So lately on Digg there have been lots of articles about how Atheists are superior and Christians are corrupt. I'm gonna let you all know something about me, I'm a Christian. A recent video that I have seen about a Christian school leader asked for
sex in exchange for giving a diploma. This is absolutely disgusting and appalling that someone of his stature and claiming to represent himself as follower of Jesus Christ would do this. But for some reason people have it under the belief that all Christians are "holier than thou". How did they get this impression? I in no way believe that, nor do any of my friends and members of my church. People have the wrong perception on what Christians are and believe. So let me give you a rundown on what it means to be a Christian:
So we all know that we as a society and people are not perfect. We do a lot of crappy stuff like murder, rape, stealing etc. Thats why we have the judicial system, there is punishment for these crimes. In our daily lives we lie, cheat, and do many hurtful things to others. Thats just the way the world is, and many times there are no consequences for this. When God created the human race we were perfect. Adam and Eve were set in the world naked and without fault. Now, God gave them one rule... not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. As we all know there is the devil (Satan), he was cast to earth as a result of his rebellion against God thinking that he to could also be a god. In the garden he took on the form of the serpent.
The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, "Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?"
"Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden," the woman replied.
"It's only the fruit in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, 'You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die' "
"You won't die!" the serpent replied to the woman. "God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil."
The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.
-Genesis 3:1-7
So as the story goes on, God banished them from the garden as well as punish them, for example childbirth would be painful. God also promised that one of Adam's decedents would defeat Satan. This is the promise of Jesus Christ, which is also predicted several times more throughout the Bible. Now that sin had entered the world, there also came more punishment for it. The only punishment for sin was death, but God did not want to sentence everyone to death every time you did something wrong, so he gave instructions. During the old testament there were specific instructions given to the people of God (Israel). The only way that God would forgive them was through a sacrifice. I won't go into the details about it but basically what they would do is take the best lamb or animal of the livestock and offer it to God (kill it). For thousands of years this was how it was done, and it's of course very tedious and demanding.
Fast forward a few thousand years and we come to the life of Jesus, the man that had been predicted to come. He basically goes through his life teaching people about God and preforming miracles. Now Jesus is the son of God, but they are both God. It's confusing and I still have a hard time wrapping my head around it to. The reason why Jesus was sent to earth was to defeat the grip that Satan had on us. He was sort of the perfect lamb, the only thing is that he was human. Jesus led a life of perfection (after all he was God). Jesus sacrificed himself and died on the cross so that no one would ever need to worry about preforming the weekly ritual and worry about the punishment of death. He took on the sin that every person had ever done or would ever do. Now there is one small but HUGELY important thing, Jesus rose again three days later. His resurrection shows that he conquered the grip of death on all of us. Paul does a good job explaining why its important:
But tell me this-since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God-for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can't be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.
But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.
So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection form the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.
-1 Corinthians 15: 12-23
Basically that passage explains how Christianity hinges all on the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. It also explains how we all can explain death. While we do all die someday, we are born again into another life in Heaven. This is what they mean by the resurrection. What Paul means by "Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back." is that when Jesus come back at the final days of earth, the dead will literally rise.
So heres the basic gist of Christianity, if you accept that Jesus did die for our sins and took on the burden of eternal death (hell), you are able to have a second life in him (means you go to heaven to be with him). Thats about it, it's simple yet means so much in your life. Is it not amazing how one man who never did anything wrong, gave up his life so that you would not have to take the punishment? I think it's pretty darn awesome, and thats why I'm a Christian.
Now to you critics of Christianity! You now should understand what we are all about (or should be), and in no way proclaim to be better than anyone else. If we do, we are very wrong in saying so! I had a conversation with someone about money and the Church. He is under the assumption that Pastors and leaders are out to get money from the congregation. Have you met any pastor that does this? I've never done it, Pastors are only teachers and mentors. The y have a great understanding of the Bible and teach it to other Christians. Tithes are only a small amount of money that is given back to God. I personally have found when I do this, my money always ends up coming back to me or blessing me in some way (tax breaks to). Churches need money to operate, they are not profit making but still need money. I am not required to give money in any way, it's just the right thing to do and it is such a miniscule amount.
I hope this blog post has helped anyone with questions about Christianity in some small form, if you have any questions feel free to send me an email (ilikemonkeys1@gmail.com) or contact your local Church. I also recommend picking up a Bible to take a look at it more. Thanks for you time on reading this!
