When did you start to consider yourselves christians ?

Elfwine

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Hello there, and sorry in advance, if I'm not in the good forum. I have a question, that may seem silly, but occur often in my mind. This is especially adressed to people who converted to christianity from an agnostic/atheist background or another religion. When did you start to really consider yourselves christians ? After baptism ? Start of catechism ? After an particular revelation, act of faith, etc ?

I mean I'm heavily attracted to christian faith (especially eastern orthodoxy, by chance I live in a big city with people from all over the world :amen: and I attended a few liturgy in a greek orthodox church), but I still don't really know if I can label myself a christian. I used to believe that faith was like a lightning, striking you suddenly at some point. But right now it's rather growing in my mind, step by step, with reading, reflection, some messy attempt of prayers.

It's quite hard to put exact words on what I mean to ask but it's basically when did you start to feel the confidence to say "yeah, I'm a Christian, that's what I am".

Thank you all ! Bless you. :wave:
 

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I remember the exact moment. I was sort of agnostic most of my life. It did come to me in a flash, while reading the Gospels. I was reading because I'd hear people repeat the claim that Jesus never said he was God. I wanted to look at that carefully, and I was amazed at how his divinity is explicit and implicit throughout all four gospels. At some point it came to me that he is who he says he is, and that I would have to call myself a Christian and follow him.
 
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“Paisios”

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I grew up in a mainstream Protestant Church, so considered myself Christian due to my upbringing from an early age (sometimes pridefully and annoyingly so). I considered myself a Christian after I experienced Christ on the banks of Lake Ontario as a troubled adolescent ~35 years ago at which point I considers myself a “born again Christian”, though I went through a long and arduous faith journey; but I didn’t find fullness in my faith until I was baptized into the Orthodox Church this past January (and even now, only find glimpses of it, but more than I found elsewhere). So I guess it has been a continuum, with varying degrees of intensity and progress through my entire life, with NO one specific moment that I can say “There! That is when I first a Christian”.
 
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-Sasha-

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I know what you mean. For awhile, when people would ask if I was Christian I would answer with: "Kind of?" or "I want to be..."

I guess when I started just saying "Yes!" was when I not only intellectually believed that God was real, and that Christianity was based around revelations from Him, but when I also felt it in my heart... When I started to love God, His disciples, His mother. When I thought of the crucifixion and it wasn't just an intellectual theology of salvation, but a heart-breaking sense of "I can't believe we did this to our God." intermingled with awe at the fact that despite the torments, He still desired that we all be united to Him.

It's hard to put into words now that I'm trying to do so! Succinctly, I started calling myself a Christian when Christ was real to me instead of just an idea.
 
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crossnote

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When did you start to really consider yourselves christians ? After baptism ? Start of catechism ? After an particular revelation, act of faith, etc ?
It grew as I was drawn to the truth's of Scripture and came to the realization that Jesus is the Son of God and that I was actually born again.
 
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ajcarey

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I would say the more important questions are things like "When does the Bible say you can consider yourself a Christian without being deceived?" and "What characterized the conversions to the true God in Scripture?"

But with that said, I'd answer that the Holy Spirit witnesses that one is born of God and a true Christian when they exercise a true repentance over sin and a living faith in Jesus Christ. These are terms though that need a lot of definition, but it can be said succinctly that God's violated Law and Honor lie at the heart of what He is seeking to remedy by the Gospel and of why we need redemption. Jesus Christ is the rightful Lord of mankind and only His blood can wash away the sins of a guilty individual. Calling on Him being absolutely persuaded that He rightfully owns you, that you need to come into line with His Law, and that you have no hope of redemption and salvation if He cleanses you not by His blood would be the moment one properly becomes a Christian. It is the Spirit that bears witness that God has accepted a person's faith repentance and faith, yet there are ways which the Bible details to identify this acceptable repentance and faith demonstrated and lived out also so that it can be objectively tested to a great degree. When the Apostle Paul became a Christian "And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do." (Acts 9:6) There will be a surrender of the same nature and dealings of a similar nature afterward in order to actualize that surrender when anyone truly becomes a Christian.

My own testimony would be that I had always considered myself a Christian, but after I made such a response to the Lord when reading Matthew's Gospel as a teenager I came to understand shortly afterwards that this is when I had actually become a Christian.
 
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Elfwine

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I know what you mean. For awhile, when people would ask if I was Christian I would answer with: "Kind of?" or "I want to be..."

That's EXACTLY how I feel since quite a long time now.
Thank you all for your answaers, it's really interesting !
 
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Willie T

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Hello there, and sorry in advance, if I'm not in the good forum. I have a question, that may seem silly, but occur often in my mind. This is especially adressed to people who converted to christianity from an agnostic/atheist background or another religion. When did you start to really consider yourselves christians ? After baptism ? Start of catechism ? After an particular revelation, act of faith, etc ?

I mean I'm heavily attracted to christian faith (especially eastern orthodoxy, by chance I live in a big city with people from all over the world :amen: and I attended a few liturgy in a greek orthodox church), but I still don't really know if I can label myself a christian. I used to believe that faith was like a lightning, striking you suddenly at some point. But right now it's rather growing in my mind, step by step, with reading, reflection, some messy attempt of prayers.

It's quite hard to put exact words on what I mean to ask but it's basically when did you start to feel the confidence to say "yeah, I'm a Christian, that's what I am".

Thank you all ! Bless you. :wave:
I only found Christianity (Christ) after I realized I had become a part of the "Christian Religion", and turned from that existence.
 
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Willie T

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Did you ever stop to consider that all the Apostles and disciples we now read about, came to see themselves as Christians without ever having read even one word of an "official" book we all seem to think is "required" in order to become a Christian. And, "No", many of those disciples never even saw Jesus in their entire lives.
 
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Elfwine

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Did you ever stop to consider that all the Apostles and disciples we now read about, came to see themselves as Christians without ever having read even one word of an "official" book we all seem to think is "required" in order to become a Christian. And, "No", many of those disciples never even saw Jesus in their entire lives.

Yeah I know I won't find any "official rule", it's more that I was curious to hear about different stories and experiences.
 
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aiki

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Hello there, and sorry in advance, if I'm not in the good forum. I have a question, that may seem silly, but occur often in my mind. This is especially adressed to people who converted to christianity from an agnostic/atheist background or another religion. When did you start to really consider yourselves christians ? After baptism ? Start of catechism ? After an particular revelation, act of faith, etc ?

I mean I'm heavily attracted to christian faith (especially eastern orthodoxy, by chance I live in a big city with people from all over the world :amen: and I attended a few liturgy in a greek orthodox church), but I still don't really know if I can label myself a christian. I used to believe that faith was like a lightning, striking you suddenly at some point. But right now it's rather growing in my mind, step by step, with reading, reflection, some messy attempt of prayers.

It's quite hard to put exact words on what I mean to ask but it's basically when did you start to feel the confidence to say "yeah, I'm a Christian, that's what I am".

Thank you all ! Bless you. :wave:

Your question assumes, it seems to me, that it is entirely up to you when (and perhaps how) it is that you are saved. You are the one, apparently, who decides when you are finally in the faith. But this isn't what the Bible indicates. Becoming a Christian is a "transaction" of sorts between you and God. In fact, the Bible teaches that, but for God, no one would ever come to faith in Christ, no one would ever become a Christian. God must act upon you, persuading you to trust in Christ; He doesn't sit passively, waiting for you to make your way to Him. So, being a Christian isn't merely adhering to a religious organization, or to a set of religious propositions, it isn't becoming comfortable with a particular religious setting or rituals, but is, the Bible says, coming into relationship with God through Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:9
God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.


1 John 1:3
3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.

"You must be born-again" Jesus said, in order to enter God's kingdom. But you must come to Christ in faith, humility and surrender to be reconciled to God. You cannot simply decide unilaterally that you are part of God's family. God sets the means and ways by which you become one of His. Repentance, confession, trust, surrender - these are all integral parts of how one comes to be a child of God, a Christian. And you will know when you have truly been adopted by God by the signs laid out in Scripture, not by some feeling of belonging that you have worked up from within yourself.

1. Love of fellow Christians:

1 John 3:14
We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren.


2. Moment-by-moment submission to the will and way of God:

Romans 8:14-16
14 For all who are being led of the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

3. The inner witness of God's Spirit:

15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, Abba! Father!”
16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,

4. The development of the fruit of God's indwelling Spirit:

Galatians 5:22-24
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.


4. The illumination of God's truth to you by the Holy Spirit:

John 16:13
13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.

5. The conviction of the Spirit when you sin:

John 16:8
8 And He (the Holy Spirit), when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;


And so on. When you have repented of your life apart from God, confessed to God the sin of your life lived in rebellion to Him, and have trusted in Christ as your Saviour and Lord, the things I've listed above (and others besides) will appear in your life and you will know that you have truly become one of God's children, a disciple of Christ, a Christian.

 
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Elfwine

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Yeah. I think some life change are implied for any convert to Christianity. But I'm not sure that the "born again narrative" works for everyone. For me it seems more to be a process. The stories of Sasha and Paisios feel more close to what I'm feeling.
But thanks anyway all of you for your answers !
 
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1watchman

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Hello there, and sorry in advance, if I'm not in the good forum. I have a question, that may seem silly, but occur often in my mind. This is especially adressed to people who converted to christianity from an agnostic/atheist background or another religion. When did you start to really consider yourselves christians ? After baptism ? Start of catechism ? After an particular revelation, act of faith, etc ?

I mean I'm heavily attracted to christian faith (especially eastern orthodoxy, by chance I live in a big city with people from all over the world :amen: and I attended a few liturgy in a greek orthodox church), but I still don't really know if I can label myself a christian. I used to believe that faith was like a lightning, striking you suddenly at some point. But right now it's rather growing in my mind, step by step, with reading, reflection, some messy attempt of prayers.

It's quite hard to put exact words on what I mean to ask but it's basically when did you start to feel the confidence to say "yeah, I'm a Christian, that's what I am".

Thank you all ! Bless you. :wave:

There are, no doubt, many different experiences, but after being moved and helped to realize there is in fact a Creator-God (I learned that over 60 years ago), I began reading the Bible; and the first page I opened to at random was JOHN 14 (I praise the Lord for that help). I now believe God directed me there, for as He has said: He knows us before we are born. The foreknowledge of God is one of the important truths for seekers to understand.

Much prayer to God for leading and mercy and help, brought me to the end of myself, and I saw that He wanted me to obey John 14 (and all else in the Gospels in His immutable Word). I bowed to Him before going to bed at night, and confessed that as I knew His "...beloved Son" is the ONLY door to Heaven, I confessed the Lord Jesus as my Savior through His Cross, death, and resurrection; then presumed to say: if that is not good enough I don't know what more I can do, and I went to bed.

The next morning I think Satan was sitting there waiting, and spoke to my conscience saying: What was that all about? Are you becoming fanatical? I turned to God and said I need to know the Lord Jesus --your Son, as my Savior. What more can I do? The thought was set in my mind: "you not only received God's teaching, but received the Teacher --Jesus, the Christ".
I felt a great peace and settled it in my mind that I am saved by the presence and sealing of God's Holy Spirit. I have been walking and talking with my Lord Jesus for over 60 years now, and most settled, blessed, sure, and looking forward to being with my Savior in the Father's house forever. This is "...the peace that passeth all understanding" as God promises.

Read all of the Gospels, friends, and take God at His Word therein; thank Him and then you can also understand the Epistles and the promises given in the Old Testament for mankind. I read my Bible daily ---KJV Scofield Study Edition.
 
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Hello there, and sorry in advance, if I'm not in the good forum. I have a question, that may seem silly, but occur often in my mind. This is especially adressed to people who converted to christianity from an agnostic/atheist background or another religion. When did you start to really consider yourselves christians ? After baptism ? Start of catechism ? After an particular revelation, act of faith, etc ?

I mean I'm heavily attracted to christian faith (especially eastern orthodoxy, by chance I live in a big city with people from all over the world :amen: and I attended a few liturgy in a greek orthodox church), but I still don't really know if I can label myself a christian. I used to believe that faith was like a lightning, striking you suddenly at some point. But right now it's rather growing in my mind, step by step, with reading, reflection, some messy attempt of prayers.

It's quite hard to put exact words on what I mean to ask but it's basically when did you start to feel the confidence to say "yeah, I'm a Christian, that's what I am".

Thank you all ! Bless you. :wave:

You don’t feel confident, you would just be confident. You accept God as your Lord and Savior and confess meaning you are not ashame, then you are saved.If you are following God after then you are a Christian.
 
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PizzaAddict

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Hello there, and sorry in advance, if I'm not in the good forum. I have a question, that may seem silly, but occur often in my mind. This is especially adressed to people who converted to christianity from an agnostic/atheist background or another religion. When did you start to really consider yourselves christians ? After baptism ? Start of catechism ? After an particular revelation, act of faith, etc ?

I mean I'm heavily attracted to christian faith (especially eastern orthodoxy, by chance I live in a big city with people from all over the world :amen: and I attended a few liturgy in a greek orthodox church), but I still don't really know if I can label myself a christian. I used to believe that faith was like a lightning, striking you suddenly at some point. But right now it's rather growing in my mind, step by step, with reading, reflection, some messy attempt of prayers.

It's quite hard to put exact words on what I mean to ask but it's basically when did you start to feel the confidence to say "yeah, I'm a Christian, that's what I am".

Thank you all ! Bless you. :wave:

You become Christian when Holy Spirit come inside of you to dwell in you if you ask of what exactly moment it happens it is when somebody accept the Gospel of Christ which is free by the way
definition is in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4.
Ephesians 1:13-14 , Ephesians 2:8-9

Look how these dudes became Christians :
Acts 19

1And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,

2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.

3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism.

4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.


5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.


Basically they were ready to just needed to hear of Christ .
 
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