I wrote this [and it is in the making] to explain Christianity to somebody who has no knowledge of it, such as a Hindu, Muslim or even the unchurched Westerner
1.''The Christian God''
The Bible teaches that God has always been there. He has no beginning and no
ending. He is eternal.
He is the Creator of all things. He is the controller of all things. He is
sovereign. That word means, ''having the power and authority of a king''.
Since God has such power and authority, He controls all things which happen
in this world, even 'bad things'' such as earthquakes, wars, disease,
everything. This is very important, for only if God is ALL POWERFUL, can He
be worshipped.
He is also morally perfect. He has no evil in Him. He is not part evil and
part good. He is perfectly good, and He defines what GOOD is. He is HOLY.
Holy means ''separate''. God is separate from His creation. He is not part
of it. He exists without it. He was there before it, and will be there
after it. He is separate from the evil in His creation. He does not share
IN ANY WAY in evil. He is against evil, for evil is whatever does not
conform to His perfect character which is revealed to us in His Law.
He is just. That means that He is no corrupt Judge, He is not an unfair
God. Now, it is important to know this. God's standards of justice are
HIGHER than ours. That is why, often, people say, God is unfair. They
judge God according to human standards of justice. But, God cannot be
unjust. He is just in all His ways, He is righteous in all His ways. He
loves righteousness, and therefore, He HATES evil.
He is unchanging and unchangeable. God does not grow, develop or change in
any way. He does not become better, wiser, stronger, because He was always
perfect. He does not change His mind, for His mind is eternal. What
happens in time is what God decided would happen in eternity. That is one
aspect of His Sovereignty.
He is wise. The Bible calls Him ''the only wise God''. God knows all
things, from the very beginning until the very end. He knows everything
there is to know. He knows every thought of man, every secret word spoken.
He knows the future, He knows the past. He also knows how to ordain things
to reach His purposes. He uses men for that. All men do God's will, whether
they like it or not.
He is merciful and loving. God could squash us all like bugs, He could
because He is holy punish all men for ever. He could pour out all His anger
against our evil actions, words and thoughts, but He doesn't. He spares
some. He saves some. He blesses some. Why? Because He is merciful and
loving. God, as one of the prophets [Micah] said, DELIGHTS in mercy. Mercy
is not giving a wicked person the punishment he deserves. GRACE is giving a
wicked person the opposite of what he deserves. GRACE, MERCY and LOVE are
the reason why the Gospel is GOOD NEWS.
Finally, God is TRIUNE. This is one belief which only the Christian faith
teaches. All other religions reject this belief. Triune means ''three in
one''.
Christians do not believe in 3 gods. We believe in ONE GOD. There is no
other God. All other gods are idols which cannot save. Many say that
Christians believe in 3 gods. But we do not. We believe in one GOD, but He
is 3 Persons, each person in the Godhead is holy, righteous, sovereign,
eternal, merciful, wise, powerful and unchanging. The 3 persons [the
TRINITY] are the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. They are not 3 rivals
who fight among themselves, as pagan relgions believe. They are 3 Persons,
who are inseparable, they are ONE in being, and in purpose. God the Son and
God the Spirit do not act against the Father, and vice versa. They are equal
in power. They are equal in glory. They are equal in ALL things.
This TRINITY doctrine is one of the most difficult of all, but is
FUNDAMENTAL to understanding the Gospel.
2:''The Doctrine of Man'.
The first thing we should say is that man is a creature of God. God created
him. He did not come about (as secular 'scientists' claim) by a process of
evolution. He is not a well-developed ape. The theory of evolution is
something which Christians reject as false and a denial of God.
The second thing is that God created man GOOD. When God created man (Adam
and Eve, the first man and the first woman) he was GOOD, he was God's
friend. He enjoyed friendship with God and God blessed him with many good
things in the Garden of Eden. Man did not start off the way we see him
today. It is important to understand that.
Thirdly, man was created in God's IMAGE. What does that mean? Well, it
does NOT mean that God has a body and we look like Him. God is Spirit, He
is invisible. He has no physical form, or characteristics. He is not a man.
He is God. To be created in God's image refers to man's spiritual being.
Man has a spirit. Man can therefore know God. Man can understand what it
is to be at peace with God. Man was created after God's image in true
righteousness and holiness. This is how man WAS, not how he IS now.
Man had freedom to love God, to obey God, to worship God. Man had all the
benefits of God's friendship and the Bible says that in that day man walked
with God. God gave man everything, except He had one commandment which man
was to obey, 'DO NOT EAT THE FRUIT of a certain tree'. God told man that he
could eat of any fruit, except one, and God warned man what would happen if
he disobeyed. He would DIE.
Man, tricked by the devil, disobeyed, and God, true to His word, sent DEATH
into the world. That was SIN. Sin is any breaking of God's commands. We
are all sinners because God has counted us ALL guilty in the first man,
Adam. Adam was our Representative head, and because he fell into sin, we
fell with him. That is what Christians call ORIGINAL SIN. This is the
reason for all death, disease and suffering entering God's perfect world.
This was not a mistake on God's part, but part of God's overall plan for all
things. God's plan is to GLORIFY Himself.
Unless we understand the BAD NEWS about sin, we can not understand the good news about JESUS CHRIST and why He came.
3: 'The Doctrine of Christ'
Jesus Christ as you can imagine is the centre of Christianity. That is
where it gets its name. Jesus Christ means Saviour, for that is what He is,
that is why He came, that is what He came to do: to save. But let's start
at the beginning:
One of the writers in the Bible writes this:
''In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was
God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him and
without Him was nothing made that was made''
Those are amazing words. The ''Word'' is Jesus Christ, and He is called the
''Word'' because He reveals God. Without Jesus Christ we cannot come to God.
He is too holy, too great, to mighty for us to stand in His presence without
being destroyed. The Bible says that even the angels have to cover their
faces, God is so holy. What hope have we, sinners, of entering into His
presence?
Notice, He was ''in the beginning'': that means that He has always been
there with His Father. Jesus is God. I said that when I explained the
Trinity. He is not a created being, He is not an angel. Some false cults
teach that, but the Bible does not. Now, I know when we speak about a
father and a son in human terms we cannot say that the father and the son
have always been together, but, the term ''Father'' and ''Son'' are ways of
trying to explain to us the relationship which exists in the Godhead. It is
like a family in some ways, but in other ways, we have to remember this is
God. God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit have ALWAYS existed from the
beginning.
Then, we are told that Jesus (the Word) created ALL THINGS. That is
amazing. Jesus is Creator. He is not part of the creation. He created it.
Such is His power and His wisdom.
So, in the beginning, Jesus was God, and as God He had all the power and
authority of God.
But, didn't He die on a cross, didn't He live as a man? How can He be God?
That is the great mystery of Christianity:
The same Bible writer says this, ''And the Word became flesh and dwelt among
us''
That means that this Jesus, this One who was and is always God, the One who
lived in heaven, BECAME FLESH. Why would He do that?
The Bible says He became flesh to save ''His People from their sins''.
Because the ones Jesus came to save from the punishment that their sins
deserve (you remember what sin is?) are flesh, He became flesh to save them.
The Bible says that this was necessary.
So, about 2000 yrs ago, Jesus was born as a human baby. He had a true human
body, a true human nature. He was HUMAN, but He also was God. Jesus never
stopped being God. He could not do that. He was born to a virgin called
Mary, an ordinary sinful woman, chosen by God to be the mother of Jesus
while He was on earth. She was a Jew, a religious Jew, waiting for the
promised Saviour. When she heard that He was to be born in her home, she
said, 'My soul magnifies the LORD and rejoices in God my Saviour'. She saw
in Christ a Saviour. Many saw in Him a Saviour. Jesus went around teaching
and preaching, healing the sick, raising the dead and doing miracles to
prove that He was the Promised One sent by God. Jesus lived a life of
perfect obedience to all God's commands. He NEVER sinned. He was pure. He
was spotless. He was perfect.
But the religious people, the ones who thought that they were good by their
own works, hated this Jesus. Jesus showed their hypocrisy, and threatened
their power, so they tried to get rid of Him, and when the time was right,
they brought Him to the Romans to have Him crucified.
Crucifixion was a horrible way to day, slow and painful, but Jesus died that
way. His was no ordinary death. His death had a purpose, a reason. God
sent His Son to earth TO DIE. That is why He came. He was shamefully
treated, but that is because man is a sinner, and if he could he would kill
God. When man had opportunity, he killed the Son of God. Was this a defeat
for God? Man thought so. Man mocked and scorned Jesus on the cross. Man
thought, ''Great, we have got rid of him'', but they hadn't.
Why did Jesus die? He died to take the punishment for the sins of His
People. He died to carry away the curse of guilt. He died so that they
would live. Jesus took the punishment and gave His People forgiveness. That
EXCHANGE is what the Gospel is all about.
But, the even better news is this: Jesus ROSE again. He didn't stay dead.
His tomb is empty. He has the victory over death and hell and sin. And all
those who believe on Him, on this Jesus will be saved.
Now, many object. How can God be a man, how can God be hungry, and thirsty
and tired, as Jesus was? How can God die? The answer is: God cannot and
God didn't. Jesus has 2 natures, and when He was on earth His glory was
hidden behind flesh. Jesus IN HIS HUMAN NATURE was tired, was hungry etc,
but not in His DIVINE NATURE. Jesus died IN HIS HUMAN NATURE, but God
didn't die with it. Jesus is ONE but TWO natures, just as God is ONE and
THREE persons.
