According to a CBS news report, some 83 percent of Americans identify themselves as Christians. We should rejoice, right?

Not so fast. If eight of every 10 people in the U.S. profess faith, why is our country filing for moral bankruptcy? Quite possibly because we do not really know what it means to be a Christian.

Two famous British men addressed this question, two centuries apart. In 1927, the philosopher Bertrand Russell spoke to the National Secular Society on “Why I am not a Christian.” In 1741, the preacher John Wesley gave a sermon at St. Mary’s Oxford called “The Almost Christian.” Both men knew what they were talking about. Yet one made one conclusion and the other the opposite.

Before judging the biblical and historical merit or error of their decisions, let us look at the foundational question they set out to clarify: Who is a Christian?

Russell said, “Perhaps it would be as well, first of all, to try to make out what one means by the word Christian. It is used these days in a very loose sense by a great many people. Some people mean no more by it than a person who attempts to live a good life. In that sense I suppose there would be Christians in all sects and creeds, but I do not think that that is the proper sense of the word. … The word does not have quite such a full-blooded meaning now as it had in the times of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. In those days, if a man said that he was a Christian it was known what he meant.”

Wesley said, “Do good designs and good desires make a Christian? By no means … [for] Hell is paved with good intentions.”

It may be that we are a bit too tolerant of mediocrity in our midst. We think that deeds of compassion and the pursuit of justice are Christian work. We think that feeding the hungry and visiting the sick is ministry. But humanitarian relief is not all Jesus came to do, and a Good Shepherd is not all he claimed to be. Jesus – above all else – came to call sinners to repentance. He gave us a shuv (rhymes with groove and means to make a u-turn, or to repent) in the right direction – the holiness direction.

Peter reminds us that God calls us to “be holy” for He is holy (I Pet 1:16). John tells us that “as He is, so are we in this world” (I John 4:15). Paul admonishes us to “imitate … Christ” (I Corinthians 11:1).

The true “Christian,” etymologically, is one who is “Christ-like.”This is theologically accurate because Jesus called us to like him. Historically this is fair because generations of believers from the apostles on believed that imitating Christ is the foundation for a life of faith.

But in today’s American culture, we tend to think of “Christian” as a term of identification, an appositive to a person. He or she is called Christian, much like he or she is named John or Sarah.

If this is all “Christian” means, then I am not a Christian.

You see, God cares a lot about how we start, continue and finish our lives. In fact, He gave 613 commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai. Whether you think such Jewish tradition is justified or not, the sentiment of appeal remains as we contemplate that each new day brings new temptations for which God has provided the mode of resistance by a firm “Do not,” and that the whole man can serve the Lord with every member of the body.

Jesus fulfilled the law – the only perfect person – and we broke his body. If I am to be like him, maybe you will call me a legalist. Russell would call me a dogmatic. Only I echo Wesley who said:
“That I Thy mercy may proclaim,
That all mankind Thy truth may see,
Hallow Thy great and glorious name,
And perfect holiness in me.”