My Faith

What is my Faith?

(For a quick and dirty summary, see The Apostles' Creed.)

"Faith" is a technical term meaning "belief that changes what you think, feel, and do." Here is a short explanation of mine.

Christianity and The Bible

I am a Christian. I believe that God is real. I believe he created the entire The Universe.

I believe that the Christian scriptures (aka, "The Bible") contain God's actual writings. I believe God wants humans to know about and believe the message that is in his book.

The Bible teaches that all humans are born with a terminal disease. (All except three, that is—but two of those three were Patients 0 and 1, respectively. Their names were Adam and Eve.) The disease is not genetic. But it is hereditary, and there is no natural cure.

This illness has a 100% mortality rate, and YOU have it, because your parents had it. The presenting symptom of this disease: wanting to stay sick.

This disease is called Sin.

The Problem: Sin

The Bible teaches that Sin is hating the God who made you and wanting to replace him—usually with yourself somehow. But sinful hearts aren't picky—any replacement will do.

This is irrational—that means it defies Reason. It is like a leaf hating its own tree. Or a flower seething with hatred toward the sun. We need God to exist at all—but, irrationally, we HATE him.

God is really, really good. He didn't have to make anything. But he did, and he made it wonderful. You are an incredible work of art. God made you.

God does not deserve our hate. He deserves our love. We are in the wrong.

The Bible teaches that God would uphold Justice if he infinitely punished Sinners (i.e. us) forever. He is infinitely good, making offense against him infinitely bad.

But God delights in being merciful. He knows that Sin is a sickness, and he loves to heal people who are sick.

This presents a quandary. Justice is clear: those who hate and replace God deserve to get what they want—which is to be cut off from the source of all good and spend eternity growing more and more dead, like a flower that hates the sun.

Can God heal sinners AND uphold Justice?

The shocking resolution to this quandary is "Yes!"—but not in a way anyone expected.

The Solution: Jesus

Jesus Christ was a human man who lived 2,000 years ago in Israel. He was (and is) God's own Son, who is himself God. God The Father sent him from Heaven to make a way for Sinners (that's us) to be saved from Sin and Death.

The Bible teaches that Jesus took full punishment for Sin on himself to satisfy God's Justice. And he lived a perfect, Sin-less life to fulfill the righteousness that we failed to live up to. He died on a Roman cross, betrayed by his own people, naked, ashamed, and alone.

Just like God does not deserve our hatred, Jesus did not deserve to be punished for Sin. But he willingly and knowingly took that punishment in order to pay the rightful penalty of Sin in the place of the Sinners (that's us) who actually earned it.

On the third day after his death, God raised Jesus back to life. The Bible's word for this is "Resurrection." This proved Jesus' innocence, confirmed his  Identity as God, and declared him with power to be who he claimed to be. Jesus ascended into Heaven and took the ruling seat over the entire Universe. He's still there today.

The Bible teaches that Jesus then sent The Holy Spirit, who is also himself God, to grant Faith to Sinners (that's us), to live in their hearts, and through Faith to make them Identify with Jesus. Identity with Jesus means that his punishment for Sin (which he didn't commit) covers their debt, and his righteous life becomes theirs too.

This is a spiritual Resurrection exactly as Miraculous as Jesus' own rising from the dead. In fact, our spiritual Resurrection is, in a real sense, a direct continuation of Jesus' physical one. The two events are deeply connected to one another.

The Message of the Gospel

The Bible teaches that Sinners—that means anyone who has this terminal disease which makes them hate God and want to never get better—have exactly one hope to not die eternally for good:

The Bible teaches that YOU need to believe that Jesus was telling the truth. You need to admit your Sin, reject it, and throw it away. You need to ask God to give you Faith and make your life united to Jesus' life. You need to submit to Jesus as your King. If you do, then his payment covers your crimes, you are no longer God's enemy, and you will live forever in Heaven with him (this is a very, very good way to spend eternity). This Gospel (which means "good news") is the one hope for all people everywhere.

Life is very short. And it only ends one of two ways: either you die, or Jesus comes back first. Either way, the window of opportunity to accept this hope—that is, to believe in this Gospel and be saved from Sin and Death—is closing awfully soon. After that point, it will be too late. Death forever will be all that's left.

Make no mistake: God will serve Justice ultimately. Even foolish humans don't just let murderers go free. Neither will God just forget the wrong we do, to him and to each other.

Either Jesus' life and sacrificial death is covering your Sin, or Sin is still on you and you are in real danger. Time will tell. I hope you won't wait!