3/23/24 WORD COUNT – 1,175 READING TIME 5.25 MINUTES

As I’ve stated before, I am not an expert on Christianity. I am constantly learning about the Christian faith and about my own faith adventure. In a way, it’s easy to profess that you are a Christian. I think professing that you are Christian is a great place to start becoming a Christian. However, at some point you must understand that being Christian is not so much an affiliation as a statement of beliefs. Christianity is about what you believe in deeply enough to allow that belief system to alter your life and around which you form your worldview. You use your belief system as the filter through which all your input passes. Your belief system influences how you think and feel about the world around you. Its how you view what you do, your relationships, how you work and how you raise your kids. It provides perspective on your marriage and friendships, on your financial dealings and political and sociological preferences, your opinions of what is good and what is evil and how you see yourself and others. This is true of all belief systems, not just Christianity.

No matter what belief system you choose I think it is a good idea to understand what that particular belief system holds to be true and foundational. Otherwise, it’s a little like getting on an airplane when you don’t know where its going. So, for those who have chosen, or are looking into Christianity I will provide the following excerpt from an article by Mary Fairchild written for www.learningreligions.com titled Get to Know the Basic Beliefs of Christianity.

One last point before diving into the article, Christianity has been around for a long time. There are many different denominations under the umbrella of the Christian belief system. There are some belief systems that claim to be Christian but are not because they don’t accept one aspect or another of the core beliefs. All the mature belief systems experience the same splintering. I attribute it to the fact that every belief system I know of is made up of human beings, who have a tendency to be imperfect. Most Christians use the Bible as the primary source of information on how to do Christianity. The following core beliefs are from Bible scripture and broadly applicable to all Christianity.

Core Christian beliefs ; The following excerpts are from the Fairchild article:

• There is only one God.
• God is omniscient, meaning He “knows all things”..
• God is omnipotent, meaning He is “all powerful”.
• God is omnipresent, meaning He is “present everywhere”.
• God is sovereign.
• God is holy.
• God is just or “righteous.”
• God is love.
• God is true.
• God is creator of everything.
• God is infinite and eternal. He has always been and will ever be God.
• God is immutable. He does not change.
• God is three in one or a Trinity: God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
• Jesus Christ is God’
• Jesus was born of a virgin.
• Jesus Christ became a man.
• Jesus is fully God and Fully man.
• Jesus Christ is perfect and sinless.
• Jesus is the only way to God the Father.
• The Holy Spirit is God.
• The Bible is the “inspired” or “God-breathed” Word of God.
• The Bible in its original manuscripts is without error.
• Humans were created by God and in the image of God.
• All people have sinned.
• Death came into the world through Adam’s sin.
• Sin separates us from God.
• Jesus Christ died for the sins of each and every person in the world.
• The death of Jesus Christ was a substitutionary sacrifice. He died and paid the price for our sins so that we might live forever with Him.
• Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead in physical form.
• Salvation is a free gift of God.
• Believers are saved by grace; Salvation cannot be earned by human efforts or good works.
• Those who reject Jesus Christ will go to hell forever after they die.
• Those who accept Jesus Christ will live for eternity with Him after they die.
• Hell is a real place of punishment.
• Hell is eternal.
• There will be a rapture of the church.
• Jesus Christ will return to the earth.
• Christians will be raised from the dead when the Lord returns,
• There will be a final judgement.
• Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire.
• God will create a new heaven and a new earth.

There you have it, the core beliefs of Christianity. Fairchild does a good job of including Biblical scriptural references substantiating each of these points. I have omitted them for the sake of brevity. For this blog post just know that each of the beliefs stated in her article is based on Bible scripture. To see the specific scripture for each of the beliefs or to read the entire article go to ; www.learningreligions.com/basic-christian-beliefs-700357 .

Do you have to fully believe all these things before you can be a Christian? Nope, not to my way of thinking. Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved”.

I believe Romans 10:9 gives us the minimum requirements we need to gain the benefits that Christianity has to offer, salvation from what sounds like a very long and uncomfortable afterlife. Certainly, there are points associated with the beliefs listed above that one must believe, or at least be open to, that would necessitate a person to consider the promise of Romans 10:9.

First, you probably need to believe that salvation is necessary. That there is something from which we need saving. Part and parcel to that is the belief that we retain some form of consciousness beyond the death of our physical bodies, and that we will have the ability to experience pleasure and pain from within that form of consciousness. If there is something in your psyche that makes you feel that you have a soul, a spiritual being, then you should give some serious thought to what happens to that soul or spiritual being once the body is no longer carrying it.

If we believe what Romans 10:9 tells us, that all we have to do to be saved is confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe He was raised from the dead, what’s up with all the other points of belief? In my experience, the confessing of Jesus Christ as lord and belief that God raised Him from the dead was the beginning, the gateway to the Christian adventure. For me, the points presented in Fairchild’s article have represented items that I have come to understand and adopt along the way. I, by no means, have gained understanding of them all. And, lacking that understanding, my faith concerning certain of those items is not as strong as it should be. Nevertheless, I view these articles of faith as knowledge to which I aspire. Belief in all of them does not determine whether I am a Christian or not. They just are indicators of how mature my faith is.