The commonly expressed view that one needs Faith in order to be a Christian, is a problem!
First, is the Faith-Belief double-bind:
The bind is that unless I am already a Christian, how can I have Faith?
But if I first need Faith then how can I become a Christian?
It was all very well to root Christianity in Faith, when nearly all adults grew-up automatically (often unconsciously) believing in one of the Christian churches.
Or even when people spontaneously believed nearly-everything needed for Christianity - and salvation could just be added-onto a pre-existing religion.
But now that almost-everybody grows-up with multiple assumptions that exclude the possibility of Christianity being true, this has caused mass-majority to believe in a de facto atheism.
It also seriously weakens the faith of professing Christians and their church institutions (as was evident in 2020).
The second problem is doubts.
It is nigh impossible to be a Christian in the West in the 21st century without sometimes, often, having doubts about whether it is really true.
Our whole scientistic-materialistic-bureaucratic-media civilization tells us all-the-time, and from all directions - or, even worse, just assumes - that there is no God, creation, spirits or soul.
In such a context, doubts are inevitable and may be crippling.
On top of which we are aware of multiple and conflicting versions of Christianity and particular churches - many of which assert their own exclusive access to salvation.
Plus, we are aware of multiple other (not Christian) religions.
In such circumstances, actually achieving the absolute exclusion of doubt requires a mental state that resembles psychotic fanaticism.
Yet doubt weakens and erodes Faith!
Another double-bind...
Luckily; Christians do not need Faith; so long as they have Hope.
It is Hope that makes someone a Christian: Hope of his own salvation after death, Hope for everlasting resurrected life in Heaven.
If you are a Christian currently without Faith, then so long as you remain motivated to want what Jesus offers - i.e. so long as you continue to Hope - then your salvation is secure.
But if, on the other hand, your wanting what Jesus offers is conditional on the reality of that offer; then you will probably cease to be a Christian if and when you doubt its truth.
Or; if and when you become convinced of the reality of some other account of the universe (e.g scientistic-materialist, or some other religion), then you will cease to be a Christian.
Or if (for whatever reason) you come to despair of your ability to choose to follow Jesus Christ - then you may well lose your Faith, and stop being a Christian.
(No wonder - when Faith is regarded as essential; so many people have stopped being Christian or rejected it from the get-go, over the past several generations.)
Yet there is Hope!
I can imagine somebody who thinks that the stories of this Jesus person, and of resurrected eternal life, are merely "wishful thinking", or perhaps just a priestly-invention designed to manipulate people - but who, nevertheless, regards what Jesus offers as something he would want for himself - if only it were true.
I believe that state-of-mind is sufficient for salvation - and that such a person really is "a Christian".
Whereas, somebody who has Faith and believes in the reality of God, creation, spirits, the soul and Jesus Christ (and who may - if you like - be a devout and observant member of "whatever church you regard as valid") - but who does not want resurrected eternal life for himself, after his death - will not attain salvation, and is not really a Christian - but something else, instead.
In other words: someone may lack Faith and yet be a Christian; while another may have Faith, yet not be a Christian.
And this is possible because salvation because it is Hope that is primary.
All of which has practical consequences...
One is that the single most-important-thing to emphasize about Jesus Christ is an understanding of what it is that he offers us.
And the second-most-important-thing about Jesus; is decide whether we, personally, would want what he offers - assuming this was indeed real and possible?
Such is the essence of Christianity, and from it much else follows.
Conversely, many traditional questions can be set-aside.
We can set-aside questions such as: Is God real, and if so what kind of God? Do we live in a divine creation or does "science" describe the nature of our universe? Did Jesus really exist, and if so was he a divine Son of God (and what does that mean)?
Instead, the focus should be on understanding the nature of that life everlasting which Jesus offers (whether it is real or not, and whether we believe Jesus could provide it)?
And - assuming, for the sake of argument, that what he offered really was true and is available to us personally: whether that is what we desire for ourselves after death?
Even if we have crippling doubts; even if Jesus is something we "just can't believe in"; none of this matters! So long as we are sure that - if it were possible - resurrected eternal Heavenly life is what we would want for ourselves as First Choice.
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