Overview of Christianity
I’ve recently put together a resource page for “New to Faith?” on my site, to which I will add this post. I sometimes fancy myself a curator of resources, and I wanted a landing place for people who might need a jumping off point as they start (or restart) their walk with God. As I meet new friends, I’m finding that there is also a need for some very basic biblical literacy information for those who are unfamiliar with Christianity and/or the Bible. Thus, the reason for this post. It’s a very, very abbreviated overview of Christianity (with an even more abbreviated video at the end of this post).
My hope and prayer is that this will serve as a helpful resource for those wishing to learn more as well as a resource for others to save and/or share.
Christianity: One true God, our separation from him, and a way back to him
In Christianity, we believe in only one true God, and that He exists as a Trinity: God the Father, the Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. We believe that God is the author and creator of all things and is all-powerful, all-knowing, completely loving, and eternal.
We believe that we are eternal beings and that our time on earth is only temporary. After death we will still exist eternally—either with God or forever separated from God. Sin separates us from God, yet none of us are without sin (Romans 3:23). We have ALL sinned. Sin is really just following our own path and doing things our own way instead of God’s way. It’s defining right and wrong on our own instead of relying on God’s definition.
So how then can we reconcile this sin that will eternally separate us from God? There is absolutely nothing that we can do in our own effort to earn this reconciliation or to make up for our sins because we are imperfect and will always mess up. In Christianity we believe that all humans are sinners in need of a Savior. The foundation and story of Christianity is just that…a world in need of rescue, and that rescue comes in the form of a savior, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He is the only way to be reconciled back to God (John 14:6).
We can see this story of our faith throughout the pages of scripture. We believe that the Bible is true and that it is God’s Word, inspired directly by him, written by holy men (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The Bible is our guide to know about God and to live a life that is pleasing to him. In the Bible you can find the foundational truths of our faith.
The Story
The Bible Project: Biblical Story
Creation
In the beginning God created EVERYTHING, including humans. Everything God made was good (Genesis 1:31). In fact he made humans in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). The first humans were Adam and Eve. God then put humans in charge of the earth, or gave them “dominion”. However, he gave humans (Adam & Eve) some parameters: Eat from ANYTHING you want…EXCEPT this tree, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Notice that they had more freedoms than limits.
There was perfect harmony with God, with creation, and with each other. Perfection and peace didn’t last though.