[CS-FSLUG] Disciples or Christians

Tue Dec 25 16:21:42 CST 2007

This is interesting.  I established Matheteuo on the basis of discipleship.
The whole point was to take a slightly different approach - more personal
for one thing, to discipleship than what I have seen of most modern
churches.  I mean, let's face it.  I know Jesus put in some 'classroom
time', simply teaching the theoretical stuff.  But He also devoted a fair
amount of time to demonstrating, and allowing/encouraging/etc. the disciples
to practice what He had taught them.  I don't know, but I just feel the
classical 'classroom' setting just fails to convey the lessons effectively.

As for the difference between Christians and Disciples, I grew up in the
Christian Church, Disciples of Christ. :-)  I do feel strongly that
'disciple' is a much better term.  Ironically, I've encountered people who
seem to equate 'disciple' with the 12 'apostles', and believe they could
never be a disciple.  Of course, some people will find any old stumbling
block to prevent them from following Jesus anyway.  ;-)

Blessings,
Don

On Dec 19, 2007 12:14 PM, Keli of Coxsackie <keli at parchmentpress.net> wrote:

> He brings up a GREAT point that I was wondering if everyone can say
> something about!
>
> Does the Master want Disciples or Christians?
> What is the difference?
>
> Which one do you want to be?
>
> Myself - I personally thought for 27 years that it was okay to be just a
> Christian then I discovered that
> in the Great Commission that he wants Disciples and that requires
> obedience.
> For the last 9 years I have strived hard to be a Disciple!
> Not works salvation but works are necessary in the body.
>
> I am with a community of believers that are disciples (and we do not
> refer to ourselves as Christians).
> The term is often misused anyway - It used to be a derogatory name for
> the disciples.
>
> later,
> Michael Markuson (aka Keli)
> Parchment Press
> 52 S River St
> Coxsackie, NY 12051
>
>
> Stephen J. McCracken wrote:
> > Hi, Micah,
> >
> > It's nice to know you're still in the land of the living.
> >
> >
> >> I've been thinking a lot lately, having been rather disturbed at
> >> modern trends in Christianity....
> >>
> >
> >
> >> In my opinion there are two primary reasons for this problem, with
> >> perhaps many more side-reasons:
> >> * Hypocrisy in the church
> >> * Failure of Christians in knowing the reasons why the faith is
> >> reasonable and understanding the full implications of the worldview in
> >> light of the fact that it is indeed reasonable
> >>
> >
> > Personally, I think the first point is a result of the underlying cause.
> >  I think it may have to do more with the lack of a true discipleship
> > program for Christians.  This results in a superficial Christianity
> > that, in turn, doesn't differentiate itself from the world that much.
> > People don't see anything attractive in a superficial Christianity and
> > so are leaving.  I guess this is more to say that I think there is more
> > to lack of knowledge as a reason for what is happening that your second
> > point implies.
> >
> >
> >> "Lay-people" in the church are rarely asked for ideas, in my
> >> experience.  We just need more, new ways to make Christ shine in our
> >> modern culture as an attractive alternative to secular humanism.
> >>
> >> In light of that, one thing I plan to do Very Soon is set up a wiki
> >> for the express purpose of getting Christians together to brainstorm
> >> ministry ideas.  I plan for it to be a private wiki -- i.e. no open
> >> Internet registration....
> >>
> >
> > This will lock some out.  I would at least put a contact point for an
> > "application" somewhere more open to draw others in.  I guess this also
> > implies a mechanism to verify who gets in and who doesn't.  Private
> > implies closed and one thing you are trying to combat is the un-ability
> > for some to be involved in the discussion (e.g. "lay people").
> >
> > If you don't have a good way to verify who people are that are going to
> > be involved, I doubt the usefulness of a closed board to allow more open
> > discussion.  If I can't verify with a great amount of certainty the
> > intentions and such of the people applying to get in on the discussion,
> > I don't see that I would be sharing more sensitive information than I
> > would on an almost open board.
> >
> >> Would you all be interested in giving some design advice for this?  I
> >> plan to use TWiki, but could possibly be open to other ideas.  Twiki
> >> is organized by "webs" and pages.
> >>
> >
> > It depends on how you want to organize it, but Twiki has a limit of two
> > levels in the tree:  The Web and a Topic.  If you want more levels, you
> > need to look for other than Twiki.  I did a search once and came up with
> > a couple of options that allowed more depth than two levels to the tree,
> > but I can't remember the options right now.
> >
> > Hope this helps.
> >
> > sjm
> >
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> > http://cs.uninetsolutions.com
> >
> >
> >
>
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-- 
D.C. Parris
Minister, Journalist, Free Software Advocate
https://www.xing.com/profile/Don_Parris
http://www.linkedin.com/in/dcparris
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