Tuesday evening I spent some time with a new friend,Ram (pronounced Rahm). He is from India working in the United States until the end of the year. He shared with me the Hindu's understanding of Heaven and Hell. It was quite interesting listening to the concepts of Eastern Religion.
The great thing about Ram is his willingness to listen to me talk about Jesus. He's not anti-Jesus, he sees Jesus as one of the great masters (teachers). The thing he does not want to talk about is religion. He has shared with me on several occasions that Hinduism isn't a religion, it is a way of life. That's alright with me, because I believe that Christianity isn't a religion, it is a way of life. We both agree that religion has produced so pretty bad and inauthentic results.
The reason I bring this part of our discussion up is that it is so important for Christ followers to see our relationship with Jesus as a way of life. Ram explained to me people who live east of the Sindhu River in Pakistan are known as Hindu. Hindu defines a specific location and people group like those who live in European countries are known as European. There are certain lifestyles that label someone a European.
To be know as a Christian is not about being a part of a religion, it is an identity based one how you live. When Christ followers were first called Christians, it had nothing to do with how religious they were, they were identified as being people who followed Jesus.
Here is a question? How would you be identified based on how you live?
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