Or does God have to call you first and then you can choose to become a Christian?
Well, if you believe God gave you free will, then I don’t see why anyone would believe God would have to call you to have a belief, before you could believe it on your own. It would also mean you would have to believe that God doesn’t give everyone a fair shake at being saved.
Of course anyone can become a Christian. To me, it doesn’t matter if you decide to do so because Christianity looks like a good thing, so you start turning up in church every Sunday, or even one Sunday a month, or if you have some classic Road-To-Damascus type experience, complete with “I once was lost but now am found” paradigm. If Christ did not die to save all mankind, what was the point of his death and resurrection. Then again, I lean towards the idea that God calls all of us at all times. How and if we decide to serve Him is up to us. I also realize that call is louder to some than to others, but just because it is almost silent does not mean it is not there.
CJ
Well, this is in Great Debates, so…
The majority of the world’s population is not Christian, and thus does not believe that Jesus was resurrected.
Point taken, Joe, but the presumption is that someone is interested in becoming a Christian – hence we may, I think, assume that he has some interest in subscribing, in one form or another, to the concepts that Christians tend to hold. (Interestingly, His4Ever and I have been discussing a very closely related point – “can ‘a Christian’ believe in a spiritual, non-physical concept of the Resurrection?”, a sort of “Jesus’s body is a molderin’ in the grave, but His spirit goes marchin’ on” sort of view, over on the Pizza Parlor.)
Which of course gets us into the question of whether subscription to doctrines is necessary to being a Christian… which the OP didn’t ask, and I’d rather not drag that red herring across the thread at this point.
I think I’m inclined to go along with Siege on the idea – people choose to become Christian for a multiplicity of reasons, and I suspect that most of them are God urging them to do so in very subtle ways. But insofar as the OP’s “or do they have to wait until God calls them” can be taken literally – until they experience something that they perceive as His call to them – I’d say no. But they probably ought to be open to welcoming having that experience, then or later.
Major? Wanna spell out a bit more what you meant by the OP question – what it implies in your own mind? It might make trying to come up with the accurate answer a bit easier.
Become a Christian? What kind? Catholics call themselves Christian but they are really just a men’s club that keeps women in subjugation. All the Christian bodies are just nuts that have fallen various distances from the Catholic tree.
We can release the goddess in ourselves by worshipping Kristi, naked on the cross, raped and abused by evil men and a patriarchial society. We need to celebrate our nature by elevating the liberated woman and denouncing the virgin and the mother.
Susie
Um, Susie? Please tell me that was a joke 
I checked her website. It’s not.
:eek:
Maybe the website is a joke, too.
liberationsusie, there’s a difference between proselytizing one’s own religion and bashing another. You seem to be conflating the two. Your post falls into the second category.
I think most people practice Christianity either out of habit (they were taught that way and see no reason to change) or they are sincere converts. Why they converted would be an interesting question of itself. After taking a few courses in comparative religion, I know in many cultures, people don’t aways convert because of an ecstatic experience or they believe the new religion is better. In Japan, for example, many people have “converted” yet go on practicing their original faith and simply add Christian elements to their beliefs. shrug
Your statement is not accurate.
Yes, the majority of the world’s population is not Christian. However, to assume they are not Christian because they do not believe Jesus was resurrected predisposes the belief of Jesus and his teachings. If you have not been exposed to Jesus and his teachings, you cannot have knowledge about his resurrection to not believe it.
I feel certain Susie’s website is a joke- a BRILLIANT joke, I might add! L
To respond to the OP, I’d like to say Yes, but some people try it & just don’t seem to be able to maintain. Others find it comparatively easy. Also, Biblically, the themes of “the Elect” and “the Calling” do arise, alongside invitations to make a choice, to come over to Christ. My best attempt to work it out at this point it that, Yes- anyone can join. God gives the ability to maintain faithfulness to those who really want it. But not all who come are ready to commit, so He lets them slide till they are ready- which may be as long as the Last Judgement- the Day which I hope will be one of Universal Reconciliation of humanity to God thru Jesus. Sectarian Christian theologians Charles Taze Russell & Herbert W. Armstrong held that the Elect in this Christian Aion are called to represent Christ & reach out for Him, but that the Great Harvest of Humanity will come in future ages from the Return of Jesus to the Last Judgement. So being non-elect does not equate to being damned.
I don’t see any evidence that the Christian God gives everyone a fair shake at being saved. In fact, I’d say exactly the opposite. It isn’t a level playing field. Not even close.
Julie
Speaking for myself…
I’m a Hindu, and I would never become a Christian unless I had a miraculous experience which could only exclusively be explained by Christian theology and not by Hindu theology. So, unless God actually called me to Christianity, there’s no way I could ever become a Christian.
The experience of many Christians is a little of both…
I started attending a Christian youthgroup as a teenager both because it pleased my parents, and there were more girls there than at my scout troop (any = more than none, I was a teenager after all ). Some time later, I had experiences of God’s love and acceptance of me that made me want to respond in some way, and this in turn led me to make a commitment to spend the rest of my life in relationship with Him (to become a Christian).
Others have a much more dramatic (miraculous?) experience, others simply a growing sense that, over many years, leads them to accept that they are (without really having been aware of the choice) a Christian.
Therefore YMMV 
Grim
I think it’s safe to say that a majority of the world’s population has heard of Jesus’s alleged resurrection and does not currently believe it. It’s even safer to say that there are more people in the world who have heard of Jesus’s alleged resurrection and do not currently believe it than there are people who do believe it.
Very few people stare blankly at the mention of the name “Jesus”, I’d wager.
Well, this is in Great Debates, so…
you have to explain how this would constitute a problem. 
The Lord must be spinning in His grave at the very thought of such an absurd idea.
Anyone can become a Christian…for the right price. Of course, you can wait for a call from god, but if he/she/it calls you collect…run.
Nice to see you aren’t letting reality get in the way of your bigotry and prejudice.
I’ll presume that by “Catholic”, you mean the group that follows around the head Bishop in Rome.
Bad news, sunshine, there is a lot of Christianity out there that has never bowed to the monarchical pretensions of Rome. Of course, most Westerners are quite ignorant of it and try to show off their ignorance as often as possible.