I(Mikal) am a Christian

Christian -(a) of, relating to, or professing Christianity or its teachings.[1]As I have stated, I do not accept my adversaries definition of what being a Christian is. If I let him play semantics with what being a follower of Christ entails, he himself would be God. Under my adversaries definition of being Christian, whatever he deems as "following Christ" would be acceptable. God is the author of our fate, not my opponent. I will not give him the authority to deem whom can follow Christ. The moment you accept Christ you are following himWhen you accept Christ as your lord and savior, at that very moment you become a Christian. Regardless of the semantics my adversary is trying to play, when you acknowledge Christ as your lord and savior you are following his commands. You are taking up your cross and turning your heart around. Matthew 16:24-25 - Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 25"For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it[2]Contrary to what my adversary believes, being a Christian and being saved go hand in hand. This verse is a direct correlation to that point. If we even take this far back as the Greek and Hebrew Translations we can see that "deny yourself" is the act of offering your soul to Christ. At the very moment you deny yourself you are a Christian by its very definition. You have made and effort and by acknowledging your sins you are choosing to follow the commands of Christ. You are taking up your cross and following after him. This is the very definition of what being a Christian is. It is acceptance that Christ is lord and savior and asking him to come into your heart(salvation), and at that very moment you are following the commands of Christ and seeking to follow his commandments (Christian). The moment in which you are saved , you are following his commands and are on path to uphold the teachings of our lord and savior. So yes Salvation and Christianity do go hand in hand. Especially when salvation is referring to accepting Christ as your savior. My adversary also shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the bibleGood deeds or fruits as my adversary is referring to are things that are shown and come over time. Once you accept Christ ,you start to develop these. This is a long process and for some can take ages. Matthew 7:16-18 16"You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? 17"So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18"A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit [3]The thing with fruit is that it takes time for it to grow. Once you accept Christ the seeds of the fruits are inside you and as you continue to foster and grow in him they continue to grow. You don't magically just poof the fruit into existence. The moment you accept Christ and become a Christian not much changes. You are a Christian the moment you accept him and from that point on it is a struggle and a fight to uphold the laws of Christ. Over time as you grow in the spirit and your devotion to the lord you manifest the fruits of the spirit which are Joy, happiness, and love. Even if my adversary is referring to the fact that fruit = works. This is the same principle. Not all Christians are required to do great deeds, but you will be more inclined to do them. Even if you are required, it does not magically come from nothing. It is a gradual process as well. He also claims that Christians cannot play devils advocate. I do not need to address this in full detail because it is not really a contention, but just merely a blind assertion and a horrible point. My adversary is also trying to define what following Christ means. The very essence of the definition of Christian hinges on the fact that you are a follower of Christ, not my adversaries subjective conclussion. One can be a Christian and not believe the bible, one can be a Christian and be Catholic, one can be a Christian and be protestant. The very essence of what it means to be a Christian is found in salvation. It is turning your life around and following him. Christian - follower of Christ (in short)The best verse to explain this is Galatians 2:20Galatians 2 19-20 "For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. 20"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. [4]This at its core is the very essence of Christianity. The moment we turn to God we are crucified ourselves. Christ was a metaphorical bridge to salvation. Without his death, we had no way to God. Christ came to die for us to fill that gap. That through his sacrifice we may be saved. The moment we accept him, the person we are starts to die and a new person is born. The old you dies and Christ starts to live in you. At that moment all these things that my adversary quoted out of context start to come into fruition. The works, the fruits, all of these things follow once you become a Christian. This is not a magical thing that just happens with new Christians but a process. As the verse says, the life that I now live is by faith in the Son of God whom loved me and died for me. All it takes to be a Christian is just accepting Christ and being willing to follow him which I have. That at its core is what being a Christian is all about. Salvation can happen anytime. Hypothetically if my profile did label me as an atheist. There are a few things key contentions my adversary must acknowledge(a) I can accept Christ and choose to follow him at any time, so even if it I was not saved 3 hours ago he would have to show that I am not sincere in my effort to follow him at this present moment(b) My profile is not a reflection of who I am as a person. I can type anything I want, that does not make it accurate. According to my adversary I am a really hot red head who happens to be a guy. (c) If you are recently saved, you are not a Christian nor do you show the fruits of the spirit or any good works. according to my adversary I am not allowed to be saved in the last few hours (because he can determine whom follows Christ and whom can not), and I also am a reflection of my profile. So if I updated it and said I made 250,000 dollars per year I would be a very happy individual. I think my adversary is mistaking the fact that a profile is not a person. My name may not even be Mikal. He is arguing the fact that everything my profile says is an objective truth about me. That logic is infallible. What my adversary is essentially saying is that I cannot be saved. That is a bold claim. Even if during the process of sending him this challenge, I found it in my heart to accept Christ and follow him I have won. Granted this is not the case as I do love Christ and God and acknowledge them as my lord and savior. ConclusionBy awarding my adversary a win you are admitting to a few things(a) He can decide whom is a Christian because he has the right to say whom is following Christ subjectively(b) Being saved =/= you are following Christ (Definition of a Christian)(c) That I am not allowed to have accepted Christ and chose to follow him in the past few hours (Meaning you are awarding him the right to be the judge and jury)(d) That by professing salvation , you are not taking up a cross and following Christ and doing his works(e) That by being a young Christian, you are not truly a Christian at all(f) That you have to believe the bible to be a Christian My argument has presented and entire case that is quite disturbing. He has essentially deemed himself the Pope but even has taken it a step further. He has the right to judge whom can be saved and at what time they can be saved. This is a very disturbing stance. I would highly advise you to read over what you are voting for, because he is flat telling me that I am not genuine in my effort in the past few hours to accept Christ as my Lord and Savior and that I am not a ChristianThis is entirely his opinion and is subjective because of his own thoughts. By awarding him this win you are giving him the absolute right to determine what good works are and whom can be savedIt is almost offensive to think that he can judge me and say I am not a Christian because he has misread and misinterpreted what the bible means by being a follower of ChristI have and always will love Christ and God. That is an objective truth in my heart and in my reality. My adversary bears no right to judge me nor has the right to say I am not a follower of Christ. Ending PointMy adversary has not even considered the fact that I may have recently been saved which is the fact and also claims the right to say I cannot or have not been saved. By giving him this win we are admitting to all the things I mentioned. That when you accept Christ you are not following him, that by being a young Christian you are not saved, and we are adhering to his own dictatorial stance on what being a Christian isGod really does love me and I am a follower of Christ. regardless of what my opponent may think [1] http://www.thefreedictionary.com...[2] http://biblehub.com...[3] http://biblehub.com...[4] http://biblehub.com...