How Does One Become a Christian?

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@ethang5
Yet some do   become Christians in the adulthood.   This to me  is a  unexplainable phenomenon . 
Can anyone calling themselves Christian explain this phenomenon?
You claim the know the bible and Christian doctrine but you don't know how one becomes a Christian?

 That's correct. Do you?  If you don't you may as well leave.

 How did you become a Christian?  Was it without your consent as a infant or were you an adult believing you knew your  ` own mind '.   I remember you telling us that you realised the bible was true because of something you had read but this doesn't answer how you actually  became an actual Christian. 

So I can take it that you don't have a clue . Why is no one surprised? 
Ok now you can leave. Please.

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@Utanity
god new what my head was in the rite place and the rite space so he choosed me 

 How? 
ethang5
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@Stephen
So I can take it that you don't have a clue.
Did you expect me to answer you telepathically or will you wait till I post?

Why is no one surprised? 
Probably because they know you and your lame posts.

Ok now you can leave. Please.
No. You leave.
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@ethang5
So I can take it that you don't have a clue.
will you wait till I post?

 Ok the floor is yours . Hurry up or leave.

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@ethang5
Then stop telling me what to do. Unless you're doing it to trick the mods into thinking I am harassing you. Then by all means, go ahead.

lol!

Maybe because you keep deleting my replies and then lying that I didn't reply.

He's mastered this trick, he cuts out the explanation and then claims you didn't have an answer. Many times his questions are nonsensical and they have no answer, and when explained  the reason why the question was nonsensical he still avoids the explanation and claims "see! I was right, Christians run from my questions!" ....lol, IDK Ethan, I think Stevie might get coal for Christmas...

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EtrnlVw, wrote :   Stevie might get coal for Christmas...

 Which is  more useful than a bucket of prayers that have gone unanswered for years on end. At least when I asked Santa for something I did get it!!!!

 I can take it that you don't know how you became a Christian either..  the subject gets more fascinating with every post.  Christian claiming to be Christians but not having a clue how they became Christians  FKN hillarious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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@Stephen
 How? 
If your always going to be the doting thomas atheist always making the questions then god will never choose you. You sea god nos you because he created you and if he is seaing you walking down in the high street say and your listening to the cannibal corpse in your snoty b & o and your having the dick dorkins book in your hand then god he can sea that your head is in the wrong place and he will being more than just passing you buy maty. its just like the chicks when they are hitting the pewbity their going down in the high street so the dudes in their hotted up camrys with the cromed greece nipples will be seeing them.
EtrnlVw
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So not a single Christian here can explain how they became christian

I fell in love with the Gospels at a very young age (around 8 or 9) and was captivated by Jesus' teachings and example. For whatever reason I related and connected with it, it just resonated deeply with me. I was already thinking about God and talking with God as far back as I can recall, well before I decided to apply the Gospels to my life.
It was not "foisted" on me at infancy, though of course the Bible was introduced to me, it was always in my house. My parents had rough lives and weren't really the church going type until much later in our life. Most of the folks in my culture growing up labeled themselves "Christian" regardless of how they lived their lives, it was just what everybody was at that time, if their parents went to church on Sundays they thought they were Christians lol. 

That never agreed with me much, because I would read the Bible often on my own accord and it was in stark contrast to what I saw everyone doing, how they acted, how they treated each other. Most kids my age at that time were little selfish brats, back stabbers, horrible to their parents and into all kinds of mischief and dangerous behaviors. I always had a soft heart, was very giving and loyal to my friends. I thought about God all the time, applied all of Jesus' teachings and tried to live that way. To this day I have kept my passion and love for God despite an uncertain path and a lot of hardship.
I wasn't perfect of course, not saying that at all but I knew I was different then those that surrounded me. Plus I had already had several spiritual/paranormal encounters before I was even ten years old.

Anyways to answer the question directly, I became fascinated with the Gospels like I said about 8 years old or so and just basically followed them. IMO to be a Christian simply means to abide in the Gospels, apply them and be willing and pliable before God. As I got older I had been to many churches, home groups, prayer meetings ect ect....was baptized in a Baptist church and would do anything I thought would get me closer to God.
I went through a bit of a rebel stage during my teenage years, got real loose with my actions and lifestyle. By the time I reached 17 years of age is when I fully committed my life to what I thought was acceptable to God. This is about when the scriptures really came to life in my world, all the verses and passages I had been reading during my childhood were exploding within me and I fell back in love with them and began honoring God with all that did once again.
I had a reciprocal relationship with God, if I held nothing back from God.....God held nothing back from me. I would give to God and God would give in return. So basically God has been the anchor in my life, I've sacrificed many parts of myself to know God on deeper levels and I can honestly say the Gospels have been the single most influential thing in my life.

other than having it foisted on them in infancy without their permission. 

Tradition gets in the way sometimes but that doesn't mean at some point in a persons life they will not connect with those teachings. I don't think it matters if families attempt to pass on their beliefs to their kids, I mean it's only natural right? does it make someone Christian? not necessarily no, but it could. It just depends on the individual I would say. A lot of kids grew up in Christian households and probably didn't put much emphasis in doctrines and spiritual principles, because they had yet to really connect with those teachings, but that doesn't mean they won't at some point in their lives reflect on them in a much deeper way and begin to apply them and observe the fruit of doing so. IDK I'm just speaking for myself really and I know many people who were raised "Christian" but really never lived Christian lives, they ended up connecting with it much later in life. And again, I think being a Christian is simply applying those teachings to oneself, and so it is surely a conscious effort/choice. It is between the individual and God, what their parents were is basically irrelevant although it may serve a purpose at some point in their lives.

EtrnlVw
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Which is  more useful than a bucket of prayers that have gone unanswered for years on end.

Well I appreciate you saying that since it's probably the most honest and sincere thing you've ever said to me. We could expand on this, but you'd have to be willing to communicate in a rational way. 

At least when I asked Santa for something I did get it!!!!

You got something from someone whom doesn't exist?


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@Stephen
...the floor is yours . Hurry up or leave.
I'll do this instead.

[Stephen has] mastered this trick, he cuts out the explanation and then claims you didn't have an answer. Many times his questions are nonsensical and they have no answer, and when explained  the reason why the question was nonsensical he still avoids the explanation and claims "see! I was right, Christians run from my questions!" ....lol, IDK Ethan, I think Stevie might get coal for Christmas...

You got something from someone whom doesn't exist?
And this is the core of all his whiny butthurt. A spoiled child having a tantrum because he didn't get the toys he wanted from God.

Well I appreciate you saying that since it's probably the most honest and sincere thing you've ever said to me. We could expand on this, but you'd have to be willing to communicate in a rational way. 
He isn't. Watch him revert to T mode.

Thanks EtrnlVw!
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@Stephen
Some people are more gullible than others.....And some people just want to believe in a fantasy world.
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@Utanity
LOL.....But be careful....You're starting to get too cocky and obvious.
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@Utanity
 god will never choose you.

 I can live..and die with that. Can you?  So even someone as intelligent as you cannot tell me how you became a Christian.  
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@zedvictor4
Some people are more gullible than others.....And some people just want to believe in a fantasy world.

 I won't argue with that ,Vic.
But I am even more curios now, that there are people here defending their stance on god and these unreliable ambiguous  scriptures that are full of half stories  in the name of Christianity , but are failing miserably  to explain how they actually became a Christian in the first place. Its as laughable as it is ridiculous. 
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@ethang5
So I can take it that you don't have a clue how you became a Christian
will you wait till I post?

 Ok the floor is yours . Hurry up or leave.

I'll do this instead.

[Stephen has] mastered this trick, he cuts out the explanation and then claims you didn't have an answer. Many times his questions are nonsensical and they have no answer, and when explained  the reason why the question was nonsensical he still avoids the explanation and claims "see! I was right, Christians run from my questions!" ....lol, IDK Ethan, I think Stevie might get coal for Christmas...

 So you don't know how you became a Christian but you know the bible is the word of god.  Well then why didn't you just say so.




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@Stephen
 I can live..and die with that. Can you?  So even someone as intelligent as you cannot tell me how you became a Christian.  
See, I tolded you 3 times exactly and your still dont getting it so when your snuffed the allivator will letting you off at the base meant and there aint no up button there.
But I no what your doing anyway so you can be winding up untill the cows are going home but it is making diddle skwat to me maty.
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@Utanity
How come you wrote "tolded" and then got "exactly" right.....  And "allivator" sounds nothing like elevator..... And why "base meant" and not basemeant.

Just curious.
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@zedvictor4
Remember when Willows tried a sock that had broken English?
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@Utanity
 I can live..and die with that. Can you?  So even someone as intelligent as you cannot tell me how you became a Christian.  
See, I tolded you 3 times exactly and your still dont getting it so when your snuffed the allivator will letting you off at the base meant


So that's NO.  You don't know how you became a Christian. And you can't tell us how you were "called"  and  "chosen " either.  
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@ethang5
Remember when Willows tried a sock that had broken English?

 It just another type of biblical bullshit but doesn't sound quite as funny or ridiculous.
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@Stephen

Like you, Willows was always ridiculous and hardly ever funny. He never failed to trow away his integrity for a potshot at God. And what do you know, God survived.

But you little ole ants keep trying. Who knows, maybe one day you guys may move that rubber tree God. Even if everyone knows that an anthiest can't, move a rubber tree God. But you have high hopes, you've got high hopes!! .........

Oops! There stands the immutable rubber tree God, oops, they haven't moved the immutable rubber tree God!

Lol.
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@Stephen
By having  smaller hippocampi and prefrontal cortical volumes than an intelligent person?
aletheakatharos
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@Stephen
I was intrigued by your point that some people are unchained by any belief system. Could you expound upon that further for me? If this is referring to atheism? If so, does that mean that atheists have no beliefs at all? Is it possible to not believe in anything? I have never been an atheist so I am so curious!
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@aletheakatharos
I was intrigued by your point that some people are unchained by any belief system.

You can be in love with God and be completely unchained. I would say the closer you get to God the more chains are unleashed. If you ever feel chained then you probably have been conditioned. 

Could you expound upon that further for me? If this is referring to atheism? If so, does that mean that atheists have no beliefs at all? Is it possible to not believe in anything? I have never been an atheist so I am so curious!

You don't have to have any beliefs, even if you're a Theist believe it or not. Just be in love with God if you believe God exists, leave it at that. What does that mean? it would just mean that you are intuitive about God but have no specific beliefs about that other than you just have feelings that God exists. How you express that is completely in your court. God is freedom, loving God is the ultimate freedom. Why? because God exists and loving God is letting go of all illusions and carnal desires. You want to have an eternal view not a temporal one. 
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@ethang5
Exactly.
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@EtrnlVw
The comment about "unchained from a belief system" was referring to OP. Personally, I do not feel my beliefs chain me at all. I choose my beliefs and so they describe me instead of limiting me. I agree with you that becoming closer to God is what releases chains.
Regarding belief, I was confused about OP because they seemed to imply you can live without belief. Even if you believe in a negative, that is still a belief system. For example, I do not believe in Santa Claus, but the fact that I have a stance and opinion on that topic means that I have a belief even though it is negative. So I was thinking that atheists still have a belief system, it is simply not rooted in the Christian God. So I was asking OP to clarify so I can better understand what I am missing. I hope this explains my questions better!
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@aletheakatharos
Stephen wrote:  Many do, it has to be recognised, "fall by the way side " and make their own path through life unchained from any belief system. 

If so, does that mean that atheists have no beliefs at all?

I am sorry I didn't make it clear.
 Maybe I should have kept  to religious belief systems and not have  used the words  _ any belief system.   Although this thread, posted on a religion forum  is clearly speaking of Christians and how they become CHRISTIANS in adult life. I am sorry you missed that point too. 



Is it possible to not believe in anything?
 I doubt  it is. I believe that the sun will rise tomorrow unless something stops it rising tomorrow. I believe that if I go out in the rain I will get wet. 
I believe that if I am tied to a stake on top of  a large pile of kindling wood and logs and someone sets it alight that I will burn to death slowly. Something I am sure that all Christians will agree with and believe  too . 

So for me  to have used the words  _ any belief system -  when writing on a religion forum that discusses and debates  matters  of religion and or the religious,  and  asking how one becomes a Christian,  may all  have been a little too deep for some to relate the two  without the obvious connection having to be pin pointed for them.

It is also possible not to believe in  supernatural events such as  a days  or even years old rotten stinking corpses being brought back to life with the use of just three  spoken words.   


I have never been an atheist so I am so curious!

And  I am curious to know why you have avoided my  question totally but instead chose to pose questions of your own .  Are you a Christian? 

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@FLRW


By having  smaller hippocampi and prefrontal cortical volumes than an intelligent person?

Interesting. We know infants don't know a lot about religion and Jesus and  rotting,stinking years old  corpses coming to life , because they may well have  "smaller hippocampi and prefrontal cortical volumes than an intelligent person". But I was asking about becoming a Christian in adulthood?  So are you suggesting then  some-kind of brain growth impairment? Microcephaly perhaps?
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@ethang5
Like you, Willows was always ridiculous and hardly ever funny. He never failed to trow away his integrity for a potshot at God. And what do you know, God survived.
But you little ole ants keep trying. Who knows, maybe one day you guys may move that rubber tree God. Even if everyone knows that an anthiest can't, move a rubber tree God. But you have high hopes, you've got high hopes!! .........Oops! There stands the immutable rubber tree God, oops, they haven't moved the immutable rubber tree God!
Lol.

 Oh ethang, my boy, my boy.  

I  think can see our problem now.   I don't know how we ever got so many wires crossed!!!!???? 

ethang5 my son, I believe in god!  In fact ,I believe that there were at least 600 hundred of them here once but they left  " like migrating birds"  millennia ago and just before some great disaster struck the earth.  It could have been the same  natural disaster that struck  Sodom and Gomorrah and those other three cities.  I am sure I could make a link if I tried and put my mind to it. But what would be the point, no one would believe my belief, would they?  But I bet I could make it sound more plausible than people coming back to life  that had been dead and stinking and rotting in their graves for days , weeks, months and years. 

Listen princess, I am just as  annoyed and frustrated as any Christian is  that I cannot prove a damn single thing that I believe.



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@aletheakatharos
You weren't unclear at all, I was just more or less elaborating on what you were asking.

The comment about "unchained from a belief system" was referring to OP. Personally, I do not feel my beliefs chain me at all. I choose my beliefs and so they describe me instead of limiting me.

That's a very cool way to put that! I've never heard anyone say it like that...

I agree with you that becoming closer to God is what releases chains.
Regarding belief, I was confused about OP because they seemed to imply you can live without belief. Even if you believe in a negative, that is still a belief system.

I agree with this but atheists love to claim they simply "lack beliefs" lol, but to have a lack of belief specifically in the existence of God or gods requires comprehension of what that entails, so they DO believe that God does not exist, that is indeed a positive claim.

For example, I do not believe in Santa Claus, but the fact that I have a stance and opinion on that topic means that I have a belief even though it is negative.

Smart woman.

So I was thinking that atheists still have a belief system, it is simply not rooted in the Christian God. So I was asking OP to clarify so I can better understand what I am missing. I hope this explains my questions better!

Yes thank you. I definitely agree.