Question:
You have alot of questions here, but one very important one is missing! How do i become a Christian? Where do i go, is there a introduction course or a starting point? This may seem alittle lame, but your site doesnt seem to have a section on the process. Thanks, Alexander.
Answer:
Hi Alexander,
My sincere apologies for not getting back to you earlier.
Become a Christian is a momentous and significant thing – the bible describes how all heaven rejoices when one person becomes a Christian.
However despite all this becoming a Christian is very simple.
All you do is pray to God and ask him to forgive you.
You see Christianity is all about recognising that we have offended God by our attitude and actions towards him – we have rejected his right to be our God and ruler. Christianity is about realising that God has done something about it in the death of his Son Jesus Christ and is now offering humanity a chance for forgiveness and a new life with him. Its about wanting that for yourself.
So becoming a Christian is about changing your mind about God and turning back to him – this is what repentance means – and about trusting all that Jesus has done for you – that is waht faith is. Becoming a Christian is about deciding that rather than continuing to reject God, you want to turn back to him and live with him as your God and ruler. To do this you simply talk to him in prayer about. You may pray something like:
Dear God,
I know that I have not lived as you want me to. I have not loved you as I ought nor loved the people who live around me. I am sorry and want to change.
Thank you for Jesus. Thank you that he lived and died for me and rose again and is the Lord.
Please forgive me and help me to live as you want me to.
Amen.
That is all!!
Yet when you do this God responds! He sends his Holy Spirit upon you to transform you, protect you and help you in your Christian life – you may not feel any different or you may feel something amazing, it doesn’t matter, the reality is that you have been transformed.
Once you have taken this step there are many things that you can do to help. The three most important are :
1. Continue to read God’s word. The work of God’s Spirit is to help you understand more and more about God and Jesus and he does this through helping you to understand the bible. So read it and ask God to help you understand it.
2. Pray. Prayer is your way of speaking with God and expressing your thanks and depenence on him. Talk to him about everything – how you feel, how you are going and so on. Prayer is powerful (it doesn’t seem like it) but God hears and acts on our prayers.
3. Meet with other Christians. They will be able to help you as you start out on your walk with God. Visit your local church, ask around your neighborhood or work (you’ll be surprised where you will find other Christians) and tell them about what you have done.
This information is actually available on the site at Becoming a Christian. You may want to check it out some more.
Let me say as someone who has been a Christian for over 30 years that I am overjoyed that you are considering this step and while the Christian life is not easy it is the only way to live.
cheers
David