What is meant by "Christian"?

Uhhh… yeah.

Fau asked if he/she had to go to church on Sundays, instead of meetings, to be considered a Christian. Since they’re actually both the same thing from a biblical standpoint, you can assume when Fau used the word ‘church’ in the question, it was referring to a ‘church building’

Paco, I wish to encourage you to read Acts 2 verse 38,” Then Peter said to them,” Repent, and let EVERYONE of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the the gift of the Holy Spirit”. Also, Acts 8 verses 26-38,” Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip,saying,”Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is the desert. So he arose and departed. And behold a man of Ethiopia,a eunuch of great authority under Candice the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet.(Old Testament). Then the Holy Spirit said to Philip,” Go near and overtake his chariot.” So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said,” Do you understand what you are reading?” And he(the eunuch), said,” How can I understand unless someone guides me?” (From here on the eunuch shared the scriptures with him. Afterwards Philip preached of Jesus to him.) Continuing in verse 36,. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuuch said,” See here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” Then Philip said,” If you believe with all your heart you may. And he answered,” I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.” The bible is very clear about this. Believe with all your heart. Confess with your mouth. Be baptized. Baptism is, as I said above, the outward act of the inward work. There are at least 50 or so references to baptism in the bible. If it wasn’t important to God for it to be in the bible then why would He have it included? Don’t just take my word for it. Read it for yourself so that you too will understand the importance and significance. Blessings to you, Paco.

Most people do not realize that Group worship is actually required by the Bible. Many get the Group meeting in the Building and the Building mixed up. I guess a better term for the Building the Church meets at would be Chapel. I think what they are saying in the original question is they were never baptised and decided to worship God as they saw fit with neither a complete knowledge and/or understanding of the Holy scripture. I notice the asker gets 2 or 3 differant answers one saying you must be Baptised one saying you don’t depending on the docterine of the person answering. So they are probably still confused on the matter.

gabi,

I think the first step in being a Christian is to encounter Jesus Christ and want to change your life. One way to do this is to believe in God. Good so far. Now, what are you going to do about it? If you truely believe that God wants to save us, how does He act? Obviously, God can do whatever God wants. God can save us within or without the Church.

But, the fact is, God chose to send His Son to us, and Jesus chose to establish a community of disciples. And, in the Book of Acts, to be saved is to take that next step: be baptized, thereby joining the community of the faithful. Why? Perhaps because, being weak human beings, we need one another to support us, to encourage us, to keep us honest. In Acts, there is nobody who wants to be saved who does not ask for baptism, and nobody who is baptized who is not a member of the Church. As gasmanobt3 mentioned, this is how we confirm what God has done in us; I might go even farther and say this is how we show our faith, how we declare publicly our intention to follow Christ.

To the asker. The Bible tells us that we need to attend church so we can worship God with other believers and be taught His Word for our spiritual growth (Acts 2:42; Hebrews 10:25). Church is the place where believers can love one another (1 John 4:12), encourage one another (Hebrews 3:13), “spur” one another (Hebrews 10:24), serve one another (Galatians 5:13), instruct one another (Romans 15:14), honor one another (Romans 12:10), and be kind and compassionate to one another (Ephesians 4:32). When a person trusts Jesus Christ for salvation, he or she is made a member of the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27). For a church body to function properly, all of its “body parts” need to be present (1 Corinthians 12:14-20). Likewise, a believer will never reach full spiritual maturity without the assistance and encouragement of other believers (1 Corinthians 12:21-26). For these reasons, church attendance, participation, and fellowship should be regular aspects of a believer’s life. Weekly church attendance is not required for believers, but someone who has trusted Christ should have a desire to worship God, be taught His Word, and fellowship with other believers.

As far as HAVING to be baptised, No - the thief on the cross was never baptised, yet we know he went to Heaven - Jesus said ‘Today, shalt thou dwell with me in paradise’ - what saved him ? - his belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savoir, asking Jesus to remember him - that’s what is required, not being sprinkled or immersed in water…hope this helps !!

Every example of a person being saved in the Bible shows they were saved. Baptism is a seal of obediance to Christ with out that seal we will not be saved. . . . And is 1 or 2 hours a week to much to give to our Creator?

The criteria that Jesus gives is very simple, If you love me, you will obey me. That is the dividing line… that disinguishes… whether or not we are truly his disciples. God Bless…

No, (to be obiebient after you’re saved you want to do that because it follows His direction/example) - what you MUST be is Saved - having accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savoir - your sins covered by His sacrifice on the cross…I hope this helps !!

The term “Church” refers to the community of your faith, not a building. The Bible says nothing about ‘attending church’ at all. However, it instead repeatedly encourages the gathering of believers (to love, encourage, serve, support, instruct, etc.). This can be done at a church building, at home, in a park (scenic), where ever.

The thief on the cross died under the old law. . . . think about it Christ hadn’t risen yet and Christianity was not established yet. . . . Jesus died under the old law also and ushered in the new law when he rose from the grave. . . The thief would of been killed before sunset on friday. the Sabbath began at sunset, Christ was raised on sunday morning. . . . The thief recognized Jesus authority and Ask forgiveness and died under the Law of Moses. . . . . . The law of Moses did not call for Baptism. . . Baptism is an act of faith and obediance which we can not receive salvation without. in all examples of obeying except maybe one Baptism is Commanded. And I’d rather be baptised and find after death it was not really needed that not and find it was. . . .

Correct Captain. The word “church,” which is derived from κυριακός, kuriakós, “of or belonging to the Lord,” represents in the English Versions of the Bible of the New Testament the Greek word ἐκκλησία, ekklēsía; Latin, ecclesia. It is with the signification of this word ekklēsia as it meets us in the New Testament, and with the nature of the society which the word is there used to describe, that the present article is concerned. All instructions of worship are in group my Christ himself. Mat 18:20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Oops ! I mispelled ‘obiedient’ above sorry - a Christian is forgiven, not perfect.

lol… yeah, I noticed. This is like a biblical version of the European Union.

No, you don’t have to go to church to be a Christian.