WHAT IS CHRISTIANITY

This article is very important because it outlines the basic tenets of the Christian faith. Many people have been trying to figure out an answer to this question in light of the many denominational divisions within the Christian Faith. Many people are ignorant of the basic truths that Christianity holds to. This is why an article like this is needed. The question is - what does Christianity teach? This is the focal question on which I will focus on.

There are many questions that arise - what are the differences between denominations? That is one of the many other questions asked. This article focuses on the central doctrines of the Christian faith. Doctrines such as End Times Prophecy (Eschatology) will not be discussed because many Christians have different interpretations on that subject. There are many other matters of doctrine that many well-meaning Christians have differences on but we will not discuss those.

We will discuss the central doctrines that unite all Christians together. If you are a Christian and you don't hold to at least one of the doctrines presented in this article, then you have to question whether you go to a Christian Church. What distinguishes Christianity from other religions are its beliefs. These central doctrines are what unites Christians of different denominations. These central doctrines that I present forth are not my interpretation nor of my opinion. These doctrines are supported by the Bible and followed by "historical" Christianity for 2000 years.

Christianity owes itself to the life and words of Jesus of Nazareth. Look at the word "Christianity." Without Jesus Christ, the world's largest faith would be nothing. Much of what we know about Jesus' life comes from the four accounts of His life - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Many people try to criticize these accounts by presenting them as contradictory but they are not. These four accounts are merely complementary, which you would expect from the testimony of more than one witness who are telling the truth. Christians first have to trust what these four Gospels present as factual in order by faith to believe Jesus. If you are a Christian and don't believe in the gospels then how can you be sure about the events told about Jesus are true. As a litmus test, each Christian has to trust in the Word of God - the Bible.

Back to Jesus Christ. According to Christianity, Jesus was born into this world by a virgin. This is known by many Christians as the "Incarnation." He had no biological father. Joseph was merely the legal father of Jesus. Likewise Jesus was the "adopted" son of Joseph. While the events of His first thirty years are unknown to us, we know mostly about Jesus' three-and-a-half year ministry. Christians believe that Jesus was sent into this world to dwell among man teaching men the kingdom of God. He was the greatest of all the prophets because He was the eternal Son of God, who knows all events past and future. His purpose was to dwell among man in total humility and then when the time came, to be rejected by His own people. He was crucified unto a cross by the Romans and He died for the sins of the world. Both Jews and Gentiles (i.e. the World) rejected Jesus and He carried all of our sins upon on that cross.

This theme is carried on perhaps the Bible's greatest verse - John 3:16. God the Father out of unspeakable love for the world gave His Only Son. This Son healed the sick, said the greatest words any man ever heard, rose people from the dead, and taught many great truths of the kingdom in parables. He was a sinless man and the greatest man who ever lived. Because He was sinless, this qualified Him to be the one who would die for the sins of mankind incurred to us by the first man - Adam. Jesus died but that was not the end for three days later, Jesus rose from the dead and later ascended to Heaven in front of five hundred witnesses.

The life of Jesus Christ is the first and most important doctrine of the Christian faith. Here are some points that Christians believe in:

Christians worshipped Jesus Christ for 2000 years now. Why would they do this if He was only a mere man? The fact is, He was no mere man - He was the Son of God. This doctrine of the divinity of Jesus Christ is what unites all Christians of every denomination. Now in this day and age, we are living in a society that is "politically" correct. Some denominations are renouncing certain basic tenets of the Christian faith like Jesus being the Only Way (John 14:6). Soon this doctrine may be stricken from many Churches. It is important for all Christians to continually to believe in the divinity of Christ.

Is Jesus the Son of God? This question was asked by the Chief Priests in Jesus' trial in Mark 14:61. Jesus simply said I AM. The doctrine of the Son of God is an important one. If we are to accept this then all of what Jesus did, the miracles, His words, His resurrection are all laid to rest. Will you accept them or will you do what the high priest did and scream "Blasphemy"? Many people try to shy away from this topic and say - Jesus never claimed He was God. Christians will tell you this is wrong. If those people are right, then our belief in Jesus is in vain. To dismiss the divinity of Christ, is to dismiss the entire Christian faith for this faith is built up on that truth.

To be the Son of God, is to be eternal. Jesus made an astounding statement in John 8:56: "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." Abraham lived 2000 years before Jesus so how can Jesus make this statement? The Jews there weren't convinced and said, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham." What Jesus says in John 8:58 is one of the most astounding statements, He ever said. These are Jesus' words, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM." Mind you, Abraham was born 2000 years before Jesus and yet He says that He existed prior to Abraham. In other words, He was saying that He was eternal. He also said I AM. Those very words were spoken by God to Moses at the Burning Bush. He said to Moses, "I AM THAT I AM." Jesus was in essence saying that He was God.

Many times Jesus spoke of His Father. He seems to always imply that He speaks on His Father's behalf. John 8:38 tells us this. He said on another occasion, "I and the Father are ONE." This goes along with the Son of God being God being equal with God the Father. Different times, Jesus says that the Father is greater. How are we to reconcile these seemingly contradictory ideas? It worthy to note that the Son of God is equal to the Father in person. The Father is greater than the Son of God in position not person. We see that the contradiction goes away if we realize this.

Old Testament prophecy itself attests to the fact of the divinity of Jesus Christ. Psalm 2 tells about the Son of God. Proverbs 30:4 tells us that God has a Son. Isaiah 9:6 calls the Messiah, Jesus, "Mighty God, Eternal Father." Micah 5:2 tells us the Messiah is eternal by saying "His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity." Daniel 7:13-14 tells us that the Son of Man, the Messiah will be given a Kingdom "which will not be destroyed."

This is an important doctrine that all Christians should embrace since it has been with us for 2000 years. Here are some points that Christians believe in:

This is perhaps one of the most confusing doctrines in the Bible. This doctrine is very important because it distinguishes historical Christianity from groups that claim to be Christian like Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses. This doctrine distinguishes Christianity from other monotheistic religions - Judaism and Islam. Both of these religions look upon the doctrine of the Trinity as pagan and not monotheism but polytheism. But this is not the case at all. Christianity affirms there is ONE God (Deuteronomy 6:4) but many are not convinced.

Whatever case this doctrine has been with us for 2000 years. But this doctrine was universally recognized by Christians in the fourth century AD by the Creed of Athanasius, which was put forth in response by the blasphemous Anti-trinity doctrines of the Arians. We see that the Trinity is an established doctrine of the Church.

The question is - What is the Trinity? The doctrine of the Trinity states that there are three persons - God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit and they are ONE. Three persons, one God. We know that God the Father is God. I just showed you that Jesus claimed He was God. Many people such as the Jehovah Witnesses dismiss that the Holy Spirit. They view Him as God's "active force" and not a person. The Bible proves them wrong. The Holy Spirit is a person and has all the attributes of personality:

Here are some attributes of personality that the Holy Spirit has. These show that the Holy Spirit is in fact a person and not an "active force":

Let me now show you that the Holy Spirit is God. Look at Acts 5. Acts 4:36-37 tells us that Barnabas sold his tract of land and gave all of the proceeds from the sale to the Apostles' feet. In Acts 5 we are introduced to Ananias and his wife, Sapphira. They probably saw what Barnabas did and proceeded to do the same. Ananias sold his land but he kept a portion of the proceeds for himself (Acts 5:2). These are not the actual amounts but lets say that he sold the land for $1000 but he kept a quarter of the money for himself ($250). He gave the money to the Apostles and said here is $750 the price for the land. The main thing is that he lied and his wife knew it. He didn't mention to them that he kept $250 and that is lying. Peter told Ananias in Acts 5:3, "Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit..." Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit. Peter then said in Acts 5:4, "You have not lied to men but to God." Now lets see:

It is clear from this passage that the Holy Spirit is God. Lets get back to the Trinity. Christians believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit as three persons but ONE God. How can we explain this? Look at the universe. It is divided up into space, matter, and time. Each is distinct and yet they are one because each elements are the whole. Here are some other analogies:

Space	Matter	Time
energy	length	past
motion	width	present
phenomena	height	future

What about water? Water can take on three forms - solid, liquid, and gas. That is one of the more famous analogies. Another analogy was given by Robert W. Faid in his book A Scientific Approach to Biblical Mysteries. This analogy about the Trinity concerns the ocean. Look at what he said:

I found this to be one of the best analogies that explain the Trinity. Finally, I need to give the reason why God is a Trinity! Let us look at the differences between monotheism, polytheism, and Christian monotheism in the following chart:

Worldview	Monotheism	Christian Monotheism	Polytheism
Religion	Judaism, Islam, Jehovah Witnesses, Oneness Pentecostal	Christianity	Hinduism, Mormonism
Problem	Unity without diversity	None	Diversity without unity
Solution	None	Unity with diversity; Diversity with unity	None

For there to be unity and diversity in God is very important. Look at Islam. Allah would be incomplete because he would be unable to love before creating other beings capable of loving and interacting with him. This makes him dependent on his creation "for the object and reciprocation of his love" as F.S. Copleston suggests in his book, Jesus Christ or Mohammed? The Bible or the Koran. This shows us that Allah isn't love by nature. In Judaism it is the same thing as Islam despite the fact that both Christians and Jews serve the same God - the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In polytheism there is diversity but no unity.

In Christianity, all three members of the Trinity commune with each other, love each other, fellowship with each other, and take counsel with each other. According to Christianity, God is truly love because within there is a relationship within the Godhead supplying the object of His love. If it was any other way then God would not be an independent and self-sufficient being. Dave Hunt in his book In Defense of the Faith says, "The quality of love and the capacities for fellowship and communion, by their nature, require another personal being with which to share them. And God could not fully share Himself except with another Being equal to Him. Yet the Bible says that 'God is love' in Himself alone. This could only be true if God Himself consisted of a plurality of Beings who were separate and distinct, yet one."

Christianity is the general religion with three main divisions - Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox. All of these divisions accept each of the following doctrines of the life of Jesus Christ, the divinity of Christ, and the Trinity. These doctrines are what makes each division Christian. But there are many differences between the three divisions. These divisions occur in the areas of communion, salvation by faith alone or salvation by faith and works, Sola Scriptura or Scripture and Church Tradition, Apocrypha or no Apocrypha, Sacraments, End Times Prophecy, Interpretation of Scripture, and so on and so forth.

Within each division of Christianity there are many denominations within each one. Protestantism has the most denominations while Roman and Eastern Orthodox Churches seem to have less denominations. Despite these differences every Christian is unified because of Jesus Christ. I'm Protestant and even though I don't agree with some of the teachings of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, they have a common ground with me - Jesus Christ and the three main doctrines listed above.

Should there be divisions within Christianity? No but we humans are imperfect. Conflict is in our blood. We are imperfect because of Adam's sin, which was imputed to us. Even well meaning Christians have disagreements and differences. Look at the dispute between Paul the Apostle and Barnabas over John Mark (who wrote the book of Mark). But we Christians should look to what unites us - Jesus Christ.

There is however a false unification movement in the Church called the Ecumenical Movement. It calls for Protestants, Catholics, and other Christians to unite. This is a movement of unity, which strives not for Christians to be unified in terms of doctrine but to achieve unity at the expense of doctrine. Some of the famous doctrines of the Church - the Trinity, the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, His Divinity - will probably go out the window in this movement. This Ecumenical Movement will lead to the One World Church. This Church will not be Christian but will consist of every religion on the face of this earth unified at the expense of the Truth. They will focus on the idea that all religions lead to God instead of admitting that Jesus is the ONLY WAY (John 14:6).