It's more of a process:

1) Hear the Gospel
2) Testify your faith in the Gospel
3) Baptism
4) Then we undergo a lifelong process of study/transformation & must endure through life's many tests to the end.

Sin/Repent cycles are normal on a ⏩ journey. Turning away ⏪ from Jesus is a lapse or rejection

No. From a Christian perspective, we're all sinners & we should credit God for calling on us first to embrace the Gospel & moving us to perform good works.

We can't know their motivations, but I imagine some are lapsed Christians, some are false Christians & some are tragically misled.

In the U.S, a large % of identifying Christians are Dispensationalist. Generally, they believe Salvation = Faith + nothing, Pre-Trib Rapture & many preach 2 Gospels. This seriously distorts Christianity & helps explain their political radicalization & there having less concern for Jesus' teachings.

The latter. It is a minimal but unknowable number of people just trying to uphold Christ's teachings, focusing primarily on the passages I identified.

Jesus says they are few in number too. Matthew 7:13-14, 13:23-24.

I also worry that my own efforts are insufficient.

I do confess that I do not like bigoty in general though.I don't like bigotry towards any group, the LGBTQ community, immigrants, refugees, Muslims, atheists, based on skin tone, sex, gender, ageism etc.

Nuance goes a long way. Criticize some people who identify as Christian, no problem.

Besides the fact that I wish there were more Christians for their own Salvation, I don't give much thought at all to counting them. As I said elsewhere, true Christian is not popular & a small fraction of the total who identify so.

Jesus standards were pretty high. Do you not agree?

There are certainly all kinds of debates that do end up being subjective within Christianity.

For example, in eschatology, there's a longstanding debate between Postmillennialism, Amillennialism & Premillennialism. There's no definitive answer, so I just acknowledge all 3 interpretations.

I never said false/lapsed Christians would not claim to be the true Christians. This happens all the time. But they are shown false by their own actions & in any case where their teachings contradict the authoritative instructions of Jesus.

Both Jesus & the Book of James tell us that we will be able to recognize the difference by their actions. Not to judge them, but to simply distinguish between them & genuine Christ followers.

Matthew 7:15-20
James 2:14–26

The Book of James actually talks at length on this.

All Christians are failing, but there's a distinction between those who actively seek to follow Jesus' example & teachings, repent & seek amends when they sin & those who turn from Jesus, preferring instead to determine what's right in their own eyes, do not repent & don't make amends.

I forgive you for your insults & wish you peace & love. Hope you have a wonderful evening. 🕊️

Is that what you call my objection to bigotry?

I also support Hate Speech laws. Is that "weaponized civility"?

Is reconciliation "weaponized civility"?

Or is it just a term you use when you don't like people holding you accountable for your words?

I don't seek credit for my actions. I do the things I do because I believe in them, they matter to me, I want to set a good example for my children, I want to create a better world for everyone & as a humble servant to God's Will.

Personally, I oppose murder in general, but that's just me. 🤷‍♀️

Imperialism wasn't invented by Christians Phil & isn't some new thing that only happened during the exploration of the "New World".

I oppose imperialism, support reconciliation efforts & advocated for Canada's signing of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) 2016.

Straw Man & you're missing the point of the distinction.

Christianity has established qualitative & action-based criteria for membership. A Scotsman does not cease being a Scotsman based on their beliefs or actions, unless you take the distinction to absurdity

Actually, you would be incorrect. There are several individuals here who claimed I am personally responsible by virtue of being a Christian.

Then there's the obvious problem that attacking Christianity as a whole is also bigotry.

There's a reasonable distinction to make, however - not to judge, to steward - between a repentant sinner who is humbly seeking the Holy Spirit's help to overcome their sinful ways & someone who has fundamentally turned from God to do what's right in their own eyes (sin) without repentance.

Aren't we all failing as Christians far too often? I seek to follow Jesus' example & teachings but I certainly fall short. When I fail a test or otherwise sin, I repent & pray that the Holy Spirit will transform me & guide me to live my life in accordance with God's Will & make amends if possible.

- Stewardship isn't judgement. I encourage them to repent & make amends. Same thing I have to do when I sin.
- Teaching what Jesus said is Evangelism.

Saying someone is a lost cause or going to hell, publicly humiliating someone or claiming to know someone's heart are better examples of judging.

So, when radical right wing individuals who identify as Christian violate Christian hospitality laws, don't forgive, aren't charitable, attack &/or fail to protect the vulnerable, violate the Golden Rule & cast judgement on others, they're rejecting Christ. See Matt 13:20-21, 15:1-6, 18:21-35 etc.

See, this is where your argument collapses:

If a club has a membership that states "All members must comply with X, Y & Z or their membership is automatically revoked", you don't need to know what the 2.4 billion members are doing to know that, if they aren't doing X, Y & Z, they aren't a member.

Correct, but I also never said I was aware of what the 2.4 billion people who identify as Christian are up to & beyond offering stewardship & engaging in evangelism, there's no reason why I should.

If they don't seek to follow Jesus' example & teachings, they aren't Christian.

I don't know what you meant with respect to baptizing or accepting children.

As I understand it, baptism is an act that should occur after an individual freely chooses to embrace the Gospel & to be baptized. Any Christian can baptize someone.

That'd be false.

- It'd be impossible to est. how many actual Christians there are, but it's far fewer than the 2.4 billion who identify as Christian
- Actual Christianity has never been popular
- Tithing isn't Christian it's Mosaic Law
- church institutions can be taxed, esp. politicized ones...

Well, that's some progress at least.

You still haven't explained how Jesus, being the founder of Christianity & the only authority on Christianity as the sole instructor (Matt 23:8-10), is, according to you, not authoritative when it comes to defining proper Christian conduct.

Jesus used the Good Samaritan as an example was to shatter the lawyer's narrow view of who his neighbour was, showing that a neighbour is anyone in need, even ethnic/religious enemies kike the Jews & Samaritans were to one another in this time. The context is revealing.

Literally hundreds of verses in the Gospels contain Jesus' direct speech.

There are also thousands of instances throughout the Bible where God is explicitly cited as the speaker.

Jesus certainly judged the Pharisees in the sense that He strongly rebuked & condemned their behaviour & He has a right to do so because He is God & judgement is for God alone.

Even so, Jesus virtually never judges anyone & instructs His followers not to judge.

As for the "system that produced these bad people" in the U.S, that system is funded primarily by U.S citizens, the U.S tax funded government & U.S corporations. That's where the money for all the propaganda, the broken education system etc comes from.

Straw Man, again.

As a Canadian, I said I'm not culpable for the actions of the radical right wing Trump Administration nor the acts of any other person who supports them.

You're an American citizen, so you're far more culpable, yet you refuse to acknowledge any culpability yourself.