How Can I Become a Christian?

Receiving Jesus Christ as Savior and confessing him as Lord are the most important acts you or anyone else will ever do. Please read through these Scriptures to see God's plan for you. Here are some points and scriptures to assist you.

First, the bad news -- all men have sinned.

Romans 3:23 All have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.

1 John 1:8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Sin separates us from God.

Isaiah 59:2 Your sins have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you.

Romans 6:23 The wages of sin is death.

DO NOT BE DECEIVED!  "Death" does not mean you cease to exist!  After physical death your spirit lives on forever.  Romans 6:23 is talking about spiritual death. If you have not accepted Jesus before you physically die, God gives up on you -- He stops trying to get you to be just, fair, loving, righteous, etc., and just punishes you forever.

Now, the good news. God loves you.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

God did for us what we could never do for ourselves.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God--not because of works, lest any man should boast.

God sent Jesus to save us from our sins by his death and resurrection.

Romans 5:8 God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

Romans 4:25 He died for our sins and rose again to make us right with God.

You can accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior by believing in Him, repenting of your sins, and being baptized in his name for the forgiveness of your sins.

Romans 10:9 If you confess with your lips [lit. "proclaim"] that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Acts 2:38 Repent and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

"I don't claim to be perfect, but I really haven't done anything really evil.  How can I repent?"

We have to realize that God is perfect.  "Holy" means "perfect."  God hates sin -- all sin.  If you ever gossip, if you ever say mean things to someone out of spite, if you ever put other things ahead of God in your priorities, God considers it sin.

Consider this: more than 99 percent of the time, Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, and John Wayne Gacy were fine, law-abiding citizens.  The other 1 percent of the time they were serial killers!

"Repent" means to make a knowing, conscious decision to turn away from sin.

"What about baptism?"

Every Christian should get baptized, but most Christian theologians believe it is not required to be saved.  Paul evangelized extensively, yet performed few baptisms.

"Do I have to join a particular denomination?"

Many religions have various denominations.  All Christian denominations share a core group of major Christian doctrines. Often, denominations arose from political, cultural, geographical, or linguistic differences.  Others arose from differences in interpretation of particular biblical passages.

It is important to realize that all Christian denominations share core beliefs.  Any group that denies even just one of these core beliefs IS NOT CHRISTIAN!

"Do I have to join a church?"

Joining a church is not required to be saved.  But you definitely should join a church (or Messianic synagogue).

Hebrews 10:25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Christians should "fellowship", "commune", gather together.  Being together with like-minded people provides support and encouragement.  We also get the benefit of experience, learning and spiritual insight that others have obtained over the years.

If you come from a Jewish background, check out Messianic Judaism, e.g., Jews for Jesus.  In case you didn't know it, the New Testament was written almost completely by Messianic Jews, e.g., Rabbi Saul, Peter, and two of Rabbi Jesus' brothers: James and Jude.