Does a Christian have to be perfect?

Well, I can give you the point of view as an outspoken atheist activist. Hopefully you don't take any of this personally, it's all meant in the general sense. What do I expect from christians? Absolutely nothing, on a personal level. I respect each persons right to believe, or disbelieve, whatever they like. Your beliefs and your faith are personal to you, and important to you. Regardless of what I believe, or what I don't believe, I wouldn't dream of intruding on your personal right to follow any particular faith. With that said ... what I expect from christians is the same courtesy returned to me. All too often non believers like myself are condemned. We're told often that we're going to hell, we're told that we're cold and heartless. We're told that we're uneducated, stupid, moronic, etc. We're told that we're angry people who really do believe but just want to rebel. We're told a lot of junk that makes little sense, but is said to make the christian feel better about their own beliefs. And immediately after all of that, we're told christianity is about love. See the problem here? We expect christians to understand that freedom of religion also means freedom FROM religion. That just as you are free to believe whatever you like, we are free to disbelieve. We expect christians to understand that the entire population is not christian, and so society should not be governed by a christian set of morals and ethics. We expect society to be tolerant to change and improvement, without having "because god says it's wrong" impeding change. We expect that if christians want their children to pray in schools, they will send them to a religious school, and that public schools will not cater to one particular religion when it's open to the entirity. We expect laws to be based on factual evidence and not religious propaganda provided by the christian agenda. To be short, we expect the tolerance for freedom FROM religion that is often expected FOR religion. Beyond that, and here I speak only for myself, since I can't speak for the rest of them ... I expect you'll choose to follow whatever path makes sense to you and you alone, and that what it is and how you go about it is none of my business, providing it hurts no one and provides you peace and comfort. :)

christians are far from perfect the lord says we are filthey rags thank god his mercy endures forever we are to die daily to self was and to pick up our cross and become more of him and less of us the only way to do that is to stay in his words by reading the bible daily it says his woed came and healled us thank god he gave his only begotten son that not one should perish but shoulod have life and more abundtinly he also says we fall short daily of his glory no we are not even close to being perfect matter a fact when you go to church it is relligon but durning praise and worshup and the power of god falls down on us the is we you will see how short we really fall short of his ways im penacostal toung taking fulled with the holy ghost an u kids out ther4e talk about GETTING U DONT KNOW HIGH TILL U FALL UNDER THE SPIRIT OF THE HOLY GHOAST I FAINTED AND WOKE UP SEVERL HOURS LATER ON THE FLOOR of the church transposed into a different person you cant get to heven throw good works or goods but on threw the sun of god he says come as you are and he is the one who changes you and gives the increase as chrisrians we cuss lie steal cuss and talk to people like dirt and only jesus. thank god he is comming home to get us soon for he went to prepair a place for us on sunday we rush to church and ask for forgiveness read the bible and he will do the rest ask an you shall recieve knock and the door will be opened seek and you will find. thank you lord we are lower than ants and you pick us up and make us into something special thamk god u you called us look at mery magdlin she was a whors and been married 7 times and when he touched her she fell in love with his ways an changed spontainously into a saint and sat at his feet with his mouther as they crussafied him and cried my lord my lord and what did he say forgive them father four thay know not what thay do

Absolutely not...I'm a non Christian and I expect of Christians the same thing I expect from anyone else of any other faith...Be a good person, treat me and other non Christians with respect as I do you and DO NOT try to convert me...I am very secure and stand strong on my path, you will never convert me and I would never dare try to convert you...Do not disrespect my lifestyle etc as I dont do it to you... thats all I expect...

HOw can anyone expect anyone else to be perfect? And why would non-christians have this expectation of christians? We are human, we make mistakes. We are not saints (it's the catholics who cannonize saints, and if you read about some saints - they have to do some pretty outrageous things to be cannonized, and basically deovte their life to the church) I wonder where you get this impression from. I don't know why anyone would have this expectation of anyone else. But there are plenty of BAD christians out there, and most of them are on TV begging for your money in exchange for god's salvation. But to me, part of being a christian is FORGIVENESS... forgiving OTHERs who trespass you and having the humility to ask for god's forgiveness for your own mistakes. If christians were perfect, we wouldn't need forgiveness, would we?

I am a christian and I am not perfect. We sin as non-christians do and we have defects.

No you do not have to be perfect. Noone is perfect . I think that is why alot of people get scared when it comes to religion ,because they think they have to be perfect and there is noway that you can be. Everyone sins. You just have to remember to ask for forgiveness and to repent. all though that does not mean you can go out and sin either, when you are saved you just know how to resist temptation easier.

I think christians don't need to be perfect. Jesus never told us to be perfect. I think He wants us to do our best to do His will. Perfection = God

Why do you think like this. Christains are also human beings like non - christains. They can also make mistakes like anybody. There has been saints in all the religions, but people who follow these religions don't become saints. what made you think like this. No body is perfect in this world, we all are human beings and we all make same kind of mistakes. I am sure non christains do not think anything like this about Christains.

I try not to expect anything from anyone. I HOPE that christians are accepting of others..I -hope- that they care about the planet they live on and the people around them. No one's perfect. We sometimes wish we were..but if everyone was perfect the world'd kinda be boring I think..

I do not beleive anyone in the World is perfect. All people sin and make mistakes. That is part of human nature. To think someone is perfect is insane.

It's an interesting question. I don't think Christians are perfect. No one in the world is perfect. But, as a Christian you need to love God with all your heart,strenght and mind. After that Love others the way you love yourself. The Bible also puts love as the greatest thing above hope and faith. Hope brings faith and your faith is shown with love. Love changes everything. It is the gift of love that has saved the humankind.

No, I would say that most Christians don't expect others to be perfect. I for one am very understanding of people's flaws and I try to be very forgiving. I'm a Christian and I am far from perfect!

You cannot be perfect, becouse nobody is perfect. You just can try to be as good as possible and pray God everyday. Everytime I take care of my cats, or I do something to make somebody happy, I feel better and I know that God approves me.

We do not have to be perfect, we are perfect. We are found perfect in his eyes, not in the eyes of the world. We are still siners, and make mistakes, but we are made perfect in his eyes, so who cares what anyone else thinks?

God does not expect his children to be perfectbut with his help (Through the Hoyl Spitit) we are to stive to become christ like. I believe that is what is ment by the word christian.I do think That non-christians do expect Christians to be perfect. That is why as christiens we should always be aware of our every action and word. Because we slip and fall we are judged more harshly than if we were not God's chhildren.

non-Christians expect the Christians to live what they preach. It may not be sinless perfection since everybody knows that that's not possible. Since some Christians have a holier than thou attitude in the way they talk to people (whether consiously or uncounsiously), people tend to expect more. That being said, fellow Christians have much higher expectations. This is one reason that many don't attend a church and shy away from it. Either way, it is a good motivating factor for us Christians to be more careful about our testimonies.

I do not know what non-christians expect from Christians, but they do not like what the true christian belief in and to do the right thing according to the bible and live in a christian way.

Ha ha ha ha ha, I am a christian and be as what I am. I dont know the meaning of " be perfect" . Even priest commit sinful acts, they are only human for this world is full of sinfullness. Dont judge them either when they do that for in christianity, you have the word evil so they have to happen. I will give you a sample, Peter denied jesus thrice, thomas was unbelieving that it was Jesus he was talking with, as what was been written that all have sinned except Jesus". By that meaning, we must always be on guard and do the best that we can not to do it. I said , the best that we can and being perfect is I dont know. But dont you worry my dear, for that was the purpose of Jesus, giving his life for us. That is why we are told to pray so that we dont fall into it. Be a saint, if you read the bible, they are already chosen and counted, we dont belong to that anymore. This is only my personal view and not intended for you to believe it. Be Hopeful always and may God Bless you.

No one is perfect except the Lord Himself. Christians strive to live like Christ, but we sometimes fail because we are still sinners. We are saved by the Lord Jesus Christ because of what He did on the cross for us. If anyone could be perfect, then Jesus would not have had to die on the cross in our place. It was the only way we could be saved. We have to repent of our sins and ask Jesus into our hearts and strive to live the way He taught us too. The perfect role model for a Christian: Jesus Christ.

No human is perfect. We are all born with imperfections, and anyone claiming to be perfect is just arrogant, and arrogance is not a nice trait, and ergo.. they are not perfect. hehe. If you are good to your fellow man and woman, and are able to forgive people for their mistakes or errors, then that's all anyone can ask. I know a lot of Christians who just don't understand people and are not even forgiving of their own family members... So you don't have to be religious to be a good person, and being religious does not make you good either.