by Robert Searles

Created on: September 20, 2008

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHRISTIAN AND CHRISTIANITY

How do we describe Christianity? What are its' characteristics? What does it mean to be a Christian?
Some people believe that being a Christian simply means believing in the fact that Jesus Christ once lived on earth and was a good teacher and prophet. Some believe that if one can imitate Christ and follow in his footsteps, that it will make him a Christian. Others believe that going to church, faithfully following the teaching of the church, doing good works and doing the best we can constitutes Christianity.

The characteristics of Christianity and a true Christian are laid out for us in the holy scriptures and the teaching of Jesus. When a person becomes a Christian, there must be a change in his lifestyle, not only manifested in the flesh, but also in the spirit. Christ taught that we must be willing to die to ourselves, and be reborn as a new creature in him.
First of all, becoming a Christian is not the work of man, or the flesh, or the will of man; it is the sovereign work and will of God. Except God draws a person to Christ, and reveals to him his depravity and sin and need for salvation, it is impossible for him to be saved and become a Christian.. Jesus taught that with man, salvation is impossible. Man cannot save himself; but with God, all things are possible. The spirit of God convicts a person of the fact that he is a born sinner by nature, and shows him that because of this fact he habitually sins against God. He is separated from God, and will be forever separated from God unless he finds a remedy for his lost condition. When, through the reading of God's word or by hearing it preached, the Holy Spirit speaks to his heart, and he is willing to acknowledge to himself, to God, and to man that he is indeed a sinner, lost and heading for an eternal hell, but that God has provided a solution and remedy in the person of Christ Jesus who came into the world to save sinners, (he who knew no sin took upon himself the sin of the whole world, and bore the penalty for sin for every human being on the cross of Calvary), humbles himself and believes the word of God, and calls upon Christ to save him, he will be saved, and at that moment he becomes a Christian. At that moment if his call to Christ is sincere and he really is sorry and repentant of his sin and old life style, he will be considered dead to the old man and alive in Christ.
In order to become a Christian, Jesus said one must have experienced a new

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