THE SERVANT OF CHRIST

 

CREATED AND UPDATED BY: JASMINE

YEAR 2003

Christianity

What is Christianity? Many people thinks they know what it is, but they do not. They misunderstand many of the things about Christianity. I had read books, lots and lots of books that introduce people to Christianity but these books are also often NOT accurate at all because they are written by Non Christians who think they know what is Christianity but in reality, do not.

Some of the views of the Non Christians are distorted. This is so because many Christians themselves do not really know what Christianity is about. I, although am a Christian, is still learning and exploring about my faith. I do not claim to know all answers, but I can offer you some brief look at what Christianity is, regardless of who you are.

So, firstly, what is Christianity about. What does it teach? What makes it different from all the other religions out there in this world?

A) Christian's teachings are very different from many of the teachings of the other religions.

Brief outline:

Elaboration:

1) Christianity teaches that every man, no matter how holy he is, sins.

What is sin? Sin is a wrong thing that you do, like lying, murder, coveting neighbor's goods, adultery, stealing etc. Sin can also be evil thoughts, like your secret plans in your hearts, etc (Oh yes, God can read all your thoughts, and all the secret plans in your hearts which nobody knows. God is omniscient. He is all-knowing. That is, he knows everything. God knows everything about you, from all your secret thought to the number of hairs on your head.) Even if you never actually do something, having some thoughts that are evil can be a sin. Thoughts like you day-dreaming about one billion ways to kill a person you hate are sinful because they are thoughts you can choose to do away with, if you choose to forgive that person. Sin can also be not doing what you know is good. For instance, you know that it is good to give some of your money to the poor, etc but you do not do so and this, in the eyes of God, is sin. Every man, no matter how holy he is sins at one point in his life.

2) Christianity speaks of a very holy God.

The God in Christianity is Holy. He has no sins.

3) Christianity speaks of hell for those who sins, even if it is just one sin.

For a holy God, sin is a serious issue. The punishment of sin is eternal death--- that is, spending eternally in hell. God will pass the sentence to you when you die in the court in heaven. You will be prosecuted as a criminal that breaks God's laws there. Satan, the devil will be there, accusing you of all the sins in your life. For just one sin in your life, your punishment will be eternal death. The number of good deeds you do in your lives will not be taken into account when God punishes you for your sins. Take note that as long as you ever commit one sin in your life, your fate is hell.

This is crazy, some of you will exclaim. Do you mean that my punishment is hell, the same as someone who commits so much more sins than me? Like that awful murderer I read in the newspaper?

My answer is, Yes.

You ask, why?

I answer, Because it is God's laws. God's laws state that as long as you sin, it is hell for you.

You answer, it is so unfair.

I said, Not so.

You ask, why?

Let me illustrate now to you why. In Singapore, the punishment for murder is the death sentence. Whether you murder one or two or one hundred people, the punishment is still the same. It is the death penalty. Although the seriousness of the crime in this case differs, the punishment is the same. That is the same with the hell punishment. Although a murderer's crime in heaven is more serious than yours, the punishment will be the same as yours.

You said, Well, you cannot compare these two things.

I ask, why not?

You said, Well, because it is impossible to impose a higher punishment than murder. You can kill a murderer only once. You cannot, say, kill two times, someone who murders two men.

I said, it is the same for hell. A person can only be sent to hell once. You cannot send to hell two times someone who has a more serious crime.

You said, But... but I can understand why a murderer can go to hell. But sins like lying... do not deserve the punishment of hell.

I said, Are you God? Do you know his mind? Can you know what he think of sins?

To illustrate this better, there is a man called Tom who kills for a living. He has killed more than a hundred people. There is a good man called Peter who never kills, and he hates to read news that talk of murder. One day, both of them suddenly find themselves become the judge of another man called Paul who murders three women. They are asked to give their opinions as to what that murderer deserve.

Peter who hates the sin of murder, will say, " Murder is such a serious thing. It deserves the penalty of death."

Tom, who is himself a murderer, will defend Paul and said, "Killing is no big deal. It does not deserve the penalty of death."

The reason for their differences in opinions is that Peter has a higher moral standard than Tom, so to him, murder is serious enough for a death penalty, as compared to low moral Tom. You are Tom, and God is Peter. To God who is perfect and have a higher standard of morality than you, a small sin in your eyes like lying is big and serious to God.

Lying might not be serious in your eyes, but in the eyes of a Holy God, it is so evil that the only punishment suitable for it is Hell. If even a small sin like lying is so terrible in God's eyes, how do you think God will think about all the other sins you commit in your lives?

4) Christianity claims that no man can make it to heaven by himself.

You said, Wait, what about the good deeds I do? Won't it help?

I said, Let say a man kills two men, and he is going on trials in a court. Will the judge set him free from his punishment if this same man is a man that gives to charity and do a lot of good words?

You sighed, No. The good works don't count. He will still be punished.

I replied, Same for the court in heaven. Your good works won't count. You will still be punished in heaven, based on your sins.

5) Christianity believes salvation can come only with the aid of a savior-- Jesus.

I will explain it in a greater detail to you. You now knows that God is too holy to allow any one of us to go into heaven. Therefore, if God executes his justice, we will all be cast into hell. God can just send all of us to hell. By doing so, he is only re-enforcing the punishments of breaking his laws on us, and satisfy the justice in the heavenly court. Yet, God loves us. Because he loves us, this is not what he wants of us.

So, he has to come out with a plan. The plan will involve a sacrifice on his part. God will send his son, Jesus to Earth to die for us. When Jesus died on the cross, he is there because of one thing--- to take away the punishment for our sins. He is a scapegoat who died, because God transfers his punishment on Jesus instead of on us. In other words, Jesus paid for what is meant to be our punishment for sins by his crucification on the cross.

In that way, God shows his love for us, and yet maintain the justice of the heavenly court. Instead of letting us take the punishments of our sins, he pass all the punishment to Jesus. As a result, Jesus who is innocent of all sins, had to undergo the most cruel of all deaths--- crucification and in his death, be separated from God for three days.

Let me give you an example, using human way of thinking. Imagine. There is a court on Earth and a murderer is on trial, and he... is about to be sentenced to death. The murderer is you and I who sins. There is a judge, and he has to sentence the murderer to death because the crime the murderer commits is serious. The judge is God. And yet, the murderer is his beloved son. So the judge, in his love wants to give this murderer a chance to turn over a new life. Yet, the accuser, the victim of the son the murderer kills demands vengeance for her son. The judge has no choice but to sentence his own son to death, to execute justice in his court. The victim is satisfied and the murderer is condemned... he is going to die for his crime. At this moment, the judge steps down from his duty and said to everyone present, " This murderer... he deserves to die. I agree that in order to be a fair judge, I must sentence him to death. Yet, he is my son. So, I decide... I will take his place, instead. I will trade my life for his."

This is what happens in the heavenly court. And if you are a Chinese martial art fan, this is what happened in many Chinese shows where a loyal friend or a father choose to take the place of his friend/son in a duel... to settle the scores between two parties.

This is what happened in the heavenly court when Jesus who is the judge of sins, who is God came down to die as a man on the cross.

God, by the way is a trinity. Here I will briefly explains just what I mean by that. In the God head, there is three persons--the Father, the Son(Jesus) and the Holy Spirit. The Father is God. Jesus is God. The Holy Spirit is God. Yet, they are not three, but one. They are not three heads in one God. They are just simply one God.Although there are three persons, there is only a God. (This is very confusing, I know. If you are really interested to know more about God being a trinity, go to a Church and ask the pastors there to explain this to you. They will be more qualified than me, to explain.)

In the three days while Jesus is in hell, he breaks the prisons of hell and set all those who belongs to him free from hell. He also defeat the power of Satan and death, and rose to life three days later in a fully resurrected body.

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