Frequently Asked Questions about christianity

Christianity originated in the Middle East over 2,000 years ago. While its origins are highly related to Judaism, Christians understand all of history and the Jewish Hebrew Bible through the lens of of a "beyond a reasonable doubt" historically true life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. 

One of the main Christian beliefs includes the belief in one God, who is manifest in three divine persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; who Jesus, as the Son, more fully revealed in Matthew 28:19). This concept has come to be known as the Holy Trinity. 

Another primary belief, known to many as God's Story, is that all of history is moving according to God's sovereign will, through four periods commonly known as Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration (sometimes also called Culmination or Consummation).

God, as Sovereign Creator, in His infinite love, freely chose to create the heavens and earth. God created humans as a special part of His creation, made in His image (Genesis 1).  This is commonly known as Creation.

However, humans, who were given free will by God so they could have the opportunity to freely choose to love Him, chose instead to sin against God (Genesis 3). And this sin wasn't just a one-time thing, but all humans have fallen short and sinned against God (Romans 3) and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6).  This is commonly known as the Fall.

God's compassionate, loving response to His created humans who sinned, was to send a Messiah. That Messiah is God Himself, manifest in human flesh, known as the Son of God and Son of Man, who is Jesus Christ (John 1). Jesus freely chose, in compassionate love, to die on the cross to pay the death penalty for all of humanity's sin, and then conquered sin and death by rising 3 days later from the dead in the historical resurrection. This event provides salvation, by God's free gift of grace, to all who confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in their heart that He rose again. This is commonly known as Redemption.

Finally, God is calling all humans to respond to His free gift of love and grace. And then, at the right time (known only to God), creation will culminate as Jesus returns to fully restore all of creation, bringing a new heaven and new earth. All those who respond in faith to God's grace will join a great multitude, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, worshipping and honoring the Lord, and God will wipe away every tear, and there will be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain, and God will be with them (Revelation 7 and 21). This is commonly known as Culmination (or Restoration).

 What is the Bible?

The Bible consists of the writings of the Jewish Hebrew Bible (known by Christians as the Old Testament), as well as 27 letters that comprise what is known as the New Testament (all of the Old and New Testament writings are also sometimes referred to, collectively, as Scripture). All of these writings are considered special works, written by individuals who were specially called and inspired by God to write their words.

Why do Christians believe what the Bible says?

The authority of Scripture is centered on Jesus Himself, who by His historical and miraculous resurrection, demonstrated His authority over all creation, including sin and death. Jesus affirmed the special nature of the Old Testament in Luke 24:44-45 when, "He said to them, 'This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.' Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures."  

The authority of the New Testament is centered on those who were either direct apostles of Jesus, or had close apostolic connections that conformed to apostolic teaching, and who were inspired by God's Holy Spirit to write those letters. These 27 particular letters were recognized very early on in the life of the Christian church as having special, inspired and authoritative status.

From a historical perspective, while the original New Testament manuscripts no longer exist (due to natural decay), the plethora of ancient, historical copies (more than any other ancient, historical document in existence) allow cross-checking and highly support the widely-held conclusion that the writings that exist today are highly accurate and based on very early documents (dating to within the same generation as Jesus Himself). This lends credence that the events recorded are also historically accurate. In addition, archaeological findings have been shown to support the eyewitness nature of the written accounts.

 When this question is examined based on the historical evidence, and the same level of "beyond a reasonable doubt" standards of proof are levied upon it as other historical events, then the answer is a resounding "Yes!"

The reason many people try to discount the resurrection is not based on evidence, but based on an "a priori assumption" (an assumption that comes before any analysis) that miracles are impossible. This is not an assumption based on any level of "beyond a reasonable doubt" evidence, but instead is based on a "blind faith" philosophical stance and bias.

When this type of philosophical bias is levied against any claim (not just miraculous claims) , there is no level of evidence that would ever satisfy the original question (unless the biased questioner were willing to admit their original philosophical stance and then be willing to let it go).