What is basic Christianity?

Answer 1

We, who freely chose imperfection and sin when we chose to disobey God, are still loved by God, but because of our darkness would be destroyed by the very essence and nature of God, just as if you turn on a light in a dark room, the darkness has no choice in the matter, it doesn't matter what the light thinks of the darkness, it's destroyed. God, being a Righteous judge, cannot just let our wrongdoing go without some sort of payment for our crimes. just as if one of our own judges would not be right to let his daughter go free of a speeding ticket if she came into his court with it, merely because he loved her. he would not be righteous at all, quite the opposite in fact. But he still wants to be with us. So he found a loophole. what if he found a way that got rid of the darkness in our spirits? What if he found a way to make us clean again? Then we could be with him without his nature destroying us, and live life to the fullest! So he payed for our "speeding ticket". After he condemned us to our sentence he got down and took off his robes, and payed it off. We had no way to pay it, and it had to be paid, and so he sent Jesus to pay the price for us. It required the sacrifice of something pure and sinless, and only God is that, so he sent HIMSELF to pay it. It has become somewhat cliche, but the quickest answer is this: for God SO loved the world, that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him will not die, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16) this is not talking of mere physical death and life, but a spiritual one. Now, that gave us the ability to give our lives to him, to say Yes to Jesus as being the God of who we are, the personal, loving savior of our souls; but not only of that, of everything in us. As Rose said of Jack in Titanic: he saved me in every way a person CAN be saved... and that is exactly what Jesus wants. He wants to come in and shake up who we are, be the best thing that ever happened to us. All it requires is everything of you. it really truly requires you giving up who you are to him, but the good news is, you really aren't giving up anything at all, because everything you were truly meant to be, everything you really are is his idea in the first place, his design, his dream to fulfill in you. So all you have to give up is those things that cause more death in your life, more bondage, more pain. Now its not to say that Christianity is this end to all pain, because trust me, it comes. But it is the only thing that truly allows us to LIVE, instead of merely exist. to grow instead of remain the same. to see instead of grope around endlessly in the dark, wondering forever why all of these different things happen, why we are here, who we are, what we're doing here, where are we going? It is the WHY of life. it is the purpose. it is the meaning and the fulfillment of our hopes, our dreams, and of our very existence. Christianity is about pursuing a relationship with the God whose love is so much greater than our flaws, and creates a way for us to live again.