Are you a christian?

plumpuff6 · Post by **plumpuff6** » 15 years ago

Everyone, thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers. My sister is doing much better. She was able to come home from the hospital last night! She has to have some follow-up work done and so on, but she is back home again. Thank you thank you thank you for all your support!

Mistersisko · Post by **Mistersisko** » 15 years ago

Being no Christian I faith in no God.
If it had to do a God giving he is sure even a creature of this universe.

irishoreo · Post by **irishoreo** » 15 years ago

I am not a christian, and do not believe in religion, but I will never bash another religion(unless it is forced upon another).

If I did have a religion I would be called a Unitarian for I would take teachings from almost every religion out there, but not follow one religion as a whole.

Despite being Christened as Baptist...

xsakurax · Post by **xsakurax** » 15 years ago

I'm kind of curious.. Must you be baptized to be considered a christian? I have been Buddhist until last year when I went to church and accepted Jesus Christ as my Saviour. Apparently, the church volunteers said that when we came forward and recite what we were told and we are considered to be Christians. I don't know, it's just rather confusing!

Yorkie · Post by **Yorkie** » 15 years ago

xsakurax wrote:I'm kind of curious.. Must you be baptized to be considered a christian? I have been Buddhist until last year when I went to church and accepted Jesus Christ as my Saviour. Apparently, the church volunteers said that when we came forward and recite what we were told and we are considered to be Christians. I don't know, it's just rather confusing!

Well, I probably shouldn't offer advice on this one but I would say if you believe that you are a Christian, if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Saviour, then you are a Christian. You don't need to be acknowledged as such by somebody else. It all comes from within and in the choices that you make.

I think that the act of baptism would be a public display of your commitment and a demonstration that you accept His teachings but that act of being baptised doesn't make you a Christian. In my opinion it is how you live your life that makes the difference.

You have made your choice and that is what matters. I'm sure at some point you will have a baptism but that will be a choice rather than a need.

xsakurax · Post by **xsakurax** » 15 years ago

Yorkie wrote:
xsakurax wrote:I'm kind of curious.. Must you be baptized to be considered a christian? I have been Buddhist until last year when I went to church and accepted Jesus Christ as my Saviour. Apparently, the church volunteers said that when we came forward and recite what we were told and we are considered to be Christians. I don't know, it's just rather confusing!
Well, I probably shouldn't offer advice on this one but I would say if you believe that you are a Christian, if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Saviour, then you are a Christian. You don't need to be acknowledged as such by somebody else. It all comes from within and in the choices that you make.

I think that the act of baptism would be a public display of your commitment and a demonstration that you accept His teachings but that act of being baptised doesn't make you a Christian. In my opinion it is how you live your life that makes the difference.

You have made your choice and that is what matters. I'm sure at some point you will have a baptism but that will be a choice rather than a need.

"It all comes from within and in the choices that you make. it is how you live your life that makes the difference."

Indeed, thanks for the answers. That's very enlightening.

Mistersisko · Post by **Mistersisko** » 15 years ago

xsakurax wrote:I'm kind of curious.. Must you be baptized to be considered a christian? I have been Buddhist until last year when I went to church and accepted Jesus Christ as my Saviour. Apparently, the church volunteers said that when we came forward and recite what we were told and we are considered to be Christians. I don't know, it's just rather confusing!

GW you Has found for you Then to faith as you with the church confronted became.
With myself Being it Exactly the opposite as me to the Konformation I went for Noticing what Should be taught us there, doesn't fit to me and to my setting.
I am a friend of the research and I think the future of the people Lying in the investigation of the Galaxy.

plumpuff6 · Post by **plumpuff6** » 15 years ago

Yorkie wrote:
xsakurax wrote:I'm kind of curious.. Must you be baptized to be considered a christian? I have been Buddhist until last year when I went to church and accepted Jesus Christ as my Saviour. Apparently, the church volunteers said that when we came forward and recite what we were told and we are considered to be Christians. I don't know, it's just rather confusing!
Well, I probably shouldn't offer advice on this one but I would say if you believe that you are a Christian, if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Saviour, then you are a Christian. You don't need to be acknowledged as such by somebody else. It all comes from within and in the choices that you make.

I think that the act of baptism would be a public display of your commitment and a demonstration that you accept His teachings but that act of being baptised doesn't make you a Christian. In my opinion it is how you live your life that makes the difference.

You have made your choice and that is what matters. I'm sure at some point you will have a baptism but that will be a choice rather than a need.

I agree. I believe that baptism is mainly an outward action showing your inward commitment to Christ, although it is something that many Christians choose to do.

TEB · Post by **TEB** » 15 years ago

It is your belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ that makes you a Christian. While I myself was baptized when I was a pre-teen, I know of many a Christian who isn't. It is intended as a public affirmation of your faith.
I doubt very seriously that God is going to ask if you were baptized on Judgement Day, which, by the way, will probably not be in 2012. I also very seriously doubt that God held a consultation with the Mayans before they finished their calender.
He will come when He is good and ready and not one day before.

And with that, I will now step down from the pulpit.

Libera73 · Post by **Libera73** » 14 years ago

im not a christian and neither is any one in my family, we've never been big on religion.

but i LOVE Libera, and always will

Rebecca (: · Post by **Rebecca (:** » 14 years ago

I actually don't have a religion, my parents just were just brought up that way, as was I. I would like to learn some though, about God and the Christian religion... I'm glad that I can still enjoy Libera even though I don't share the religion that most of their songs are about, I like the messages they are singing through their songs though

TullyBascombe · Post by **TullyBascombe** » 14 years ago

Mistersisko wrote:
xsakurax wrote:I'm kind of curious.. Must you be baptized to be considered a christian? I have been Buddhist until last year when I went to church and accepted Jesus Christ as my Saviour. Apparently, the church volunteers said that when we came forward and recite what we were told and we are considered to be Christians. I don't know, it's just rather confusing!
GW you Has found for you Then to faith as you with the church confronted became.
With myself Being it Exactly the opposite as me to the Konformation I went for Noticing what Should be taught us there, doesn't fit to me and to my setting.
I am a friend of the research and I think the future of the people Lying in the investigation of the Galaxy.

Some Christian denominations don't set faith against science. That's generally true for Anglicans. Why only a few years ago our preist reassured some parishoners that they didn't have to beleive in evolution.

maartendas · Post by **maartendas** » 14 years ago

I am a Christian or as a Dutch ex-politician used to say, I am trying to be one.

I was baptised as a baby in a protestant church and went to a christian primary school until I was 7 when our family moved and I went to a regular public school and also gradually stopped going to church. In my adolescence I abandoned my belief in God but not my belief in there being more than meets the eye.

When I was 28 (in 2008) a close friend of mine became a Franciscan friar, and I once again became interested in the Bible, despite my strong convictions that the answer to our deepest questions would not be found there. I was wrong - they were in there. I found in those pages what I was looking for deeply within myself, and it corresponded with how my friend told about how he experiences his belief.

At a mass I attended with this friend (who by the way was also the one who introduced me to Libera!) I truly felt personally spoken to in what the preacher said about the Gospel reading of that day. It was like Christ stood before me and held out his hand and asked if I would take it - and I did. This is what I call my conversion moment.

My life has not been the same since. Very slowly I have started growing into a newer person, richer, more at peace and more true to who I really am. Hard to explain though...

This Easter I received confirmation and so I am now a Catholic. This decision has been because I wanted to join the community of believers all over the world who share the common faith of the Catholic church and also because I have future dreams of becoming a Franciscan friar, or friar minor - and technically you need to be a Catholic to do so.

My faith goes beyond the walls of the institution though, and I cherish what I still have in me of my Protestant upbringing. For me, the division in different denominations ultimately is meaningless. It's enriching to have different ways of honouring and calling out to God, but the whole world is his temple, not this or that church - or even this or that religion...

So, that's my two cents

Murkskis · Post by **Murkskis** » 14 years ago

maartendas wrote:For me, the division in different denominations ultimately is meaningless. It's enriching to have different ways of honouring and calling out to God, but the whole world is his temple, not this or that church - or even this or that religion...

Good point. I agree with you.
People have so many ways to come closer to God.
My faith is influenced mostly on personal experiences of 'spiritual nature' (especially around time when some of my close relatives passed away) and a few ''divine'' presences. Probably it sounds strange, I know

It took a long time for me to see and accept that things can extend beyond reality.

little-miss-sunshine · Post by **little-miss-sunshine** » 14 years ago

Well...technically I am a Christian I guess. Although I prefer to call myself spiritual.

I was baptized Roman Catholic, but I was confirmed in the Lutheran church. Both my parents were Roman Catholics as kids but nowadays, my mom considers herself a "Born Again Christian" and my dad is an atheist.

So there was never one strict way they wanted me to follow. My mom always told me that all the different denominations were rubbish since we all believe in the same basic things.

I haven't attended church since I was 13 (I'm 19 now) and don't really see a need to. I believe in the bible but I don't want to associate with any one denomination. I also am interested in Judaism and their customs (since Jesus was a Jew and would have practiced them) so I also practice little things like not eating pork.

[And as for the baptizism thing, it is commanded by Jesus as something to do after you get saved, but it is not necessary for salvation.]