Christianity Explained Information
Find Christian Unity in Biblical Explanations of the Doctrines That Count!
You
have a choice to make: You can either believe the opinions of
theologians, atheists, or agnostics, or you can determine for yourself
what the Bible says by studying it.
If you
do nothing else, be sure to read thIs -------->
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any underlined text.
Topics
What Is Christianity Explained Information?What Is Religion and Where Did It Originate?
What Is the Bible, and How Relative Is It to My Life?
What Are Messianic Prophecies?
Who Was Jesus of Nazareth, Really?
Why Are There So Many World Religions?
Why Are There So Many Christian Denominations?
What Is the Law and How Does It Apply to Me?
What's All This About the End of the World and End-time Prophecies?
Isn't the Book of Daniel a Closed Book?
Revelation: How can anyone understand all that symbolism?
Who or What Was Jesus' Mother, Mary?
Didn't Darwin Disprove Creation?
What's the Truth About Faith and Works?
Christian E-mails: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Complete Directory of Articles/Studies
Title Abbreviations for Books of the Bible
Genesis
- Ge
Exodus - Ex
Leviticus - Le
Numbers - Nu
Deuteronomy - De
Joshua - Jos
Judges - Jud
Ruth - Ru
I Samuel - 1sa
II Samuel - 2sa
I Kings - 1ki
II Kings - 2ki
I Chronicles - 1ch
II Chronicles - 2ch
Ezra - Ezr
Nehemiah - Ne
Esther - Es
Job - Job
Psalm - Ps
Proverbs - Pr
Ecclesiastes - Ec
Song of Solomon - So
Isaiah - Isa
Jeremiah - Jer
Lamentations - La
Ezekiel - Eze
Daniel - Da
Hosea - Ho
Joel - Joe
Amos - Am
Obadiah - Ob
Johah - Jon
Micah - Mic
Nahum - Na
Habakuk - Hab
Zephaniah - Zep
Haggai - Hag
Zechariah - Zec
Malachi - Mal
Matthew - Mt
Mark - Mr
Luke - Lu
John - Joh
Acts - Ac
Romans - Ro
I Corinthians - 1co
II Corinthians - 2co
Galatians - Ga
Ephesians - Eph
Philippians - Php
Colossians - Col
I Thessalonians - 1th
II Thessalonians - 2th
I Timothy - 1ti
II Timothy - 2ti
Titus - Tit
Philemon - Phm
Hebrews - Heb
James - Jas
I Peter - 1pe
II Peter - 2pe
I John - 1jo
II John - 2jo
III John - 3jo
Jude - Jude
Revelation - Re
What is Christianity?
Are you having
trouble identifying true Christians because of all
the different "Churches" and all the different kinds
of people who call themselves "Christian"? I don't blame you.
I've thought of myself as a Christian most of my
life, but I haven't been a true Christian all of my life.
According to Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, the following are the pertinent definitions:
Chris·ti·an·i·ty 
(krisÅch" anÆi t"), n., pl. -ties.
1. the Christian religion, including the Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox churches.
2. Christian beliefs or practices; Christian quality or character: Christianity mixed with pagan elements; the Christianity of Augustine's thought.
3. a particular Christian religious system: She followed fundamentalist Christianity.
4. the state of being a Christian.
5. Christendom.
6. conformity to the Christian religion or to its beliefs or practices.
Chris·tian 
(krisÆchÃn), adj.
1. of, pertaining to, or derived from Jesus Christ or His teachings: a Christian faith.
2. of, pertaining to, believing in, or belonging to the religion based on the teachings of Jesus Christ: Spain is a Christian country.
3. of or pertaining to Christians: many Christian deaths in the Crusades.
4. exhibiting a spirit proper to a follower of Jesus Christ; Christlike: She displayed true Christian charity.
5. decent; respectable: They gave him a good Christian burial.
6. human; not brutal; humane: Such behavior isn't Christian.
–n.
7. a person who believes in Jesus Christ; adherent of Christianity.
8. a person who exemplifies in his or her life the teachings of Christ: He died like a true Christian.
9. a member of any of certain Protestant churches, as the Disciples of Christ and the Plymouth Brethren.
10. the hero of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.
11. a male given name.
Je·sus 
(j"ÆzÃs, -zÃz), n.
1. Also called Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus, JeÆsus of NazÆareth. born 4? B.C., crucified A.D. 29?, the source of the Christian religion.
2. ("the Son of Sirach") the author of the Apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus, who lived in the 3rd century B.C.
3. Christian Science. the supreme example of God's nature expressed through human beings.
4. Also,
Je·sús (Sp. he sÁsÆ). a male given name.
–interj.
5. (used as an oath or strong expression of disbelief, dismay, awe, disappointment, pain, etc.)
A Christian is one who "follows" Christ, and Christianity is the religion of those that "follow" the teachings of Christ.
Who didn't know that?
Not very satisfying is it? Doesn't explain why there are so many churches, does it? Doesn't explain why the Koran teaches that Jesus was the son of God and why you can "teach Jesus" in Muslim countries but, despite the respect of Muslims toward "people of the book", it is illegal to "teach Christianity", does it?
The definition of Christianity above does contain two clues that explain the problem, though: "derived from" and "based on". The very fact that something is "derived from" or "based on" confirms that it is not the pure essence of the base. Anyone can develop beliefs that are "derived from" or "based on" something without fully comprehending the thing on which they are based or from which they are derived. I can add to or subtract from the base and "make up" anything I want. I can start with my opinion and find verses in the Bible that, taken out of context, would support my opinion. A hundred different people can gather enough information about Jesus from the Bible to support their own conflicting doctrines, and then call themselves Christians. But that doesn't mean they are.
In order to know what Christianity really is or should be--in order to get the satisfying version--we need to know who Jesus Christ was and study all of his teachings. Here are just a few . . .
Then
Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let
him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
"If you
love Me, keep My commandments.
"He who
loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who
loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
Jesus
answered him, "The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel,
the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
'And you shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your
strength.' This is the first commandment.
"And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall
love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater
than these."
'These
people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
And in
vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' "
No, it isn't preaching about Jesus that Muslims object to. They object to the teachings of the Babylon that modern-day Christianity has become.
The fact is, you MUST be a disciple of Christ in order to take His name; that is, to be called "Christian". Otherwise you are taking his name in vain. Click here for the the biblical concept of discipleship.
If more Christians actually followed Christ's teachings, instead of the teachings of their favorite religious leaders, the world would not be in its present uproar. Of course, the same can be said of all followers of Islam as well. If they really knew the Koran, they'd be apalled at the teachings of some of their militant clerics. It's a matter of being deceived, something the Bible clearly warns against and something I'll study elsewhere.
No matter what you may think, Christianity is not just Bible-based, it is Old-Testament-based.
1. Jesus was born a Jew. As a male Jew, and specifically as the son of a woman who became pregnant without help from any man, he would have been taught the scriptures and the doctrines of Judaism.
"Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep
yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they
depart from your heart all the days of your life. And teach them to
your children and your grandchildren,
(If he was whom he said he was, he would have taken every opportunity to study the scriptures himself or would have known them spontaneously, since the Holy Spirit, with whom he shared power, wisdom, knowledge, and character, inspired them.)
2. The Jewish (Old Testament) scriptures were the basis of Jesus' teachings. If you get a good study Bible, you will see that many of Jesus' teachings and much of his life and death are cross-referenced in the Old Testament. Some are direct quotes, but others are concepts Jesus taught that agree with OT scriptures.
To prove this point, I opened my "red-letter edition" and scanned just a few pages where Jesus' words are recorded in red and within a minute, found these: Matthew 13:20/Isaiah 58:2; Mark 14:18/Psalms 41:9; Luke 12:20/Ps 52:7 and 39:6.
"But he who received the seed on stony places,
this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;
Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My
ways, As a nation that did righteousness, And did not forsake the
ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They
take delight in approaching God.
Then Jesus said to them, "All of you will be
made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: 'I will
strike the Shepherd, And the sheep will be scattered.'
"Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, Against
the Man who is My Companion," Says the Lord of hosts."Strike the
Shepherd, And the sheep will be scattered; Then I will turn My hand
against the little ones.
"So he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down
my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my
goods.
'And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many
goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be
merry." '
"But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your
soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you
have provided?'
"So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and
is not rich toward God."
"Here is
the man who did not make God his strength, But trusted in the abundance
of his riches, And strengthened himself in his wickedness."
Surely every man walks about like a shadow;
Surely they busy themselves in vain; He heaps up riches, And does not
know who will gather them.
3. Jesus made claims about himself, claiming to be the fulfillment of prophecy (Luke 4:21), which can only be verified through study of those prophecies in the Old Testament (Jewish) scriptures.
And he came to Nazareth, where he was brought
up: and he went into the synagogue, according to his custom, on the
sabbath day; and he rose up to read.
And the book of Isaias the prophet was delivered
unto him. And as he unfolded the book, he found the place where it was
written:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Wherefore he
hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he hath sent me to
heal the contrite of heart,
To preach deliverance to the captives, and sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the
acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of reward. [IS 61:1, 2]
And when he had folded the book, he restored it
to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue
were fixed on him.
And he began to say to them: This day is
fulfilled this scripture in your ears.
4. The disciples tried to explain Jesus' claims in their own writings; however, the only way to verify whether the disciples were teaching truth is to go to the Jewish scripture upon which Jesus based his teachings. Verification of the truth of everything written since the law and the prophets is necessary.
Why?
For one thing, according to the very scriptures about which Jesus taught and on which he based his claims, prophets can speak their own opinions and those opinions can be contrary to God's word.
'But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in
My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the
name of other gods, that prophet shall die.'
"And if you say in your heart, 'How shall we
know the word which the Lord has not spoken?'
when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord,
if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which
the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you
shall not be afraid of him.
That means servants of God can make mistakes, especially if they become impressed with their own knowledge and standing with God. Lucifer was second only to Jesus in heaven. In his pride, he started "leaning to his own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5), and you know what happened to him and where he will end up!
Furthermore, anyone teaching anything that contradicts the Old Testament scriptures is not from God.
| To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. |
You'll notice it doesn't say "because they only have a little light in them" or "because they don't have enough light in them." Kinda hard to get around that plain statement, huh?
Studying the Scriptures is interesting in proportion to your desire to know what God has to say to you. If you are looking for the basis of Christianity, you will find it here. If you are looking to justify your beliefs, you'll probably be able to do that too, if you use the right verses from the right versions and ignore a lot of other verses. However, if you are seeking truth, you may find that the scriptures don't support the beliefs you have acquired through the teachings of those you've listened to in the past.
Study with a heart that wants to love God and a mind that is open, and you will find what you seek.
| "But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. |
| I love those who love me, And those who seek me diligently will find me. |
| And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. |
| Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, "See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?" | |
| Then Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." |
Go and find the true Jesus Christ, and you will find true Christianity! Deny your own selfish desires, take up your cross on which you will be crucified by the world for teaching things they don't want to hear, and follow Jesus. Become a true disciple, and you will be a true Christian.
Related Links
Written in the HeartThe Truth About Mary Magdalene
Scriptures:
Within Text:
John 14:15
Matthew 10:37
Mark 12:29-31
Matthew 15:8-9
Deuteronomy 4:9
Matthew 13:20
Isaiah 58:2
Mark 14:27
Zechariah 13:7
Luke 12:18-21
Psalms 52:7
Psalms 39:6
Luke 4:16-21
Deuteronomy 18:20-22
Isaiah 8:20
Deuteronomy 4:29
Proverbs 8:17
Jeremiah 29:13