Jack, who blogs at Atheist Revolution, recently wrote:
Suppose I woke up tomorrow morning and decided that I wanted to be a Christian. I realize that seems unlikely, but that’s not the point here. And because it isn’t the case that I want to be a Christian, we can set aside the “why” questions. What I’d like us to consider is the far more intriguing “how” questions. How would I become a Christian? Is there a series of steps I could go through that would get me there? If I got there, how would I know I was there? And if I thought I was there, would most Christians accept me as one of them?
What might be a good first step if I wanted to be a Christian?
Jack asks an excellent question, one I hope Christian readers will answer.
There are thousands of Christian sects, each with their own beliefs and plans of salvation. How can an unbeliever possibly know with certainty how to become a Christian? As a pastor, my understanding of Christian salvation changed over the years. As my theology evolved, so did my soteriological beliefs.
If you profess to be a Christian, how does one become a follower of Jesus? If you are a former Christian, what did you believe about salvation? Did your soteriological beliefs change over the years? Please share your experiences in the comment section.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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This is a very interesting question. One of the first thing the evangelicals did back ca. 1977 was to redefine the word christian to mean only them and to exculde the vast majority at the time of people who called themselves chritian who were either catholic or belonged to one of the ‘mainstream’ or old line protestant churches. I was very confused having first been exposed to a very liberal united methodist church with values similar to those of Bishop Budde and then a year later my family joined a pernicious assemblies of god cult.
Bruce,
Your inquiry is just too easy:
Answer:
For an American to become a Evangelical “Prosperity” Christian:
Wake up, one morning, say a prayer to the Orange God and commit to the 10 “Golden” Maga rules:
1) Sending all your disposable income to Donald Trump and the MAGA Movement, this of course includes and requires one to take a second Mtg. on their home, which will be included in the donation.
2) Construct a home worshiping center / alter to Trump re-pleat with Trumpy Bear, hats, tee shirts, trump steaks, trump watches and all the trump items for sale that the Orange God promotes.
3) Faithfully endorse, financially contribute to and vote for any and all Maga lunatics running for office.
4) Immediately report to ICE anyone that they encounter with brown, yellow or dark skin, immediately.
5) Invite little boys or girls into ones SUV walking to or from school for “a ride”.
6) Send donations to Putin, Rocket Man and Xi Jinping.
7) Burn and piss on the Constitution daily
8) Eliminate secular educational
9) Bulldoze all Public Parks, and Build Casino’s.
10) Buy more guns and shoot anyone wearing blue.
DONE!
I bet the actual, early church post- Jesus and his crucifixion, return to heaven would just be appalled at the behavior of Constantine, and the White Supremacy resulting from Rome, through the Pilgrims and Puritans on up to today’s MAGA cults. They don’t take Jesus all that seriously,or they wouldn’t dare do these things.
As a child, my pastor seemed to be saying that baptism was the key. However, as I read the bible — specifically the teachings of Jesus, I came to the view that loving God and loving your neighbor were the keys.
Then I began to notice that most church members did not go with that idea. I saw that as hypocrisy. And thus began my movement toward de-conversion.
This blog post and question are solid. I also appreciate it because I see it as a chance to have carry a constructive dialogue and exchange of ideas. Kudos also to Bruce for challenging blog posts and Jack for asking a great question.
Foremost, I carry a great level of respect for those in the Athiest, Agnostic, and Humanist communities. The ideas and perspectives do a solid job of challenging the rigid ideologies associated with the fundamentalist and narrow views of Christianity. I also appreciate the importance of authors including Bart Ehrman who’s view on Bible history is something many fundamentalist and evangelical Christians fail to listen and adhere to.
I can only answer from my own perspective and journey. My sotorelogical journey came in 1995 as a junior in high school while still attending an IFB church. I was staying the night at a church in preparation to go to a youth revival the next day in Northern Wisconsin and had come because I liked this girl. It was during this evening I experienced a feeling so overwhelming inside of myself that I can only classify as a level of force pushing me to break down and accept Christ in a room in front of all these teenagers. For me this was different because it was not after a message, there was no altar call, it was just something inside of me. The event was personally transformational for me. I remember on the way back home the following evening telling the IFB Pastor driving us about it, while talking about my love for the band DC Talk and his response being more cocerning about the music I was listening to.
I would not go forward and profess my salvation commitment and baptism until the following spring. Part of that was in response to initial fear that fellow members would recall me making the same choice as a 6 year old who did not no understand the same thing 12 years prior. I finally got over it and moved forward. Interestingly that would come approximately 3-4 months before I would leave home and the power of the IFB to begin a 20 year active duty career with the United States Air Force. The time in uniform was the best teaching tool I could carry with me as it provided 14 years of overseas experience that allowed me to see different religions, philosophies, meet different people that expanded my worldview and approach.
This time would also see me shifting from attending IFB to embracing non-denominational, Lutheran, Anglican and eventually Methodism which I and my family practice today. I consider myself a Christian and accept the theology as the foundation of my approach. However, I also carry a philosophy that believes in respect for those who do or do not believe and find it is important to not proselytize or force beliefs on someone. I believe God also wants Christians to philosophically question things and understand the Bible, scripture, and theology are not absolute, binary, or defined. I also feel that Christians must not fear the idea of deconstruction and be willing to deconstruct topics in a critical manner.
I have no issues with those in the Athiest, Agnostic, and Humanist communities sharing differing views or pushing back against my thoughts. There are things in my journey I cannot explain and I believe there are things outside humanity we cannot explain. I have wrestled with the ideas of Athiesm, Agnosticism, and Humanism and find that they tend to make me feel more empty inside. Multiple discussions could be had regarding these internal feelings of emptiness, longing, and community.
I can only speak to my feelings and my Christian journey. I believe that each person becomes a Christian through their own walk and approach to things in life. I believe it comes down to the individuals choice, beliefs, and philosophical approach. I understand my post is lengthy with a focus on telling a story. However, I believe the complexity and the value of this question merits what I hope is a respectful response. I do want to also advoacate that I appreciate the writings of this blog and the ideas brought forward by the Athiest, Agnostic, and Humanist communities.
When I was a young boy in the Assembly of God Church-
I was enjoying a Royal Ranger camp out in middle of nowhere Ohio sometime in the early 1980’s. At night there was a “council fire” with a pretty cool frontier cosplay theme skit, complete with costumes and muzzloaders, etc. I was really enjoying everything. Then one of the adults starts talking about some frontier story that morphs into Jesus-land. Then about the importance of being saved. Then the importance of coming forward to an altar near the fire. Then some music and singing while the Daniel Boone attired evangelist just keeps on and on about how this might “be our last night alive”, and we had a chance to “accept Jesus”..of course the only correct Pentecostal way to accept Jesus is to go up to the altar in front of your peers, can’t just “accept” him internally. More music and singing. The evangelist feels the spirit telling him there is a “boy out there who wants to come to the altar and is uncertain”..more singing..more exhortations. I’m sure at one of these camp outs (called “Pow Wows”) I went up because in my adolescent/teenage turmoil it felt right. I’m sure I was counted as one of the “hundreds” who were saved at that camp out, at least according to the bulletin in the church the next weekend. I spent my teenage juvenile years in the AOG church and Royal Rangers, eventually getting baptized. When I went to college I do a 180 and become non-religious.
Fast forward to 2017 southwest Ohio. I made the decision to become Catholic, ironically while engaged in a session of deep zen meditation in the basement of my house (yep, I’m being completely transparent here. Please have mercy on me in the comments 😀). I inform my wife, who responds with, “that’s nice dear”. I then email our local Catholic Church. I get a pretty quick response (I can only imagine- “someone actually wants to join us!”). The director of education invites me to mass, and they sit next to me and explain everything. I get there, walk into the sanctuary from the gathering space, and I feel immediately like I have arrived. I cannot explain it any better than that. The education Director is very nice and almost hesitant. No pushy evangelism, no continual altar calls, no emotional manipulation. Just mass. No receiving communion. I can do everything else. I’m invited back next weekend if I am interested. If not no big deal. I can call the education director whenever. I keep going back, and eventually I’m asked if I would like to participate in RCIA. Yep, I would. So then a few months of this, complete with free breakfast. We watch videos, learn about the faith, and have some lively discussions. We have a Lutheran from Germany who actually argues with the Catechist about Martin Luther’s view of the Real Presence in the Eucharist . I just sit back, enjoy my free donut(s) and watch. Eventually, I decided to become confirmed on the Easter Vigil (Saturday night). My wife agrees to go with me only on the condition that I help her bake cakes the next day for someone she made a sale to. So I get to spend Easter Sunday washing dishes as one of Ohio’s newest Catholics.
Compare and contrast the two experiences. I realize for young people who grow up Catholic, they don’t really have much of a choice, either. So there’s that. But the adult to teenager pressure I felt as a kid in the AOG was unreal, looking back on it. At the time, it wasn’t considered a big deal, although my father did not like religion in general, and Pentecostal religion in particular. He didn’t stop me but he did discuss his skeptical point of view with me, for which I am eternally grateful to him for. It is why, even though I am still Catholic, I can relate in a way with the recollections of a childhood spent in a fundamentalist/evangelical church.
It’s been a while since I have posted on the site, but feel like this is a pretty good chance to do so. I am approaching this from a different perspective than most on this site, as I am a Christian. I was raised in church, spent some time doing whatever I desired in high school and college, then cam back to church later. I will be the first to admit that there are varying opinions on what it means to become a Christian or, to use a common term, be saved. There are also multiple opinions on what scripture means, which is why we have hundreds of denominations all claiming Christianity. My job isn’t to judge anyone and I knew that long ago. When I hear this question, “How can I become a Christian (be saved), I automatically think about the following passage in the Bible:
Acts 16:30-31
King James Version
30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
Of course, then the argument becomes… What does “believe on” mean? I do not want to go there, but rather point out what it does not say…
1 – It does not say “Pray this prayer”
2 – It does not say you have to join a church
3 – It does not say to be baptized
4 – It does not say you have to give money to the church
5 – It does not say that you have to ask forgiveness
6 – It does not say to follow the “Romans Road”
I’ve heard all 6 of the above examples, and others, used as things you have to do to become a Christian, but I don’t think any of those align with what the Bible says or teaches. As you may or may not guess, I have faith in God but have lost faith in churches, and I understand why there are so many skeptics and those who decide to not believe in a God.
To answer a question like this, I would direct the person to read the words in the Bible that are in red, the ones attributed to Jesus… Then decide if you believe in Him or not. Don’t put your faith in man or a church, you will be let down.
While I appreciate your approach, we cannot know that the “words in red” are the actual words of Jesus. Written 30-90 years after his death by unknown authors, the red words are, at best, approximations of what Jesus might have said. We have no way of knowing exactly what Jesus said or taught. That said, the world would be a far better place if Christians did focus on and practice the words in red —- especially the sermon on the mount. I find it interesting that Jesus is unarguably the most famous man in the last 2,000 years, yet we don’t have one word written by him. This could be because he was illiterate or couldn’t read/write Greek, but we cannot say, “Jesus said.”