Article August 5, 1996 Issue

A QUESTIONS & ANSWERS EXCHANGE

Several months ago, this column included some questions without answers. We invited readers to respond from their own study and daily experience in seeking to understand God. This column offers excerpts from some of the many answers we received to those questions. You'll find there are common themes in the responses, and we hope you don't mind the repetition. As in a musical composition, both theme and variations enrich one's appreciation and insight.

Q. What do you think it means to be a Christian? Are there theological and /or behavioral qualifications?—from a clergywoman in Missouri

A. I used to think that being a Christian was simply to act like other Christians do. But as I matured and reexamined my beliefs, my understanding has evolved to where I see being a Christian is a life patterned after Christ Jesus. The all-inclusiveness of God allows each of us to manifest God's goodness. Understanding His goodness and realizing man's ability to reflect Him, we express good in thought, word, and deed. The Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount are helpful to me in that they provide guidelines. Daily prayer and reading the Bible along with Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy are also helpful. But these alone don't make me a Christian. Christianity is a lifestyle in which living love as Jesus Christ loved, is the expected behavior. Acknowledging God, good, as the only power, the all-power, is what helps us accomplish this. Christianity, or living love, is something you do, not just something you read about or say or claim. Talk is cheap. Just do it!—from a reader in Colorado