What is it that makes you Christian?

Question

I regard myself as a Christian, however I do not believe in churches as such. I believe no one needs to speak to their god through a middle man and nor do they need to congregate in order to be a 'good' christian.

I also do not criticise religious beliefs that conflict with mine as who am I to criticise others?

Yet a lot of supposed christians believe I am not christian because I do not attend church etc.

So, what DOES it take to be a chritian is my question, I refuse to believe I am so wrong in my thing

"Christ chose not to teach in the synagogues; instead, he taught informally, sitting on the grass, or standing on a mountain, or sitting in someone's house, and it was the followers of Christ who established the Church and in turn established the doctrine that would govern that church."

Therefore it cannot be argued that church is not just the creation of man where christianity is the following and belief in the of the words of Jesus.

Source
http://amends.info/News/31806-Choosing-the-Christian-Path.asp

Answer 1

one who follows after Christ is a Christian.
one who professes the name of Christ to others is a Christian.
Where you worship and who you worship with is not what the Father looks at, he looks at you heart,that is where he can see the truth of you.
always nosnod

Answer 2

I'm a christian, but I don't go to church either. I don't believe what they teach in churches, I don't see a point in the stage show that is church. Being a christian is about having a personal relationship with Christ. No need for everything else. I once said Christ is like your bestfriend who is always and I mean always just a phone call (pray) away and he will always answer. Going to church means nothing so long as you have that friendship with Him. Besides churches are full of people whom only go out of habit and have no faith at all. I have more faith than half the people who sit in a pew every Sunday.

Answer 3

To be a christian one must believe that Christ died on the cross, taking the burden of our punishment (seperation from God) on Himself so that our relationship with God could be restored.

Now, a healthy Christian should be changed by this. We aren't always, and no matter how hard we try, until we are completely reuinted with Him, we still will miss the mark, but we should exhibit much more love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness. Our conversion should result in more caring of the poor, downtrodden, and otherwise rejected, and should help us to turn away from wealth and towards the Spiritual wealth in Him.

I think you misunderstand "why" Christians get together. You may not need the community, but the community needs you. Without engaging in a community of believes the practice becomes so focused on the inward experience, that we forget the necessary Christian service. We do not exist as Christians for our own Spiritual experience but to serve the rest of God's children in whatever way we can, and that includes brothers and sisters in Christ.

I hope that you can begin to look outward, where the Christian faith is truly practiced. I am an introvert, and have fallen too much into this conceptual trap as well. There is much to be said for going off when you can and communing with God and evaluating and experiencing your Spiritual life privately, however, if we do this to the exclusion of the outward service towards our brothers and sisters, even those who hate and revile us, than we lose the experience of being Christian at all.

Answer 4

To be a christian is very simple
1) Accept that you're the sinner ( Romans 3:10)
2) Then pray to god for forgiveness of your sins(1 John 1:9)
3) accept Jesus christ as your Savior (John 14:6)
Because Jesus said " I am the way the truth in the light " also he is the only mediator of man to God the father. Even you are not attending a church but if you believe that jesus is lord and you have personal relation to him you become a Christian and be save.

Answer 5

A Christian is one who believes that Jesus the Christ, the only son of God the Father Almighty, died for us so that our sins may be forgiven. I guess you don't have to go to church, but you should for fellowship. Believe what you will. You can interpret the Bible the way you want, not the way the clergy does. Church is good. Every one of us is a part of the body of Christ and a body can't function properly if an essential part of it is missing. I guess you can always argue that you aren't essential, but I don't think you would do that.

Answer 6

I so don't think that you are wrong for not going to Church. Church is not what makes you a Christian. Being a Christian is much more difficult that that, for me anyway.

I do attend church, have been for almost a year now. It's a Baptist church, I was baptized their, but I do not consider myself Baptist. I consider myself Christian. I could not care less about the beaurocratic side of church and it's constitution and such.

For me, being a Christian means to remember that I AM forgiven for the most horrible things that I have done. Accepting that is hard.

Forgiving others is also pretty tough, but part of what I work at as a Christian.

Paying attention to what we all have in common, rather than punishing people for their differences, is part of what makes me a Christian.

I talk a lot of **** about other people for fun, so I can't count that as being Christian, but being mindfull not to do so would.

Faith is a tough one for me. My faith tank is low, but I still am a Christian.

Forgiveness and tolerance and respect for others is what makes me a Christian. Sure, the beliefs of others may contradict Christian doctrine, but Christian doctrine contradicts itself, so for that reason I choose to focus and learn how I am similar to others in my religious beliefs.

Some call me wishy-washy. I don't think wishy-washy has to be a bad thing.

Christianity is trying to behave like Christ, knowing that you will fail sometimes, and knowing you will have his guidance always.

God Bless.

Answer 7

Sitting in a pew does not make one a christian, I agree with you on that. We should study God's word, and follow Christ's teachings. The idea of church going it to have fellowship with other christians. We as christians, are God's church, if you will, when we exemplify christian ways we have learned through following Christ.

Answer 8

God says in His Word not to take nothing from His Word and not to add nothing to it. Therefore if you believe in God and consider yourself a Christian then you have to do what Christ asks you to do, the Word says, forsake not the assembly of the Saints. God is telling us there that it is absolutely necessary to go to church and meet with other believers for the testimonies and to gain strength and to be accountable. Without accountability there is no Christianity and without obedience to God and His Word there is no relationship with Him.
And the fact that you don't criticize other beliefs than yours , means that you would go along with anything and accept anything, that is not Christian either.

Answer 9

A true Christian is a person who has put his or her faith and trust in the person of Jesus Christ and fact that He died on the cross as payment for sins and rose again on the third day to obtain victory over death and to give eternal life to all who believe in Him. John 1:12 tells us: “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” A true Christian is indeed a child of God, a part of God’s true family, and one who has been given new life in Christ. The mark of a true Christian is love for others and obedience to God’s Word (1 John 2:4; 1 John 2:10).

Answer 10

You are right. Christianity is not something to do.(Eph.2:8,9) It is something to be. That is to be in Christ. Remember , Salvation is personal. It is between you and Jesus Christ. And no one knows the spirit of man except the man himself as no one knows the Spirit of God, except God Himself, but we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). Christianity is an intelligent faith based in an accomplished fact. We will be like Jesus Christ when He was resurrected from the dead. This is our blessed hope. When you recieve Christ as your Lord God and saviour, automatically your body becomes the temple of God's Holy Spirit. So you can worship God alone.

Answer 11

Personally, I believe that being a Christian is about living your life as best you could in following the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Ten Commandments. Although I do believe most people NEED to worship with others who believe as they do, I also believe that in some of us our faith is strong enough to worship on our own.

I was in Church yesterday for a funeral. I had trouble following the service as I was engaged in my own prayers as related to my dearly departed relative and his family. It was as beautiful a church as I had ever seen but my faith tells me that God is not more impressed with any man made structure built in His name than any other.

I also truly believe that my words after the service had a more positive impact on the family of the departed than the priest's words did. Not that he did anything wrong, it's just that a structured "by the book" funeral service isn't as personal as the encouragement and the prayers that I offered.

God be praised...!

AAD