Christianity: My Faith

Throughout the ages, Christianity has gotten a bad reputation among most geeks and hackers. The Crusades, the Catholic Church through the middle ages, witch hunts, pushy televangelists involved in scandals, literature, and a whole slew of other things have left some with a bad taste of Christianity. In actuality, Christianity isn't like that. Being a Christian isn't about being a goody-goody, doing more good things than bad to get into heaven. It's about following Christ. Christians are not supposed to hurt anyone whether it be emotionally, mentally, or physically because of a differing belief. Christianity is based solely on love. God loved us so much that He came down to earth, became a human, and died in our place (see below). Likewise, we are called to “Love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-38). This obviously excludes belittling or alienating those who don't believe. If you've been a victim of such un-Christian behavior, please know that that's not what Christianity is all about. It truly is a religion of love.

Christianity is all about God's love and grace towards us. You are a sinner. Meaning, you've disobeyed God. No matter how good of a person you think you are, no matter how few people you've killed, you are still human, which means you will make mistakes. On the other hand, there's God. Amazing, infinite, all-powerful, and otherwise indescribable. You are to Him as a billionth of an electron is to the universe. Instead of forgetting about you or smiting you with lightning the first time you did something wrong, God loves you. To God, you deserve to die for what you've done against Him. But, He loves you so much that he died in your place in the form of Jesus Christ. Jesus rose from the dead, meaning that you too can conquer sin and death. God has provided for you, loved you, and died for you. The God who made the universe, the God who made millions of massive galaxies, wants a relationship with you! Are you going to accept it? The choice is up to you.

Some people go through life claiming to be Christian but never really knowing what being a Christian meant. Others think that it's just about doing good things so that God will be happy and let you into Heaven.

Christianity, as you may know, was brought out of Judaism (after all, Jesus was a Jew). A central tenant of Judaism is the sacrifice. We're not talking about some sacrificial cult here, but of sound theology. God is all-present (omnipresent), all-knowing (omniscient), and all-powerful (omnipotent). He created the universe, after all. And He made us with a purpose and has a plan for us. When we don't follow His plan and do stuff that He tells us not to do, He has every right to be angry. Someone has to pay for this sin, the going-against what God said. Sin is so serious to God that He says, “without blood, there can be no remission (forgiveness) of sins” [reference needed]. God isn't some sadist who likes to see his victim's blood pour out, though. Blood represented life to the ancient Jews. Sin is so serious that someone has to pay for it—with their life.

So why didn't the Israelites gradually exterminate themselves? Knowing that sin was (and still is) an inherent part of humanity, God put into place the system of animal sacrifice. In this, the people would take the best of their livestock, the firstborn lamb without any spot or blemish, and give it to the priest (The God who created the universe doesn't want some sickly, crippled lamb if it's standing in place of you. It also showed that the people were genuinely sorry for disobeying). The priest would then symbolically transfer the sins of the people onto the spotless animal and kill it, fulfilling the fact that someone (or something) had to die for the sin.

How did the people know what was sin, then? God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, along with many, many other laws. It would be impossible to obey them all. Yet that's what people tried to do—the Pharisees, the religious leaders, would devote their lives to trying to follow every single law. But even they fell short and sinned. But they didn't get the point. The law was to show people how to be closer to God. They completely disregarded their relationship with God and became obsessed with the law.

That brings us to the time of Jesus. Jesus, the Son of God, was God in human form. He left His power, His splendor, His Glory, His amazing throne in amazing, perfect heaven to come down to a sick, dirty, dying earth. Why? To become that sacrifice. To die in our place for our sin! Jesus never sinned (He was God, after all) and because of that, was the perfect sacrifice. God not only became human, left His splendor in Heaven, and came down to earth, but He died. For you! And it wasn't a pretty death. He was humiliated, spit on, stripped, beaten, and crucified (a slow, painful, and humiliating death) along with two common criminals. At any time, He could of said, “Forget this. These people spitting on me and putting this crown of thorns on my head don't deserve my love. I'll just wipe every single person off the face of the planet because no one could ever live up to my glory and perfection”, beamed Himself back to Heaven and simply made the earth cease to exist. But He didn't. You deserved to die, and you certainly aren't worthy of a perfect, all-powerful God's love. You deserved to be on that cross that day. But that same perfect, all-powerful, amazing God loved you so much that he took your place.

What does this mean for you? It means that no matter how bad you've messed up, no matter how much you've gone against and disobeyed God, you can still have a deep and personal relationship with God. It means that His sacrifice and His grace was enough—no more animal sacrifices because Jesus, the Son of God, became the ultimate sacrifice.

So because Jesus died, does that mean that Christianity is a religion centered around death? No! Jesus, being God, could not be held down by death. On the third day, He rose from the dead, just like He said!Do you see the symbolism here? Sin is equivalent to death, and death is brought about by sin. (God's original plan was for Adam and Eve to live forever—their bodies didn't start to “die” until their sin). If Jesus conquered death, that means he also conquered sin. All you have to do is believe and accept Jesus' sacrifice.

The Israelites had to sacrifice an animal to be forgiven and made right with God again. Before you go out and slaughter that cow chilling in your backyard, know that it's not necessary. Jesus--God in human form--died and became that sacrifice already. All you have to do is believe. Acknowledge (sincerely) that you're a sinner, believe (for serious) that Jesus died for you, and ask God to come into your heart and guide you. Then, pick up a copy of the Bible (The Message is a great contemporary translation for new Christians trying to understand their new faith, but is only a paraphrase...not an actual translation) and grow in your faith.