What brings you to a Christian forum?
At least you're open to the possibility of a creator, correct?
What brings you to a Christian forum?
Agnostic but I'm doing the Acts 17:11b thing.
Well, what you might do then is, tell God you're not sure He exists, but, ask Him to show you through the Bible. I would suggest you start reading the Book of Romans in the Bible? It was written by the Apostle Paul.
Thanks.
I have been asking that question for years. I do keep reading and rereading Romans.
In order for one to become a Christian, they must hear the Gospel and place all their faith in Christ as their Savior. First of all, you have to realize that you're a lost sinner. Jesus came to this world to die for all of humanities sins. In other words, He paid the price for our sins. Without faith in Christ, one will stand before God some day and be judged by their works and spend eternity in what's called, The Lake of Fire.
This is a place where unbelievers will go after the judgment. It's a scary thought. I first heard the Gospel in 1963. Right before placing my faith in Christ, I was 12 years old and asked my Mom if we were going to Hell? She said: "Probably?" The thought of going to Hell scared me to death, even though our family wasn't religious.
Good works, going to church, getting water baptized, or trying to obey the law of God won't gain you entrance into Heaven.
Romans 10:9 says: "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."
Here's what happens when someone places all their faith in Christ as their Savior:
1) They hear the Gospel. (Which is in the writings of Paul)
2) They realize they're a sinner.
3) They place their faith only in Christ who died for their sins.
4) They are indwelt and sealed by the Holy Spirit.
5) They are baptized (not by water) into the Body of Christ. (meaning they belong to Him)
6) They receive the righteousness of Christ Himself.
7) They are then considered a child of God and they'll inherit Heaven when they die.
The true Christian will have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them and He'll help them to overcome their bad habits and old sins. He will work to transform the Believer into the image of Christ. As long as we are alive, we'll still have a problem with sin from time to time but we must always remember that ALL of our sins were taken care of at the cross where Jesus shed His blood for us.
We can NEVER lose our salvation. (or, Heaven.) If we truly placed all our faith in Christ.
Jesus said in John 14:6 "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." We can only be saved through faith in Christ alone.
You ought to pray daily before you open your Bible, that God will give you wisdom and knowledge for what you're about to read. Paul's writings are for us today. His books are Romans through Philemon. I would suggest you start with Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, and then the other books of Paul. The posters to talk with about these things are Heir, Glorydaz, Tambora, SaultoPaul. You'll hear the truth from them. There are others on TOL that aren't true Christians but these are. Meshak isn't a true believer and there are many other that aren't as well. Be careful who you talk with. Any questions?
I'll be praying for you. I mean it. I have posters on TOL that I pray for every morning. You will be one of them.