![\"\"](\"https:\/\/newsimg.bbc.co.uk\/media\/images\/40035000\/gif\/_40035263_cof2.gif\")
I recently had the experience of someone who reads and comments on my blog regularly \u2013 and who understands what it means to be a Christian and a variety of matters related to that differently than I do \u2013 acknowledge that they have no actual church connection.<\/p>\n
I probably should not have been surprised by this as I was. The idea that being a Christian means believing certain things<\/em> and defending those beliefs against challenges is widespread today, and it is an understanding of Christianity that allows one to consider oneself not only a Christian but a \u201cdefender of the faith\u201d while interacting with like-minded people and challenging opponents from the safety and comfort of one\u2019s own home.<\/p>\n Rather than comment at length, let me just ask whether the fact that one can be that sort of \u201cChristian\u2019 in a purely virtual, online fashion is in itself enough to demonstrate that that understanding of and approach to Christianity must be misguided?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I recently had the experience of someone who reads and comments on my blog regularly \u2013 and who understands what it means to be a Christian and a variety of matters related to that differently than I do \u2013 acknowledge that they have no actual church connection. I probably should not have been surprised by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[131],"tags":[1846,2073,5299,8398,13416],"class_list":["post-939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity-religion","tag-christianity-religion","tag-community","tag-internet","tag-online","tag-virtual"],"yoast_head":"\n