Thought I’d tackle the big topic of what’s the definition of a Xn for this post. Now since the word Xn is so loaded I’m going to use an expression I like which is “who’s in with God?” When it comes to who’s in with God, it can be a little confusing. At times Jesus says “follow me”, at other times “repent and believe”, at other times (like the sheep and goats parable) people who don’t know Jesus are in with God and those who do aren’t. At other times still there are people like the thief on the cross who is in but seems not to fit either of these previous categories. So to make things easy it would be nice if we had some kind of universal theory about who's in with God.
Usually we tend to think in two ways about wether people are in with God or not. The first category are those who identify with Jesus in some way. That might be people say a particular prayer, ask for forgiveness or believe a particular set of beliefs. People who show some kind of internal indication. The second category might be people who go to church or do good things. People who show some kind of external indication. Well, I’d like to propose a third way of looking at things. Here’s my definition…
The people who are in with God are those who are becoming more like Christ.*
The beauty of this definition is that is always context specific. So, someone who has never heard of Jesus but may still be becoming more like Christ in the way they treat people and would be “in”. But someone who is an important church leader and treats people badly (becoming less like Christ) would be “out”. Of two people living identical mean (to others) lives with one who wants to change (become more like Christ) and one who doesn’t. The first one is in the second one isn’t. So, someone who rejects the church or religious establishment because it is hypocritical won’t be out (Jesus didn’t exactly embrace the religious establishment of his day either). Neither would someone who hadn’t said the right prayer – if you believe in one of those.
The second great thing is that because it is always context specific. It means there is no all applying universal measure by which someone (apart from God) can judge who’s in and who’s out. So what becomes important is our own journey not judging the journey of others.
So there you have it my definition of a Xn… Someone who is becoming more like Christ.
*I am aware that this is a Christ centric view of things. Non Xns might think of it as becoming more like God or more human.
Usually we tend to think in two ways about wether people are in with God or not. The first category are those who identify with Jesus in some way. That might be people say a particular prayer, ask for forgiveness or believe a particular set of beliefs. People who show some kind of internal indication. The second category might be people who go to church or do good things. People who show some kind of external indication. Well, I’d like to propose a third way of looking at things. Here’s my definition…
The people who are in with God are those who are becoming more like Christ.*
The beauty of this definition is that is always context specific. So, someone who has never heard of Jesus but may still be becoming more like Christ in the way they treat people and would be “in”. But someone who is an important church leader and treats people badly (becoming less like Christ) would be “out”. Of two people living identical mean (to others) lives with one who wants to change (become more like Christ) and one who doesn’t. The first one is in the second one isn’t. So, someone who rejects the church or religious establishment because it is hypocritical won’t be out (Jesus didn’t exactly embrace the religious establishment of his day either). Neither would someone who hadn’t said the right prayer – if you believe in one of those.
The second great thing is that because it is always context specific. It means there is no all applying universal measure by which someone (apart from God) can judge who’s in and who’s out. So what becomes important is our own journey not judging the journey of others.
So there you have it my definition of a Xn… Someone who is becoming more like Christ.
*I am aware that this is a Christ centric view of things. Non Xns might think of it as becoming more like God or more human.
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