Introduction to Christianity

The previous posts at this blog assume that the reader is already familiar with the basics of the Christian faith. The purpose of this post is to describe the basics of the Christian faith to someone who is as yet completely unfamiliar with them. As well as specifying what I believe I will also describe the variations of the Christian faith that other people believe (e.g. Catholic versus Protestant). In particular this is written for my friend Michael who noting that the Christian faith is important to a lot of people would like to know more about what it is that Christians believe (if only to understand the people in the world in which he lives in better). I am joyed to have this opportunity to share my faith with Michael and hope I do a good job.

Where to start?

I'll start by saying that Christians believe in God. God is a being who created the world. The Christian God is different to the Buddhist and Hindu belief about God in that Christians believe that God is separate from his creation. To some people the fact that God and his creation are separate is obvious but to many people particular from an Eastern (i.e. Buddhist or Hindu etc) background God and his creation are believed to be the same thing. That is Christianity along with Judaism and Islam is monotheist (there is only one God and he is separate to his creation) whereas Buddhism and Hinduism are Pantheistic (they believe that all is god).

Another way that the Christian belief about God differs from the pantheistic belief is that Christians believe that God is conscious and has a personality. That is God is a "Being" not a force or a phenomenon.

Having established that Christians are monotheists we will now look at how us Christians understand God differently to the 2 other monotheistic faiths of Judaism and Islam.

The main difference between the Christian and Jewish God and the Islamic god is that Jews and Christians believe that God is moral whereas Muslims believe that God is amoral. (I am not an expert in religions other than Christianity so only communicating things as I understand them).

Muslims believe that to say that God must be good is to limit his power and thus do not say that God must be "good" only that he is all powerful. As a Christian I would describe the god that the Muslims believe in as capricious.

Jews and Christians on the other hand believe that God is and must be morally good. That is we believe that it is very important to God that He is morally good not just all powerful. A lot of people will then ask how an all-powerful God who is also all good can allow bad things to happen in this world (note that this is not a question Muslims need to ask). Many people have rejected belief in the Christian God on the basis that they don't think that an all-powerful God who is also all good would allow evil to happen in the world. That is a difficult question to answer but as Christians we have faith that despite the evil we see in the world God is both all-powerful and all good. We attribute the evil in the world to man’s free will (natural evil e.g. people dying in a cyclone or earth quake we attribute to the “fall” – a term I will explain later. Basically had Adam and Eve never sinned God would be able to supernaturally intervene to prevent “natural evil”. When Adam and Evil sinned they gave an authority to the devil over this world that God respects to this day – but will one day remove. Just as the cops often know who the bad guys are but can't just lock them up but must follow due process it seems God too has a legal process to follow before he finally locks up the devil at the end of days - albeit this process is largely mysterious to us).

I’ll further add that like a lot of Christians I believe that God exists outside of time a bit like Einstein’s universe where past, present and future in the universe all exist together and it is just our perspective that changes. So perhaps I should say God “creates” the universe rather than “created” the universe. Some will say that if the universe exists outside of time why do you need a God also existing outside of time to create it. I can explain my answer to that question but it is a topic for another post – though it ultimately comes down to faith to a certain extent (my answers would be along the lines of “design” and my own consciousness and perhaps that an eternally existing God is easier to live with than an eternally existing universe). But I am getting off topic as I am talking about what Christians believe not why they should believe it (though asking why is a good question of course but that is a topic for another post). I fear I may be getting lost in philosophy rather than saying what Christians believe so I will try to stay on track. (Note that we see Jesus claiming to be outside of time when he says in John 8:58 "Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”")

The record of God’s creation of the world is recorded in the first chapter of Genesis at the start of the bible (The bible is divided up into books – written at different times by different authors – and books are subdivided into chapters which are subdivided into verses – the subdivision into chapters and verses is a modern thing which aids with referring to verses to other people). Traditionally Moses is considered the author of Genesis.

Many Christians interpret Genesis as saying that the universe was created in seven 24 hour days and believe this happened on the order of 5 or 6 or 7 thousand years ago. We call them “young earth creationists”. Many other Christians believe that the word for day which is the Hebrew word “Yom” can be legitimately translated as a long time period of indefinite duration and may correspond to many millions of years, we could call them “old earth creationists”. Young earth creationists think old earth creationists are evil heretics but we aren’t we are simply in touch with reality. The topic of this post is not the old earth creationist interpretation of Genesis so I will skip that here. A good website that explains the old earth understanding of creation is here http://www.reasons.org/ (When God said “let there be light” he was talking about the creation of photons in the big bang. The rest of Genesis is described from the point of view of an observer on earth’s surface not out in space).

Before moving on we first need to explain the concept of sin. Most human beings are born with an innate sense of right and wrong so I probably don’t need to harp on this too much. The term “sin” simply refers to the “wrong” in the term “right and wrong”. That is “sin” is that which is morally wrong. If you murder someone or steal something or commit adultery (cheat on or with someone) then you are sinning. There are numerous other ways to sin. To sin is basically to do evil to another person or to do evil to God.

Another topic I should broach to put the rest of this post in context is the concept of heaven and hell. Christianity, Judaism and Islam all believe in the concept of heaven and hell. That is the 3 Abrahamic faiths all believe that the soul (and with it a person’s consciousness) all survive death and spend eternity in either a place of punishment or a place of reward (not all Christians believe hell is eternal but most do and all believe that heaven is eternal). Where the faiths differ is in their beliefs about how one avoids hell and instead goes to heaven after death.

Not all religions believe in a heaven and hell, some for example Buddhism and Hinduism believe in reincarnation (and eventual nirvana) in this world.

The answer to the question how does one avoid hell and go to heaven after one dies differs slightly between Catholics and Protestants and also among Protestants. We will get to the answer later in this post. The take home point is that Christians of all persuasions believe that God is intimately concerned with the good and evil everyone does in this life and holds everyone accountable for the morality of their actions. Some people believe that God created the universe but then watches it unwind from far of not concerned with what individuals do. Us Christians believe that God does care about the morality of what we do and that after death we will all have to give an account of our life to him. So while God does not always intervene to stop evil in this life he will eventually judge all evil that is committed in this life.

Christians differ over what they believe hell involves. Believing in eternal punishment is hard for many people. Some people believe that hell is a place where the wicked are actively punished (the bible does seem to indicate that) others that it is simply the suffering that results from being separated from God (the source of all good) for eternity. Whether the fires of hell are symbolic of suffering or literal it is clear that it is not a place where you want to end up after death. What heaven consists of is also mysterious but its clear that it is a place where you do want to end up after death. To go to heaven is to spend eternity in God’s presence and to go to hell is to spend eternity separated from God. God cannot stand evil and basically we Christians believe that heaven will be populated with people who are free from sin.

At this point you might be thinking – “I got it - the good people go to haven the bad ones go to hell so try to do more good than bad and you might make it into heaven”. Actually a lot of people do believe that – including people of the Jewish faith - but according to the Christian bible it is not actually how it works. You see the problem is that according to the bible everyone is a bad person and everyone is too sinful to go to heaven and everyone deserves to go to hell. But God has a plan to get people into heaven anyway which we’ll get to later in this post.

Jesus’ sermon on the mount goes beyond the ten commandments and points out that not sinning does not just mean not sleeping with another man’s wife but not even thinking about sleeping with another man’s wife, it means not just not murdering but not even wanting to murder. A standard none of us can keep of course. But God has a solution which we will get to later.

Another theological point I should point out is that another difference between Jews, Muslims and Christians is that whereas Jews and Muslims believe that “God is one” Christians believe that God consists of 3 persons (each with their own “will”) but who are all the same being we call God. Strictly speaking our Christian belief is illogical but we believe it anyway. The concept of God being 3 persons but also only one Being is named the “Trinity”. Us Christians believe that the 3 persons who make up the Godhead are God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. God the Son is another name for Jesus Christ who was born around 2,000 or so years ago. The Muslims believe that us Christians are pantheists who believe in 3 Gods but we do not regard ourselves as pantheists who believe in 3 Gods but rather we are monotheists who believe in only one God.

Sorry if this is getting a bit disjointed and if I jump from point to point but I will also point out that the bible is subdivided into an Old Testament section and a New Testament section. The first set of books which are called the “Old Testament” are books written before Jesus Christ was born. The Old Testament books of the Christian bible are totally identical to the Jewish bible (except some books are in a different order).

The New Testament books are books written about what happened immediately prior to the birth of Jesus and what happened after the birth of Jesus. There is about a 400 year gap between the Old and New Testament books (where God stopped talking to Israel). The Old Testament books of the bible basically record God’s dealing with the nation of Israel (Jews are from the tribe of Judah of the nation of Israel).

Christians believe that the way to go to be “right with God” (to be in Gods good books so to speak) was to be a Jew up until the time of Jesus birth. Where Jews and Christians differ is that they disagree on who Jesus was/is. Us Christians believe that Jesus is God himself born into human flesh. Religious Jews don’t believe that - though Jews are waiting for a “Messiah” promised in the Old Testament books. Christians believe that Jesus is the “Messiah” promised to the Jews in the Old Testament (Jews are still waiting for someone else to be their Messiah).

Now we get to the central point or rather the central Person of the bible namely Jesus Christ. “Jesus” is his name “Christ” is his title (“Christ” means “messiah” which means the One God promised to the Jews in the Old Testament). Actually when he was on earth Jesus’ name was actually pronounced Yeshua. “Jesus” is an Anglo-Saxon way of saying the name Yeshua. Or rather “Jesus” is the Anlgo-Saxon (or at least Germanic) way of saying “Iesous” and “Ieusos” is the Greek way of saying the Hebrew (Jewish) name Yeshua (also spelt Jeshua, or Joshua). We trust that God knows you mean “Yeshua” when you pray to “Jesus”.

The birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are recorded in the New Testament in the books Mathew, Mark, Luke and John. These are known as the 4 gospels (“gospel” means good news) i.e. the gospel of Mathew, the gospel of Mark, the gospel of Luke and the gospel of John. Mathew, Mark and John are eyewitness accounts from men who were Jesus disciples whereas Luke’s gospel is written from other sources (Luke not being an eye witness himself).

Christians believe that as recorded in the 4 gospels Jesus was born from a virgin named Mary (actually Mary is an Anglo-Saxon or at least Germanic way of saying her Jewish name which was actually Miriam). Christians believe that as recorded in the gospels Jesus had no human father but that rather his father is God himself – God the father. Christians believe that Jesus is 100% human but also 100% God. Incidentally you’ll note that in the gospels Jesus often refers to himself by the title “Son of Man” (apparently Jesus thought that his distinguishing feature was that he was human). Jesus is also referred to by the title “only begotten Son of God”. All Christians regard themselves as sons of God but the title “only begotten” refers to the fact that Jesus is the only Son with God as his biological Father.

Christians believe that Jesus lived a totally sinless perfect life. And now I will get to the crux of the matter. Christians believe that God the Father allowed Jesus to be executed by being crucified on a cross by Roman soldiers (at the Jewish leader’s request). Christians believe that God the Father accepts the death of Jesus his Son as sufficient punishment and payment of the penalty for all the sins that we have ever committed or will ever commit. We believe that no one needs to go to hell to be punished for their sins committed in this life because God the Father has executed and punished Jesus in our place for the sins that we have committed. That might not make sense to you but the main thing is it makes sense to God.

Christians believe that because Jesus is human he is related to each one of us biologically and as a member of the family he has the right to swap places with us to take our deserved punishment. Because he is not only (biologically) related to us but He is also sinless and didn’t deserve to be punished he could swap places with us and receive our punishment instead of ourselves. Because he is God himself (and so worth infinitely more than any man) his death is not only sufficient to pay the penalty deserved by just one or two men (or women) but sufficient to pay the penalty for all the billions of men and women who have ever lived or will ever live. That is essentially the “gospel message”.

While I am on the gospel message I should also include the fact that Jesus did not stay dead but rose bodily from the grave and was seen by numerous people before ascending to heaven. Jesus then sent God the Holy Spirit to dwell within us until he bodily returns again one day.

You will note however that while Jesus died to save everyone (from hell) not everyone actually is saved. Some people believe everyone is saved no matter what but it is clear from the bible that this is not the case. So the question is what distinguishes the “saved” people from the “unsaved” people. This is where you will get different answers from different denominations of Christianity. All Christians both Catholic and Protestant agree with the gospel message in the above paragraph – that Jesus death on the cross is what means we can be saved. The main divide between Catholics and Protestants (everyone who is Christian but not Catholic) is that Catholics believe that good works are still required for salvation whereas Protestants believe that we are saved not by doing good works but only by having faith in Jesus and what he has achieved by dying on the cross for us (and rising from the dead again).

While we are on the topic another divide between Catholic and Protestant is that Protestants believe that the bible is the sole authority on church doctrine (e.g. how to be saved) whereas Catholics believe that tradition such as pronouncements from the pope hold equal authority to the bible. Another difference is that Catholics pray to Mary and other saints but Protestants pray only to God (Jesus or God the Father).

Catholics will happily admit that they believe that your own good works are required for salvation as well as Jesus death on the cross. Protestants (i.e. Anglican, Baptist, Uniting church, Presbyterian, Pentecostal etc) will all mostly agree that we are saved by grace alone through faith without good works. The protestant belief can be summed up in the phrase “salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone”. However in practice a lot of protestants while professing to believe in salvation by faith alone (we call this “giving lip service”) in practice end up preaching salvation by works (similar to the Catholic position).

For example some Baptists will say that to be saved as well as needing faith in Jesus you also need to be baptised (immersed in a pool of water). Some Pentecostals will say that to be saved as well as needing faith in Jesus you also need to show that the Holy Spirit dwells within you by showing a miraculous work such as speaking in tongues (a gift of being able to speak in another language you did not learn). Many Christians will say that to be saved you need to have Jesus as your Lord. A common (though misguided) saying is “unless Jesus is Lord of all he is not Lord at all” this is also known as Lordship salvation (which ultimately boils down to “do enough good works to be saved” as if Jesus death on the cross didn’t totally save us but merely lowered the bar a bit). The fact is Jesus is already Lord of all (that’s what it means to be God) we can’t give him that position he already owns it. If we could do enough good works to be saved he wouldn’t have needed to die on the cross for us in the first place.

You may now be asking “exactly what do I need to do to be saved”. There is an easy answer to that question that I will give but first I will lament that fact that its amazing how many Christians (including myself in the past) can’t actually give the correct answer to that question. The first answer to that question I heard as a small child was to pray a prayer asking Jesus to “come into my heart” but that is not a biblically based answer (it refers to Revelation 3:20 but it is actually a misuse of that verse).

Another very common answer to the question what must I do to be saved is to “pray the sinner’s prayer”. At my church most Sundays the unsaved will come down the front and parrot the words that the pastor tells them to say which will be the “sinner’s prayer”.

Don’t get me wrong the “sinner’s prayer” is a great prayer to pray especially if you have just been saved but contrary to very popular Christian belief it is not actually praying the “sinner’s prayer” that saves you – especially if you are merely parroting whatever the minister tells you to say (rather it is the faith that motivates you to pray the prayer that saves you). If you think the sinners prayer saves you point out to me in the bible where it says this is so. The fact is the bible does not contain the “sinner’s prayer” nor does it contain any record of someone being asked to pray the sinners prayer or being saved because they prayed the sinners prayer.

Now if you have just been saved then telling Jesus about this fact i.e. praying the sinners prayer is a very natural thing to be doing but just be aware that no ritual including the “praying the sinners prayer ritual” actually saves you (particularly if you are merely parroting whatever someone else has told you to pray).

The mechanism of salvation which does have a biblical basis because its what the bible actually teaches is simply believing in Jesus and that his death on the cross and resurrection has paid the penalty for all your sins. Jesus who is God has given you his righteousness in exchange for your sins by dying on the cross in your place. If you BELIEVE that then you are already saved. You were saved the moment you believed that.

Note that you cannot choose what to believe. You either believe something or you don’t. If you believe in Jesus (who he is – Lord and Saviour) and that he has died on the cross as payment for your sins then you are saved but that is a belief given to you by God in his grace its not a work you have done. That is you are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ.

Note that you don’t require faith in your faith but faith in Jesus. There is so much more to talk about but having just covered the gospel message I don’t want to water it down by getting of track on some other tangent so I will finish this post here.

If you have just come to faith in Jesus then you are already saved and so because you are saved (not in order to be saved) it would be odd if you didn’t verbalise and communicate with God about your faith in Him so you should pray the sinner’s prayer. As the sinners prayer is a prayer from your heart not a ritual you do to be saved – exactly what words you pray are up to you not for me to tell you what they are 

PS: As long as we are on the topic of salvation I will also give some versus referring to salvation namely John 3:13-18 "No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God."

Note that in the above verses Jesus being "lifted up" refers to Jesus being crucified and lifted up on a cross for all to see. (The Old Testament records an incident in the book of Numbers 21:9 in which people were healed by looking at a bronze snake on a stick - this is symbolic of Jesus many centuries later being attributed with our evil and lifted up on a cross to die as punishment).

Here is some more about Jesus from the Old Testament (Jewish bible) written about Jesus around 800 years before Jesus was born. Isiah 53:3-12

He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?

And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.