Do You Have to BE Christian in Order to be "a Christian?"
I know it sounds weird, but can someone say they're a Christian without actually, you know, acting or living like one?
The other day I ended an article by suggesting that when people say they “love Jesus,” that such a sentiment might actually be a hint that they’re not Christian.
I know, I know… 🤔 weird thing to say.
But let me explain.
For starters, let’s consider the connection between behavior and identity.
The Connection Between Behaviors and Identities
Think of it like this:
Behavior: these are the things we do (or don’t do); actions we take (or abstain from); practices we engage in (or avoid)
Identity: this is any name/descriptor we give ourselves (or is given to us) in conjunction with the correlated behaviors.
These two concepts are connected because if you do (or refrain from doing) certain things with some kind of regularity, or if you meet a minimum threshold of action, then at some point you might justifiably call yourself (or be called) a certain thing/identity/descriptor/etc.
We might also say that the behaviors are the “verbs” that you do in order to be called the identity, which are the “nouns.”
Simple enough so far?
Good. Let’s keep going.
A Spectrum of Connectivity
With that in mind, I suggest there is a spectrum of degrees of intensity of connectivity between behavior (verbs) and identity (nouns).
Meaning some identities demand highly strict adherence to its relevant behaviors or practices, whereas other identities might be more loosely attached.
For clarity purposes let’s create three categories of connection: Strict Connection, Moderate Connection, and Loose Connection.
STRICT
An identity is strongly dependent upon behavior. One cannot reasonably be called X if they do not consistently perform/abstain from A, B, and C.MODERATE
While an identity may be connected to particular behaviors, sometimes the expectations are less clear and the parameters for qualification might differ in various contexts.LOOSE
The threshold for what behaviors one must do/not do in order to take upon themselves the identity is incredibly low. In Loose Connection scenarios you could ostensibly call yourself an X while rarely (if ever) doing much of A, B, or C.
Let me offer some examples to help illustrate how the connection between verbs/behaviors and nouns/identity is a spectrum.
Then I’ll explain how it is that someone might truly say they love Jesus and yet not actually be all that Christian.
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