Am I a Christian?

[Rosebaronet]

The more I look into Theology, the less sense it makes I met 2 pastors who approached me on the street when I was looking for a church, that event effectively ended a decade of my agnostic existence, because the Lord sent them to me.

On May 21st I was Baptised in the name of Jesus Christ, I thought my struggle for the truth was over, so I started reading theology and doctrins, I love the Church, the pastors, the people and the sense of Holiness and Joy in the Church. I was convinced the Holy Spirit was in the church.

Yesterday, I came across Oneness vs Trinity issue, and realized my beloved Church is a Oneness Pentecostal church, and was labled a "cult"

1. Am I saved?
2. Am I a Christian?
3. Should I leave the Church that showed me Jesus' love?
4. Not doing so, would I be condemned to hell for belonging to "cult"?

To be Honest, I don't really care about either Trinity or Oneness, but I care about Jesus, I want to be with Him.

 

[Trigger]

1. Am I saved?
2. Am I a Christian?
3. Should I leave the Church that showed me Jesus' love?
4. Not doing so, would I be condemned to hell for belonging to "cult"?

To be Honest, I don't really care about either Trinity or Oneness, but I care about Jesus, I want to be with Him.

This is definately the right attitude to have!

1) If you believe that Christ died for your sins and that he came to save you with the rest of humanity, and you accept him into your heart to guide you and deliver you, you are "saved".

2) If you call yourself after Christ and strive to walk in all his ways, neither forsaking him in your sadness nor forgetting him in your happiness, you are a Christian

3) Unless you feel God calling you to do his works elsewhere, you should stay at your home church so that you may continue to learn and grow. Ultimately, the choice to believe in the Trinity is up to you, but you can ask your pastor not to preach on messages concerning this subject.

4) Only Jesus can condemn you to hell, and if you follow his commands and let him lead your heart, you will be with him forever. Let the Holy Spirit convict you of which viewpoint to believe; for now focus on searching out the heart of God.

 

[artjack]

sometimes one thinks one is special and we are but we are all equal in gods eyes, we look at what others do and have, instead of ourselves, and judge ourselfs on others that we dont really know! so we feel depressed, lower or ill becauses we feel sorry for ourselfs, and become negitive, jesus talked of faith and having faith so we sould be positive, everything jesus done was because of his love for the father and he is a god of love.

 

[madison1101]

If you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour, and prayed a prayer of confession to Him and asked Him to forgive your sins, you are a Christian.

As for your church dilemma, you really need to pray over this decision. If your church teaches lies about God, how will you know what is truth and what is a lie in other areas.

God used this church to bring you to Himself, but He may have more for you at another church. God used different churches in my life at different times for different purposes. I never left a church in anger, only because I felt God leading me on.

Pray and seek His will in this matter.

 

[HumbleUnderdog]

Yeah, what everyone else said about being saved. Only you can know and Jesus can know if you are. I have to add that I noticed that you're really trying hard here to live a pure perfect life, like Jesus'. And if I can pick that out, i'm sure Jesus picked that out as well. Think about that.

As far as church finding goes, i don't go to church. Look at all the different 'christianities' there are. Lutheran, Pentecostal, Anglican, Baptist, yadda yadda, they all have their own separate systems and beliefs about the truth. And from what i hear and have seen, those churches seem to sort of 'brainwash' or kinda 'force' their influence on you, as if you have to live their way or else. This is why i dropped out of church and began studying the bible on my own, cause the bible is the real truth.

As far as being punished for joining the 'cult', maybe you already have been punished for going there, maybe half of their teachings were false and you were mislead, causing a lot of confusion and frustration in your mind.

But that's not a problem at all. Pick up your bible, read it, find the real truth, pray, your all set and done and good to go.

Oh and if you're still looking for a church, try asking God for an even clearer sign, and keep your 'eyes' sharp. Good luck.

 

[Danielof the Island]

Jesus Christ took on all the sins that were, are, and will be, then died on the cross and went to Hell. There, Christ fought all the evil forces to take back the Keys to Hell (impressive! ), then rose from the dead.


If you believe that, if you believe that Jesus took on all your sins, died and went to Hell in your place so that you would be free to enter God's Holy Kingdom, if you've accepted Christ into your heart as Lord and Savior, then you're a Christian in my book.


There's more to being a Christian, but that's a good starting point.

 

[Rosebaronet]

Thanks everyone, for your input, thank you for your reassurance, I am Christian, no matter what anyone says, God bless you all.

 

[rnmomof7]

I would encourage you to seek out a Pastor in a Trinitarian church and ask him to help you understand the theology involved in making a choice of a church .

Christ told us there would be many false Christ's. Believing on a false Christ does not save, we need to have a relationship with the Christ of the bible.

That is a big decision for you to make. I understand loving a church and pastor,and not wanting to leave. But you should only stay if you are convinced what he is teaching is correct, no matter how much you like him.

God wants us to seek sound doctrine,so He expects us to study and pray about who's teachings we sit under.

All Jesus's are not the Jesus that saves men.

Mar 13:22 For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if [it were] possible, even the elect.

Please feel free to contact CF staff if you would like to discuss this huge decision

 

[drstevej]

Rose,

This link may be of help to you.

http://www.christianforums.com/thegospel

Blessings,
Steve

 

[Johnnz]

It can be pretty offputting to find Christ then become subjected to doctrinal battles.

Your own beliefs will develop and mature over time. Get somewhere that gives you good teaching without pressure to conform to 'this doctrine". As you read, ponder and pray you will come to your own settled beliefs.

You will find the Unitarian/Trinitarian debate has been around since NT times. Mohammed was influenced by a group of people who did not believe in the Trinity.

Get a good book from somewhere that teaches the reasons for our Trinitarian belief. C S Lewis has som einteresting thoughts in "Mere Christianity" but you will also need some good bible exposition.

John
NZ

 

[heymikey80]

Trust Jesus, and talk with others who can help you with the rest.

Trinity is one of those particularly sticky kinds of doctrines. I'm not so much opposed to people who find Trinity perplexing and wonder about it, as opposed to people who reject Trinity because it's complex.

Scripture is complex on this issue. John 1:1-4, 1 John 1:1-4 and Romans 10 don't make it easy. The idea that God is unique in all existence, and that He's also three Persons, that's ... wierd. It's also a philosophical issue, of God being transpersonal.

Does anyone really understand everything about the Tri-Personal and Unified-Substance God? No. So understanding the concept is like understanding a scientific fact: it's not necessary to know how a car works to drive it. I think the important thing is not to reject car-driving because it can't possibly work that way. That denial is what people like me think is the dividing line.

The fact of the matter is, if you found Jesus through these people, they are probably following the Spirit, even when they don't comprehend the reasons why Trinitarians oppose 'em. They can't be completely wrong. They're just wrong on something a little bigger than we might otherwise expect. So take their view of God with some skepticism, but appreciate them for following along after the Spirit they don't really comprehend that well!