August 15, 2002, Vol.2, No.16.
Two new articles every two weeks.
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us.
THIS ISSUE: "What
Is Christianity" (see below)
and "The Qur'an and the
Bible"
To Our Muslim Friends:
What Is Christianity?
Guest article by Bobby Graham
Thank you for your interest. I commend your reading of this
material. Remember that spiritual matters are more important
than physical matters because the spirit or soul is enduring,
while the flesh or physical man is temporal (2 Cor 4:18). You
will appear before Christ in final judgment to give account for
your life (2 Cor. 5:10). Give spiritual matters the priority
they deserve. Please read the Biblical passages cited in this
study for a deeper understanding of Christianity.
What is your attitude? Your answer to this question will probably
have more influence on handling this material than any other
single factor. Both the Old and New Testament provide evidence
of the monumental role that one's attitude plays in all of life.
"Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it
are the issues of life." (Prov 4:23)
"But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest
and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth
fruit with patience." (Luke 8:15)
If you read to find problems, inconsistencies, or contradictions,
because you wish to justify self in present beliefs, then you
will likely end your endeavor just as you started it -- believing
whatever you began believing. On the other hand, if you study
to seek truth and to discard all else, you will likely find truth.
I ask again: What attitude do you bring to this study? What means
most to you: continuing your beliefs and practices, proving yourself
right and someone else wrong, or learning the truth of God's
Word? You hold the key to your becoming a follower of Jesus Christ
or not in your own attitude.
If your attitude is one of placing truth above all else, then
you can come to understand the fundamentals of Christianity.
You can learn that Jesus Christ is truly God's final prophet,
attested by the miracles that God performed by Him on this earth.
You can come to see that the resurrection of Jesus places Him
on a plane above that of Muhammad, who is still in his grave.
You can learn from the testimony of God Himself that Jesus Christ
worked on earth with His approval, died and arose by His decree,
and rules according to His will. If you will listen to divine
evidence, you can become a Christian. Remember that your attitude
toward God's truth will determine where you spend eternity. God
will judge you according to your life on earth-a life governed
by your attitude.
Christ-Centered
All of Christianity is centered in Jesus Christ. If you find
any teaching or practice of people claiming to be Christians
that fails to harmonize with the teaching of Christ in the New
Testament, it is the "Christians" who are wrong, not
Christ. Those making such a claim sometimes misunderstand or
misrepresent what Jesus Christ taught or authorized the apostles
to teach.
Because Christianity is the religious system of Christ, it
is imperative to know that the life, death, resurrection, and
ascension of Jesus to sit at the right hand of the Father form
the foundation of Christianity (1 Cor. 15:1-28). After His return
to heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to guide the apostles in revealing
all truth, which became as authoritative as His personal teaching
(Jn. 14:25-26; 15:26-27; 16:5-15). Jesus taught, proved His deity,
demonstrated His authority, and provided for continuing His work
by apostles whom He had chosen (Acts 1-2).
Heaven-Ordained
Here we stress the approval of God resting upon Jesus in His
work to save people and to spread the gospel of salvation to
the world. God spoke from heaven twice to express approval of
Jesus in this undertaking-once at His baptism and once at his
transfiguration (Mt. 3:17; 17:5). He gave Jesus His endorsement
for His entire earthly mission when He said "in whom I am
well pleased."
Jesus had the Father's sanction because He came to do the
Father's will, to carry out His work (Jn. 6:38; 17:4). He came
from heaven a divine being-exactly like His Father in deity but
also clothed in human flesh (Heb. 1:3; Phil. 2:6-7). There he
enjoyed association with the Father, but He came here to complete
the work of salvation planned by the Father before creation (Jn.
1:1; Rom. 16:25-26). Jesus never asserted His own will or initiated
His own private agenda; His total life was always in complete
harmony with the Father (Jn. 5:19; 10:30). He is one with the
Father in nature, will, and work.
Resurrection-Proved
God never expected anyone to believe an unconfirmed message
or an unattested messenger. Just as He had enabled His earlier
prophets to prove their divine mission by miracles, so He did
in the case of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:22). The greatest sign was
that of His resurrection from the tomb, for by it God spoke to
all people for all time to come that Jesus was His son with power,
His duly empowered ruler (Mt. 12:39; Rom. 1:4). No other human
being in all human history bears the credentials that Jesus has.
No other one is so verified as God's prophet, priest, and king.
Muhammad and all other human religious leaders, including those
claiming to be prophets, lack such attestation from God.
Imitation
of Christ
The purpose of Christianity is to reproduce followers of Jesus
Christ. God has saved Christians so they can help save others.
In their lives they must live like Christ, reflecting His principles
and ideals in their thinking, their words, and their deeds. Paul
could say, "I have been crucified with Christ. Christ lives
in me"(Gal. 2:20). Observe that Christ will live in the
crucified life-that is, in one who has renounced himself in self-denial,
for the sake of Christ (Mt. 16:24). He lives so that he might
benefit others like salt and light (Mt. 5:13-16). In keeping
with what Charles Colton said about imitation being the sincerest
form of flattery, in the life of a genuine Christian imitation
of Christ is the sincerest form of respect for God and love for
fellow man.
Sacrificial
in Nature
Christianity is can be summed up in the idea of sacrifice.
The Father sacrificed His Son to come to earth on the mission
of redemption (1 Jn. 4:14). The Son sacrificed the glory of heaven
when He emptied Himself to come to earth for the sake of human
beings (Jn. 17:5; Phil. 2:6-7). The apostles of Christ sacrificed
human ties and earthly welfare for the advancement of the gospel
(Mt. 8:18-27; 10). All who follow Christ must also be willing
to sacrifice whatever would divert them from loyalty to Jesus
Christ (Mt. 16:24-26). In order to follow Christ, who forfeited
all for the sake of all people, His disciples must also forfeit
anything that would claim their loyalty.
Teaching-Based
Only as people learn from God can they follow Christ (Jn.
6:44-45). Before leaving earth for heaven, Jesus provided for
such teaching by His apostles, guided by the Holy Spirit whom
He would send. Their work was primarily a teaching work-teaching
all the gospel of Christ and urging belief of the message (Mt.
28:19; Lk. 24:46-47). The teaching was accompanied by miraculous
confirmation, so the message might be credible to the hearers
(Mk. 16:20; Heb. 2:3-4). Some appointed by them as workers in
local congregations were also endowed with the power to work
miracles for confirmation (Acts 8:14-17; 1 Cor. 12:8-11). God
has never saved anyone apart from the exercise of his own free
will in learning and obeying the message of truth.
Initiated
by God
The scheme of redemption was divine in origin, for God purposed
and planned it all before He even created the first human being
(1 Cor. 2:7; Eph. 1:4; 3:11). Christianity did not appear evolutionally,
as the product of many centuries of human development. It first
occurred in God's mind, then in the various previews that God
gave in Old Testament revelation, and finally in the completed
system of the New Testament (1 Pet. 1:10-12; Heb. 10:1). Because
the religion of Jesus Christ began with God, man finds many warnings
against altering the divine plan.
Accessible
to All
Unlike other religions of earth, there is no class/caste system
in Christianity. God's will is that all share alike in the blessings
of following and serving Christ. This is evident in His choice
of apostles from the working classes; in explicit statements
about His impartiality (Acts 10:34); in recorded examples of
conversions from various classes in the Book of Acts; and in
directions to the apostles to proclaim the gospel of Christ to
all. There are no social, racial, educational, gender, national,
ethnic, linguistic, or other barriers limiting any person from
following Christ, or benefits that give any person an advantage
with the Lord (Gal. 3:28). There is no special clergy class in
the religion of Christ, for all Christians are priests empowered
to serve God for themselves without the need for any human mediator
(1 Pet. 2:5,9; 1 Tim. 2:5).
Nothing
without Faith
Christianity is not the mindless performance of ritual, but
the faithful observance of the will of Christ (Heb. 5:9). Nobody
can please God without faith (Heb. 11:6). The faith required
by God is always based upon the solid foundation of God's word
(Rom. 10:17). All instructions regarding salvation and discipleship
stress the role of belief (faith), as do the examples of conversion
to Christ in Acts of the Apostles. God asks that we believe His
confirmed word, not that we blindly follow the precepts given
by men.
Invested
with Divine Authority
As a divine being in heaven Jesus had equality with the Father
(Phil. 2:6), but in coming to earth He voluntarily submitted
to the Father's will, as we learned earlier. In the work that
He did and continues to do from heaven until time ends, He has
all authority in heaven and on earth (Mt. 28:18). God has made
Him both Lord (Ruler, Authority) and Christ (Acts 2:36). The
work and teaching of the apostles were by divine authority (Acts
10:40-42). They taught what the Lord in heaven had already decreed
(Mt. 16:19). Disciples of Christ are people who have submitted
to the authority of Christ (Mt. 16:24-26).
Tainted
by Any Alteration
God designed a perfect system to benefit His creatures (Eph.
1:3-14). The standard by which all human beings must measure
their thinking and actions is a perfect one (2 Tim. 3:16-17;
2 Pet. 1:3). Jesus is the perfect Savior, and the salvation that
He grants is perfect (Heb. 7:25-28). Why would human beings try
to change perfection? To change perfection is to destroy it!
The warnings of God's Word about altering it through addition,
subtraction, or substitution will preserve divine perfection
and will prevent soul-damning presumption (Deut. 4:2; Prov. 30:5-6;
1 Cor. 4:6; Rev. 22:18-19).
Yours
for the Asking
The salvation planned by God/implemented by Christ was never
designed to be collective, but individual. For this reason John
His forerunner called upon individuals to repent in preparation
for the coming spiritual kingdom of Jesus Christ (Mk. 1:1-8;
Mt. 3:2). Jesus often taught individuals like the Samaritan woman
in John 4. The apostles taught and urged individuals to follow
Christ (Mk, 16:15-16). Conversion to Christ takes place in the
individual heart and life, as one believes that Jesus is who
He claimed to be-the Son of God and Savior of the world, confesses
his faith in Him, and is baptized for the forgiveness of sins
(Acts 8:29-39). One can never hope that the faith/good life of
another will suffice for him, for the Bible does not teach proxy
salvation. If you yearn for the spiritual fulfillment that only
Christ can provide you, then we encourage you to seek the salvation
of your soul by learning of Christ (Mt. 11:28-30). Then you can
respond as the Ethiopian in Acts 8. You will then enjoy fellowship
with God, because your sins will no longer be a barrier. You
cannot afford to risk your soul to a possible accumulation of
good deeds that will hopefully outweigh the bad deeds. Truly
there is no risk in seeking mercy from the Lord. He longs to
save you and to be with you forever in heaven.
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