TOME 10 PART 154; CHRISTIANITY

CHRISTIANITY

What is Christianity and who is a Christian? There are a lot of people that have tried to answer this question on their own and many times, a lot of them got it wrong.

Jesus' View

Matthew 22:34-40 Greatest commandment

Matthew 18:1-5 Children.

Matthew 19:32-33. Confessing and rejecting Christ.

Matthew 7:21-23.

Peter's View

Peter centres on hope and faith and salvation. He also speaks of prophets making careful search and investigation before prophesying about Salvation. The work of the prophets was not for their own benefit but for the benefit of the people they were preaching to. Peter speaks of the gift of the Holy Spirit as something even the angels would like to have but do not. Peter makes it clear that all people are judged by the same standard, according to their deeds(Love).

Faith and Sacrifice. Obedience to God purifies and brings forth love for fellow men. True Children Of An Immortal Parent.

Peter's View Of What A Christian Is Not

Vulgar in language.

What We Should Be

Like a newborn baby, always thirsty for the pure spiritual milk that provides growth and salvation. Acknowledge the kindness of God and Jesus. Acknowledge Jesus, though many people reject him as worthless but who God has chosen as Valuable. Be a living stone to be used in the building of the Spiritual Temple, where we will be holy priests to offer spiritual and acceptable sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ

Whoever believes in Jesus Christ will never be disappointed. (A Promise From God). 1 Peter 2:6 Cont'd 7-8.

"I chose a valuable stone,

Which I am placing as the cornerstone in Zion;

And whoever believes in him will never be disappointed".

This is what the Scripture Peter quoted says about believers. For unbelievers;

"The stone which the builders rejected as worthless

Turned out to be the most important of all"

And another scripture says;

This is the stone that will make people stumble,

The rock that will make people fall"

They stumbled because they did not believe God's word;

Such was God's will for them.

What We Are;

A Chosen Race. The King's priests. The Holy Nation. God's Own People. Chosen to proclaim the wonderful acts of God, who called us out of Darkness into his own marvellous light. Receivers of God's mercy.

What We Should Not Do;

Not give into bodily passions which are always at war with the soul.

What we should do;

Conduct ourselves in such a good manner among the heathen such that when they accuse us as being evil, they will have to recognize our good deeds and so praise God on the Day of his coming. For the sake of Our Lord, submit to every human authority; emperor and governors.

What God Wants Us To Do

Silence the ignorant talk of foolish people by the good deeds we perform. Live as free people but do not use your freedom to cover up evil. Live as God's slaves. Respect everyone. Love your fellow-believers Honour God. Respect the authorities.

Wives And Husbands.

Wives must submit to their husbands. In that way, without saying a word, you will win over unbelievers to God due to their admiration for you. Do not place the value of your beauty on outward aids like makeup and hairstyles but on your inner self, the ageless beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of the greatest value in God's sight. Place your hope in God and beautify yourself by submitting to your husbands like Sarah. Do good and be courageous. Husbands must live with wives with the understanding that they are weaker than you and; Treat them with respect for together with you, they will receive God's gift of life. Do this so that nothing will interfere with your prayers.

JESUS' VIEW ON CHRISTIANITY

Love God with all your heart, all your soul and all of your mind. Love your neighbour as you love yourself. (Do unto others as you would like them to do unto you). For those that publicly declare that they belong to me, I will do the same before my Father in Heaven; but for those that publicly reject me, I will reject him before my Father in Heaven. Not everyone who says he is a follower of Christ will enter the Kingdom Of Heaven, only those that obey the will of God the Father. (So Faith must be completed by actions). "I assure you that unless you change and become like Children, you will never enter the Kingdom Of Heaven. The greatest in the Kingdom Of Heaven is the one who humbles himself and becomes like this child. And whoever welcomes in my name one such child as this, welcomes me". Watchfulness, alertness and enduring faith while waiting for his return. Not indulging in a false sense of security. Read the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, the parable of the talents, the parable of the faithful and unfaithful servants etc.

There is so much more.

PAUL'S VIEW ON CHRISTIANITY

Now Paul was an amazing disciple of Jesus Christ. He studied Jesus' teachings and inspired by the Holy Spirit, he summed Christianity up into three great virtues. Faith, Hope and Love yet he said that the greatest amongst these three is love.

FAITH

A supernatural gift from God that defies all logic, it can be complemented by logic and it can complete logic, it can be found through logic but it cannot be reached through logic until God endows you to accept it more readily through logic. Faith and logic are contrasting forces but they are not supposed to act as rival forces but parts of a puzzle that completes the big picture. Faith is what empowers you to accept God and Faith is not so much a belief as it is an attitude.

Faith is God's power of salvation, the means through which he saves everyone through Jesus Christ. It is not just a belief in God and his promises but also an acceptance. Faith is not a belief but an acceptance and confidence in God's promises. Believing something does not necessarily mean that you accept it. You may believe the words of a person and still be suspicious of his intentions; that is why Jesus said "unless you are like a child, you cannot enter the Kingdom Of God".

What Are The Traits Of A Child?

Confidence in their parents and their parents' promises. Naivety: A child would accept any instruction or word as long as they come from their parents because they believe that their parents are incapable of lies. Pride in their parents abilities. Desire to have their parents always close to them. Dependent on their parents for survival. (Children do not attempt to be independent). They do not question the actions of their parents be it due to confidence in their parents or fear of their parents' power to discipline them. A disciplined child often sees punishment as a result of his/her own wrongdoing than from their parents' injustice. Children whose parents do not pay enough attention to them often grow up developing an inferiority complex because they believe it resulted from a fault of theirs. Children often idolize their parents.

Faith cannot work without will. Faith and will must work hand in hand. You cannot be forced to have faith and no one can have faith for you. You must accept faith of your own free will. The limits to what you can achieve are defined by how much faith you can have in God's power to help you. Faith is also dependence. It is a committed dependence on God for survival and every other needs in your life. The reason why faith is not a mere belief, or even a confident belief was explained by James, another Apostle Of Jesus Christ who said, "even the demons believe and tremble". Demons believe in God since they were once in his service and they know more than any human what God is capable of. The difference is, though they believe, they did not accept the love of God while they had the chance and they were not willing to depend on him but decided to live independent of Him. So what then is Faith? It has many interpretations but it is simply, "accepting and loving". Without first accepting, you cannot "love" because God is Love so how can you exhibit a trait you do not want to accept. There are many cheap imitations of "Love" but how can you tell a person "I love you" when you cannot even accept "Love?" yourself. How can you exhibit a trait you yourself cannot accept?

Likewise, you cannot "accept" without "loving". If you say you "Believe" in God, or "have faith" in God? What good is it to you if you do not exhibit the traits of the force you believe in? God is Love so you cannot "Have Faith" in him and at the same time refuse to exhibit "Him". That's the funny thing about God, He is a Noun and at the same time, He is also a Verb. He is the "Actor" and the "Act". He is "the Source Of Love" and he is "Love itself" so Faith without "Love" is like sugar that isn't sweet or salt that isn't salty.

HOPE

Hope is the second greatest virtue of Christianity. Like Faith, it is a supernatural gift. Hope itself is another form of faith. Other forms of Hope include; endurance, courage, meekness, patience. Hope is one force through which God tempers his judgement. Hope is the reason we can believe in something we cannot see and it cannot work without faith or love. Hope is what accomplishes God's plans for us Christians. Faith was what allowed Abraham to "accept" God's promise. "Hope" is what kept him "believing" even when it seemed "bleak" and "impossible".

It is for the "Hope" Of God's people that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to die for them and in so doing become the "Beacon Of Hope" they can keep looking up to even when they suffer. Just like Faith, Hope also has its counterfeit forms and its "Rival Force".

LOVE

Paul calls "Love" the greatest virtue. Jesus bases all of Christianity on "Love" and like I said "God is Love, the Actor and the Act Of Love". Love and God are not two different forces, they are the same thing. Why does "Love" play the most vital role in the lives of Christians? Why is it the most important thing, even more important than "Faith" and "Hope?" Why is Faith without works of love "dead"? It is for a very simple reason. Faith and Hope allow God to work miracles in your life; but Love allows "you" to be the "Miracle" God works in the lives of others. So just as you need miracles in your life, God needs you to be a miracle in the life of another person.

Unfortunately, no other virtue has more counterfeits than love;

Greed which is the excessive love of material things.

Lust, which is an excessive love to satisfy our carnal desires.

Gluttony, an excessive love for food, and there are many others I'd prefer not to mention.

Faith also has a mortal rival called "Fear." Fear has many forms but fear simply means, "I don't think God is strong enough to help me". A most subtle form of fear is "Self-Reliance". Why? Well, it's a good trait as long as it doesn't turn into "the fear of depending on others". A more obvious form of fear which most people think is fun is "foolishness" which is "the fear of anything that isn't God". Funnily enough, foolishness encompasses all the other forms of fear. What about "fear of the Lord?" Fear of the Lord is "Reverence" and not "Being Afraid". It is a higher form of respect but if for any reason you cannot accept God, "fear" him for the fact that he could destroy you; fear/Being Afraid of someone who has power over you can teach you to act "wisely".

Hope has a mortal enemy called "Despair?" Well, that is true but it also has another mortal enemy "Pride" and another called "Unbelief". Since Faith and Hope work hand in hand, you could call "Doubt" a mortal enemy of both. The enemies preceding try to halt "Hope" from progressing. Another mortal enemy unique to "Hope", that acts as a counter force working with similar principles to "Hope" is "Vengeance" and Vengeance is simply "Hoping For the Worst To Happen To Your Enemies".

Love's mortal enemy is "Hatred" and hatred is simply another form of fear. Hatred is the "fear of submitting to another person". To put it another way, "it is the fear that, another person might be greater than you". It doesn't always have to result in a public declaration of enmity to be "Hatred". If God is Love, the Actor and the Act, then without much deduction, "Hatred" is the Devil, the Actor and the Act. Hatred manifests in a more obvious form called "Jealousy" and Jealousy is the same as Hatred, "the fear that someone is greater than you".

Though God's "Jealousy" is justified by the fact that He is Creator and He alone deserves "A Unique Kind Of Attention", God's Jealousy, which is based on "Love" and the reason why "Jealousy" is often attributed to Love is because God's Jealousy Of other so-called gods, is Him exhibiting a Human Trait, "the fear of being replaced by another object undeserving of the attention it is receiving". By calling Himself "A Jealous God", God was teaching us a very valuable lesson, nothing he created is Evil, it is how it is used that profanes it or makes it evil.

Wisdom is good. When it is used for evil, it becomes "cunning and deceitful".

"Reverence for God" brings forth Wisdom. But an unholy fear of any other force that isn't God provokes people to "foolishness" and the worst form of foolishness is "desperation" which borders on enmity with Hope, a point of no return if care is not taken.

"Love" is good but it is a free gift. It becomes evil when you believe that "it is a right you must possess by all means" and when it does not degenerate into lust or murder, it often becomes an obsession that leads to the aforementioned two.

"Hope" is good but it is corrupted when it is turned into "Vanity".

Faith is good, but if corrupted, it becomes "fear" and if it doesn't become "fear", it becomes "pride".

Pride in itself was originally not an evil entity. "Pride" was "Pride" because it was "the awe that came from being honoured by God", "The Strong Desire To Serve A Being Of More Grandeur than you could ever hope to be" so Pride had its beauty in humility. "Humility" was simply "Placing Your Faith In A Being More Powerful than You Are" but Humility was corrupted when it became "Place Your Faith Only in Yourself and Nothing Else". So now instead of being the "Awe In God", Pride became "The Awe In Your Own Abilities". It is Pride that drives us humans to be independent of everyone and everything but yourself.

"Conscience" is also a good thing, but it becomes corrupted when it becomes "An Accuser". Conscience's job is to correct you and teach you; never to accuse you. Let others accuse you not you.

Love encompasses all good things, "Love" makes you a miracle in the lives of others, take Love away and you become a "plague" everyone wishes to be as far away from as possible.