Are you a Christian?

How’s that for a question? Kinda like a David stone, hurtling straight towards Goliath’s forehead, no? Well, Arnold Gamboa weighs on his thoughts on what defines a Christian. Here’s some food for thought.


Hi everyone,

Here are my two cents on the question, Are you a Christian?
By definition, Christians are those who claim to be part of Christianity as a religion, much like a Muslim is someone who claim to be part of Islam as a religion. On the other hand, there are 3 kinds of Christians. We’re not talking about “Christian” as a sect here. We’re talking about all of Christianity including Catholics, Protestants, Born agains, etc. etc. See if you can identify yourself to either one of these:

1. Cultural Christians — these are people who are born of Christian parents, or in a Christian country, or educated in a Christian school. They call themselves a Christian because they grew up knowing it, seeing it, singing it. You will know if a person is a cultural Christian if you ask them why they are a Christian, their answer is “My parents are Christians, that’s why”, or “Don’t you ask me why I am a Christian, I got 8 years of Christian education” 😀

2. Religious Christians — these are people who call themselves Christians because they are part of a Christian group or church. They are those who go to church regularly and by doing that, adopts the name of that church they go to. For example, if you ask them why they are a Christian, they will answer, “I’m a Christian because I go to a Catholic church every Sunday”, or “… or to a born again church”, and so on.

3. Spiritual Christians — these people may be both cultural Christians and religious Christian. But what set them apart from these groups is the fact that they had what we normally call a “conversion” experience. What is a conversion experience? It is a fact that all of us are born “separated from God”. By that, I mean that we’re all, by natural tendencies, against God. You may be born of a Christian parent or part of a Christian denomination, but you are against God. No one is born worshipping God, but all are born worshipping self. The conversion experience is a realization that you cannot live all your life worshipping yourself and be the boss of your life. Conversion is turning to God and making him the boss of your life because he has all the reasons to be in the driver’s seat. You can be a Catholic or a Protestant or whatever, but have not really come into this part of your life. In the same way, you can be a Catholic or a Protestant or whatever, and become a Spiritual Christian if this realization has come and did the 180 degrees turn by turning over the CEO position of your life from you to God.

Both Cultural and Religious Christianity can end anytime soon, but only Spiritual Christianity lasts forever.

Thanks for reading.

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About the author
Arnold Gamboa is a 30-year-old technology entrepreneur from Mandaluyong City. He enjoys hanging out with his wife joy and playing with his toddler Johann. In five years, he hopes to serve full time for Grace Place, his local church ministry. Visit his blog.