So who's allowed to call themselves a christian?

Hey Chai - I think the technical meaning of a Christian is a follower of Christ. That means they believe that Jesus (Christ) came to earth and was born of a virgin, died and rose again on the third day - he was the substitute for sinners.

But many who believe in God and not necessarily the story of Jesus call themselves Christians. Many whose parents went to church call themselves Christians...I guess it depends on your own interpretation of the word.

It doesn't really mean a lot in todays society I think. It is a nebulous catch all phrase for good people. That's not a bad thing - many words change over time. But I do believe the word started out meaning someone who followed Christ and his teachings. I am not really sure if it's right or wrong, or if it matters really - since names don't really mean much.

I could be wrong - it happens...

The definition of Christian for most of those who label themselves as such is one who has submitted to the Biblical God, and who has also signed on to the morality doctrine that has been generated by the church since the time of Christ.

Usually we call ourselves Christians if we feel we are Christians.
According to the Christian churches you are a Christian if you have been baptized.
Even if you leave the church you are still a Christian.
A baptism in most denominations are accepted in other denominations except those who only accept baptism of grown ups and some free churches who believe in kind of "born again" thing.

Maybe it was a Jewish hospital with only one Christian doctor. The other Jewish doctors would not be Christians because they do not accept Christ as the Saviour.

Could be other reasons. Many call themselves Christians when they are not.

Christians believe that Jesus was sent for the remission of their sins and he will come back to take them to heaven with him. They pray to God in His name and that is why they refer to themselves as Christians.

Others could also experience miracles, but they would not accept them as being from the grace of God through Christ.

IMHO

P.S. ~~~ In answer to your question on who is allowed to call themselves Christians.

A - Anybody who wants to

Lutherans are christians.

So are methodists, catholics, presbyterians.

A quick cut and paste of christian religions from wikipedia....

1 Catholicism
1.1 Roman Catholic Church
1.1.1 Latin Rite
1.1.2 Eastern Catholic Churches
1.2 Anglican Communion
1.3 Eastern Orthodox Church
1.4 Oriental Orthodox Church
1.5 Assyrian Church of the East
1.6 Other Churches that call themselves Catholic
1.6.1 Roman
1.6.2 (Continuing and Independent) Anglican
1.6.3 Orthodox
1.6.3.1 Byzantine
1.6.3.2 Oriental
1.6.3.3 Western-Rite
2 Protestantism
2.1 Pre-Lutheran Protestants
2.2 Lutheranism
2.3 Reformed Churches
2.3.1 Presbyterianism
2.3.2 Congregationalist Churches
2.4 Anabaptists
2.5 Brethren
2.6 Methodists
2.7 Pietists and Holiness Churches
2.8 Baptists
2.8.1 Spiritual Baptists
2.9 Apostolic Churches - Irvingites
2.10 Pentecostalism
2.11 Charismatics
2.11.1 Neo-Charismatic Churches
2.12 African Initiated Churches
2.13 United and uniting churches
2.14 Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
2.15 Restorationism: Stone-Campbell Movement
2.16 Southcottites
2.17 Millerites and Comparable groups
2.17.1 Sabbath Keeping Churches, Adventist
2.17.2 Sabbath-Keeping Churches, Non-Adventist
2.17.3 Sunday Adventists
2.17.4 Sacred Name Groups
2.17.5 Bible Student Groups
2.18 Anglo-Israelism
2.19 Miscellaneous/Other
3 Latter Day Saints
3.1 "Prairie Saint" denominations
3.2 Rocky Mountains denominations
3.3 Other denominations
4 Nontrinitarian Groups
4.1 Oneness Pentecostalism
4.2 Unitarianism and Universalism
4.3 Swedenborgianism
4.4 Other non-Trinitarians
5 Messianic Judaism
6 New Thought
7 New religious movements
7.1 New Age movements
7.2 Religions associated with the Yoruba
8 Esoteric Christianity

I'm sure one could look at the individual religions in this list and debate their "christianity"

However, if one is themselves a follower of one of these, or I'm sure many other religions, or even if they belong to any formalized religions, that person would be just as valid in saying they are a christian.

I'm not talking about someone who's parents went to a particular church, but they don't.

What I am talking about is the labeling of another person and whether they are a christian or not, based on their own perception of what a christian is, which is based on the fact they believe they are a christian.

mismi gave the opinion that the word christian doesn't have much meaning in todays society, beyond the idea of being a "good person".

I personally could give the same one for word opinion, except substituting "good person" with "a person who will eventually, and at an unexpected time, put up some type of dividing line which separates them from anyone who thinks differently, even if that other person professes themselves to be of the same ilk" See? Even I put a label on it.

On the odd occassion where I've been asked (by someone who calls themselves a christian) "are you a christian?" there is absolutely no way for me to answer in a way that satisfies me. The reason I can't be satisfied is the regardless of the answer, there is going to be more conversation attempted about whatever my answer was. It's not something I want to talk about. It doesn't matter why I don't, it's my perogative, and I don't want to talk about it.

If I were to anwer yes, no, or neither, and then continued with, in so many words, "I don't want to continue to talk about this" or "that's a private matter" no matter how politely it's said, it's out there, just hanging between the 2 of you. Honestly? I don't think it would hang very long, because I believe the other person will be compelled to say something. You can't ask them in return "why do you ask?" because that would continue the conversation also. If you respond "what difference does it make?" well, now you'll be told.

I might be a devout lutheran, an observant catholic, or a serious believer in the methodist religion. I still don't want to talk about it, or be asked if I'm a christian. Whether you understand it or not, for many people their beliefs are a private matter.

I've a question for someone who considers themselves a christian.

If you were to ask someone that, and they responded "I'm a catholic" and they didn't say another word. Do you feel that your question was answered?

Yes

So who's allowed to call themselves a christian?

Any old asshole, apparently, in my experience

Cycloptichorn

If christians are "good people" does that mean "non-christians are "bad people?"

It occurs to me that what your neighbor and his mother call a miracle is very malleable. In order to explain away the death that God assured her would not happen, she simply "misunderstood". If your neighbor had tragically died also I have no doubt that it would eventually dawn on his mother that God was actually speaking about her 4th child. If that one somehow assumed room temperature as well, she's still got three more kids to keep the miracle happily chugging along.

So in this regard, they appear to be True Christians: Amazingly gullible, with an inability to face reality.

Nope. You are proof that they are not.

Ouch!

I have never asked a person if they are a Christian. Probalby while growing up in Sweden that would have been a stupid question as now 80-85% belong to the Lutheran Church and the majority of the rest belongs to some other denomintions within the Christian Church. Most other Scandinavians and Europeans are Christians in one way or other.
The question is too personal IMO.
When someone asks that usually for me sounds as if they belong to some sort of free church and that person wants to convert you into their denomination.
I really avoid them - I have run into them.
Usually they have been either Jehovas Witnesses or Mormons. They call themselves Christians, but Jehovas Witnesses still are waiting for Christ even if they believe in Jesus (as a profet?) so they are not really Christians and the Mormons are not Christians either in the real sence of the word.

really, why would anyone care if a person self identifies as a Christan or not? People generally don't know themselves very well, and are not in the habit of being honest about themselves to others to boot. Better to get to know them, and make up our own minds if they behave as Christians, or not.

It is entirely possible that all of the doctors referred to considered themselves to be Christians, but that C and his doctor buddy hew to a different line, and don't consider other people to be Christian unless they espouse the same dogmas as he and the doctor themselves. I was waiting for a friend of mine once on a college campus (Long, long after i left university, i was near 40 at the time) and was approached by a Christian SWAT team. They wanted to get me to join their Bible study group, and they were tag-teaming me, first one speaking and then another doing the "I'll answer that one" when i had a question. It was actually a form of high pressure sales. The attractive young woman who had first approached me (seeing them a few weeks later, i suspect she was "bait") asked me if i had been raised a Christian, and i said that i'd been raised a Catholic (by my Protestant grandmother, although i did't bother to elaborate to her), and she said something to the effect of: "No, no, a Christian." I replied to that that Catholics are Christians, and she demurred, while another member of the tag team told me that really, they're not, and the third guy started attempting to explain to me in detail why Catholics can't be considered Christians. They were losing interest by that point, and looking around, so i frankly told them i found their point of view bigoted, and then told them: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness." (Matthew Chapter 23, verse 27) Then i told them that actually, i am an atheist, at least functi0nally. They all got really disgusted looks, and the woman started to rail at me for being an atheist and quoting scripture, and the oldest looking dude hauled her off--they were done with me then and there.

Since that time, i've paid more attention, and it seems to me that the more extremely dogmatic someone is, the fewer people they will acknowledge as being "real Christians." You can see it here (or used to be able to do). They really go after the Jehovah's Witnesses. One member here, who is JW, and who showed up several years ago, made a couple of remarks not long after he arrived, so i asked him if he is familiar with the watchtower. He responded in a guarded manner, and we had an understanding. A few years later, it became generally known that he is JW, and people would come here specifically to attack JWs and this member. I suspect other holy rollers here tipped them wise to him being here. Small wonder that there is such an expression as "cold as Christian charity." In my (admittedly limited) experience, the "fringe" Christians, the JWs and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are far more likely to sit down on the front porch with you and talk it over that other types are.

A last little story which always amused the hell out of me. My brother (BS in engineering and mathematics and BA in philosophy, MA in philosophy, and all but the dissertation in a philosophy PhD program) worked in a heavy equipment manufacturing facility while he was going to university. There was a JW there and he got excited when he learned that my brother could read "ancient" languages, i.e., Latin and Classical Greek. He had brought to work a concordance (which means your native language on one page, and the foreign language on the facing page) of the New Testament in English and Koine Greek and kept it in his locker. They were all in the same break room for lunch, and the other assembly line workers began to hoot when he mentioned he had the NT in the "original" Greek, and some actually got angry. The next day, one of them came privately to my brother and asked him if he could really read "ole-timey" Greek, and he said yes, he could. So when they were all in the break room, this guy asked the JW to bring out his book, and show it to my brother. So he looks at it, and says, yeah, this a concordance. The other guy crows and says: "See, i knew it was bullshit!"

Not only are the more extremely dogmatic more likely to be intolerant, but they are often as dumb as a box of rocks, too--or so it seems.

Nietzsche once said, "The last Christian died on the cross."

I tend to agree with him from the standpoint that everyone calling themselves a Christian invokes some definition of what that word means - each of them accepting one version of that definition over another and relating it to some semblance of the life/teachings/story of Jesus and/or his followers.

Those definitions differ greatly and they're all probably inaccurate in some sense or another. Those who would tell you that your definition is wrong are just as wrong as you are. Unless, of course, you're right.

If everyone, in fact, has his or her idiosyncratic definition of Christianity, that means that there's only one guy (or gal) who is actually gonna go to heaven, and the rest of us will burn in Hell.

Nietzsche also said "After coming into contact with a religious man I always feel I must wash my hands."
I feel the same way after reading Time or Newsweek.

Yeah, it's that salvation bugaboo that really is the issue. Most of the definitions revolve around salvation and damnation. I prefer to ignore the whole mess about the next life and concentrate on this one.