What, exactly, is a True Christian?

[Doxiemom]

What is the necessary criteria to be qualified to be a true christian?

What are the doctrines one must turn away from so that apostasy does not creep into our lives?

Can a person have an imperfect faith in Jesus Christ and still be saved?

I am asking because every time I find a pastor/teacher (men/women) that I think are really good concerning Scripture/prophecy they end up on some list of "apostates". I even begin to doubt I am a true Christian.

I am a former catholic who has, what I consider a very special relationship with Jesus. I fear Abba God and I know that the Holy Spirit has spoken to me. I do not worship mary. I do not pray to saints. I do not go to "confession". I am pre-tribulation and am eagerly waiting to hear that trumpet sound. I have seen the miracle working power of healing in my family and also have seen a faithful sister die of cancer. I read my Bible. I evangelize , esp. to catholics to understand the real Jesus and to question and read the Bible. I do not think the pope is even close to correct on much these days. I do, however, think that holy communion should be a central part of each Sunday worship, a something that is lacking in a lot of non-catholic churches. I worry about the seemingly chaos in the protestant church.

I think it will more likely that the anti-christ and the false prophet will come from Islam rather than the RCC because, with all it's faults, the RCC has a very central meassage that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Messiah, whereas Islam has written in its koran and on its mosque in Jerusalem "God has no son". Although, under the pretense of Peace( which can be a false god to be worshipped) the RCC, with its Marion emphasis on world peace, may partner, after all the true catholic- christians are raptured and all that is left are the power hungry vatican types.


Where does this put me? Christian? what happens if I go through a period of sinfullness? Lost, or never saved? Must I leave a church if I find out the pastor has some doctrine I think is not scriptural?


Thank you. I need some help here.

[Wally]

To be Saved:
Rom 10:9-13
Rom 1:16
John 20:31
John 3:36
John 3:16
1 John 5:13
Gal 3:26
Believe in the name of Jesus

You are now a Christian if the above is true for you.
The question is: am I a mature Christian? Read James. Read 1 Cor 13. These are very good self assesment tests. Be mindful, the Christian life is a process. We are being made perfect. We won't be perfect until in the presence of Jesus.

Pilgrims Progress is a good book that takes an allogorical Christian walk. And you can regularly hear the testimony of any brother/sister in Christ that life can be a rollercoaster. So get on your knees and fight. He loves you and so do we.

Pray hard and dig into your Bible.

[The Learner]

I think the better question is: What is a Christian?

A Christian is any man or woman who puts their faith in Jesus the Messiah for the forgiveness of their sins. Does that sound like you? If so then you are a Christian.

Sectarianism is carnal, and unfortunately many people fall victim to it. We like to think that Jesus likes us more than another because of a variety of reasons:

my church is better
I go to church every Sunday
I give to charity
I sin less than others
I am an elder
I have been saved for x amount of years
etc.

When the fact is that we are all equal, we are all children of God upon accepting Jesus as our Savior. We are all like the workers who were hired late in the day and got paid the same wage as the workers who had worked all day long. God does not play favorites.

It isn't about how much you pray
or how much you tithe
or how much better a Christian that you are than your neighbor
or how many Bible verses that you have memorized

It isn't about you at all to be quite honest

It is all about Jesus and what He did. He gave up His glory, lived as a sinless Godman, sacrificied His life as a spotless Lamb, and was resurrected 3 days later guaranteeing our resurrection with Him.

There are no real Christians or fake Christians or good Christians or bad Christians. There are only Christians who are made saints by the blood of the Lamb of God.

[ImHis]

Someone who trusts Christ alone (Christ + nothing) for salvation.

[Wally]

A Christian

In the begining was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word Was God. John 1:1
Jesus is the word.

It is the person who believes in Jesus - The Word - The Bible.

It is that person who decides to die rather than deny Jesus.

It's that person who takes time to give of themselves because they know and have received the gift of salvation.

It's a person who struggles year after year, hits bottom and finally looks up and seeks Jesus for help and surrenders all to him.

It's the person who chooses Jesus above all else and goes through life praying, falling, getting up, loving, giving, hoarding, repenting, growing, suffering, all the while trusting in the promise of Jesus

It's believing in Jesus, His word, His life, death, burial, resurection, and return.
It's grace, faith, fruit all for the glory of Jesus.

This is definately not a complete answer.

[His_Disciple]

That certainly is a excellent question and one I having been asking myself for a while.

I would say to be saved is simply believing Jesus Christ is Lord and accepting his sacrifice for our sins while trusting in him for our salvation

However I think being a Christian is more than that above statement. Being a Christian is more than going to church, reading scripture, etc. Being a True Christian to me is this
A Born again believer in Christ and Living your life according to the word.
Knowing Jesus is partly Knowing how he lived. Living like him, modeling ourselves after him, growing in loving relationship with him and others.
Our lives should reflect Christ and the bible, our speech even that is why we are Christians because when we come together he is in our midst and moving through us.

An important part of that is the apostasy which is continuing unrepentant sin after you are truly born again like murder,porn,adultery which means you aren't really born again and have fallen away read Hebrews 6:4-6

Apart of being free in Christ is knowing there is nothing you will ever do to lose that salvation if you are truly born again and your mind has been renewed by his spirit.

It doesn't matter what you ever say or do but it's about who you have faith through. Having God's favor is all based on your faith. If you have great faith you will do great things for GOD if you have little faith you will do little things for GOD. This is what I have learned and the Holy spirit has taught me.

[jorjean]

There is a great question to ask yourself, "If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"
Do you shine His light? One of the things I find that I am being taught over, and over again is that the first becomes last and the last becomes first.
I am a huge "approval seeker". OK a Pharisee. I want you to see all the wonderful things I am doing for the kingdom, so you can tell me what a great witness I am for the kingdom. Over, and over God has to show me that it is not about me, it is about Him and His work.
The one scripture that I would add to the list posted above in Ephesians 2:8-10. We are saved by Grace to do His work. So we don't do works to be saved, but because we are saved.
As a Christian I get to have a servants heart. I am so still working on that one.

[Doxiemom]

Thank you for your answers.

I think I am going to disregard these lists of apostates because they seem to me to be unreliable. Too many people with too many opinions. It leads me to distress whereas I want calm. This is the chaos I was referring to.

Now maybe I am wrong but I don''t think it is all that hard to be saved. Everything Jesus said points to that. A person can be taught horrible theology and still enter into Heaven. The judgement will be on those who knowingly teach bad doctrine.

When all I knew was catholic doctrine, I could have gone to Heaven if I died , but most likely would not have because of deliberate sin in my life for which I did not repent. It was not the fault of the RCC but my own fault.

I guess this can be true of any "kind" of Christian.

[Stinker]

Thank you for your answers.

I think I am going to disregard these lists of apostates because they seem to me to be unreliable. Too many people with too many opinions. It leads me to distress whereas I want calm. This is the chaos I was referring to.

Now maybe I am wrong but I don''t think it is all that hard to be saved. Everything Jesus said points to that. A person can be taught horrible theology and still enter into Heaven. The judgement will be on those who knowingly teach bad doctrine.

When all I knew was catholic doctrine, I could have gone to Heaven if I died , but most likely would not have because of deliberate sin in my life for which I did not repent. It was not the fault of the RCC but my own fault.

I guess this can be true of any "kind" of Christian.

Not really, it depends on how much effort you spend on searching.

I would not poo, pooo the lists givin on this sight, and the helpfull information thats here.

Also, ALL sin, was taken care of on the cross. We CHOOSE to either live in the vine(and produce fruits of the spirit..love,patience, kindness,) or we can sin, and fall out of RIGHT relationship to our father.

If you want some truth, go to -In Touch Ministries Charles Stanley- or the Jack kellys sight gracethrufaith.

How much of the truth you want to learn is up to you.

[Doxiemom]

Ah, but not everyone agrees as to who should be on that list. You are right, it is my obligation to myself to search.

Not everyone can do extensive study. They may be too scared by their church's teaching to stray; they may be too busy taking care of too many babies too soon; they may be too ill to have the energy. So they stay in limited knowledge.

Stinker, your answer is a little confusing to me. Are you saying that OSAS is or is not the case? Please , I hope I do not get the standard answer of"well if you are such a sinner you were never saved to begin with" because that just goes back to my OP. Does not God expect us to constantly consider the sin we commmit daily and to repent?

And, has not Charles Stanley and Jack Kelley appeared on some of these lists? Seems, everybody is called an apostate by somebody. That is the problem Along with the myriad of theogies.
Thanks