Welcome to Gaia! ::

Y'know, that's both the easiest question in the world, and the hardest. First of all, let me say that you probably already know some of what I'm going to tell you ... I apologize for that, but since I don't know what you do know, I'm having to cover a lot of bases.

I also apologize that this is long; people here will tell you, I'm long-winded ... er, maybe long-fingered, since I'm typing. sweatdrop

Okay, you have a Bible, so you can look up some of what I'm going to tell you. The Bible is God's number one message to us; it's through His written word that He tells us of what has passed, what is, and what is to come. It's history, it's poetry, it's prophecy, it's law, it's a story of people, and the story of God. Since it's so many things, of course, it can be a little confusing to read ... but you'll get used to it, don't worry.

As far as reading your Bible (except when you're jumping around to different verses and passages, like I'm about to do), it's probably easiest to start with the New Testament. We can talk more about that one later; I have a tendency to get sidetracked.

1. Becoming a Christian ... we start with the simple fact that we're all sinners.

Pretty harsh, maybe, but it's true. You know about the Ten Commandments, right? Well, you've probably broken every one of them. Oh, maybe you think you've never killed anyone, but ...
Jesus goes on to say basically the same thing about several subjects. Even a virgin can be guilty of adultery, it turns out; committing adultery in your heart is just as bad as committing it in your bed.

Anyway, we're all sinners. Sure, you can say, "well, yeah, I'm a sinner, but I'm no different from this person over here". So what? What makes you think they're any better off? We're not judged by comparison with others; we're judged by comparison with God's rules. You can say, "I'm a sinner, but I'm better than this strung-out alcoholic porn star" ... again, so what? Still we're sinners, each and every one of us.

And there's only one place where sinners belong: Hell. Oh, I know, most people don't like to talk about Hell. It's there anyway, and it's something we've earned by our sins.

2. God, believe it or not, does not want anybody to go to Hell. He hates when people go to Hell. So He set up a plan where people wouldn't have to go. Specifically, He sent His Son, Jesus, to "pay the price".

Let's go over that, 'cause we can never go over it enough. Jesus, God in flesh, the only sinless man, He who created the universe and everything in it ... took all our sins and said, "okay, I'll pay the price. The death that was going to be theirs? Let it be mine. The suffering that was going to be theirs? I'll suffer instead. If anyone is willing to trust Me as their Lord, then I'll see to it that their sins are forgiven." (Okay, that's all the Dragonbait Paraphrase, but you get the idea.)This ... is fact.

But it doesn't end there. I mean, anybody can die, and back then it wasn't that hard to get someone to kill you in the most painful way imaginable. Jesus did this ... then proved He had the power and authority to forgive sins like He said, by coming back from the dead! If He had just died and rotted away, our faith ... it'd be nothing, it'd be "meh". But He died, waited three days, then sat up in his grave and said, "okay, gotta move that stone. Can't wait to see the look in Peter's face when he sees me!" Jesus died ... and came back.

3. If you accept point one (you're a sinner), and point two (Jesus died and came back to forgive your sins), then step three is pretty obvious. Talk to Him about it. I'm just making up this prayer, just to give you some idea, but ...

It's that simple. Actually, it's a lot simpler than that; I threw in the "uh, um ... whoops" business because that's how most of us really talk. And God doesn't care about proper English and sentence structure as much as He cares about, "look, are you trying to say you're sorry? Hey, it's okay, it's okay."

4.Boom! It's done. You're now a Christian. More importantly, more practically, you're a new person. Sure, you still have your old instincts, old desires, but now you've decided to focus yourself on God, rather than on your old ways. It's not that hard, really, is it? No, the hard part is the next part.

5. Live it. Sure, it's easy to say you're a Christian, but what do you know of Christ? Probably not much. To be honest, though, none of us here know as much as we probably should. So, learn more about Him! Talk to Him every day -- even just five minutes at night is a good start. Read through the Bible, see what He has to say. Find other people -- like us, or a regular church -- and learn what you can about God. Oh, sure, I'm making it sound like you gotta give it everything you've got ... well, that'd be fair, since Jesus gave everything He had, but right now I'm only asking for ten to fifteen minutes a night, looking over the Bible and talking to God about whatever crosses your mind.

Above all ... love God. Love God, and love those around you.



And, in keeping with part five ... let us know if there's anything any of us can do. I promise, next time, I'll try to be less verbose. xp Or maybe somebody else here can explain it more simply, or mention something I forgot.

hmm... I think you've pretty much covered it dragonbait. I can't think of anything to add to the discussion...