What is the bare minimum you have to believe in to be a True Christian?

Question

What is the bare minimum of Christianity? What I am asking is this: what doctrines do you consider absolutely essential for one to believe in order to be a "true Christian". Now I know your answer will depend upon your definition of a "true Christian." The flip side of this is: which doctrines do you think are not essential for the faith? I don’t mean they are unimportant or that you don’t believe them, but what I mean is that they are not part of the core belief one must have in order to be identified as a "true Christian."

NOTE: I personally don't believe in there being "True Christians" and not "True Christians", but most Christians do. That's why I put "True Christians" in quotation marks.

The World We Know: Simply because the people others characterize as not being "True Christians" might not consider you a "True Christian" either. "True Christian" is such a vague phrase, that I prefer to just say that anybody who says is a Christian, is a Christian. I see no point in seperating them into "True Christians" and "Not True Christians"

Answer 1

Nothing less than " totally" will do.

Answer 2

The typical answer given by theologians or by theology geeks like me is that the Nicene Creed lays out the precise fundamentals of the Christian faith.

There are actually two versions due to a technicality on which the Eastern and Western churches disagree, but the Western Church recognizes both as being legitimate statements of the Christian faith (not sure about the Eastern Church).

The *really* geeky theology nuts among us will insist that you also need to agree that the Athanasian Creed is the correct and true description of God's triune nature. I really am that geeky myself, but all the Athanasian Creed really does is elaborate on what the Nicene Creed means, going into incredible detail and repeating the same thing a dozen different ways.

Answer 3

Bare minimum? You either believe in Jesus or you don't If you are a true believer then your life will reflect it in everything you do. In the bible it tells us If we truely believe in our hearts that He died for our sins on the cross, we must deny ourselves and pick up the cross(belief in Him) and follow Jesus. If you are true to Him everything will fall into order you won't have to wonder what little you need to do to be a "true christian" as you put it. Ask the Holy Spirit for guidance and you can't go wrong. God Bless and peace to you!

Answer 4

The one essential doctrine is belief in Jesus the Christ as the Son of God. All Christian churches profess this doctrine.

That doesn't mean believe that Jesus Christ IS the Son of God; the book of James tells us that even demons believe that. You have to believe IN Jesus ... have faith in, put your trust in, Jesus, as the Son of God, not just a really good human.

Everything else is just human embroidery, no matter what they tell you.

Answer 5

Well, Jesus said that to see the Kingdom of God that you must be born again.

The bare minimum is to become a child of God. To do this you must confess with your mouth, Jesus Christ as your Lord & Savior and believe in your heart He raised from the dead.

See? You need to have heart faith. But faith without works is dead. So you need to voice your faith to God. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Salvation = eternal life. And Works without faith is dead. You need both.

Once born of God, born of Gods Spirit, cleansed by His Blood, joint heirs with King Jesus & part of the family of God; then you can see God spiritual Kingdom. You are born again. Then there is no way you can be an unchild of God.

The very minimum you must do is receive Gods gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Receiving this gift isn't just believing, You have to act out & receive it from God in faith. This is being born again and being a true Christian, a true child of God.


Also, you need to know the Christian foundational confession is to confess Jesus Christ the Son of the living God, that He shed His own blood for remission of your sins & raised up from the dead so you will also at resurrection day complete.

Every knee shall bow & tongue confess, Yeshua Messiah is Yahweh.

Answer 6

I agree with "didjlord" and "Soundtrack..."

But I want to ask you why is it that you don't believe in "true Christians?"

A genuine believer is easy to spot. They follow the teachings of Jesus. Makes sense, right? They follow the teacher whose namesake marks their belief.

Someone who is Christian by name, but who doesn't practice the followings of Christ and who doesn't obey God, would not be a "true Christian."

Unfortunately, most "Christians" fall into the second camp. Thus the verses that speak of the narrow road, and Jesus' teaching of those who proclaim to know Him but who will hear from Jesus, "I never knew you."

Answer 7

You can't be a true christian without being an orthodox catholic christian...
orthodox = right believing
catholic = universal
christian = a person that follows the teaching of Jesus Christ

Answer 8

What's the bare minimum to be a "true anything"? True Christianity is not a religion... it's a way of life. There are only two truths... ALL or NOTHING. God is ALL... everything else is nothing.

Answer 9

I'd say all you would need to do is believe in god. the story goes that he didn't actually write the bible, so Christians don't know 100 percent what he wants. plus, if god is as good as Christians say, believing in him would be enough.

p.s. I'm an atheist, so i guess I'm not an "expert" in this Field of knowledge, but still i think my answer is good

Answer 10

- you must be born again to be a Christian
- the Trinity (why are you calling yourselves after God's servant and not God?)
- "love your neighbour as yourself" and "love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength" are musts
- God is sovereign and eternal
- the Bible was not an invention of man
- Jesus died to save your soul if you accept Him
- pride is a bad thing (you're not better than anyone else)
- racism is a bad thing (Acts 10:34-5)

Answer 11

Matthew Chapters 5-7.

If you cannot follow the instructions expressly given by the one you 'profess' to follow, if instead you choose the wide and easy path of swearing, then your ease is your own cloth of holiness.