Anders Breivik the Christian? Says who?

Before addressing anything else regarding Breivik, it is both necessary and appropriate to express condolences to all those who lost loved ones and to all those who are suffering as a result of Breivik's attacks in Norway.

In some of the media descriptions of Breivik, we are hearing him defined as a "Christian" and "Christian terrorist." It raises an important issue- is he a Christian or not?

The question really turns on how a Christian is defined- or who defines a Christian. The secular or non-Christian world defines a Christian as somebody who had Christian parents, or goes to church, or has been baptized.

That is how Breivik defined himself in his online manifesto, titled 2083: A European Declaration of Independence: "At the age of 15 I chose to be baptised and confirmed in the Norwegian State Church. I consider myself to be 100% Christian."

Jesus, on the other hand, defines a Christian as someone who does the will of the Father. In order to do that, you must be born again, which means that you must be regenerated by the Holy Spirit- you must have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Christ gives the two greatest commandments as loving God with all your might, and loving your neighbor as you love yourself. While there are religions that apparently emphasize killing, that was not what Jesus said to do, and while He was zealous in His faith, He never killed anyone.

What did Breivik say about himself? Again quoting his lengthy manifesto, at Section 3.139, in which he discusses the difference between cultural Christians and religious Christians, he says:

"It is not required that you have a personal relationship with God or Jesus in order to fight for our Christian cultural heritage and the European way. In many ways, our modern societies and European secularism is a result of European Christendom and the enlightenment. It is therefore essential to understand the difference between a “Christian fundamentalist theocracy” (everything we do not want) and a secular European society based on our Christian cultural heritage (what we do want). (emphasis in original)
So no, you don’t need to have a personal relationship with God or Jesus to fight for our Christian cultural heritage. It is enough that you are a Christian-agnostic or a Christian-atheist (an atheist who wants to preserve at least the basics of the European Christian cultural legacy (Christian holidays, Christmas and Easter))."

There are those who will call Breivik a Christian. He has been baptized and confirmed in a church, so he meets the world's definition of a "Christian." For his part, he is only interested in the cultural legacy of Christianity in Europe, and has nothing to do with any personal relationship with God. At this point, he does not meet Jesus' definition of a Christian, and he certainly did not act in a Christian manner. Now, no one knows whether this man can or will repent and turn to God before he dies, but right now, he does not meet the Christian definition of Christian.