What is a Christian exactly?

Question

Oh and is it a certain religion? Or everyone is Christian. I've heard both. Please don't say this is a stupid question. I'm only a kid searching for some answers. lol lol :)

Answer 1

Thanks for asking a sincere question, I will respect it with a sincere answer. The term "Christian" refers to one who believes IN Jesus with all their heart, mind, and soul... and has accepted the Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for our sins. Because He did, we will not perish our existence upon our death, but are granted eternal life in the Kingdom of heaven. Christianity is a belief, not exactly a religion. There are several Christian religions the most common are Catholic, Protestant (ie... Baptist, Methodist, etc...), and there is a religion which calls itself the "Christian religion" and it is similar to protestant beliefs. Each Christian religion has some issues that they differ on but most agree that the key to salvation is through Christ, and only through Christ. It is not about the "good" we do, although a Christian is compelled through a personal relationship with a living Christ to attempt to be moral, it's about the realization that all sin (including Christians) and while we need to be accountable for our sins, they are forgiven. Your desire to ask the question is God's way of seeking you out to join His Kingdom. Again, thanks for asking, I hope this helps.

Answer 2

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic[1] religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament.[2] Most Christians believe Jesus to be the Son of God and the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament.

History
The term "Christian" appears in just three verses of the Bible, as detailed below. The earliest recorded use of the term outside the Bible was when Tacitus recorded that Nero blamed the "Christians" for the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD.


[edit] Usage of the word
The first known usage of this term can be found in the New Testament of the Bible, in Acts 11:26: "the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch." The term was thus first used to denote those known or perceived to be disciples of Christ. Similarly, in the two other New Testament uses of the word (Acts 26:28 and 1 Peter 4:16), it refers to the public identity of those who follow Jesus.

As a noun, Christian (Gr. Χριστιανός and variant Χρηστιανός, Strong's G5546) is an appellation deriving from the name "Christ" and is derived from the Greek noun Christos which means "anointed one," itself a translation of the Hebrew word Moshiach or "Messiah". Many people associate the word "Christ" exclusively with Jesus. However, as this identification is not accepted within Judaism, in Hebrew Christians are called "Nazarenes" (Notzri), because Jesus was from the province of Nazareth.

For many, "Christian" also means to be a member or adherent of one of the organized religious denominations of Christianity. As an adjective, the term may also describe anything associated with Christianity.

To me a christian is someone who believe in Jeus Christ their Lord and is save and been baptize that what a christian to me. but for more information see the web site below

Answer 3

Believing in a God that loved us enough to send his son to pay for our sins. A relationship like no other in the universe. Then following Jesus with the hope of salvation and the relationship in heaven!

Christianity is not a doctrine, not truth as truth, but the knowledge of a Person; it is knowing the Lord Jesus. You cannot be educated into being a Christian. --T. Austin-Sparks

Talking about that relationship with Jesus:

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.--C.S. Lewis

*C.S. Lewis WAS an atheist and became a Christian and wrote Mere Christianity, a book I would suggest you read.

Answer 4

A Christian is someone who has accepted Jesus into their life, but it is more than that. You can't just go to church every Sunday and be "like the devil" the rest of the week, as my religion teacher used to say. You have to follow they laws of the Bible, more to say treating others as you would like to be treated. That is the most important thing. This includes all living creatures, too. We must care for the world and others, and this is Christianity.

Answer 5

WHO IS A CHRISTIAN?
A simple question, with many answers




Quotations:
"Any phenomenon as complex and as vital as Christianity is easier to describe historically than to define logically." From Encarta's definition of "Christianity." 1
"What is a Christian, anyway? Someone of European descent? A persecutor of Jews? Someone who votes for only the most conservative Republicans? At times all of these answers have seemed plausible. Some use these definitions to this day. In Christian circles the answers are no clearer. A Christian is sometimes said to be someone who has made a decision; sometimes, someone who belongs to a church; far too often, someone who confesses the right creeds." Mark M. Mattison 2



Note:
If you regard yourself to be a Christian, you will probably have a personal definition of exactly who is a real Christian and who is not. The purpose of this essay is not to criticize your definition. It is to explain the full range of meanings that people have given to the term "Christian." Please do not Email us with angry messages because we describe beliefs that differ from yours. We are merely reporting the full diversity of beliefs about this topic.



Overview:
One of the more interesting, and frustrating, features of religion is the variety of meanings given to common terms. Many religious words have multiple -- often mutually exclusive -- meanings. For example:

We have found 9 meanings for the term "cult:" one positive, four neutral, three negative and one very negative.
We have found 17 meanings for the term "witch" - mostly unrelated to each other; mostly negative.

There are also many distinct definitions of the term "Christian" (pronounced 'kristee`ân). Three examples are:

Most liberal Christian denominations, secularists, public opinion pollsters, and this web site define "Christian" very broadly as any person or group who sincerely believes themselves to be Christian. Thus, Fundamentalist and other Evangelical Protestants, Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox believers, Presbyterians, Methodists, Episcopalians, United Church members, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Scientists, etc. are all considered Christian. They total about 75% of the North American adult population.
However, many Fundamentalist and other Evangelical Protestants define "Christian" more narrowly to include only those persons who have been "born again" regardless of their denomination. Perhaps 35% of the North American adult population are Christian by this definition.
Some Protestant Christian denominations, para-church groups, and individuals have assembled their own lists of cardinal Christian doctrines. Many would regard anyone who denies even one of their cardinal doctrines to be a non-Christian. Unfortunately, there is a wide diversity of belief concerning which historical Christian beliefs are cardinal.
Other denominations regard their own members to be the only true Christians in the world. Some are quite small, numbering only a few thousand followers.

Different definitions on such a fundamental topic makes dialog and debate among Christian groups very difficult. It also makes estimating the number of Christians in the U.S. quite impossible. By some definitions, 75% of Americans are Christians; by other definitions, it is a small fraction of 1%.

Yet, from the negative Emails that we receive on this topic, there are many Christians out there who hold with fierce determination to their own definition of "Christian" as the only valid one.

Answer 6

Christian means Christ follower as what the Bible clearly says in Acts 11:26.

"And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch." - Acts 11:26 KJV

Answer 7

A Christian is someone who has decided to follow Jesus Christ. We believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God. It also means we have accepted Him as Lord of our lives, and although we don't always succeed, we try to live the way He did when He walked on earth. It also means we have accepted Him as our Savior. He came to earth as a human, and took the penalty of death in our place by being crucified for our sins, so we didn't have to die for our sins. It also means we believe the Bible is sthe inspired Word of God and therefore absolute truth. And we have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit from God, to help us live holy lives!

Answer 8

A follower or believer of Jesus Christ the Son of God who came to earth and died on the cross and was Resurrected to redeem all men from their sins and offer the gift of eternal life. This is basically it.

Answer 9

A Christian is someone who believes that Jesus of Nazareth was (is) the Christ and therefor the Son of God. That is it. What makes someone a good or *real* Christian is unanswerable and endlessly debatable.

Answer 10

a Christian is a follower of Christ knowing that what He says and said is true we follow Him by every word out of His mouth as truth