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Friday, September 23, 2005
What is Christianity? A Simple question—with a million different answers. Let me give it a try…
Bare bones Christianity is Christianity boiled down to the basics. C.S. Lewis called it “Mere Christianity” and Walter Martin called it “Essential Christianity. Bare bones Christianity is Christianity stripped away of all the denominational differences and disagreements.
Christianity has a core—fundamental—essential beliefs system. Any doctrine denying or opposing these foundations is not Christian. This is what separates Christianity from Mormonism, Jehovah witness, and other sects.
The fundamentals:
The scriptures, both the Old and New testaments are entirely inspired by God and are completely without error in their original writing.
(2 Tim 3:16) (2 Peter 1:21)
There is one God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In this Trinity there is none greater or less than the other, but all three are coeternal together, and coequal. To believe anything other than that there is one "what," (God), revealed in three "who's" (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is in error.
(Matt 28:19) (John 10:30) (Hebrews 1:8) (Acts 5:3,4)
Lord Jesus Christ—is God's only begotten Son, He was born of a virgin (Mary), His life was sinless, He sacrificed Himself (the cross) for our sins, and He rose bodily from the dead (resurrection).
(John 1:1-3, 29) (Matt 1:18-25) (Luke 24:36) (2 Cor 5:21) (1 Cor 15:3) (John 20:9,19,20,26-28)
Man is saved by grace alone through faith alone, and nothing of man enters into his salvation; it is a free gift. Man's efforts regardless of how good or well intended, before or after salvation, have nothing to do with it.
(Romans 10:9,10) (Eph 2:8-9) (Gal 2:16) (Romans 11:6) (Col 2:13,14) (Titus 3:5)
All Christians believing the bodily, personal, imminent return of the Lord, Jesus Christ
(1 Thes 4:16-18) (Matt 25:31-46) (Rev 19:11-21)
Those who call themselves Christians, and do not affirm to the aforementioned beliefs are called heretics. Based on the above fundamentals, Christians entrust their lives to worshiping and loving Jesus-----this is Christianity in its bare bones. Weird? Yes. Erroneous? No.
Labels: Christianity, Faith, Theology
5 Comments:
High execution- here is a quick response: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are NOT the same person; all three are distinct. There is one (1) God [or one what] and three (3) persons [or three who’s]. Here is what the “Trinity” is not. It is not three gods in one God. It’s not God acting like three different people. It’s not 3=1 either as some try to claim. The doctrine of the Trinity is hard to explain. I will be the first to admit that it is confusing.
9/23/2005 5:04 PM
I went to several churches as a child also, I even when to a couple Catholic schools. However, I never learned anything. I just got in a lot of trouble.
Make your own religion, sounds good. But what if God doesn’t want you to make your own religion? All religions cannot be right. It would be more logical to say that all religions are false, than to say that they are all true.
It’s easy to make your own religion. You can make up anything you want, but what if you’re wrong? What if you have everything to lose? Look, I am not against anyone having their own religion, in fact religious freedom allows for me to be a Christian (by choice). There are some things that religion shares in common, but I think it’s the differences that matter—believe me, the differences are significant. There are many religious claims that contradictory to each other; they can’t all be right.
9/23/2005 5:05 PM
Your family may be trying to convert you because they have a genuine concern for your eternal destiny. However, you are a free willed person and can make your own choices.
9/23/2005 5:06 PM
Evolution? Depends on what you mean. Microevolution yes, things change and adapt. Macroevolution No, there is no scientific evidence for Macroevolution. No fossils, no observations, and not happing today! Check the Kent Hovind link on the blog. He has some free seminars on evolution you can download. There also is irreducible complexity, moral absolutes and evidence for the “soul” that can’t be explained by evolution.
9/23/2005 5:07 PM
I have a question, execution: do you believe that there is such a thing as truth? That something can be true for everyone, in all places at all times?
9/23/2005 5:08 PM
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