Chapter Ten: Sanctify Them By Your Truth

If there is one thing that non-Christians usually associate Christianity with, it is moral behavior, or a “holy lifestyle” in some sense of the term. This could be largely negative – Christians may be seen as “holier-than-thou” hypocrites, who maintain squeaky clean external lives but are filled with pride and hatred, and look down on all the heathen sinners out there, whom they gladly profess to be different from. Or perhaps, Christianity may be seen as basically comprising some list of rules and regulations, which many good, sincere, persons strive to follow. The specific list may differ widely from culture to culture, but in many places in modern America it would probably include such elements as abstaining from alcohol and tobacco, performing well and without complaint in the workplace, and refusing to cheat in school. In some cultures, however, Christianity may be seen as characterized by an altogether different set of rules – for instance, the best Christians may be they who have given up any association with the world whatsoever, in order to pray in a solitary place in the desert, eating only crusts of bread and wearing nothing but rags. But in any case, a lifestyle that is different from the typical, and that is somehow viewed as holy, is what sets a real Christian apart from the rest of the world.

Read the rest of this entry…

Leave a Reply