Christian In Name Only
A Christian in Name Only[1] (abbreviated XINO), also called a cultural Christian,[2] nominal Christian,[3] or more often, a Liberal Christian,[Citation Needed] is someone who professes to be a Christian in public, but has a considerable lack of knowledge about their faith, including not being able to name the 4 Gospels, the 10 Commandments or even that Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount. They also hold beliefs contrary to what Jesus did and taught. Such beliefs include considering such things as abortions, special rights for homosexuals, and cohabitation between unmarried people to be morally acceptable.[1] They also might believe there are other ways to attain salvation rather than accepting Jesus as Savior. When challenged on their views with quotations from Scripture, Christians in name only, if they believe in God at all, often respond with unsupported assertions as to what God really wants.
Opposition to the term
But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; 26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Romans 3:21-26 NASB
This can be taken to mean that there is no such thing as a deal breaker. If you are a Paulian Christian and accept the book of Romans as canonical then the one true standard for receiving eternal salvation can be viewed as solely the result of the personal relationship with Jesus, something that cannot be measured from the outside by other people. The counterargument is that Christ said that we will know every tree by its fruit (Matthew 7:15-20[4], Luke 6:43-45[5]).
List of XINOs
- Anders Breivik
- Bill Clinton
- Ted Haggard
- Eddie L. Long
- Barack Obama[6]
- Albert Odulele
- Jimmy Carter
- Nancy Pelosi
- John Edwards
- Jeremiah Wright
- Al Sharpton
- Michael Moore
- Jesse Jackson
- Oprah Winfrey; a liberal so-called "Christian" and a new-ageist occultist.
- Any practitioner of liberal Christianity
(Add more)
See Also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Christians in Name Only?
- ↑ Are you a Cultural Christian? from the Christian Research Institute
- ↑ The Nominal Christian
- ↑ Matthew ch. 7, Conservative Bible
- ↑ Luke ch. 6, Conservative Bible
- ↑ Barack Obama may be a special case. There is much evidence that he may be a Muslim who is practicing taqiyya, an Islamic custom which allows a Muslim to conceal his true religion if the adherent feels it would be beneficial to do so.
