Difference between revisions of "Christianity"

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Christianity is a major world religion and is the only way to God. Jesus said "No man comes to the Father, but through me." According to the bible, He later proves how this is done, by resurrecting from the dead, conquering death, proving His claims to be the Son of God come to earth are true. He then offers eternal life to the entire world as a free gift, forgiveness by God to anyone who will believe in Him.

Christianity follows the teachings of the sixty-six books comprising the Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible, said to be "inspired", which means God-breathed. God breathed out through His Spirit upon the authors of Holy Scripture what He wanted said. They did not invent the writings themselves, but wrote what He wanted said. (2 Tim.3:16,17; 2 Pet. 1: 19-21). The Old Testament has the books of God's revelations to the Jews, pointing to the ultimate revelation of God's Son come to earth in Jesus the Messiah. Many of the Jews became believers in Jesus when they saw Him risen from the dead, or saw from Scripture how He had fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament which only the Messiah could do. The New Testament books help give understanding of the meaning of the Old Testament books.

Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament, begins with God's creation of the world and Adam and Eve. They sin and rebel against God, and in that "fall" represented all of mankind; we were in their loins, so to speak, and were guilty too. We are born guilty of sin, but then also commit actual sin and are guilty before God ourselves. We have desperate need of God, yet our sin separates us from Him. We are "dead in our sins and trespasses", needing to be right with God, needing His blessings and His forgiveness and mercy and love. We cannot achieve that ourselves, however. We need a Savior, and Scripture informs us that we are so evil, none of us wants God. Yet He, in love and mercy and grace for us, chose rather than destroy us in His holy and righteous wrath over our sin, to allow His only Son to bear that wrath and punishment we deserve, in our place. As our Substitute, He took the death punishment we deserve for our rebellion and sins against God. God the Father accepted Jesus' perfect atonement, since He Himself was without sin, and could be the "spotless Lamb" God had pre-figured in the Old Testament.

God had set up an elaborate system to show Israel their sinfulness compared to His holiness. Every sin had to be paid for by the shedding of blood, and this pointed forward to what Jesus Christ would do for the entire world. Instead of having to continually have an animal sacrificed and the blood applied to the person to cover their sins, in the fulness of time God sent His only Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, to become man and to be our representative before Him, as the "second Adam." He was sinless, so did not deserve God's wrath or death, and willingly accepted death in our place, for our sin, for our punishment, so that God's righteous justice could be met. The sin of the world was placed upon Christ when He was beaten and nailed to the cross at Calvary. Because He was God the Son, His infinite value paid for all our sins.

The Old Testament books point forward to a coming Messiah, and they call people to have faith in God, to believe, and we have the records of believers such as Moses and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, David etc. In faith they looked forward to the once-for-all Savior God would provide, and trusted God to keep His promise of saving them because of His grace and mercy. The New Testament books are eyewitness documents about that historical event of the promised Messiah's incarnation, and trace His lineage from Mary back to Adam and Eve. He is shown to be the promised "Seed" Who would step on Satan's head who caused the Fall and sin. He is shown to be the promised heir to Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob and David. 2000 years ago, all of world and Jewish history culminated in the life of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Christianity agrees there is only one God, as the Jews do, "Hear O Israel, the Lord thy God is One Lord" (Dt. 6:4), but they understand now how within that one God, there are three co-equal and co-eternal Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This plurality within the Godhead was seen in Genesis, as God said "Let us make man in our image", or again when the Holy Spirit was seen "moving over the face of the waters" in creation. Each Person in the Trinity has their own individuality, yet each is fully Divine, eternal with no beginning or ending, uncreated, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent. The Father is not the Son, is not the Spirit; the Holy Spirit is not the Son nor the Father; the Son is not the Father nor the Spirit. Each is fully God, and the three Persons are the One and Only God. This is not a contradiction, as if saying 1+1+1=1, but as if saying 1x1x1=1. We do not have three Gods. Nor are each Person of the Trinity only part God. There are three Whos, and one What--One Deity, consisting of three Persons in the Trinity, Father, Who Jesus said no man has seen but Him, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Jesus taught His disciples what we find in John 1: that "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God, and nothing that was made, was made without Him....and the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.full of grace and truth, and we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father."(vss.1-2, 14). Christianity believes Jesus Christ is fully God, eternally the Son, not created, and that He added to His Divine nature that of a human, so that He at His incarnation is now fully human as well. He was sinless, so did not deserve death Himself, and God raised Him from the dead(Acts 2:24; 10:40). Scripture also says He raised Himself from the dead. It states also that the Spirit raised Him from the dead (Rom.8:11). Jesus died for the sins of the world, not the Father or the Spirit. The Spirit has specific tasks He does, pointing us to our need for Jesus Christ. He "convicts the world of sin and of righteousness", the only righteousness being that which can be found in Jesus Christ, offered to us freely through grace, received through faith.

Christianity is the world's largest religion, with over two billion members. Most people believe there are various roads to God, and want to think all religions are equal, or equally true. Jesus Christ claimed He alone is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (Jn.14:6), and that his teachings were the Truth and that He is the only Way to the Father.

Christianity has three major branches, Protestantism, Catholicism, and Eastern orthodox, all of which agree and confess the basics found in the Apostle's and the Nicene Creeds, which are short summaries of the Biblical teachings from the early Christian church. Man-made statements are not inerrant as are the inspired Scriptures, nor are they supplemental to Scripture, and should not take away from the content of Scripture. For the most part, all branches of Christianity hold to these creeds as being good statements of the Christian faith:

Apostle's Creed (2nd century)

"We believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended in heaven and sits on the right hand of the Father Almighty, from where He shall come to judge the living and the dead. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting."

The Nicene Creed is similar: (325 A.D.)

"We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Chrsit, the only-begotten Son of god, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very god, begotten, not made, being of one substnce withthe Father by whom all things were made; Who for us men, and for our salvaiton, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father. And He shall come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, and His kingdom shall have no end. And we beleive in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of Life, Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, Who spoke by the prophets. And we believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. And we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen."

Beliefs

Christians believe that Jesus Christ died for their sins and rose from the dead three days after dying. They believe this because Jesus appeared not only to the Twelve Apostles, and to His family, but to over 500 eyewitnesses, and most of those were still around at the time Scripture was being written, and could be talked to about what they saw. (1 Cor.15:3-8). The resurrected Jesus was seen by eyewitnesses over a 40-day period, eating and drinking with them, teaching them, showing them from the Old Testament Scriptures how He fulfilled those promises by God. Only He in love could pay for the sins of the entire world.

Christians believe that when one accepts these ideas of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and when one turns to God in repentance for their sins and in belief towards God, that God regenerates the person, giving him a new spiritual nature, and he is "born again." Jesus said "Unless you are born again, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven."(John 3:3). God is so holy, and we are so sinful, we must have new, sinless natures, and the only way we receive them is when God gives them to us when we turn to Him in faith and trust, believing Jesus died for our sins on the cross, believing He rose from the dead, and that He forgives us and offers us His love, mercy, grace, and new life, a life to be with Him in eternity forever.

Even our ability to believe is a gift from God, He says, "so that no man may boast." All of our salvation is from Him, beginning to end, and He alone receives the glory. We are undeserving, unable to merit His favor, but because of the atonement provided by Jesus, we are justified before the Father, and He accepts Jesus death in our place, and in turn offers us the righteousness of Christ. He clothes us with Christ's righteousness, and sees us as holy when we are believers in Christ(Romans). We still have our old sin nature until we die, but we also have our new nature with which we trust in Christ's atonement for us. We will sin, but the Apostle Paul says "it is no longer I who sin, but sin which dwelleth in me." Christians try not to sin, because with this new, born again nature, we now hate to sin, and love holiness. We want to please God, and we try to keep the two most important commandments Jesus taught: To love God with our whole heart soul, mind, and self, and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:30,31). Out of gratitude for Christ's works for us we serve Him and want to obey, and we understand that nothing we do earns our salvation; it is His works, not ours.

Christianity teaches two basic sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper. Believers in Christ are to be baptized in water. Water had always been seen in Scripture as cleansing, and life-giving, powerful and necessary. Romans 6:4 says that in baptism: "We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." Baptism is not merely symbolic, representing what Jesus did in His death, but an actual dying to our sins, and a raising of us up by God in newness of forgiven life. It is a one-time rite done at the beginning of a Christian's profession of faith.

Christians also believe in the Lord's Supper, which Jesus said "This is My Body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." He took bread and wine and said "Take eat, this is My Body shed for you, for the forgiveness of your sins" and "Take and drink, this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many, for the forgiveness of your sins"(Lk.2; Mt.26, Mk.14). Christians celebrate this communion at Church, a time of reflection upon their sins, repentance, and receiving afresh God's promise of forgiveness and grace through the death of Jesus for us.

People can claim to be Christians, yet not be so. Jesus said that just as weeds grow along with the wheat, so there will be non-believers with the believers, wolves and false-teachers among the lambs. He said to leave them, for perhaps they would turn to God seeking His mercy, and that He will be their judge. We will see differences in denominations, differences among people claiming to be Christians, but only God can see the heart. We ask for an outward confession of faith, and if the person does so, we also look for spiritual growth, for fruit in their lives--evidence that the Holy Spirit is working in them. "Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self control" are evidences of the Holy Spirit, as is good doctrine, speaking truthfully, being faithful to Scripture, and loving God with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength, and our neighbors as ourselves.

So when a poll says this is what Christians believe, it is not necessarily so. All Christians believe the same fundamental, basic things. This is called orthodoxy. Someone who does not believe the basics, is not orthodox, and is heretical or not Christian. An example would be an online Harris poll from 2003 ^[1] 99% of all American Christians believe in God, 96% in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 93% in Heaven, 93% in the virgin birth, 92% in survival of the soul after death, 82% in Hell, 50% in ghosts, 27% in Astrology and 21% in reincarnation.

Claiming that the 4% do not believe in the resurrection of Christ are still Christians, would be false. Christianity is founded upon the resurrection of Christ. Liberal denominations often change Scripture or change its interpretation to have it mean what they want, rather than what it actually teaches. If someone refuses to believe in miracles, despite the evidence, he refuses to believe in the resurrection of Christ, despite the evidence, and that is not an honest way to approach those facts evidence. We cannot pick and choose what we want to believe from God's Word. Holy Scripture is His revelation to us of the things we need to know. He tells us what is right and wrong, what is sin and not sin. Scripture teaches that there is only one way to God, and that it is "appointed to man once to die, and after that the judgment" (Heb.9:27). Christianity does not believe therefore, in reincarnation.

Christianity does believe in an invisible realm which includes fallen angels, demons who try to lead people away from the truths about God. Christians learn what the doctrines of Christianity are by studying the Word of God and reading what God has placed there for our understanding and knowledge. Even though we cannot see the evil spirits, we are taught about the demonic warfare of which we are a part, and taught to fight against Satan (Eph.6). We are protected by the covering we have as beleivers in Christ, "the breastplate of righteousness" being the righteousness of Christ we have received through faith. We stand in His armor, and need not fear our enemy, "but having done all, stand." He fights our battles and protects us.

Controversy

It is a misunderstanding that there is much conflict or different thought within Christianity on certain issues. Christians get their truth from Scripture, and usually it is those who do not hold to Scripture who are the ones trying to drill up controversy.

It is a misunderstanding that only "fundamentalists" are those who are morally conservative in their Christian beliefs. Fundamentalism in Christianity began around the 1900s when the basics of Christianity were stressed again: the inerrancy of Scripture, the Trinity, the Deity of Christ, mankind's sinfulness, Salvation through the death of Jesus by Grace Alone on account of Christ Alone, salvation received through Faith Alone; the Second Coming of Christ. These were called Fundamentals, and all Christians held to them.

Some Christians are more legalistic, not fully understanding the salvation of grace offered solely on account of Christ's works, and they tend to emphasize their own works and attempts at holiness more, and are known as fundamentalists. That is not, however, the negative category we see in other "fundamentalist" groups, such as in Islam.

Christians want to live holy lives, but should do so in the understanding that all their actions are less than perfect, but are received by God on account of the righteousness of Christ covering us with His holiness. Holy living is good. Obeying the Word of God is godd. All Christians are against abortion, because Scripture teaches that we are 1)not to murder, and 2)it also showed babies in the womb as being living human beings. John the Baptist was able to have a spiritual awareness when in the presence of Jesus Christ, and leapt in the womb for joy.3) Ps.139 refers to God forming us in the womb. Since we do not know when our immaterial nature exists, from conception or slightly thereafter, because Scripture does not say, yet we do know that murder is wrong, we ask people to adopt their baby out, rather than have an abortion.

Scripture says that homosexuality is "an abomination" to God (Dt.18) and is a perversion against nature(Rom.1). Because it is God Who gives life and families and children, marriage is a holy sacrament, and families are to be desired the way He as our Creator intended for us. So Christians understand the importance of family, of real love, and are against homosexuality, while still loving the person who struggles with the sin. The sin is not denied, however, and the full text of Scripture is proclaimed, because it is the Word of God. God wants what is best for His creation, but our society's depth of sinful depravity can barely recognize sin as sin anymore. It is the duty of Christianity to preach the Law as well as the Gospel, the truth of God as revealed in Scripture. It is not loving our fellow humans if we do not tell them the full message God has revealed in Holy Scripture.

the bible says fornication is sin, and adultery is sin. Christians agree. The Bible does not state when God created the world, only that He did the creating, and that Adam and Eve were in His image. So Christians do not hold to the theory of evolution, although they have differing opinions as to the length of creation, whether it was a literal 7-day creation, or over a period of time.

All Christians believe in hell for those who do not accept Jesus Christ, because Jesus taught this. He taught them to repent, to turn away from their sins, and to beleive in Him. "No man cometh to the Father but by me." If we don't want to receive God's forgiveness, His love, His mercy, His blessings, His new life, His purpose for our lives, His gift of eternity with Him, He will not force Himself upon us. But why reject Him? We all want and need to be loved, and only He can love us and knows us entirely. "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." He knew our sin, yet loved us, and wants us to be with Him. We have no good reason to reject Him!

Christianity competes in the marketplace of ideas in the world with many religions and secular philosophies. It stands alone for Truth. It has proven over 2000 years to have solid evidence for its claims. Individual Christian lives are changed, and an eternity with Christ is anticipated. Until Jesus' Second Coming, (which He said would be soon, but that He is waiting out of mercy so that some would repent and turn to Him), we are to be evangelizing and making disciples.(Mt.28:19,20). We are to share God's Commandments,the Law, telling people of their sins that make them guilty before God, and then of the good news of the Gospel that God is offering them forgiveness and reconciliation through the shed blood of Jesus on the cross for them. We are then to teach and disciple them about the content of Holy Scripture.

"If you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). He promises, and God does not lie.

See also

• Catholic Church (the original Christian Church)
• Roman Catholic Church (Western branch of the Catholic Church)
• Orthodox Church (Eastern branch of the Catholic Church)
• Christian apologetics (Defenses of Christianity)
• Conservative Christianity
• Liberal Christianity
• Judaism
• Islam

References

1. ↑ http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=359