Give us your absolute bottom-line Christian essentials

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A couple of recent threads got me to thinking: Putting aside all of the various creeds, confessions and statements of faith for the moment, what are the absolute bottom-line Christian essentials? How simple could someone’s theology be and still qualify as Christian?

Well, I think of what God says in His word are essential to being in relationship with Him:

Knowledge (Romans 10:14-15; 2 Timothy 2:12b; Romans 10:17)
Faith (Hebrews 11:6; 2 Corinthians 5:7; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11)
Love (Matthew 22:36-38; 1 Corinthians 13:1-3; 1 John 4:16-19)
Salvation (John 3:7; John 3:36; John 8:24; Corinthians 5:17-21)
Submission (Romans 6:13-21; Romans 8:14; Romans 12:1; James 4:7; 1 Peter 5:6)
Holiness (Hebrews 12:14; 1 Peter 1:16; 2 Corinthians 7:1; 1 Peter 3:10-12)

I can do without a sophisticated understanding of, say, prophecy, or soteriology, or Church history, or the OT sacrificial system, but I absolutely can't do without the things I've listed above if I want to enjoy daily fellowship with God.

Perhaps my own 110 words:
  1. You are a created being in a created universe, wholly dependent on the creator God.
  2. God is perfectly holy, just and loving.
  3. You and other humans have breached your relationship with God through disobedience and unrighteousness.
  4. You cannot repair the breach through your own efforts.
  5. God offers forgiveness and reconciliation through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
  6. You can receive forgiveness and participate in the reconciliation by acknowledging and repenting of your disobedience and unrighteousness, prayerfully accepting God’s offer of forgiveness, asking the Holy Spirit to transform your life, being baptized, and prayerfully doing your best to follow the teachings of Jesus as set forth in the four gospels.
What if the above was someone’s entire theology? His entire Christian life was those 110 words and doing or at least sincerely attempting to do what they describe. Would he (or she) be a Christian?

The above says nothing about the inerrancy of the Bible, Adam and Eve, predestination, the Trinity, the divinity of Jesus, the Virgin Birth, the doctrine of Hell, or other doctrines that Christians love to wrangle over. Depending on one’s view of the Bible and how one interprets the biblical passages, perhaps there is a “probably correct” or even “clearly correct” position on most of those doctrines. Perhaps it is even important to be able to articulate a personal creed. But are any of them absolute bottom-line Christian essentials?

Too often, I've encounter professing believers who've badly misunderstood the Gospel. They think of it primarily as "fire insurance," as a get-out-of-hell-for-free card. These same believers also think of God as an accessory to their living, a sort of spiritual/religious "adornment" to their lives that is characteristic of the "good person," not as their Creator, Lord and King. None of these folk understand that salvation is an exchange: their crummy, sin-fouled life for new, holy life in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17; Colossians 3:1-3; Romans 6:1-11; Galatians 2:20, etc.). They don't know that salvation entails the death of their "old man," the person they are apart from God, who is replaced by the life of Christ, imparted to them in the Person of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9-13; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 1 John 4:13, Titus 3:5, etc.). These points of misunderstanding/ignorance are inevitably reflected in spiritually-flat, badly compromised, and doubt-ridden lives.

I would suggest also that biblical inerrancy is a necessary, "brute given" for Christian thought and conduct; for if the Bible is not divinely-inspired and, at least in its original form, without error, how can it be trusted to impart the sort of life-saving, eternal truth it claims to reveal? If some, or all, of the contents of the Bible are potentially in error, on what basis does one discern which parts are correct and which are not? The answer to this question ultimately resolves down to a very subjective, what-I-think standard, making the individual the Final Arbiter of what is supposed to be objective, divine Truth. In this circumstance, the word of God becomes nothing more than a mirror of the individual rather than the objective, universally-authoritative, life-changing Truth of God.

As I think on it, the doctrine of eternal conscious torment in hell seems to me to be a necessary doctrine, as well (to the Gospel, at least). What is it a person needs saving from, exactly, if hell does not threaten the wicked? What does one do with all of the dire warnings of Scripture about eternal separation from God in the everlasting torment of hell and the direct, explicit link the Bible makes between hell and the saving work of Christ at Calvary? (John 3:15-18; John 3:36; Matthew 5:22; Matthew 5:29-30; Matthew 10:28; Matthew 23:33; Matthew 25:41; Luke 16:19-29; Romans 2:4-11; 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9, etc.) The Gospel of salvation in Christ makes a lot less sense if there is no hell, no eternal separation from God and everlasting torment in hell, from which Christ saves us.

I believe, too, that the deity of Christ is crucial to the Christian faith. Only if Christ was God could he have accomplished what he did on the cross; only a perfect and infinite sacrifice could have fully and forever satisfied the holy justice of God concerning our sin (Hebrews 9-10:22). If Jesus was just a good man who taught good things and died a good death, he has no power to save any of us. If he did not rise from the dead in vindication of his claims of deity and in validation of the divine truth of his teachings, then the Gospel of salvation is useless (and a lie).

Christians have taken up this idea that the Gospel needs to be a tight, compact, quickly-delivered "sales pitch" (think: Ray Comfort), but where is this indicated in God's word? God saves people; we don't. God "gives repentance to the acknowledging of the truth" (2 Timothy 2:25); we don't. And all whom God knows will be saved, He will save - with or without us. We are not essential; slick tactics are not necessary; a delivery of the Gospel under three minutes is not vital. What is absolutely needed is the power of God (See: Acts 2) and a full, careful preaching of the Gospel from a life that is, in love and humility, constantly submitted to God. There is no need to rush sharing the truth of God with others. All those whom God has given to the Son, all those whom God knows will come to a saving faith in Jesus, will be saved (John 10:28-29; John 6:37-40). Not one of them will be lost because our Gospel delivery was not polished enough, or short enough, or "safe" enough, or whatever. We can relax in sharing the Gospel with the lost because it is never up to us to save a person. God draws (John 6:44); He convicts (John 16:8); He changes minds and hearts (2 Timothy 2:25). We just get the happy privilege of being used by Him in His saving work.

Anyway, just a few thoughts on your interesting thought-experiment.
 
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Your translation is incorrect. Theon is simply the accusative case of the noun God, which is the case used when a noun follows a preposition. Theios is the adjective for "divine" which does not appear in John 1.1. Also, ton is not a special definite article. It's simply the accusative case for "the." The case of the definite article and noun must agree by the rules of grammar. It just means "the," not one or only which is a different Greek word.
That is not correct.

Pantheion, Theion, Theos, and Ton.

Pantheon, Theon.
Pantheion

Greek pantheion, from pan 'all' + theion 'Divine Eternal-s' (from theos 'divine.')
From Greek aion, meaning Eternal, for an infinite amount of time Pantheion: Pan/the/ion. All Divine Eternal-s. The word “All” makes it plural.

aeon or aion or eon
1. An immeasurably long period of time. From Greek, Aion, an infinitely long time.

Greek word TON and THEON.
From the Scripture4All program. Link: Scripture4All - Greek/Hebrew interlinear Bible software

The Greek word "TON" is translated 1583 times as "the;" And 18 times as "the -one." It is used before nouns to mean a {certain-one-person-s,} or place, or thing. However, different translations of Greek do not always agree. That is the reason for my interpretation of John 1:1 as "the only Divine Eternal." In English the word “one” can also be translated as “only.” TON: The only. THEON: Divine Eternal.
 
Still don't know?

I have been claiming Jesus is the Son of God and His followers Lord and Christ.
Jehovah's Witnesses believe Jesus is the Son of God.
But they believe He was a created being.

To His followers Jesus is ALSO God, not just our Lord (which could have different meanings)
and also our Savior.

The important question is who do you think that Jesus is?
If you don't believe Jesus is God, you should take away the designation of Christian under your avatar.

Also, if you don't believe Jesus is God and you do not worship Him, your soul may be in danger.

Could you please tell me who Isaiah 9:6 is speaking about?

Isaiah9:6
6For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
 
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Yes, a man-made one, void of Jesus' word.
You continue to ignore Jesus's word.

I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
 
Jehovah's Witnesses believe Jesus is the Son of God.
But they believe He was a created being.

To His followers Jesus is ALSO God, not just our Lord (which could have different meanings)
and also our Savior.

The important question is who do you think that Jesus is?
If you don't believe Jesus is God, you should take away the designation of Christian under your avatar.

Also, if you don't believe Jesus is God and you do not worship Him, your soul may be in danger.

Could you please tell me who Isaiah 9:6 is speaking about?

Isaiah9:6
6For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6 is not correctly translated, besides that, Christ is not his own Father.



Here is the correct translation.

Isaiah 9:6
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: And the government shall be upon his shoulders: And he shall be called Wonderful Counselor of the Mighty God and Everlasting Father; (שַׂר / minister-ing) in peace.

שַׂר minister
 
You continue to ignore Jesus's word.
You are not showing any evidence of this false claim.

And the meantime disregarding Jesus' undisputable claim of "His Father is His God."

You guys have been disregarding His claim over and over without end.

You are false witnessing by saying Jesus is God because Jesus says His Father is His God.

And you ought to know that God and Jesus also say God is one.

So far, you are making two Gods.

God the Father is God and if Jesus is God, it makes two Gods.

shame on you.
 
Scriptures of God and Disciples calling Christ, The Servant of God.



Servant Yahshua

Isaiah 42:1
Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations.


Isaiah 49:6
he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”


Isaiah 52:13
See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.


Zechariah 3:8
“‘Listen, High Priest of Joshua, you and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch.


Acts 3:13
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Yahshua. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go.


Acts 3:26
When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”


Acts 4:27
Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Yahshua, whom you anointed.


Acts 4:30
Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Yahshua.”
Another person who believes he's a Christian but is not.
Did you ever notice the word CHRIST in Christian?

It has already been determined what allows a person to call themselves a Christian...
YOU do not get to make that determination. You're a bit late on the scene.
 
You are not showing any evidence of this false claim.

And the meantime disregarding Jesus' undisputable claim of "His Father is His God."

You guys have been disregarding His claim over and over without end.

You are false witnessing by saying Jesus is God because Jesus says His Father is His God.

And you ought to know that God and Jesus also say God is one.

So far, you are making two Gods.

God the Father is God and if Jesus is God, it makes two Gods.

shame on you.
My God My God
Psalm 22:1
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?

Matthew 27:46
And about the ninth hour Yahshua cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Foot note: Matthew 27:46 Some manuscripts Eloi, Eloi

John 20:17
Yahshua said, “Do not cling to me, for I have yet to ascend to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Mark 15:34
And at the ninth hour Yahshua cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Additional comments.
Hebrews 10:7
Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, my God.’”

Revelation 3:2
Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God.

Revelation 3:12
The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name.
 
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I am not representative of JW.

Don't try to switch the point I am making.

Again, I don't belong to any organization.

I am only a simple servant of Jesus.
Well grace2, I didn't say your a witness because you haven't stated such.
But you believe as they do, not as Christians do.

And if you're only a simple servant of Jesus...
who is this person you're serving?
Is He a liar?
Is He crazy?
He did seem to believe He came from heaven and was going back to heaven.
So he was either crazy, or He is God.
John 16:28
28I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.”


And could you please reply to my question as to who was being spoken of
in Isaiah 9:6?

I'd appreciate it.
Thanks.
 
Isaiah 9:6 is not correctly translated, besides that, Christ is not his own Father.



Here is the correct translation.

Isaiah 9:6
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: And the government shall be upon his shoulders: And he shall be called Wonderful Counselor of the Mighty God and Everlasting Father; (שַׂר / minister-ing) in peace.

שַׂר minister
And why would YOUR translation be correct and not that of every other bible,
including the New World Translation - and they don't even believe Jesus is God and have changed many verses, but apparently, not Isaiah 9:6

Please provide a source for your statement that the translation is incorrect.

It seems strange to me that the Almighty God Father and creator of the universe,
would be in need of a counselor.

As far as Christ not being His own Father, Christ will be as an everlasting Father, a protector of His children, a provider.
The reason you have a problem with this is because you do not believe in the Trinity.
You must have many conflicts due to this.
 
You are not showing any evidence of this false claim.

And the meantime disregarding Jesus' undisputable claim of "His Father is His God."

You guys have been disregarding His claim over and over without end.

You are false witnessing by saying Jesus is God because Jesus says His Father is His God.

And you ought to know that God and Jesus also say God is one.

So far, you are making two Gods.

God the Father is God and if Jesus is God, it makes two Gods.

shame on you.
You ignore the Fathers words about His Son
But about the Son he says,

“Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever;
a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.
9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions
by anointing you with the oil of joy
 
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That is speaking of unity.
It speaks of oneness.
Just as those who belong to Christ are the seed of Abraham

Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works
 
This is a serious accusation.

What gives authority to call another servant of Jesus not a Christian?
It's also very serious that you call yourself a Christian when you ARE NOT.

The rules for calling oneself a Christian were already established early on in the church after Jesus' death.

Neither YOU nor I get to define what a Christian is.
The Christian faith defines what a Christian is.

The top definitions are:

One must adhere to the creeds.
One must believe Jesus was GOD.
One must believe that He died and was resurrected.

If you do not believe the above, you might be a very nice person, but you are not Christian.
If I wanted to become Jewish, I'd have to adhere to the definition of what makes a person BE JEWISH.
I wouldn't be able to walk into a synagogue, or join a Jewish Forum, and then espouse my own ideas of what it means to be Jewish.

Maybe you'd like to understand what THE LOGOS is?

That we are not atheists, therefore, seeing that we acknowledge one God, uncreated, eternal, invisible, impassible, incomprehensible, illimitable, who is apprehended by the understanding only and the reason, who is encompassed by light, and beauty, and spirit, and power ineffable, by whom the universe has been created through His Logos, and set in order, and is kept in being — I have sufficiently demonstrated. [I say His Logos], for we acknowledge also a Son of God. Nor let any one think it ridiculous that God should have a Son. For though the poets, in their fictions, represent the gods as no better than men, our mode of thinking is not the same as theirs, concerning either God the Father or the Son. But the Son of God is the Logos of the Father, in idea and in operation; for after the pattern of Him and by Him were all things made, the Father and the Son being one. And, the Son being in the Father and the Father in the Son, in oneness and power of spirit, the understanding and reason (νοῦς καὶ λόγος) of the Father is the Son of God. But if, in your surpassing intelligence, it occurs to you to inquire what is meant by the Son, I will state briefly that He is the first product of the Father, not as having been brought into existence (for from the beginning, God, who is the eternal mind [νοῦς], had the Logos in Himself, being from eternity instinct with Logos [λογικός]); but inasmuch as He came forth to be the idea and energizing power of all material things,

Source: New Advent Encyclopedia
 
It's also very serious that you call yourself a Christian when you ARE NOT.
wow, just wow.

You are showing your true color.

You are the ones who do not honor Jesus' word of "His Father is His God."

And claiming Jesus is your Lord.

This is what happens when you don't know who the true God is.

You worship your church leaders and have no respect for God and Jesus' word.

shame on you, friend.
 
That is not correct.

Pantheion, Theion, Theos, and Ton.

Pantheon, Theon.
Pantheion

Greek pantheion, from pan 'all' + theion 'Divine Eternal-s' (from theos 'divine.')
From Greek aion, meaning Eternal, for an infinite amount of time Pantheion: Pan/the/ion. All Divine Eternal-s. The word “All” makes it plural.

aeon or aion or eon
1. An immeasurably long period of time. From Greek, Aion, an infinitely long time.

Greek word TON and THEON.
From the Scripture4All program. Link: Scripture4All - Greek/Hebrew interlinear Bible software

The Greek word "TON" is translated 1583 times as "the;" And 18 times as "the -one." It is used before nouns to mean a {certain-one-person-s,} or place, or thing. However, different translations of Greek do not always agree. That is the reason for my interpretation of John 1:1 as "the only Divine Eternal." In English the word “one” can also be translated as “only.” TON: The only. THEON: Divine Eternal.
Uh, no, no. You translation is absolutely incorrect. There are different Greek words for "divine," and "eternal," and "one," and "only," and none of them appear in John 1.1. You don't get to rewrite Greek and just decide willy nilly to mistranslate the verse, and decide the words mean something other than what they actually do mean just because you don't like what it says. Theos and Theov (Theon) mean the exact same thing = GOD. The only difference is -os indicates when God is the subject of the clause, while -ov (-on) indicates when God is the direct object.

ho [the] logos [word] en [was] pros [with] tov ( ton) [the] theov ( theon) [God]

The -os is the noun nominative case ending and indicates the subject. The Logos (word) is the subject of the clause

The -ov (-on) is the noun accusative case ending and indicates the direct object that receives the action of the verb. Theov ( theon) (God) is the direct object that receives the action of the verb + preposition ("was with"). Who was the logos (word) with? God.

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Art-AMS = Article (the)--accusative, masculine, singular

N-AMS = Noun--accusative, masculine, singular

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You ignore the Fathers words about His Son
But about the Son he says,

“Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever;
a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.
9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions
by anointing you with the oil of joy
that does not harmonize with Jesus' word.

It is disingenuous to disregard Jesus' word and bring up something not so clear word of the Scripture.
 
wow, just wow.

You are showing your true color.

You are the ones who do not honor Jesus' word of "His Father is His God."

And claiming Jesus is your Lord.

This is what happens when you don't know who the true God is.

You worship your church leaders and have no respect for God and Jesus' word.

shame on you, friend.
Apologies if you're offended, but wondering is correct. Historically that is what a Christian is. Christians believed Jesus is God and worshipped Jesus as God. That is literally what the first century Christians taught and believed. You don't have to believe it yourself. But to call yourself "a Christian" and say you don't believe Jesus is God, is like saying you're "an atheist" who believes in God. It's a contradiction in terms.
 
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