Christians see God as the Father, as Jesus had identified Him, without implying any gender. They believe He is the One who chose us as His children, to pour out his blessings on us by a relationship of love. Thus he has adopted us, to exercise his power of forgiveness, acceptance, and of course, love. God demonstrates His love and grace through creation, by bringing another personal creature into existence, one made in His image. Creation is then a continuous relationship of love between God and His creation.
Sin and evil interrupt God’s love in creation but the knowledge that we are loved by God and accepted by Him allows us to see our infinite worth and to love ourselves as well as others. In short, we are liberated. God created man with free will, though not limiting His own power but underscoring it. Our gift of freedom is evidence of God’s love for His creation, because he could have just as easily created us without it. Suffering is one concept that may never be understood but the Christian can combat it through prayer by seeking comfort through God, resisting evil, and encouraging one another. God is with us in this pain and suffering, to help us stand face to face with the evil in hopes of exposing it.
The Trinity of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit are a triune, one God who manifests himself in three different persons. It may be expressed as such: the loving relationship between Father and Son generates a Spirit of divine love. The three individuals of the Trinity do not need to be experienced in any certain order. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit is God himself, who worked in human life long before Christ came. It is a powerful force that can subdue demons, empower us to repent, give us control over our lives, help us to learn to forgive, and endure life’s hard times.
The Covenant is proof that man is free. In it, God formed a relationship between Himself and the people. He promised peace and salvation while the people were to follow Him and remain faithful. So in short, we are free to be loyal to God or to violate the covenant. Christianity understands God by His acts beginning with creation, the covenant, and finally by God’s coming to us in the form of Jesus Christ.
God’s vision of peace and harmony was disfigured upon Adam and Eve’s fall from grace in the Garden of Eve. Sin is the condition that leaves us flawed and fallible. It makes it difficult to live personally with God and in harmony with God. Sin enslaves us to ourselves through selfishness and greed and compromises our most precious relationships because of distorted ideas and praises. Redemption is God’s attempt to free mankind from sin, guilt, and death.
The Cross is very significant in Christian symbolism as it represents God’s saving action as this is what Jesus died on and is the center of the Incarnation. Jesus’ resurrection proves God’s triumph over death. His death illustrates three important elements of salvation:
Sin, death, and evil are God’s enemies. We receive salvation by realizing that we need it because it is separating us from our Father, repenting for our sins and accepting His grace. Jesus’ resurrection demonstrates God’s victory over death and the promise of eternal life gives us a vision of hope.
What does it mean to be a Christian then? First, one is a disciple who learns by doing and secondly a pilgrim who is a person going some place. Also, Christians are to be obedient to the Holy Spirit since it allows us to live our way into Christlikeness. (Dunnam, 103) We become servants to Christ by giving up our right to be in charge, becoming compassionate, liberating ourselves from the restrictions on life as oppression, meaningless, and lifelessness, proclaiming the goods of the gospel by their word and deed, keeping the Ten Commandments as a fruit of one’s relationship with God through Jesus, and finally by reflecting the life of Christ.
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