What are the differences being a Christian will make in this life (on earth not entrance into heaven or hell)?
Or is it just a group identity of a hopeful passage into Heaven upon the next life and really will not make much difference on this earth if it is ruled by the fall of man?
What changes in the world will happen from being Christian? Well the biggest support for such things is simple... Look at the start of Christianity. 11 Uneducated fishermen, tax collectors, and zealots. What happened within 272 years of following Christs teachings (thus being a "Christian"), Constantine, in hope not to get shanked in the shower, converted the religion of the Roman empire to Christianity.
The goal of a Christian should be to change ones surroundings by living the example and SPEAKING the example (lots of people like to default to just living because its more "comfortable").
By the sense of this question, i have to simple guess your an American. American christianity has been in a malaise for some time now. Go to China, India, or Fiji and see what christianity can do to a culture.
Read Acts 18 - 19 (i believe right in that area) and you will read about the conversion of Ephesus. It went from being SUPER pagan to having its entire social-economic order changing from just a few "Christians" following what Christ said.
I'm not sure what you mean by "on a personal scale".
Being a Christian can (should!) change oneself to model oneself more closely on Christ and follow his teachings.
It can also affect others on a personal scale: William Booth and Edith Cavell are two modern examples who come immediately to mind, but there are many, many more stretching back into antiquity (for example, monastic orders who provided education and healthcare).
It's not simply a group identity as you propose, although of course there is the sure and certain hope of resurrection to new life. However, even if someone should like the idea of Heaven in the next life, or feel there should be more to this present life than they have, it's my experience that investigating that by joining a congregation will convince them of what it is to know Christ and that is their entry to Heaven. That sounds really evangelical; but I'm Roman Catholic.
This probably won't be sufficient. Could you expand on your question?
What differences will being a Christian make in this life? Am not so sure off the question but i will give a general idea of to people a christian and a none christian sometimes they might look alike or having same life in you face but the is a big difference to their life and action now we don't talk about church goes but real christian
In the beginning of all things God created everything and he sate down and looked at the earth he released it was lonely something was missing and he said lets create a man in our on image then Adam was created " God never appeared in flesh but he is a spirit being" what dose this means to me and you simple we are of the spirit but not flesh.
The difference of being a christian in this life is where by you get more understanding of real who you are. This activate your spirit being because by know who you are you will be able to empower you real being over your flesh as it says "dust to dust, Spirit to Spirit"
God himself sent a massage saying fear not the one who destroys or kills the flesh than he who destroys or kill the spirit when you die in this world you have only separated from the flesh now to go to your original home
In some scriptures God said for these things you call them temple they are not my temple you build them for your own interest not mine i have my own temple that i have built with my own hands God was in that massage referring to the body.
A well equipped Christian know how to behave in an situation because he is not lead by emotions or feelings but by the spirit of God that lives in him his heart is filled with joy love peace self control and humbleness which leads to righteousness
And the word Christian means Christ like
Be blessed
What differences will being a Christian make in this life?
There are as many reactions to being a Christian and having new and eternal life in Jesus as there are people. Sadly many do not seem to be any different than they were before they were Christian.
1 Corinthians 3:1-3 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
Revelation 3:14-17 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
However, there are some that become the light on a hill that we were intended to be.
Acts 17:10-11 And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
Revelation 3:4 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.
Acts 16:14-15 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.
The Christian life offers the potential to be more. Here is a quote attributed to St. Nikolai Velimirovic, a Serbian bishop imprisoned by the Nazis at Dachau in WWII.
Enemies have driven me into your embrace more than friends have. Friends have bound me to earth, enemies have loosed me from earth and have demolished all my aspirations in the world. Enemies have made me a stranger in worldly realms and an extraneous inhabitant of the world. Just as a hunted animal finds safer shelter than an unhunted animal does, so have I, persecuted by enemies, found the safest sanctuary, having ensconced myself beneath your tabernacle, where neither friends nor enemies can slay my soul.
The idea that the Christian life depends to a large extent on what you make of it can be found when the disciples asked for more faith.
Luke 17:5-10 And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you. But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.
There are also choices we as Christians need to make in regard to how much we want to surrender to God and how much we want to keep for ourselves.
Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Some people preach that Christians will have prosperity in the world. However prosperity is a real impediment to the life to which we are called.
Matthew 19:22-26 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
There are Christians whose closeness to the Lord is shown in the wisdom, light, and love that emanates from them as a beacon.
There are more who are in-discernible from anyone else in the world.
The question does not state any perspective from which to believe that being a Christian will make a difference in this world so, like each of the other answers, I will be as broad as possible.
Most Christians believe that Christians set out to uphold high moral values and to help others. Many Christians do indeed try to do this and, by doing so, leave the world a better place for their having lived. But so also do non-Christians, whether followers of other religions or none at all. No one can deny that Mahatma Gandhi was a model of saintliness, although he was a Jain. Brad Pitt says that he "oscillate[s] between agnosticism and atheism," but is also well known for his humanitarian work and for the Jolie-Pitt Foundation. It seems that good people are good people, regardless of their religion. What we can all do is try to follow the moral teachings of Jesus Christ, whether as Christians or non-believers and, by doing so, try to make a difference.
