the Land of the Kinda-Sorta Free, that’s not a realistic scenario, though there are other nations where such charges are laid against ordinary men and women, often with the possibility of execution as the stakes. But the question was meant in a non-legalistic way: i.e., to illuminate how we live.
In a court proceeding that goes by evidence, no one could be convicted of Christianity on the basis of what he believes. That door is locked from the inside. The only relevant evidence would be the accused’s behavior. In other words: does the accused’s behavior comport with what Christians proclaim as the Christian way of living? And just what is that, anyway?
Many persons are made uncomfortable by such a query, not because there’s any real ambiguity about the Christian way of life – the Nicene Creed, the Two Great Commandments, and the Ten Commandments of the Book of Exodus lay it out plainly – but because they aren’t quite sure what they believe it to be.
Christmas Day commemorates the birth of Christianity’s Founder. That makes it an appropriate day on which to ask oneself: “What do I believe is the Christian way of life? What did Christ command? What did He forbid? And on what basis do I believe this?”
Come to think of it, those aren’t bad questions to ask oneself on any day of the year. But on the Feast of the Nativity, they deserve special attention.
May God bless and keep you all.
1 comment:
Seriously deep thought. Thank you for that.
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