Christianity vs. Following Jesus

MDBach(28, 29) Thanks for clarifying on the Horton article. I perhaps read too much into it and was perhaps prejudiced in my reading, expecting a dichotomy to be presented. So, if I understand correctly he simply says someone who calls themselves a Jesus follower will emphasize Christ's example while the one calling themselves Christian will emphasize (or give priority to) Christ's unique and sufficient atonement? Most of that seems fair ... it frequently seems as if the emphasis has come about in reaction to a perceived imbalance. And unfortunately our corrections often swing too far the other way.

I've thought about whether or not I would comment on this question. I finally decided I would. Suffice it to say in this context that as an adult before my conversion (around thirtyish) I wasn't simply non-Christian, but had a pretty negative view of Christianity in general. I also am uncomfortable with labels and categories. I would say that I'm still not particularly comfortable identifying myself with the label 'Christian'. I'm even more distinctly uncomfortable most of the time applying the subcategory 'Baptist' to myself, though it's the only one that really fits at all.

However, it seems to me that this discussion often misses a few ideas. First, I'm not sure the important thing is what we call ourselves. We were first called Christians at Antioch by those who saw the way we lived, the way we cared for all who needed it, the way we followed the way of love, of life, of Jesus, and recognized that we were not simply a sect among the Jews, but something different. That was the label applied to distinguish us and it's as good as any other. Moreover, it's the one by which we are collectively known, for good or ill, around the world.

Perhaps more importantly, it seems to me (as many comments here have indicated) that the decision to use a different label is based on a desire to disassociate from others who use the old label. It's a statement that I'm sorta in that group, but really different. I have a different name. And I don't think we really get the choice of acting that way. The metaphors and pictures in the Holy Scriptures are all ones of familial bonds and closer. Family. Body. Building. Bride. If you choose to follow Jesus of Nazareth, that's what you're joining.

In some ways, it's like our 'families of origin'. By and large, we don't get to simply decide to carve out that part of identity and replace it with whatever we desire. Where there have been patterns and histories of destructive behavior, we can decide to make a break from that past and redeem our behavior and whatever of our present and future family we can. But you don't stop being a part of that family or carrying the label or name of that family.

How much closer a bond is a body? If part is sick, I may want to make it well. But we tend to consider it an extreme last measure to 'disassociate' from body parts that are diseased or injured. And there's a limit to how much of that you can do before the body dies.

So it is with becoming Christian. It means you are joining a family, past and present, with both its good parts and its bad. You're making its whole story part of your story. You are joining all other Christians past and present in koinonia, which is perhaps best translated into english as 'communion'. If anything, it's even closer than a family since all of us from the first day to the present are 'one body'.

So while I don't think it much matters what label or name is applied to us, I think it does reveal a deeper problem when some want to identify themselves by different names and with different labels.

I feel that using the term Christian for me is an association with a large group of people, a great heritage. Sometimes I want to associate myself with that tradition, and other times I definitely do not. Referring to myself as a Christ-follower seems to be a more potent reminded of what I should be doing with my life.

In Christendom, I think that it is easy to call oneself a Christian, to mentally assent to the ideas and doctrines of what is "orthodox Christianity" without daring to do anything with their lives. In fact, salvation has become almost synonymous with this act (as it seems to do in a fairly regular cycle in Christian history). I prefer to think of faith-life, salvation and life coming from an active response to the story of Jesus, to taking it as one's own and walking in the Jesus Way.

So in those two ways, I see fairly distinct differences.