Dargo

I'm not sure too many evangelical Christians would consider the Nicene Creed to be an adequate definition of a true Christian. Southern Baptist churches certainly don't use it. They are a minority among Christians but a very vocal minority in the US at least.

Sabine Grant

Maybe the degree of sincerity is what defines a " true" christian? how willing is the believer to be transformed and set aside his or her ego to be a better version of himself or herself? It is a long process to be in the state of " being a christian". Accepting Christ as a personal savior and entrusting Him with one's life is only the first step.

Bree

Very true, Sabine. But technically that's as far as one has to go, in order to be "saved" - or am I incorrect?

kkholiday

Roman Catholics use that "ridiculous lower case 'c'" too. The point of the wording/spelling of the Nicene Creed's "catholic" to mean universal was very much emphasized to me during my 17 years in Catholic schools. I remember an entire class discussion period on that one line of the creed by itself.



KK Holiday

Shake

Thank you, KK, for backing me up on this, and especially from a Catholic perspective! Maybe others have not considered that their own experiences may have been unique to their church/school.

Badfish

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, light from light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary
and became truly human.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father [and the Son],
who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy [universal] and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Just the basics

As for qualities, I would say that a Christian would be a loving gentle (yet firm in their faith) example, and their actions would just show how God works in them.

Opera Nut

The fundies I have run into enjoy screaming at me, calling me a heathen, erupting into great anger at unpredictable intervals, and telling me what a worthless P.O.S. I am because I am a sinner!!! So I just better just drag my ass to church and keep prayin', cuz I'm toast, no matter what I do, cuz Gawd is a big bad-assed Jealous Gawd!!

They are the most disagreeable bunch of people I have ever met.

Badfish

I am 35 years old, and have lived in a great many places, and I have never heard of such a thing.

A lot of atheists say this, well where and why did this happen to you?

Sabine Grant

Hi Bree... I cannot tell you what is correct or not since you can find so many different doctrines regarding salvation. I can only tell you what I believe... accepting and entrusting Christ is the first step to a personal transformation. We are supposed to improve in terms of how we treat others and how we handle various circumstances in life. That is where the process resides. I do not believe in loosing one's salvation for example if that first step was indeed sincere and the person continues to undergo that transformation. There are ups and downs in that process. Perfection is not a requirement to be saved for it is not attainable by human means. That is my personal belief and keep in mind please that I am a NT christian who believes in salvation by grace not by works. I regard what is called " works" to be the manifestation of that transformation.

Opera Nut

Badfish, in Texas and Oklahoma. Houston and Tulsa to be exact.

I do not understand what Sabine is saying about "personal transformation" and "getting right with Jesus". Those are necessarily subjective experiences, as they are described in vague terms. I was wanting to change with all my heart and all my will. I became a Christian and prayed and all that, and believed with all my heart, but nothing changed. Church was supposed to be this wonderful country club where wonderful things happened to the members. AND I was still unemployed. It didn't happen, no matter how hard I tried, so I decided it was a con job.

My parents, who were agnostics, would argue with me every time I asked them for money and they kept saying "Why can't you get a job?" and I would say "Beats me. Can't figure it out." I was ready to kill myself just so I would not have to listen to them bitch me out for not finding a job, and so I wouldn't have to listen to the Christians tell me I was a no good sinner because of Original Sin. Ain't my rap -- but that didn't slow them down. They love to scare the crap outta people. I had screaming hissy fits after church telling them how awful they made me feel. They just rolled their eyes and looked stunned.

In fact it got worse, I got suicidal from all the crap I heard. But then they would say I wasn't a True Christian (TM) to begin with if that "transformation" didn't happen. I still don't know what it means and it hasn't happened to me. I haven't had any visions or heard God speak to me.......they make you feel like a failure if nothing happened, since it's supposed to happen if you do what they tell you to do.

Life in what is popularly known as the Bible Belt, which includes a large part of the country, is pretty tough. People assume everybody else is just like them. And they're not.