Actually, people claiming to be the guardians of that truth, "the truth" have been telling us it is all sorts of things almost from the time of the first believers, who were simply called "believers" or "followers of The Way" . Without going into too much history lesson, they did not have a bible as we know it today, most had only the old testament - and the non-jewish not even that, and over a period of time many accumulated various teaching notes and letters from the apostles and other reputable teachers of "The Way"
Firstly, where do we look to find out ?
To determine what constitutes a Christian, I believe we can look only one authoritative place; to the birth and record of Christianity, the Bible. What we have now in a Bible is the collected, inspired works of various authors, selected by an early church council as those they believed to be the special writings of people at the bequest of God. In short, God's own letters to all who would read them.
And what
does it say ?
Let's
look at some verses from the Bible
Romans
3:23 All, have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.
All of us, everyone does not measure up in God's
eyes
Romans
6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life
in Jesus Christ our Lord
We stand condemned to death, but Jesus has provided
a way of escape
John
3:16 For God so Loved the world that He gave
His one and only son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but
have
eternal life.
Jesus came to make a way for us to have fellowship
with God
Hebrews
2:3 How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?
Our response cannot be a passive one, we must grasp
and accept this offer of escape
Ephesians
2:8,9 For it is by grace you have been saved, and this not from yourselves,
it is the gift of God-not by works, so no man can boast.
It is a gift, and like any gift we must receive and accept it for it to
become ours
2
Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
the old has gone, the new has come!
We are made into a new person when we receive Christ
into our lives
Ephesians
2:10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do
good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
God desires, and expects our response to be one of
a changing life, one pleasing to Him
These passages will provide a start point for anyone
wanting to begin life as a Christian.
But how do you begin this journey, how do you receive this gift?
Really it is so simple. First - Admit that
you have fallen short of God's standard of perfection
Next - Confirm - just tell Him, you know you need this gift of His way
of escape
Then - Ask him for the Gift, - ask Jesus to come into your heart, your
life as Saviour and Lord