I dive into the cut-and-dry basics of Christianity later in
this chapter, but first I give you the scoop on the whole shebang – from beginning
to end (as briefly as possible!) so you know what you’re dealing with. So kick
back, get a mug of java or tea, and read on for the story of Christianity. (If
you want to get to the nitty-gritty, flip ahead to the section, “Understanding
how Christians define their faith.”)
Going back to the beginning: People choosing, God responding
Christians believe in what they call the one True God, who
is perfect, has existed forever, and created the world and all its itty-bitty
little creatures (see Chapter 7). But when God created humans, he came up with
something extra special; he not only gave people pinky toes and eyebrows, but
also the one-of-a-kind gift of free will (choice).
God gave people the ability to choose whether to follow him
and have a relationship with him or to go our own separate ways. The reason he
did this seems pretty obvious to me: Suppose you desired a relationship with a
special someone. Would you prefer a person who decidedly picked you out of a
crowd, or would you rather have a robot that was programmed to do nothing else?
Personally, I prefer the chooser. I often wonder why my wife decided on me, but
I won’t argue; I’ll just enjoy the voluntary, albeit semi-crazy, decision she
made. So too, God opted for a humanity with free choice. But when he did so, he
took a risk, because people can decide to go their own ways and forget about
him.
God made it clear from the get-go that following him meant
letting the good times roll, while going against him would be a major bummer
for all parties involved – yucky stuff like eternal death and judgment, as I
discuss in Chapters 4 and 9.
The first folks to live out this experiment in freedom were
Adam and Eve. The couple had some good times with God for a while. But as the
Bible talks about in the Book of Genesis, curiosity got the better of them, and
they soon wanted to know what it was like doing what they wanted to do instead
of what God wanted them to do. They disobeyed God, setting off a chain reaction
of disobedience (or sin) that has spiralled through every generation since
them. See Chapter 4 for more on Adam and Eve’s escapade.
When people recognize sin in their lives, their natural
response is to try to do something to make up for it. Humans have continually
tried to earn God’s favour by doing good deeds as a payback (see Chapter 15). Christianity
says that payback with God is impossible, though. Think of it like this:
Suppose a genie grants you a wish to be transformed into a fish if you to. Because
he asks you in the middle of a heat wave, the idea of being a fish surrounded
24/7 by chilly water sounds really cool, so you take the plunge into the deep
blue sea. However, after a long swim and an initial fling with a puffer fish,
you decide that the fish’s life isn’t for you. Your natural response may be to
swim upstream to where you initially jumped into the water and hope that
somehow that action will reverse the metamorphic process. But no amount of
swimming against the current will change you back into a human again. Instead,
the genie, by his own initiative, has to change you back.
In the same way, as you see when you read Chapter 3, God had
to act on his own initiative to allow some way out of the trap that humans
found themselves in. Christianity says that he did this by sending his Son,
Jesus Christ (flip to Chapter 5), to take the punishment that is due you and I.
In his teaching, Jesus made it clear that the Good News of Christianity is
simple: Rather than deal with the bad news of sin, confess your sins and believe
in Jesus as Lord and Saviour. He wipes your sins clean and gives you eternal
life. A single Bible verse sums up his message: “For God so loved the world
that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not
perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Understanding how Christians define their faith
If you played a word association game with a sampling of Christians
who’ve been touched by God’s gospel and asked them to name a single word or
phrase that sums up Christianity, I suspect you’d get a handful of answers. A few
likely candidates are
Jesus Christ
Grace
Truth
Life
The Bible
A transformed life
Each of these words reveals a key aspect of what Christianity’s
all about. After you begin to paint the terms one on top of another, you begin
to see a clearer portrait of the Christian faith.
If you want to understand what true Christianity is, look
first and foremost to what the Bible’s New Testament says about Jesus. Explore all
of what Jesus did, said, and taught – not just a couple selected verses. What’s
more, never look at the actions or words of Christians and conclude that their
behaviour or attitudes reflect what Christianity is. The Church is often in
alignment with Jesus, but as Chapter 15 covers, Christians aren’t perfect and
make mistakes as well.
Definition #1: Jesus Christ
Christianity is a faith based on the life, teachings, and
resurrection of Jesus, a man who lived in Palestine some 2,000 years ago. Jesus
claimed to be the Son of God, sent by his Father in heaven to die on the cross
for the sins of all humans.
People of other faiths often consider Jesus a good moral
teacher, one who preached such memorable principles as “Love your enemies” and “Turn
the other cheek.” To Christians, however, Jesus isn’t just a good teacher. He either
was who he said he was – God in human form – or else he was someone who’s not
trustworthy. Chapter 5 discusses Jesus and the reasons why Christians believe
that being merely a good teacher is the one thing that Jesus could never have
been.
Definition #2: Grace
You see the word grace sprinkled all around the Christian
Church – in the song, “Amazing Grace,” in church names, such as Grace Baptist
Church, and when Christians say “grace” before a meal, to name a few. Grace is
everywhere. In fact, the New Testament mentions it 123 times. Christians define
grace as God’s undeserved love shown toward humans. They believe that God’s
grace is what saves humans through Jesus Christ (see Chapter 3) and enables
believers to live a Christian life (see Chapter 14).
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