How to become a true Christian
There are many Christian churches and organizations that present to the new believer or seeker a HOW-TO on becoming a Christian. Some of these presentations give an over simplified idea of what it is to become a Christian and some do an excellent job. Often this information is presented to a new believer from the church pulpit or in the form of a hand out pamphlet or small booklet and in terms which the new believer does not fully appreciate. Modern society has this tendency to supply information in almost point form lacking sufficient detail to adequately inform the reader. Such a policy is often the cause of great confusion. It is absurd to expect someone to make life altering decisions on the basis of inadequate information. Of course, there are those who are convinced by such an over simplified position and some seekers do make commitments based on a shallow understanding of what it takes to be a Christian. And some who do so find that as time goes on they have difficulty being a Christian and demonstrating the love and power of God in their lives. Some are not even aware they are encountering this difficulty because they do not examine their lives against the teachings in the New Testament or don't care enough to really understand those teachings. Also, it is true that some seekers have a "sense" that such a commitment is the right thing to do because their hearts and minds have already been convinced and they pursue the issues on their own - the over simplified presentation only being for them the occasion of making the correct decision. Often the church these converts decide to associate with encourages them to witness but does not prepare them to grow as Christians or even behave as Christians. The thrust of such churches is to preach Christ but not live Christ. They should be witnessing about the transforming experience of Christ in their lives by demonstrating the love and power the New Testament teaches is the evidence of those that have Christ in their lives. But if that is not their reality then their witness is just words. In addition, the New Testament actually teaches that our manner, as Christians, in explaining the issues involved should be adjusted to accommodate those seeking such information. But that also has not always been the case and often Christians present this information in great disregard for factors such as culture, upbringing, education, and lack of familiarity of the subject by those receiving the information. Unfortunately this inability to communicate the issues often is an indication of a shallow Christian life - one cannot talk about love and power they don't have. Such conduct by such people can often antagonize people and create the impression that there is nothing substantial about Christianity. And one last thing, it seems some Christians do very well being Christians, living lives of love, peace, hope, and joy even though their knowledge of Christian issues is not insightful or comprehensive. This is because their hearts and minds have "connected" with the presence of Christ and a relationship of trust exists between them and this presence. They are therefore able to successfully express this presence in their lives. They do this because they are leading lives of faith - the same faith that compelled them to become Christians. So you will encounter all kinds of Christians (some professing and some true) and it is important that you realize this and do not get confused. It is also important that you realize that if you receive the presence of Christ in your life your transformation into the likeness of his mind and character will be unique to you as this is a "personal experience" you will have with God.
Now in the above introductory paragraph I may have used some terms that seem confusing to you such as:
- over simplified position
- love and power
- grow as Christians
- behave as Christians
- live Christ
- transforming experience of Christ
- reality
- presence of Christ
- lives of faith
- personal experience
Again, the over simplified position is described directly below and the colored text is information not usually included in the over simplified position but nevertheless necessary for a fuller understanding. The over simplified position goes like this:
God loves you as a good father should love his offspring. The bible passage "God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life" is often quoted to express this love. A good Father wants only the very best for his child. I could have said that a good mother nurses, provides for, and also only wants the very best for her child. The intent of both statements is the same. The purpose of God in creating mankind was to make man in His image, as an intelligent being whose main attribute is love. The love of God is the attitude of caring extended outwards to all life. In making man in His image there is the implicit provision that man could also become an eternal being. The creative process to accomplish this purpose for mankind began a long time ago even before the time of Abraham and is referred to in the Old Testament book of Genesis. Man was created with a faculty of mind called "free will", the ability to decide within his own mind and circumstances how he wanted to live his life. God deemed it important that a man and a woman should have this capacity. Imagine what it would be like to be made so that we simply behaved instinctively without the creative faculties only possible with the freedom expressed from our ability to will thoughts, concepts, feelings, and emotions in an integrated fashion both consciously and unconsciously. The first step of this creative exercise produced the anticipated result - man tended towards violence and worshiped his own abilities and lusted after the things of the material dimension into which he was born. These tendencies to act contrary to love were triggered by a preexistent evil force, an entity called the devil or Satan. To understand the issue of the devil or Satan requires a lot of insight into the very character of how the physical dimension in which we live is created. Suffice it for now to note that the New Testament teaches that this evil entity epitomizes rebellion to the purpose of God and is at work in the world to prevent the purpose of God for man from being realized. This evil entity can oppress the human mind in order to influence free will decisions that go counter to the purpose of God. For that reason we will leave it as a secondary issue not directly dealt with here. After the so called "fall" of man the second phase of God's creative plan for man began. Through Moses God instituted a society involving the Israel nation, a nation selected to be an example to the world. They were to voluntarily (by acceptance and the direction of their own wills) live by faith in God according to rules or laws of conduct which were based on the fundamental concept of loving God with all their heart, mind, and soul and their neighbor as themselves. Basically, God had provided a national environment with laws that were rigorously enforced in order to give man and women in this context another chance and another situation to help condition them to make free will decisions according to God's purpose as has already been explained. But as expected, again man failed and continued to resort to worship of his own mind and the lusts of the world. The word worship has the basic meaning "to appreciate, to prize, to honor, to intensely regard as valuable and important, to recognize as desirable or worthy". Man still continued to worship himself (his own mind and inventions of the mind) and lusted after the things of the physical dimension and the flesh instead of God the creator of the physical dimension and the flesh. This state of man is known as sin and so also is his disobedience to these laws. So as prophesied, the third stage of God's creative process for man kicked in with the birth of Jesus Christ. God was about to reconcile man from sin into a personal relationship with Himself and the intent of these laws would become part of the heart of man (or woman). God was about to replace a national environment of law with a spiritual environment and a way of changing how man perceived reality and a way for man (or woman) to become part of God as well as part of fellow believers. This concept of "oneness" was secret from the beginning of time but was to become manifest in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was the human incarnation of God and was going to make it possible for those who truly believed in him to become part of God (one in purpose and essence with God just as Jesus is one with God). Also, true believers would be one with each other just as Jesus is one with God. To understand how this happens it helps to understand something that many in the world today cannot accept. We find ourselves born into what we perceive as a physical dimension as humans in a fleshly human form. We grow up in a culture where most or all of our vocabulary or words we learn have their root meaning in physical terms of space, matter, and time. We do not grow up in a culture that has an extended vocabulary that deals with the concept of "spirit" and "spiritual". Not having this vocabulary our very thinking is compromised in this respect. This is a technique of mass psychology, limit the vocabulary of the masses to specific meanings and they will think and behave within that definitional framework. School systems and universities often accomplish that effect on students although it may be unintentional. The New Testament and the teachings of Jesus introduce us to both a culture and vocabulary that is extensive (in certain respects beyond the definitional scope of the English language) in that both the physical and the spiritual are covered in a comprehensive way. Words of the time and culture of Jesus such as God, spirit, soul, faith, believe, and many other words and expressions were rich in meaning and to some extent commonly understood and used at that time and by the people he initially taught. But even then, Jesus spoke in parables or small stories and used a variety of teaching techniques to get his points across. The bottom line to all this is that all life has a spiritual base. We will get to this later. Man as he exists in this physical dimension can only refer to spiritual things in terms of how they influence him and the physical world of which he is a part. Man is a spirit having a physical form called a body and grows a soul which is an "imprint on his spirit" of his will, and all the thoughts, concepts, feelings, and emotions since his or her birth. Man as a total entity is referred to as being a living soul but the part of the living soul that remains when the body is destroyed is an imprint on the spirit of this life lived and is also referred to as being the soul (that part of man's essential essence that survives physical death). We enter the physical dimension from some spiritual source in the enclosing spiritual dimension and engage this dimension through a physical process of being born. But we are born with the soul tied strongly to the physical dimension and Jesus Christ provides a way that can make our soul "one" in purpose and essence with God. We will get into this so it makes more sense further down into this web page. Suffice it to say for now that Jesus Christ will enable a process where man (tied to the physical world) will be able to transcend that limitation and become one with God.
By looking at the colored portion of the above paragraph you can see exactly how much insight is kept from the seeker or new believer by the over simplified presentation. But let us continue with the oversimplified presentation and continue to mark out the insight that is often not conveyed to the new believer. At this point there is one more thing in this comparison between what the believer needs to know at the onset of becoming a Christian and the over simplified presentation. Jesus Christ suffered on your behalf, on my behalf, and on behalf of the entire world. Just prior to his crucifixion he prayed so hard that he sweat what appeared to be drops of blood - the very blood that he shed on the cross when he became sin on our behalf. There is a penalty for sin. God does not reward sin - unrighteous behavior. The penalty is not imposed by God it is incurred when we sin. That penalty is death of the soul. Essentially sin is a personal separation from the person of God or the impossibility of directly experiencing God. This has been explained above and will get explained again. This means that Jesus Christ had to meet death head on with the awesome responsibility of creating a "way" or a "process" or a "place" as the New Testament calls it where those that truly believe in him and engage in the transformation can be one with him in Heaven even though they exist in the flesh in the physical dimension. This "place" is where Jesus Christ himself is in his resurrected and glorified body while at the same time being positioned with His Father in the favored position as the Living Word of God having all power and authority handed to him. In more general terms, Jesus Christ had to both suffer that penalty and transform both the physical dimension and the Heavenly dimension. This had to happen in order to accommodate a common point in time as well as in the timeless spiritual dimension where mankind could be joined directly with God. That joining was to be with the Father and man with Jesus Christ being the mediator or interface between both and with the Holy Spirit being the means of sharing the essence of God the Father. The very act of such "sharing" is in itself Life Eternal and is the basis of the believers experience with God. It is also a key distinction between being a Christian and following any other religion.
Continuing with the over simplified approach: A New Testament verse that reads something like this is often quoted: "What shall it gain a person if they acquire all the things the world has to offer but then lose their soul". Or another one, revere and worship not man who can destroy your body but rather revere and worship God who can destroy your soul...". The word "fear" is often used instead of "revere and worship" but the intent of these passages includes both. Why would you put your hand in the fire if you knew the fire would consume your hand and cause great pain. That is analogous to, why would you put your soul in danger of destruction and see it painfully destroyed. Our soul is what and who we are and destruction of the soul means destruction of what and who we are. So it is necessary to have an attitude and behavioral change where we hate sin and wish to make God the most important thing in our life. But the same New Testament which tells us to "repent" (turn away from sin) and turn to righteousness also tells us that there is none "righteous" and that we cannot accomplish this feat on our own it is done by the grace of God through Christ. New believers are told that all they have to do is believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that is God incarnate, and presto they have the "imputed" righteousness of Jesus Christ and God sees us (not our sin) through the righteousness of Jesus Christ who was perfect. Although it is true that when we believe we do receive the imputed righteousness of Christ this should be understood only to be a starting point in the experience we are about to engage in with God. First, imputed does not mean that we are righteous in the perfect way Jesus Christ was and is righteous. In point of fact, at the time a new believer repents or turns away from sin their life, their habits, their thoughts, their emotions are still in the sinful state they are repenting from. This state is the "old" man. It takes time to change. And that which changes is considered to be the "new" man. What this verse is really saying is that based on free choice the seeker must commit his or her soul to a change from unrighteousness to righteousness. In wanting to make this change it takes a lot more than intellectual understanding and agreement with the whole concept. The seeker must believe or have faith in Jesus Christ. That means that the seeker must desire with his or her whole heart and mind while both expecting with total emotional and mental certainty and focus that Jesus Christ will do this work in their soul. So what does Jesus Christ do for the sincere seeker and how does he do it? Jesus told his disciples before his crucifixion that he must die and be resurrected because this was how he would be able to return to the Father. In addition, he told his followers that only if he went to be with the Father he could act from a position of power and authority on their behalf. From this position of power and authority he could send the Holy Spirit from the father to the sincere seeker. If the seeker receives the Holy Spirit then the spirit of the seeker and the Holy Spirit of God would merge - become one - in a personal way, that is, the person of God and the seeker. By becoming one in essence with God who is eternal life the seeker then possesses and will inherit eternal life. Thereafter, the seeker must be diligent to maintain focus on the transformation from the "old" man into the man regenerated into the likeness of the mind and character of Jesus Christ. So, it should be evident that Jesus Christ is the only one under Heaven who can make this experience happen in the life of a believer. It should also be evident that the believer so inclined and endowed with the presence of God should gradually over time increase in perfection and behave as did Jesus Christ with love and compassion for all. Evidence that such a transformation is taking place in a believer is the awareness at a conscious level of God's abiding presence in the human soul as well as love and power. Jesus promises those that have this experience that as they grow into the "new" man they will take on a New Reality and start to see life from the perspective of God - from the perspective of God in man - from the perspective of God's model for man - Jesus Christ. Eventually the human willing free agency of the human soul will totally submit to the will of the presence of Christ via the Holy Spirit and that person will be practicing Christ, or living Christ moment by moment. There will be times in the life of the new man or woman in Christ when God will tell the believer to do a specific thing but most of the time it will be behavior, thoughts, feelings, and emotions. that are Christ Like. But this is yet not the full story. Believers having the New Reality are to consider themselves members of the Body of Christ, the Divine fellowship of believers where Christ is the head and the believers are members forming the body. Believers having obtained the New Reality (in the New Testament referred to as the new birth or being born again) are not only "one" in and with God through Christ but are "one" in and with each other through Christ. This is because the common bond and essence of being between God the Father, Jesus Christ, and all true believers is God the Holy Spirit. In order to understand these words better Jesus Christ taught that God must be viewed as 3 persons, different in function, but one in essence or being. We will cover this further down but it is important to understand this concept of God because it allows us to make distinctions not otherwise possible. God must be viewed by humans as being God the Father, God the Living Word (Son of God) and God the Holy Spirit. It is part of that extended language I mentioned earlier. We refer to Jesus Christ as both Son of Man and as Son of God and further on we develop an analogy to help understand all of this. But it is also important to note this: God can be what ever God wants to be and can create any way He sees fit to accomplish his purposes of creation. God is sovereign and nothing He has created can challenge that sovereignty. In order for us to understand the transformation we must be able to make distinctions in how God manifests Himself to His creation. God makes the possible possible and the impossible impossible for only He is God and we are His creation.
Therefore, there is a challenge and a responsibility in properly trying to explain to someone how to become a Christian. There is an even greater challenge in explaining this to someone over the Internet by email or even in a chat session - you could be anybody from anywhere. Unless the so called seeker reveals issues such as background, culture, education, doubts, and concerns then the information describing how to become a true Christian has to be generalized and geared to almost anyone, and by so doing may not address those background, cultural, educational, and personal issues that need to be addressed in order to be convincing. Since this is the case I have attempted to put together a presentation that deals with the key issues and does so by not quoting bible verses that may be confusing but rather by providing information that conveys the intent of these bible verses and also provides insights into why that intent is valid.
First, let me explain something to you. As in any of the great religions of this world there are those that profess to follow a religion but do not practice the teachings and then there are those that do follow the teachings. Also there are those that adhere to a religion but deviate from the intent of the teachings by superimposing their own views. This is all very confusing to the every day sort of person as they view the panorama of religions and religious distortions. The biggest difference between true Christianity and other religions and between true Christianity and many of it's mutations is that true Christianity is about man experiencing the one true God. Many religions promote worship of the one true God, have different names for the one true God, and lay out patterns of living and conduct seen as serving this one true God. And as far as they have gone this is good but certainly not adequate. And in that respect there is a lot of similarity along with the differences between the many religions. Some of these other religions confuse human emotions and intellectual fabrications of the mind as being an experience of God so they delude themselves. There is no nice way of saying this. On the other hand there are many so called Christians that do exactly the same thing to the extent that Jesus indicated there will be many that call him Lord but he had no relationship with them. This should make every so called Christian think twice and repeatedly that they are not simply deluding themselves so they feel good about this whole religious issue. The New Testament teaches that there is only one name under Heaven whereby man may be saved (saved here meaning an event that takes place and continues on as a process that reinforces that event). And we have already touched upon that issue. The one true God is incomprehensible to a man or woman. Man (as in mankind) is not capable of creating in his life by means of his mind or any other faculty the experience of oneness with God which I call a "personal relationship". Wanting this experience and getting it are two different things. And if man tries to get it on his own he will fail. However, Jesus Christ makes this experience possible as was outlined above. The transformation is in the image or likeness of He who manages that transformation. Therefore, only Jesus Christ can manage that transformation within the on going experience of oneness.
It is prudent for me to again point out at this time that God is spirit and the physical dimension (in which we find ourselves) is one of His creations. So that makes us a part of His creation. We think in terms of the creation of which we are a part. As long as we think in those terms we cannot know the creator. Therefore, we are shut off from God and cannot directly know His will or His person and this state is known as sin.
There is only one incident in human history where God manifested Himself in human form. He did this as the person of Jesus Christ. He appeared to many after his resurrection for a period of 40 days. The only proof in this physical dimension (other than the New Testament and other historic records) that he exists, lies in the existence of the Body of Christ over which he is the head. Members of the true Body of Christ minister in a fellowship of his love to one another and are able to demonstrate his love, power, and authority. True believers that have this fellowship do so in an intimate, collaborative form of social intercourse in which they share their experience of God with each other and minister to each others needs. This fellowship is an environment where they edify, that is, build up each others faith. There are many false Christs (those that claim to be empowered by God to lead mankind to God) as Jesus predicted. Also, Jesus taught that there is a spiritual warfare in progress and that warfare is between him (the power of light, meaning truth and love) and the Satan (the power of darkness, meaning lies, deception, and hatred). There are many aspects to why God incarnated as Jesus Christ. But all these aspects can be over simplified into one single explanation. Jesus Christ is a way God can reveal Himself to man in human terms which man can understand. Also, Jesus Christ by virtue of being both man and God, is a mediator or interface between man and God. Such an interface is necessary because man cannot in his own power and with his own faculties achieve oneness with God. So Jesus Christ is God's way of reconciling man to Himself. Jesus was without sin - he was not separated from knowing God as are all men. Quite literally, Jesus is between man and God and has authority and power to bring man into direct experience of God. Such a process is miraculous and I want to again explained to you how it happens.
Now the way this works is based on faith. You must believe something I am about to tell you. If you really believe then you will experience God directly through Christ. You will become one with God. You will undergo a transformation over time that makes you Christ like in mind and character. You will both possess and inherit life eternal as you become more Christ like. This will happen because your spirit will be made one with God who is spirit. All creation coheres and has its being in the Spirit of God, even this physical dimension. However, this does not mean the physical dimension is God, it means that it is created IN God. This in itself is not a personal experience or relationship with God. To use a weak analogy. Compare the physical universe of which we are apart to a dream you are having. You are not the dream. The dream coheres and has its existence in your mind. Neither is the dream you. The dream is your creation within you. As in all dreams it is possible for you to represent yourself within your dream. At this point in the dream analogy we can compare that representation to God to His incarnating in this physical dimension in the form of Jesus Christ. Just as in the dream analogy you can interact with your dream, so also does God interact with mankind through the person of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ lives and went to be with God. Jesus after his crucifixion was raised to life and took on a glorified body and was seen after his resurrection from the dead by numerous people for a substantial period of time before he ascended into Heaven. Jesus predicted this would happen long before it happened. He indicated that it would be necessary for him to die so that this transformation would occur after which he would go to be with God. He considered himself both "son of man" and "son of God" and God as his and our Father. So if we take the dream analogy a little further, you enter your dream in some form that every other person in your dream can relate to and then take on another form (transformed from the first) that allows you to link you who are dreaming with all the other persons in your dream. As I said, it is just an analogy. But it helps to explain the need and effectiveness of Jesus Christ being a "mediator" or "interface" between God and man. Now to explain again how this interface works so you can become a Christian, "Christ like" in mind and character and live in "oneness" with God.
When Jesus ascended into Heaven to be with the Father he was then in a position to activate the link between man and God the Father. How does this happen. First a little bit more regarding what Jesus taught us about God. The word God is better understood as God Head. From the perspective of man God can be viewed as One God but 3 persons. This is a strange concept and hard for many to accept. But God is God, He can manifest Himself to Himself or to His creations as He sees fit. The creation cannot challenge the creator nor can the creation compel it's creator to think in the terms of the creation. God is sovereign. We have already been over this point. He is the beginning and end of all that is. There is none like Him. Therefore, as a Christian I accept the explanation of Jesus as a suitable way of understanding God. So Jesus explained that from the perspective of man there is God the Father, God the Son (referred to as the living Word of God or Son of God), and God the Holy Spirit. God is spirit and all that is formed is done so by God the Holy Spirit as I have already explained. Then there is God the Father, who is sovereign and holy meaning that He is beyond and separate from anything formed by the Holy Spirit. But from God the Father comes the design of the universe including allowance for the expression of free will. Then there is God the Son, the Living Word of God by whom this design was implemented. God the Son interacts with the creation through the Holy Spirit. Now, when Jesus Christ in his glorified body (the incarnation of God the Son - the Living Word of God) went to be with the Father he was in a position of authority to send the Holy Spirit to anyone who would have faith and believe that he was the means by which they would achieve "oneness" with God who is life eternal. By virtue of this "oneness" you possess (as a true Christian) and will inherit (when your body dies) eternal life and the person of God. You will no longer be distracted by the things of the physical dimension and you will be in that place in Heaven even as you are in that place once you believe. But then you will know even as you are now known. That is the how the experience continues after death of the body which implies immediate exit from the physical dimension. That which is the believers New Reality now in this physical dimension and life in the flesh becomes sealed upon death of the flesh and is the basis for our glorified body and thus is our eternal reward. Therefore, how we develop in the transformation or New Reality is critical to our reward or lack thereof. Any Christian that does not take this seriously with diligence risks not only this reward but the very victory over death which is theirs in Jesus Christ.
When Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to you there is a merger at the spiritual level of your existence which joins your spirit to the person of the Holy Spirit which is the essence of God in a personal way , in a way your mind, emotions, and other faculties can appreciate and cooperate with. The impossible has been made possible. Your life as a new Christian may seem strange as you gradually adjust to the presence of God in your soul. But Jesus will not send the Holy Spirit unless you believe he is capable of doing so and you are willing to receive the Holy Spirit. Even if you want with all your soul to receive the Holy Spirit you should realize that although Jesus sends the Holy Spirit from the Father to you there is a great personal price you must pay. The gift of receiving the Holy Spirit is freely available to all, to whoever desires to be "one" with God and wishes eternal life. But there is a requirement. You must be prepared to give up all that you are so that nothing is more important to you than achieving this relationship. Even your ego or sense of identity must be surrendered to the Holy Spirit to be regenerated into the humility and obedience that is Christ Like. You see, the purpose of having this relationship is that you may be a co-worker with Jesus Christ. That means you must express God in all that you think, feel, and do, just as did Jesus Christ. We are to grow in this capacity. We must learn to recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit in our soul. The Holy Spirit will gradually teach us to be like Jesus Christ in mind and character. Initially we start this transformation with all the habits of our sinful life. But God imputes the righteousness of Jesus Christ our mediator or interface and He does not see our sinful habits, referred to as the "old" man. But God expects through the direction of Jesus Christ via the Holy Spirit that we gradually grow into true righteousness according to the template of imputed righteousness. The growth in this regard is referred to as the "new" man in Christ.
For you to properly be transformed and grow to be Christ like you need to become part of a Christian fellowship. If you pick a so called Christian group that does not understand the transformation and/or does not know how to help you then you will be at a great disadvantage in becoming Christ like. It is possible for you to be unsuccessful in the transformation and that is why you need the help and encouragement of a true Christian fellowship that legitimately cares for your growth in the New Reality. There will be those that tell you that as soon as you profess acceptance of Jesus Christ as your savior (as your interface to God) that you have received the Holy Spirit and you are saved and will receive eternal life regardless of anything you may do or feel or not do or not feel - the rest of your life. They teach this in error and promote it to others by taking a few passages out of context and by failing to consider all the passages that come to bear on this subject. This teaching of free and easy salvation is a bunch of bunk coming from those that delude themselves. The New Testament clearly teaches that true Christians must be diligent in working out their salvation and must maintain a relentless focus of being obedient to God through Christ. If they are not they will lose out. So, you need to associate yourself with Christians who base their lives on the Bible with emphasis on the New Testament and who realize their responsibility as a fellowship to edify one another in caring for the transformation occurring in each others lives. If those you consider are not loving people and don't seem to care for how your transformation progresses or even their own, then stay away from them. It must be evident in their lives that they love with an obsession all humans and that they act in unity and care for each other to the extent they would lay down their lives for each other. These fellowship cells are out there. You should seek out such fellowships by testing them out. Visit them, ask them questions, watch their behavior and see if they are Christ like in mind and character. At the very least they should be trying diligently to be so. With them associate! Be very careful and fussy about this. And don't let anyone confuse you. Becoming a Christian means also becoming a member of the true Body of Christ, the true fellowship of believers.
You will probably have many questions and so feel free to ask them one at a time. Try and get yourself a Study Bible, there are many. You can go into a Christian Bible Book Store and tell them you are a new Christian and would like to get a Study Bible that will help you become more Christ Like. Go to several such stores, take your time, focus on the New Testament, specially the 4th gospel, which is the 4th book in the New Testament called JOHN. Learn this book first before the others. Participate in bible studies once you find a true fellowship. Examine the various Study Bibles by focusing on the book of JOHN (4th one in from the beginning of the New Testament). Someone at the store can find it for you if you need help. You should also be aware that some sincere Christians may frown or disagree with some of the things I have told you. This is because they do not recognize the difficulty in forming translations into English from the New Testament Greek sources. They rely too heavily on a word to word type of interpretation process and expect the language syntax to do all the work of conveying the intent of the writer(s). They do not understand that linguists had to do a tremendous amount of research and cross referencing in order to even identify what they felt was the meaning of the words to be translated given cultural considerations, context, and even the specific usage of the writer(s). I could go on about this and it would become a big distraction to the purpose of this web page. The point to be made is very simple. One can quote scripture left, right, and crooked but unless one grasps the intent of the writer(s) then quoting scripture is of no avail. In this article I have desperately tried to capture the intent and then put that intent into forms of expression in English that will be effective in getting that intent into your mind. I hope your browser recognizes the color differences because they show the intent differences between the over simplified approach and what the New Testament says in addition to the simplified approach. I am not criticizing the over simplified approach as something false but as something incomplete for many seekers. In the final analysis you will have to read the New Testament and let the presence of God in your life speak through your will affecting your thoughts, concepts, feelings, and emotions. For that is how the Holy Spirit manifests the Will of God in your soul. You can only know the effects of this work in your soul. As the transformation progresses you will learn to recognize that the presence of God in your soul is changing and creating you in the form of a mind and character like that of Jesus Christ. If you have faith that this process is at work, transforming you in that regard you will eventually pleasantly discover that your soul (from the inside out) is being taught to be Christ Like and that diligence, patience, and focus on your part will bring you rewards you never knew existed. This work is being done by the Master who understands what it is to be both human and part of God and he will be certain to deal with you as an individual and will discover your deep places and evil inclinations, your doubts and your skepticism, your inadequacies and strengths, virtually all that your are and will gradually transform you into his Likeness. I have absolute confidence in this and if you are diligent and maintain your focus he will give you peace, joy, love, and knowledge and will keep you as his for ever and ever.
If anything I have said is confusing please ask me to clarify. I did not want to tell you too much and be confusing. But also, I wanted to tell you enough about the important considerations so that you were aware of certain things and did not get messed up because I was too brief. Take your time and be patient and I am here to help you find your way.
Yours in Christ, Ted