When a person chooses to become a Christian, God gives that person his Holy Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit who changes people's hearts, and who pleads for us, as we pray to God. When a person makes this choice, they become God's friend and child, and is promised a home in Heaven, and escapes the judgement of Hell. This promise is offered to everyone. All it requires is a choice.
What I have just described --though brief and accurate-- is a quick overview of how to get to Heaven. Of course, if you read the entire Bible, you'll get a complete picture of exactly how this all came to be.
Don't just take my word for it. The Bible explains all of this, in detail. The following, is probably the most popular portion of scripture, that gives a sample explanation of this. It's found in John 3:1-21.
"There was a Jewish leader named Nicodemus, who belonged to the party of the Pharisees. One night he went to Jesus and said to him, 'Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher sent by God. No one could perform the miracles you are doing unless God were with him.'
Jesus answered, 'I am telling you the truth: no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born again.'
'How can a grown man be born again?' Nicodemus asked. 'He certainly cannot enter his mother's womb and be born a second time!'
'I am telling you the truth,' replied Jesus, 'that no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. A person is born physically of human parents, but is born spiritually of the Spirit. Do not be surprised because I tell you that you must all be born again. The wind blows wherever it wishes; you hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit.'
'How can this be?' asked Nicodemus.
Jesus answered, 'You are a great teacher in Israel, and you don't know this? I am telling you the truth: we speak of what we know and report what we have seen, yet none of you is willing to accept our message. You do not believe me when I tell you about the things of this world; how will you ever believe me, then, when I tell you about the things of heaven? And no one has ever gone up to heaven except the Son of Man, who came down from heaven.
As Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the desert, in the same way the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to be its judge, but to be its savior.
Those who believe in the Son are not judged; but those who do not believe have already been judged, because they have not believed in God's only Son. This is how the judgment works: the light has come into the world, but people love the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds are evil. Those who do evil things hate the light and will not come to the light, because they do not want their evil deeds to be shown up. But those who do what is true come to the light in order that the light may show that what they did was in obedience to God.'
-John 3:1-21
So, what are the actual steps that a person takes to become a Christian? After all, when a person chooses to get married, there's, often, a ceremony. What's the process for becoming a Christian?
Like marriage, choosing to follow Christ is a deliberate choice. Ultimately, all it really requires is a genuine, heart-felt prayer. All you have to do is ask God.
When you ask, you need to acknowledge a few things. First, you need to acknowledge that you're a sinner, and that, based on God's perfect standards, you don't deserve to go to Heaven.
This is a foundational requirement, and the Bible is very clear about it.
Here's what the Bible tells us, in 1st John 1:8-9:
"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us. But if we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing. If we say that we have not sinned, we make a liar out of God, and his word is not in us."
-1st John 1:8-9