What Do Christians Believe?
from AIDS Is Real and It's In Our Church by Jean Garland and Dr. Mike Blyth
Perhaps you are not sure what Christians believe. Or perhaps you
have come from a family that has been Christian for many generations
and you are used to the ideas of Christianity. No matter what your
situation, we hope that you will take time to read this summary of what
Christians believe. It is important to know about HIV/AIDS, but it is
much more important to know God and know how to live in his power and
love.
Here is a short explanation of what Christians believe. These things
are told in the Bible. The Bible is a collection of writings written by
many prophets and people of God over many generations. God inspired, or
directed, the writers, giving them the words that he wanted to reveal
to people everywhere. Taken as a whole, the Bible is the story of the
way God loves people and how he is saving them from the powers of evil
and death. Here, then, is the story. (If you prefer, you can skip below to the summary)
There is only one God. He is all powerful, all merciful, all
knowing, and completely just and fair in all he does. He created
everything there is. He created the earth, sun, moon, stars, life,
plants and animals, light, energy, and people. God is completely good,
true and pure, without any trace of evil or lie. Therefore, when he had
made the whole world and everything in it, he looked at it all and saw
that it was very good. He was pleased with the world, which was full of
beauty and peace.
God also created spirit beings called angels to worship him, serve
him, and do his will. One powerful angel, Satan, rebelled against God
and set himself up as God's enemy. God threw Satan out of heaven along
with other angels who had joined Satan as enemies of God.
God made people different from the animals. He breathed his own
spirit into them, making them in some ways like him. He made both man
and woman "in his own image," giving part of his glory, beauty, and
value to them both. He made them able to think, love, speak, enjoy
beauty, tell stories, make good things, and have children. He made them
to rule in his name over the world he had created. God created people
because of love, and he took great joy and delight in the love they had
for each other and for him. Likewise, the first man and woman, named
Adam and Eve, were happy and content and enjoyed being with God and
being loved by him.
One day, though, Satan came to Eve in the form of a snake and
tempted her to disobey God. She listened to Satan and disobeyed God,
and so did Adam. By their actions, they brought evil and destruction
into the world. Rebelling against God, doing what is wrong, is what we
call "sin." All people since Adam and Eve have sinned against God. God
is perfectly good and cannot approve of sin or overlook it. He punishes
all evil.
The beautiful world God had created began to suffer. Death, hatred,
suffering, fear, and sickness entered the world. This is why we now
have suffering and illnesses such as HIV/AIDS and many others. People
were cut off from God. Instead of worshiping the true God, they began
to make their own gods and worship them. The more people turned away
from God, the more they forgot who he was. God sent messengers called
prophets to tell people he loved them and they should turn back to him.
The people did not listen. They went even farther from God and did all
kinds of evil things. There seemed to be no hope. It appeared people
would never return to God, and would be lost forever. (You can read
about this in the Old Testament section of the Bible.)
God still loved people and had a plan to save them from their evil
ways and from the power of Satan. He did an amazing thing. He came into
this world himself by becoming a man. This man, who was also the one
and only God, was named Jesus. He lived on earth about two-thousand
years ago. He taught people to turn from their sin and return to God.
He said that he had come to set people free from every kind of evil and
slavery. He did many miracles such as healing the sick, making blind
people see, and even raising some people from death. He drove powerful
evil spirits out of people just by speaking a word. These miracles
showed the mighty power of God and the way it overcomes evil. They show
us today that God is stronger than every kind of evil and disease
including HIV/AIDS.
Jesus taught people how to live as God wants them to live. He said
they should show each other love and faithfulness. He said they should
live pure, honest, good lives. He said they should not trust in money
or power. He said people who trusted and believed in him would be
forgiven and would live forever. He said that he had come to give his
life to save us from our sins and make us children of God if we would
only believe in him and follow him. You can read about the life and
teachings of Jesus in the New Testament in the Bible.
Many people, especially the religious and government leaders, did
not like Jesus' message. They killed him by nailing him to a wooden
cross. How could he be killed, when he was so good, holy, and powerful?
The answer is that he willingly gave up his life so that he could take
the punishment of our sins. Our sins had separated us from God, and
death was the punishment. God loved us so much that he willingly
suffered that death for us to make us free from sin and death.
There is more good news. Jesus had told his followers that he would
be killed and would rise from the dead, although they did not
understand his meaning. But, as he had told them, he did come alive
again three days after he died. Over several weeks, he came to his
followers several times and explained to them how he had died to set us
free from sin and to give us life that never ends. Many people saw him
alive. After that, he said he must return to heaven where he came from.
He breathed his Spirit on his chosen followers and told them to go and
tell everyone the good news, and to tell everyone that they should hear
and obey what Jesus had said. Then, while his followers watched, he
rose up into the sky and disappeared. Jesus promised that he will
return to the earth again and that the whole world will know then that
he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Here, then, is the good news of Jesus:
- God loves us very much, no matter who we are or what kind
of person we are. He loves us whether we are men, women, or children.
He loves us whether we are young or old, European, African, Asian, or
from elsewhere. He loves us whether we are farmers, soldiers, traders
or the president. He loves us even though we all have sins,
uncleanness, and weaknesses.
- God is pure and just. He
always punishes evil. But, because of his love, he himself took the
punishment for our sins in the death of Jesus.
- Jesus showed
us God's amazing power. He showed that he is King over the world,
nature, and every kind of spirit. His miracles and rising from the dead
showed that he conquers illness, pain, hatred, death, sin, and Satan
himself.
- We do not have to live and die cut off from God.
We do not have to live in fear of evil, witchcraft, illness, and death.
We can be saved from all that. We must simply turn away from our sins,
make God our master and put our trust in him to save us through what he
did for us in the death and rising again of Jesus.
- When
we turn from our sins and trust God to forgive us through Jesus, he
makes us completely clean from all our sins. He puts us under the
protection of his mighty power. In fact, he changes us from the very
centre of our being, making us his children, part of his family.
- At
the same time, God removes from us the curse of death, and gives us
life that never ends. He assures us that even though our bodies die, we
have unending life and happiness. Not even death can separate us from
God. Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes
in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in
me will never die." He promises that just as he rose from the dead, so
shall we.
- God does all of this as a free gift. It is not
because of anything we have done, because we can never be good enough
by our own efforts. Christians call this free gift and goodness of God
"grace."
You can read more about Jesus and his message in the Bible. The
first four sections or "books" of the New Testament are called the
Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Each one is an account of
Jesus' life, teaching, death, and rising. Jesus said that people who
truly search for God will find him. He said that the words he spoke
were words of life. Whether or not you are already a follower of Jesus,
we challenge you to listen to all that Jesus said, and to ask God to
show more and more of the truth as you hear and obey his words of life.
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