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There is an enormous amount of writing about the Christian Faith, most of it very highbrow and complicated. This page tries to cut through all of that an give an overview of Chritianity and being a Christian in a nutshell. Being a Christian is: What's the difference between Christianity and other religions? All other religions require believers to earn God's favour, so believers do good works to try and achieve this. We, as Christians, know that God forgives our sins unreservably if we believe in Him and ask him to. We cannot earn our forgiveness. However we, as Christians, then want to please God by trying to do the right thing. We know that no matter how hard we try we will sometimes fail, but we have the security of knowing God will forgive us. God wants us to have a loving relationship with us. It is like a parent always loving their children and being there for them no matter what they do. How does God show how much he loves us? What do we have to do? We can try all we like to be good, to uphold certain values, to follow religious duties, but these count for nothing. Until we ask Jesus into our lives, and start to follow Him, we will get nowhere. We need to recognize that God made the world, gave us a free will to enjoy it, saw that we had messed it up and gave us a way out. We need to take it. There is "only one way". We must turn away from our sins and ask Jesus into our lives. He will not only guide us, help us, be our closest friend, but he will also set us free from any hurts, pains, fears, doubts or bondage that may have a hold on us. Please
remember that there is nothing that God cannot forgive.
Who is Jesus? Jesus is God's son. He was born some 2000 years ago in Bethlehem (in today's Palestine) to Mary and Joseph. It was a supernatural birth as Mary was a virgin. He grew up in Nazareth (in today's Israel) and for thirty years worked as a carpenter. During this time God was preparing Jesus for His ministry. Jesus then spent three years carrying out his ministry, telling people about the God's Kingdom and how people could enter this Kingdom. He also used this time to recruit and educate people (disciples) to spread his message. During His ministry Jesus upset the Jewish leaders by pointing out the errors of their ways. These leaders conspired with the Romans, who were occupying the country, to kill Jesus. He was duly put to death by crucifixion. Hence the Cross being the primary Christian symbol. However this was not the end, Jesus came alive again for forty days and appeared to various people. At the end of the forty days Jesus then ascended up to heaven. Why did God send Jesus down to earth? He came to because God wanted to deliver His message in person -the best way for people to learn. He also came to be the final sacrifice for our sins. This shows how much God loves us. Why did Jesus have to die? In Jesus' day and before, religious leaders offered sacrifices to God to try and atone for their sins. (Sins are actions, words and thought that displease God.) Usually they would take their best animal which was valuable to them and kill it. The theory was that their current sins would be heaped on this animal and God would forgive them. However they would sin again and have to repeat the process. When Jesus died he became the 'ultimate sacrifice'. God took the most precious thing He had, His son, and allowed Him to be killed. Everyone's sins, of the past present, and future (including ours) were heaped on Jesus. Unlike previous sacrifices, God's sacrifice only has to be made once. God knows that we will sin time and again but if we admit our sins and say sorry to Him he will forgive us. Of course we have to mean that we are sorry and try not to sin again but God knows that we are fallabe. Why did Jesus have to rise from the dead? If Jesus had just died it would just have been like the animals sacrificed previously, the end of Him. However because Jesus came back to life God showed it was not the end and God has power over death. Jesus is still here to forgive our sins. How do we have a relationship with God now? Forty days after Jesus rose again from the dead He ascended up to heaven. He left His disciples and other followers on earth to spread the message He had been preaching during His time on earth (the 'Good News'). To help them God sent his 'Holy Spirit' to fill these people and future believers. The Holy Spirit is God inside us. When we become a Christian we ask the Holy Spirit into our lives. On one level the Holy Spirit becomes our concious, helping us to lead a 'Christian' life. But the Holy Spirit goes beyond this, being an enabler, comforter, encourager, rebuker etc. in a similar way that a person has a loving parent's influence on them. What is the Bible? The Bible is a book made up of a number of shorter books which tell us about Jesus and show us the way to heaven through him. It has two parts, the Old Testement and New Testement. The Old Testement points us to the fact that God will send Jesus to earth and the New Testement tells us of Jesus' life on earth and his teaching, how His teachings were spread after He went back to heaven and finally it gives us a glimse of heaven. Interwoven within the text is God's 'handbook' of how He wants us to live, in relationship with Him, our family, our friends and people we don't know. Why 'go to church?' You don't have to go to church to be a Christian, but it helps! Most people think of a 'church' as a building. 'Church' for a Christian is the body of people who are Christians. Usually they meet in buildings called churches, usually on Sundays but can be other days, but they can meet in other buildings (e,g, schools, sports centres, people homes) or in the open air. Here are some reasons for going to church:
If you want to find out more please contact the Rector, David Mouncer via the Chuch Office. Alternatively speak to him or another church member on a Sunday. We also run 'Start Courses' during the year for those interested in finding out more. |