To be a true Christian is a blessing. If you consider yourself a true Christian, then you have a gift that can only come from above. You cannot be a Christian by saying ‘I am a Christian’ nor can you be one by publicly proclaiming the catch phrases and passages of Christianity such as John 3:16. It is something much more deeply spiritual and powerful that makes a true Christian. It is something that guides every thought and lives in every word.
Your theology is that Jesus does not have the power to save sinners. You imply that Christians are born that way, or that they can become that way on their own without prayer. And you imply that Christians are perfect, no longer sinners. None of which is scriptural. To become a Christian is to agree with God that you are a sinner, and that you cannot change that apart from His grace through Christ. And yes, it takes the grace of God to enable you even to accept the gift of salvation, "by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves - it is the gift of God, lest any man should boast." As my uncle put it, "If you are saved and then you go to hell, you weren't saved from very much, were you?" Salvation is a gift to be accepted. Being sinless is an aspiration, not a reality - and it is "self righteous" for anyone who claims to be a Christian to claim otherwise. Claiming to be a Christian is setting a high standard for your own behavior - if you aren't a Christian, you put quotation marks around "sin" and don't think that it matters. So it accepts that sin matters, even while accepting that sinlessness - but not the forgiveness of sin, which has the same effect - is unattainable.Most persons calling themselves Christians are not Christians, they are trying to be Christians, they are practicing to be Christians but they are not yet near. But Jesus made it clear to keep knocking at the door and never give up.
Ultimately what this interviewer did was to place Ann in a position where her religion obligated her to speak exactly as she did - and then to condemn her for saying exactly what the New Testament says. She didn't walk into that interview with a chip on her shoulder demanding that he repent, he forced the conversation exactly where it went. That fact may not be obvious to him, even yet - but "them is the conditions that prevail," as Jimmy Durante used to put it.She never told him to violate the Old Testament, but he demanded that she violate the New Testament. And along the way he compared her adherence to the New Testament with a mullah threatening to murder an infidel - which is nowhere in the New Testament and certainly not what she said in that interview.
I wouldn’t be too quick to tell me what my theology is. You can of course share your own, that’s fair but I resent you telling me what I believe.
Wherever you got the idea that I believe Jesus does not have the power to save sinners is beyond bizarre.
It is true that to ask for mercy and to confess one’s sin will indeed lead to salvation. But Jesus said to all those he forgave to sin no more, and yet sinners never stop sinning. When they sin are they Christians? Of course not. For how many minutes of the day are they Christians?
And that’s the point. Many so-called Christians think they need only go to some gathering, sing hymns and quote scripture. When asked whether they are ainners they respond yes, because they know in the eyes of the herd they must say that. It is ritualistic.
My point is that many so-called Christians are not Christian. They merely call themsleves that. And they are conditioned to think that they need only join the herd to be saved.
A true Christian in my view is a person who prays and worships constantly, in private as well as public, who defers every thought and every encounter to their Lord for guidance, patience and strength. They live each moment requesting divine guidance. When they sin it is rare, it may be in the form of a moment of doubt, of anger at God, at cowardice in the service of others and so on. But the true Christian quickly recovers and allows guidance be given from above whether they are blessed to receive it directly or through a person they recognize as blessed in receiving it.
And lastly, to receive divine guidance and wisdom is a great blessing. Not all true Christians receive it but they recognize those that do as blessed.