Expert: Todd Tyszka - 2/1/2011

Question
QUESTION: i'm a hindu by birth.please say me the procedure how can i convert to become a protestant?please help me sir.

ANSWER: Hi Sri,
I would love to help you! This is the simple most important decision you will ever make in your life - More important than who you will marry, where you will go to school or work, more important than anything!

First of all, let me clarify with you what you want. You are not joining a group like Catholics or protestants... You are becoming a follower of Christ, a Christian. When you genuinely become a Christian and ask Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior, He sends the Holy Spirit to you and the Holy Spirit begins to live inside of your Spirit and change you to be more like Christ. You will read the Bible, go to church, and get to know God intimately. You will never be the same and will eventually spend eternity with God in heaven, a place more wonderful than you can imagine.

To become a follower of Christ, the Bible says that you need to believe that Jesus Christ is God, that He died for your sins and rose from the dead (Romans 10:9). When you genuinely believe, you faith will produce deeds (James 2:14-26) and fruit (e.g. John 15).

I encourage you to find a good Bible in a translation you can understand (I prefer the *NKJV or NIV) and read it daily. Then find a good Bible-believing church in your area that you can attend. This may be difficult where you live, however, God is calling you to be faithful to Him no matter what the cost. I pray that you have the strength to do these things.

If you have any other questions, please let me know. I pray and hope that you make this decision to follow Christ and never look back.

Todd

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thank you so much sir.you have really encouraged me a lot.thank you so much.but sir,
i want to become a protestant.please say the everything about how to become?the traditions?and how to pray?and eveything related to that.i'm sorry sir if i'm troubling you.but it's my life.so i'm stressing on it.please sir help me.

ANSWER: Hi Sri,
I am happy to answer your questions and I apologize for any confusion. Every Christian church is technically Protestant, which means that they "protested" or are in opposition to the Catholic church, which is technically not Christian because they have doctrines which expressly contradict the core beliefs of the Bible and Christianity. For more on this, you can go to http://gotquestions.org/Catholic-questions.html. Dictionary.com defines Protestant as "an adherent of any of those Christian bodies that separated from the Church of Rome during the Reformation, or of any group descended from them."

To be a "Protestant," you would go to a Protestant church, which is essentially any Christian church.
I again encourage you to find a good Bible-believing church as it is essential that a true believer serve and help other believers while they too are helped and strengthened in their faith.

If you have any other questions, please let me know.

Todd

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: sir sorry sir.i'm disturbing you.but sir a small doubt.now i understand if i become a christian i'll become a protestant as well.thank you sir.but how can i convert to christianity?if i be baptimised then i'll get converted to christinanity or anthing else?if i needed to be baptimised then please let me know all the procedures,the time how it will take and all the information.or anything else about that also sir.please.

Answer
Hi Sri,
You are not disturbing me at all as you suspect, so do not worry about that, I am happy to help you. As far as how to convert to Christianity, I answered that in the first answer:

You are becoming a follower of Christ, a Christian. When you genuinely become a Christian and ask Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior, He sends the Holy Spirit to you and the Holy Spirit begins to live inside of your Spirit and change you to be more like Christ. You will read the Bible, go to church, and get to know God intimately. You will never be the same and will eventually spend eternity with God in heaven, a place more wonderful than you can imagine.

To become a follower of Christ, the Bible says that you need to believe that Jesus Christ is God, that He died for your sins and rose from the dead (Romans 10:9). When you genuinely believe, you faith will produce deeds (James 2:14-26) and fruit (e.g. John 15).

I encourage you to find a good Bible in a translation you can understand (I prefer the *NKJV or NIV) and read it daily. Then find a good Bible-believing church in your area that you can attend. This may be difficult where you live, however, God is calling you to be faithful to Him no matter what the cost. I pray that you have the strength to do these things."

Once you have asked Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior, you can perform a symbolic act called water baptism in obedience to Jesus Christ. This is symbolic of many things, however, it doesn't make your sins forgiven or make you a Christian, that is what making Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior does. Just because someone is water baptized does not mean they are a Christian. It is also not a requirement to go to heaven as the Bible states that the thief on the cross wasn't baptized, yet Jesus said he would be with Him in paradise. However, it is a command and should be obeyed. When you find a Christian church, you can tell the Pastor, elder, or someone in leadership at the church that you are a Christian and would like to be baptized, and they can baptize you. This is something quick (only a few minutes) and they will probably ask you how you know you are a Christian, if you know what baptism is, and then they will dunk you in water in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Then they will lift you out of the water and you are done. Water baptism is a public/outward expression of what has happened spiritually in you. It is symbolic of you dying to sin and your flesh, and being raised to new life, just as Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead. Water baptism is something even Jesus Christ had done (by John) and is something every believer is commanded to do. However, it is important to understand what you are doing before you do it.

I hope this helps and please let me know when you have found a Christian church and tell me about your experience there.

Todd