What Is A Christian?
[links are to verses from the bible which show where the idea came from. Christians believe that the bible is exactly how God wants it to be, the ultimate source of truth, God's final word to his creation and the prime way of finding out about God. They come from The BibleGateway and are all from the NIV]
A christian is a person who understands some things about God and themselves and responds to that understanding by trusting in Jesus Christ as both the one who controls their life and who died to pay the penalty for ignoring God.
So what do you have to know...
1. God created the world and eveything in it, he made the whole of creation and he made man and woman as the pinicle of the creation. He loved his creation and was involved in it even after it had been made. Our role was to tend and develope the world God had made for us. We were originally able to communicate with God very easily, face to face. BUT IS THAT HOW IT IS NOW?? Not really...
2. Because we reject God as the creator and as the rightful ruler of our lives there is a punishment for that. That punishment is death and then judgement. Because we all have rejected God we will all be found guilty and convicted to spend all of enternity paying for our rejection of God - we will be cut from him and all the good things he sends us. SOUNDS HARSH - BUT THAT IS NOT THE END OF THE STORY...
3. You see because God loved us and because he was just and someone had to pay for our rebellion. God came into the world as the man Jesus Christ. He lived and breathed and had to make the same choice we have to make - Do I follow God or do I do what I want? Jesus always lived under God's rule [he was tempted not to but always chose to do what God wanted] and then died on the cross and took the punishment for sin - he died for us.
4. Jesus rose again - showing that he had conquered death and letting us know that he had paid the price for rebelling against God and showing that we too could now live forever with God. He made it clear that death wasn't the end, but rather the beginning of an eternity of living in a right relationship with God - him as Lord and Father and we as his children.
