Christianity? Not Likely!
How is Christianity any different to other religions?
The difference is what we believe about Jesus Christ. Though we believe in the same God as the Jews, the people of Israel, we believe that the "Messiah" that they were waiting for has come - Jesus. Other religions believe in other gods, don't recognise Jesus as the Messiah, or focus on the self rather than on God.
RELATED QUESTIONS>>Who is Jesus?
So what is special about Jesus?
Jesus Christ was a Jew born in Bethlehem about 2000 years ago. He grew up in Nazareth and at the age of about thirty He began to travel around Israel preaching. He taught people that He was the Son of God and used healing and other miracles to show His power. He was crucified by the Romans, at the request of the Jews, but rose from the dead after three days.
RELATED QUESTIONS>>Science could disprove miracles
Aren't these just stories about Jesus?
I heard someone say He didn't really die, so the resurrection didn't really happen.
So what is special about Jesus?
Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. This makes Him special because,
in Jesus, God came to earth. But why...?
...Human beings, ever since Adam and Eve, have "sinned" - that is, gone
their own way, not the way that God created us to be. This left a big
relationship gap between us and God, so when we die, we are not "good"
enough to go to be in heaven with God. We deserve to die and be separated
from God forever. So God sent Jesus to fill the gap. Jesus led a sinless
life, so God used His death as a way of getting rid of all our sins
too. God told us that if we believe Jesus died on the cross in our place,
we will have our sins forgiven and will go to heaven when we die.
I'm not a sinner - am I?
How did Jesus dying get rid of my sins?
It all sounds too easy - don't we have to do something?
I don't want to go to heaven, sit on a cloud and play a harp all day long...
Science could disprove miracles
Jesus performed many miracles, healing the sick, turning water into wine, walking on water and calming a storm - to name but a few. People down the years have offered scientific explanations or questioned whether people healed were really sick after all. Some of the explanations appear plausible, some take a little more faith in co-incidence and many more just don't sound right.
However, the greatest miracle of all has had many attempts to disprove it. Though many have come up with possible answers, many more have found that they cannot disprove it and have therefore come to believe... Did Jesus rise from the dead?
RELATED QUESTIONS>>Aren't these just stories about Jesus?
I heard someone say He didn't really die, so the resurrection didn't really happen.
Aren't these just stories about Jesus?
If you've grown up through the English education system, you have probably heard at least a bit about stories of Jesus - the Baby born in Bethlehem at Christmas, the miraculous feeding of the 5,000, His death on a cross at Easter. But they are more than just stories, the writings about Jesus's life are based in historical fact.
The events of Jesus' life are recorded in the Bible, in the New Testament. The Gospel's, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were written by the disciples of Jesus (his close friends and followers) about 50-70 AD, not long after Jesus's death. There are also other records of Jesus having actually lived, for example, Jewish historian Flavius of Josephus (AD.95) and Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus (AD 55-120).
So what is special about Jesus?I heard someone say He didn't really die, so the resurrection didn't really happen.
I heard someone say He didn't really die, so the resurrection didn't really happen.
Jesus was killed by the Romans, who were expert killers, that He didn't die is unlikely, especially given the method that they used to kill Him.
First He was whipped 40 times with a leather strap, which typically would have rough pieces of bone woven in to rip at the skin on His Back. Many people died by this flogging alone.
He was then crucified on a cross. This meant that He was nailed to the cross by His Hands and Feet. This position made it difficult to breath - the person would die of suffocation when they became too weak to lift themselves up on their hands and feet.
When He was declared to have died, a soldier stuck a sword in his side. A mixture of blood and water came out, a sign that He was really dead.
Even when convinced that He had died, the Romans were taking no chances on the disciples stealing the Body. Jesus was taken to a tomb and kept under a Roman guard. If a guard fell asleep on duty he would be killed. And yet, when the women went to Jesus' tomb on the morning of the third day His Body was gone.
If the Romans or Jews had moved the Body for some reason, as soon as the disciples began to go around saying that Jesus had risen from the dead, they could have produced the Body and stopped the rumours.
If the disciples had somehow managed to move the Body, then there was no resurrection and no reason for them to risk death proclaiming that Jesus was indeed the Son of God.
So what is special about Jesus?How did Jesus dying get rid of my sins?
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". So the Bible reckons we are all sinners. So what is it to sin?
Sin is doing things that are against God's will and commandments. Not just the Ten Commandments that everyone remembers and few disobey - "Do not steal" or "Do not murder", but other commands and the full meaning of them. The greatest of these of which we are all guilty at times is "You shall have no other gods before Me." Now we may not bow down to statues and idols, but we put other "gods" before God. We strive for money, for fame and we put the love of ourselves before our love for God. It has been said that the word "Sin" shows the "I" in the middle. If we are selfish and always want ourselves to be the centre of our worlds then we turn away from the world that God intended when He created us.
He did not make us robots to worship only Him, but He gave us a free will to choose to love and worship Him. We are all guilty of putting ourselves first at times.
Who is Jesus?How did Jesus dying get rid of my sins?
How did Jesus dying get rid of my sins?
God recognised that there would always be a gap between His perfect Self and our sinful selves. There was nothing that even the most godly man could do to be good enough to go to heaven.
So God himself came to earth, took a human body, Jesus, and lived amongst us. He did not sin throughout His life, despite being tempted, so when He was put to death on the cross, He had done nothing to deserve it. Particularly, in the Eyes of God He did not deserve to die. We are told in the Bible that, instead, He died on our behalf, by dying a perfect death, He bridged that gap between us and God. We deserve to die, Jesus died for us. This does not mean that we will not die a human death. The death we are talking about is the death of our souls. The inner part of each one of us, which makes us who we are. The part of us that people talk about going to heaven or hell.
And there is more! Jesus is still alive! He did not simply die for us, but after three days He rose up from the dead. He was seen on earth for a few days and then went up to heaven. We believe that, just as Jesus rose again after physical death, so shall all those who have received Him as Saviour, and we will be in heaven for eternity.
The amazing part of Christianity is the lengths God has gone to enable us to spend eternity with Him. Taking on the form of a lowly human being, dying an agonizing death on the cross, so that "whosoever believes in Me, may not die, but have eternal life". That is all you have to do. Know that you sin and believe that Jesus died for your sins.
RELATED QUESTIONS>>Who is Jesus?
It all sounds too easy - don't we have to do something?
It all sounds too easy - don't we have to do something?
When you go to a church you will hear the word "grace" a lot. Grace is the word we use to describe the amazing act of God "doing all the work" in sending Jesus.
You see, we cannot do anything to earn God's love. We will never be able to stop sinning, so we will never deserve to be in God's presence. No amount of Bible reading, going to church or praying (as good as these are in themselves) will ever make us "holy" enough to go to heaven.
We can only do so by God's "grace".
The only thing you can do is believe that Jesus died in your place and took away your sins. That is the only thing that will get you to heaven.
Once you have done that, you will want to come to church, read the Bible and pray, but these acts by themselves will not earn you enough "points" to get to heaven.
RELATED QUESTIONS>>Who is Jesus?
I don't want to go to heaven, sit on a cloud and play a harp all day long...
Aren't these just stories about Jesus?
I don't want to go to heaven, sit on a cloud and play a harp all day long...
Man's images of heaven frankly make most people want to avoid getting there at all. God, a big friendly grandad with a long beard, sat on a throne, with a load of angels strumming harps all day long...it's hardly a good night out, is it?
Now these images are founded in the Bible. God does sit on a throne and He is surrounded by angels, but let's just explore what happens when we humans die.
Our bodies will all die at some point. Christians believe that this isn't the end. Though our flesh will be burnt or buried, we all have an inner part of us, a spiritual part that will go on living.
So where does this spirit go? We believe it has two options - heaven or hell.
Hell? Fire and brimstone?! That's all a bit of fiction isn't it? A God of love would never send us to hell?
Well, just as our images of heaven may not be spot on, our images of hell can also be distorted by cartoon images of a little red man with horns and a forked tail.
To put it simply, whatever heaven and hell turn out to be really like, if you go to heaven, you will be with God, perfect love and goodness. If you go to hell, you will be separated from God, separated from love and goodness, spending an eternity with evil.
Suddenly the harp does not seem such a bad instrument - does it?
RELATED QUESTIONS>>Who is Jesus?
I don't want to go to heaven, sit on a cloud and play a harp all day long...
Aren't these just stories about Jesus?
We know that the above can only answer a few questions about the basics of the Christian faith. If what you have read has challenged you, or caused to question your own beliefs, or if you have more questions, feel free to contact us.
We also regularly run the nationally recognised Alpha course, which you may have seen advertised. This is a course in ten weekly instalments, exploring the Christian faith, and allowing every question to be asked!
