What is a 'true Christian'?

That's not me commanding it, but rather reporting it.

Correct, it's not up to me. If it were, I'd let everyone in. The very simple qualification I listed was outlined by Jesus in the Bible. I don't insist upon it, Jesus does.

but you have to hold on to Romans 10:9, otherwise you're lost.

Moses made a huge mistake when he included a commandment against adultery instead of one against homosexuality.

faceman writes:If I honestly think I'm Napoleon Bonaparte, does that make it so?

Phat writes:I could also claim to be a true athlete, but one minute on the track, or on the Pitchers Mound, or the Tennis Court would quickly confirm or deny my claim.

Phat writes:Whoever trusts in Jesus, though he believes one moment and dies the next, has his life hid with Christ in God.

Phat writes:In essence, relationship with Jesus is a definite indicator.

David Platt,small group study writes:"Follow Me." These two words contained radical implications for the lives of the disciples. In a time when the sons of fishers were also fishers, these men would have grown up around the sea. Fishing was the source of their livelihood and all they'd ever known. It represented everything familiar and natural to them.That's what Jesus was calling them away from.By calling these men to leave their boats, Jesus was calling them to abandon their careers. When He called them to leave their nets, He was calling them to abandon their possessions. When He called them to leave their father in the boat by himself, He was calling them to abandon their family and friends. Ultimately, Jesus was calling them to abandon themselves.

ringo writes:Does it mean believing he was a real person, five-foot-nine with a beard and long hair? Or does it mean doing what He wanted you to do?

ringo writes:What does it mean to "trust in Jesus"?

Phat writes:Evidently he does not consider Jesus as a dead spook.

Phat writes:... others would argue that it is only through His transforming Spirit that we can by nature even love our neighbor without coveting his ass or his wife or anything else.

ringo writes:Why can't you be a "true athlete" without being any good at it?

ringo writes:What I'm saying is that it doesn't make any difference whether He's a dead spook or a fictional character.

1 Corinthians 15:1-17 writes:1 Cor 15:1-17
Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them-yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.

If you define a Christian with a qualification that requires the Bible, then none of the people who existed before the Bible was compiled could be considered Christians. Which would include the authors.

Not so. The word was the word in the beginning. The word(s) were spoken orally long before they were written down. The early believers surely had some impartation from the spoken word---if not the written.

The Bible today is the "books" but Paul's teachings were inspired before they were bound into a book, and all the New Testament writings were considered to be inspired before they were bound into a book. They were recognized as inspired by the early church and passed around as individual writings for many years before the canon was fully recognized and long long before it was bound into a book. And the Old Testament was the inspired source for the New Testament writers themselves.

The Christians who were before the books believed what we now believe THROUGH the books. The point is what we believe not what form it came to us in.

Okay, so then there's no requirement to believe in the Bible to be a true Christian.And your definition that a true Christian must take the Bible as the final authority is in error.