Q – What is the essence of Christianity?
The stem part of the word Christianity, Christ, is the key to the answer. Christ comes from a Greek word meaning the One anointed by God to deliver. Another term used in place of deliverer is the word savior.
Jesus, who lived 2000 years ago in what is now present day Palestine/ Israel, fulfilled the Old Testament Bible prophecy that God would send a deliverer/savior. That’s why he is called Jesus Christ.
A person who believes Jesus is the Christ and has made a decision to trust Him/rely upon Him to deliver him or her is a Christian. A person who is a Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ by making Him their deliverer/savior.
Q – Why did God need to send a deliverer/savior to us?
God created us to have an eternal relationship with himself. God is holy, i.e. without sin or evil. That means He is morally perfect. This attribute of His being cannot tolerate any sin or evil to be in His presence.
Because we by nature do bad things, i.e. sin, do evil, are not morally perfect, the relationship God created us to have with Him is destroyed. Our sin, evil, moral imperfection act as a barrier to God being present in a person’s life.
Another attribute of God’s being is perfect justice. His justice requires Him to hold His human creation to account to Him for not living in accordance with the way He designed us to live. God’s moral perfection requires a penalty to be paid by each person for their rebellion against living as He created them to live. Given the severe affront to God by rejecting the relationship with Him that He created us for, His perfect justice says the penalty is to be death. In other words there is no reason for the life of that person to continue to exist.
However, another attribute of God is mercy. Mercy is God’s love for His human creation in action so that another way is available for God’s justice, the death penalty, to be fulfilled. Jesus is the only other and only way available for God’s justice to be rendered. That’s why Jesus is a deliverer/savior.
Q – How does Jesus deliver/save a person from God’s death penalty?
God’s solution to prevent a person from having to personally suffer the death penalty was for Him to do the dying for us. That’s why Jesus, who was God in human form, died on the cross 2000 years ago. Jesus was God incurring the punishment for our sin, evil, moral imperfection that God’s holiness, righteous and justice demand.
Q – But we all still die. How am I delivered/saved from the death penalty?
Our physical bodies die. But our soul, i.e. mind, will and emotions, which give rise to our consciousness/self-awareness has been created by God to live forever. It either lives in God’s presence or apart from Him.
The person who has made a decision to have Jesus serve their death penalty will live in God’s presence, i.e. Heaven, when their physical bodies die.
Q – Where does the person go who decides not to have Jesus serve their death penalty?
Because this person will also live forever, God needed to have a place for them to go since they did not want to live with Him. This place is called Hell. Only people who have chosen to not let Jesus serve their death penalty will be there.
Since life equals having a relationship with God, not having a relationship with Him is the equivalent of death. Thus, while a soul continues to exist, if it is apart from God it is in a continual state of death.
Q – Can a person change their mind after going to Hell?
No. God gives each person a lifetime to get to know Him and consider His offer of deliverance/salvation through Jesus. If a person gets to the end of their life rejecting God’s offer to live with Him, He will honor their decision.
Q – Now I see why I need to become a Christian. How do I become one?
Admit to God that you have sinned against Him and rejected the relationship He wants with you.
Tell Him you are sorry for rejecting Him and that you now want to live as He designed you to live.
Explain to Him you are going to trust that Jesus paid your death penalty on the cross for you.
Make a commitment to live as He designed you and ask Him to help you do it.
Tell people that Jesus is your deliverer/savior.
Q – What happens when I do this?
God’s Holy Spirit begins to live in you! He, the Holy Spirit, will help teach and lead you in the way God wants you to live. And then when your physical body dies, your soul will go to live with God forever in heaven.
Q – I’m still going to sin, i.e. do bad things. Will God cancel the deal?
No! Once you make a sincere decision to allow Jesus to serve your death penalty, God’s deliverance/salvation is irrevocable.
When you sin just tell God what you’ve done [He already knows] and that you are sorry. Ask Him to forgive you for what you’ve done against Him. Resolve not to do it again and ask His help on it.
Q – How can I cooperate with God so He can help me live as He designed me?
Make reading the Bible a daily priority. The Bible is the main way God speaks to us today.
Talk to God. Tell Him what’s going on in your life. Ask for His help to live as He wants for you.
Attend a Bible teaching church on a regular basis. It will take a teacher to explain some things about God.
Get connected with other Christians. They will give you support and accountability for your new lifestyle
Start sharing about Jesus with others. They need a deliverer/savior too!