Saints

I didn't go to church much when I was a young kid. However, I had at least a normal curiosity about the world around me and remember being confused about the idea of saints. My introduction to the idea came from TV and books where I learned about people with names like Saint Xavier and Saint Dominic. Now in north Alabama in the 1960s, you didn't run into a lot of folks with names like Xavier and Dominic. So the strange names just reinforced the idea that "saints" were remote, other-worldly people.

When I was 13, I started attending church regularly and was soon baptized into Christ. I became acquainted with some godly people and eventually learned that these people are the real saints -- the ones who fit the description you find in the Bible. I think of the elders' wives in the church I attended as a teenager. They had names like Nadine, Opalene, Flostine (beginning to see a pattern here?) , as well as Alice, Gladys, and the like. I haven't checked, but I doubt you would find a single Opalene or Flostine on the Catholic list of saints.

On the other hand, these women fit very well into what the New Testament says about saints. "Saint" is simply a noun form of sanctified. Saints have been cleansed by the blood of Christ. They have been made holy as their sins were washed away in baptism. As I've grown in my understanding of the Bible, I've come to understand that all this is much simpler and plainer than many church people would have you believe.

You hear the gospel message, believe that it is true (which means you believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God), repent -- turn away from your sins, confess your faith, and are baptized to wash away your sins. There are scriptures to back up each of the items in that list, but it means more if you find them for yourself.

When you follow that simple plan, you become a Christian, a son or daughter of God in His spiritual family. In other words, you are a saint.

And you don't even have to wait until years after you're dead!