So what is a Christian? A Christian is a follower (or disciple) of the teachings of Jesus Christ… So who is Jesus Christ? Jesus is the Son of the one and only true God and was sent by God to teach us about himself (e.g God) as outlined in the Bible (which is a written record of God’s interaction with us).
So who is God? God has a name that is shown in Hebrew as YHWH. His name can be translated into English as “Yahweh”. The Bible says this about God;
“Did you not know? Had you not heard? Yahweh is the everlasting God, he created the remotest parts of the earth. He does not grow tired or weary, his understanding is beyond fathoming. He gives strength to the weary, he strengthens the powerless” Isa 40:28-29 New Jerusalem Bible.
A Christian is, therefore, a follower (or disciple) of the teachings of the one and only true God, Yahweh as shown by his son Jesus.
To know why I am a Christian requires knowing a bit about me, the author of this website. Basically, I am an engineer with an ancestry of engineers so I look at life from the perspective of an engineer.
What is an engineer? It is “a person whose job is to design or build machines, engines, or electrical equipment, or things such as roads, railways, or bridges, using scientific principles” (Cambridge dictionary)
Therefore, in my opinion, my first “tick in the box” for my Christian belief is the following. When I look at our earth and examine the life forms that fill it, all I see is “engineering”, indeed most of it is so staggering in engineering complexity, it is beyond my comprehension as to how it can work the way it does.
Another Christian called Paul made a similar comment nearly 2000 years ago (with his engineering “hat” on in that he was tent maker) as shown in the Bibles new testament section when he says, “For what can be known about God is perfectly plain to them, since God has made it plain to them ever since the creation of the world, the invisible existence of God and his everlasting power have been clearly seen by the mind’s understanding of created things….” Romans 1:19-20 New Jerusalem Bible
Today, however, many believe that the world and all the life in it “came from nothing” but from my engineering perspective that makes no sense as life requires engineering. Therefore it appears one needs just a much “faith” to believe that the world and all life in it “came from nothing” compared to believing it was created by God. So a Christian believes that God is the origin of life and the earth that we live on.
A second “tick in the box” comes from a consideration of our morality and ethics. An example of this would be the question, “why do we have a conscience?” Conscience is defined as “an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one’s behavior”(Oxford).
C. S. Lewis in his book “Mere Christianity”, argues that “conscience reveals to us a moral law whose source cannot be found in the natural world, thus pointing to a supernatural Lawgiver.”e.g God. Hans Kung in his book, “Why I am Still a Christian” expands on this theme further. Therefore if we “came from nothing”, why would we have a conscience that gives us concepts of right and wrong along with a sense of justice?
My third “tick in the box” is the existence of the Bible as a record of God’s communications with mankind. In my opinion, I think that you can tell the difference between man’s words and God’s words by the “power” of God’s words. God seems to agree with this view;
“Is my word not like fire, Yahweh demands, is it not like a hammer shattering a rock?” Jer 23:29 New Jerusalem Bible
My fourth “tick in the box” is the fact that as humans we have “spiritual needs”. What does this mean? Spiritual needs can be defined as “…needs and expectations where humans have to find meaning, purpose, and value in their lives….” We need to find meaning and purpose in life because we are not happy with just food or possessions. But why is this the case if we just “came from nothing”? The Bible identifies this need with God and says that knowing God will give us such meaning and purpose in life as Jesus said:
“Scripture says: Human beings live not on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Matt 4:4 New Jerusalem Bible.
My fifth and final tick in the box is the fact that we all seem to think that we will live forever in that for us it feels that our death is unnatural! This seems to be indicated in the bible as it says;
“…Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end…. Ecclesiastes 3:11. New Living Translation
So what is God offering us as Christians? The truth! And this truth will set us free. e.g. (explanations are in italics)
“… Jesus said: When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am He (e.g the Messiah) and that I do nothing of my own accord. What I say is what the Father has taught me; he who sent me is with me, and has not left me to myself, for I always do what pleases him. As he was saying this, many came to believe in him. To the Jews who believed in him Jesus said: If you make my word your home you will indeed be my disciples; you will come to know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:28-32 New Jerusalem Bible.”
And is it burdensome to be a Christian? Far from it! God is offering us “rest for your souls”. He said;
“At that time Jesus exclaimed, ‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to little children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do. Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.'” Matt 11:25-30 New Jerusalem Bible.
Therefore what does a follower of Yahweh (God) need to do? Well, in a discussion with a distinguished professional person (e.g scribe), Jesus said;
“One of the scribes who had listened to them debating appreciated that Jesus had given a good answer and put a further question to him,
‘Which is the first of all the commandments?’ Jesus replied, ‘This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one, only Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.The second is this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.’
The scribe said to him, ‘Well spoken, Master; what you have said is true, that he is one and there is no other. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself, this is far more important than any burnt offering or sacrifice.’ Mark 12:28-33 New Jerusalem Bible.
So a Christian is to;
- Love Yahweh our God.
- Love your neighbour as yourself.
Is anything else required? Let’s have a look at the Bible in Acts chapter 2. It says; (explanations are in italics)
“When Pentecost (e.g a feast which commemorates the revelation of the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures given on Mt. Sinai to Moses) came round, they had all met together, when suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of a violent wind which filled the entire house in which they were sitting; and there appeared to them tongues as of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them.
They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak different languages as the Spirit gave them power to express themselves. Now there were devout men living in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven, and at this sound they all assembled, and each one was bewildered to hear these men speaking his own language. They were amazed and astonished. ‘Surely,’ they said, ‘all these men speaking are Galileans? How does it happen that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; people from Mesopotamia, Judaea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya round Cyrene; residents of Rome; Jews and proselytes alike; Cretans and Arabs, we hear them preaching in our own language about the marvels of God.’ Everyone was amazed and perplexed; they asked one another what it all meant. Some, however, laughed it off. ‘They have been drinking too much new wine,’ they said.
Then Peter stood up with the Eleven ( e.g Apostles of Jesus) and addressed them in a loud voice:
‘Men of Judaea, and all you who live in Jerusalem, make no mistake about this, but listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you imagine; why, it is only the third hour of the day. On the contrary, this is what the prophet was saying:
“In the last days — the Lord declares — I shall pour out my Spirit on all humanity. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your young people shall see visions, your old people dream dreams. Even on the slaves, men and women, shall I pour out my Spirit. I will show portents in the sky above and signs on the earth below. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the day of the Lord comes, that great and terrible Day. And all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
‘Men of Israel, listen to what I am going to say: Jesus the Nazarene was a man commended to you by God by the miracles and portents and signs that God worked through him when he was among you, as you know. This man, who was put into your power by the deliberate intention and foreknowledge of God, you took and had crucified and killed by men outside the Law. But God raised him to life, freeing him from the pangs of Hades; for it was impossible for him to be held in its power since, as David says of him: I kept the Lord before my sight always, for with him at my right hand nothing can shake me. So my heart rejoiced my tongue delighted; my body, too, will rest secure, for you will not abandon me to Hades or allow your holy one to see corruption. You have taught me the way of life, you will fill me with joy in your presence.’
Brothers, no one can deny that the patriarch David (e.g former King of Israel) himself is dead and buried: his tomb is still with us. But since he was a prophet, and knew that God had sworn him an oath to make one of his descendants succeed him on the throne, he spoke with foreknowledge about the resurrection of the Christ: he is the one who was not abandoned to Hades (e.g a greek term widely used to denote the abode of the dead) and whose body did not see corruption. God raised this man Jesus to life, and of that we are all witnesses. Now raised to the heights by God’s right hand, he has received from the Father the Holy Spirit, who was promised, and what you see and hear is the outpouring of that Spirit. For David himself never went up to heaven, but yet he said: The Lord declared to my Lord, take your seat at my right hand, till I have made your enemies your footstool. ‘For this reason the whole House of Israel can be certain that the Lord and Christ whom God has made is this Jesus whom you crucified.’
Hearing this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, ‘What are we to do, brothers?’
‘You must repent,’ Peter answered, ‘and every one of you must be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The promise that was made is for you and your children, and for all those who are far away, for all those whom the Lord our God is calling to himself.'” Acts 2:1-39 New Jerusalem Bible.
From Peter’s account in Acts 2, we can see that to be a Christian we must repent and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins.
Therefore to become a Christian we need to;
- Love Yahweh your God.
- Love your neighbour as yourself.
- Repent of your sins and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.
That’s all that is required to be a Christian…!
Some ask, what is sin? In the Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon, sin is defined as; “do wrong, commit a mistake or an error; … miss the mark, miss the way”. One can clearly see what God means by sin in the following quote from the Bible.
“‘What are your endless sacrifices to me?’ says Yahweh. ‘I am sick of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of calves. I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come and present yourselves before me, who has asked you to trample through my courts? Bring no more futile cereal offerings, the smoke from them fills me with disgust. New Moons, Sabbaths, assemblies — I cannot endure solemnity combined with guilt.”
“Your New Moons and your meetings I utterly detest; to me, they are a burden I am tired of bearing. When you stretch out your hands I turn my eyes away. You may multiply your prayers, I shall not be listening.
“Your hands are covered in blood, wash, make yourselves clean. Take your wrong-doing out of my sight. Cease doing evil. Learn to do good, search for justice, discipline the violent, be just to the orphan, plead for the widow.'”
“Come, let us talk this over,’ says Yahweh. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing to obey, you shall eat the good things of the earth.” Isaiah 1, 11-19 New Jerusalem Bible.
Therefore “sinning” involves wrong-doing, doing evil, not doing good and allowing injustice. And you have probably realized from our quote from Isaiah that God also ignores religious practices or “works” in his name from those who deliberately sin.
But what happens if as a Christian, we make a mistake and sin against God? This is what the Bible says;
“My children, I am writing this so you won’t sin. But if you do sin, Jesus Christ always does the right thing, and he will speak to the Father for us. Christ is the sacrifice that takes away our sins and the sins of all the world’s people.
When we obey God, we are sure we know him. But if we claim to know him and don’t obey him, we are lying and the truth isn’t in our hearts. We truly love God only when we obey him as we should, and then we know we belong to him. If we say we are his, we must follow the example of Christ” 1 John 2: 1 – 6 Contemporary English Version.
This is why we are baptised in the name of Jesus Christ as we need Jesus to insure the forgiveness of our sins with God.
So let’s take the time to get to know God and how we can follow the good path in life by reading his word, the Bible.
You may find some Christians may say to you that these three points are not enough to make you a Christian, but remember it was enough for Peter as we have seen in Acts chapter 2.
Be cautious of those that wish to add to your “light burden” while being a Christian. Some will do this with the best intentions and some will do this to make you subject to their “authority”. Don’t forget that Jesus said “the truth will set you free” and “Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light”.
And best of all, God promises that “you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” to help you in your Christian venture!
If you wish to find out more, a good way to see the power of God’s word is by reading the Bible yourself and I would suggest starting with the book of Matthew in the New testament.
Even though I don’t belong to any Christian organisation (to be discussed in another post), one of the most readable Bibles I have come across is the Catholic New Jerusalem Bible which can be found online at https://www.catholic.org/bible