the Christian Faith
From my perspective…
Preamble
This page will articulate my sense of the Christian Faith. I hope a good attitude comes across which will help you want to read my “read” of real Christianity. I freely admit to my own limits and my own bias but I understand there to be a core of timeless truth within my Christianity which I hope is expanding over time, and continually shoving out that which is untrue in my thinking, or where I have embraced false ideas. I understand that this is something the Holy Spirit will do for us!
UNDER CONSTRUCTION (as they say)
>> and will continue to be so! Please interact with me if you wish. Probe with questions, seek first His Kingdom. Many “resources” are posted under that page. Bon appétit!
I Began Life in 1952
Raised in a suburban Lutheran church; I was hungry but there was no “meat” in the diet there; Luther’s Catechism was about all I got. I was an acolyte and confirmed there in 1967—abandoned any spiritual pursuit until spring 1972 at Virginia Tech. The Faith came upon me like a storm through three presentations by Josh McDowell, a traveling apologetics representative for Campus Crusade for Christ, who spoke on 1) “The Resurrection of Christ: Hoax or History; 2) Fulfilled Messianic Prophecy; 3) Maximum Sex (the Christian view of sex and family).
To Start With
I am persuaded that there is only one God (with all due respect to others who feel differently.) God is self-revealing and of a single essence - there is only one of Him, and yes, He is a Him. He said so. But God has also revealed Himself as three persons: Father, Son (Jesus of Nazareth in human real-time, calling Himself the “Son of Man” among other names) and the Holy Spirit. Each person is fully God and is eternal. The “Church” took three and a half centuries to figure this out (after Jesus’ Ascension in Jerusalem, c. 30 A.D.) And as best the Church could articulate it - The Son is begotten by the Father and the Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son. There are no disagreements and no growth or diminishment. Ever. That is part of the wonder of who He is. It blows me away as much now as it did when I first came to faith in 1972!
The problem faced by all humanity
There is a brokenness, a pollution inside all people. We sense it from an early time in our lives. It is deeply rooted and yet still, we feel that we are made of a good design; somehow we know we’re not just Gorilla 8.0 We are something more than that, and unique among God’s creatures. And yet, we remain stuck in an inescapable broken nature. If we’re honest, we admit we don’t want anyone telling us what to do—especially when we strongly want to do something else, something which makes us feel good. We find restraint difficult and indulgence easy. Our intellect is vulnerable to evil. Our bodies deteriorate—especially if we subject them to destructive things. Even our will can be turned towards bad things, sometimes easily. But still our consciences speak quietly to us; unless, we just burn them out with defiance. And if we don’t want to face our own broken natures, we see it plainly when we have our own children. Often in our faces! They don’t mean to be defiant, but it just comes up. Sooner or later.
The biblical writers identify this “problem”, in the context of the God they proclaim, as “sin.” Sin is the breaking of God’s law, wherever and whenever He has handed one down. The Bible is not fuzzy about where this came from—it is clear. Sin came from our parents, and their parents and all the way back to the beginning. People are inherently and inescapably sinful. And sin does a total job on people. It messes us up, twists our priorities to “Self.” Sometimes people alleviate it a bit by philanthropy or somehow by finding a better perspective on things. But still the poison lies within us. And we cannot burn it out, educate it out, empower it out or evolve it out. It remains. Nothing in life is more frustrating.
The Problem Unfixable by Human Efforts
Human sin cannot be repaired, replaced or redeemed by human efforts. Sin has imposed a ruin so great, so subtle and so thorough that the broken creature cannot fix itself. No amount of education, empowerment, social liberation or equity can eradicate the deep and permanent problem of personal sin. And while it does not necessarily show itself in the same ways in all people, it is still an in-born and tragic reality. A holy God must still be answered to. I’m sorry—that’s just the way it is.
And so God…
had to step in. He had to provide the solution, and a solution that only He could give. He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to be the substitute of judgment for humankind. Jesus did a complete job. On the cross, in Jerusalem, around 33 AD, He died and paid for the sins of the world. This is what His forerunner, John the Baptist said He would do. For all who would simply trust in it, it would be a complete payment and a complete redemption. It is the greatest sacrifice of all time.
A Gift Received by Faith
When a person—any person—hears about what is available, free of charge to activate a personal rescue for them from their own sin, they can have it. On the spot. By faith. If the person mindfully trusts in the “word” of the good news—even if they still have questions—it is given by God to them. Salvation cannot be earned and it is not deserved. It can only be appropriated like a gift. This changes a person’s whole life. It infuses a joy and a love that were previously unknowable. And it launches a new status which grows and lasts for the rest of that person’s life. They are promised, in fact, an unending life, which endures the day of physical death. It gives a hope that is so wonderful and which certainly cannot be simulated or superseded by anything in this life. The words by the apostle Paul become more than words; they become powerfully alive: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (Romans 5:8-11)
Lots of New Stuff Begins to Happen
New Life in Christ brings a whole array of new experiences and hopes. The Bible becomes spiritual food. New relationships with other Christians become “family” even when they disappoint us occasionally. A deep hopefulness and expectation starts to grow and prayer becomes real, not just a fantasy. Our desires begin to change. What we craved previously gets cleaned up—not by some kind of self-righteous effort but by the power of the Holy Spirit. We start to really look forward to the future and dream of His appearing again—a certainty which Jesus Himself promised.
The CORE of What I Think is Critical, Central and Important in the Faith - at least the starting place…