Are you in a place where you could scarcely hear the gospel of Christ? Or maybe questions like, what is Christianity? What do Christians believe? Have Arose in your mind? As you've landed on this page trust me, you are in the right place.
Because you are going to discover in a moment what Christianity is about as we take it step-by-step.
Okay, let's go there!
There is the Doctrine of Christ, that is
the anchor of Christianity. Doctrine is a standard or belief taught and held by a certain group, it controls and directs them in their words, actions and thoughts.
There are man-made and spiritual Doctrines, but in this post, we focus on spiritual Doctrines. So any group that claims to
believe in Christianity that does not practice this Doctrine of Christ is said to be false.
So Christianity is about the foundational Doctrines of Christ as follows:
1. Faith towards God
2. Baptisms
3. Repentance from dead works
4. Resurrection from dead
5. Laying of hands
6. Eternal judgment
Now let me explain these step-by-step as I mentioned above:
1. Faith towards God - in the book of Hebrew 11:1-2 it says "
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen".
When you read from verse 3 to 38 you will observe that it mentions people who practiced this faith and got good results, people like Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and many more.
There is one thing you should take note of when you think or ask "what is Christianity about?": Throughout the ministry of Jesus Christ on earth even till He went to the Cross, His Doctrine was mainly on teaching people to have faith towards God. This way He could find out people's level of faith.
So to have faith towards God means a total submission, assurance, truth, and dependent on God and His word.
2. Baptisms - Christians believe in baptisms which is one of the Doctrines of Christ. The Bible states in the book of Matthew in chapter 28:19, Jesus said: "
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost".
Here you might have observed two things Jesus Christ mentions: "
the baptism" and "the trinity" so those are what Christians believe and that scripture proves it.
The English word baptism came from the Greek word "Baptizo" and it means to dip into or total immersion.
In Christianity there are two types of baptism:
a. Water baptism - you can get this in the book of Matthew 3:13-17 when John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the water.
b. Baptism of the Holy Ghost - when you are convinced by the preaching about Christ; the next step is to pray a simple prayer led by the preacher to agree to accept Jesus into your heart as the Lord of your life, just by believing in your heart that He died for you and me. And by confessing with your mouth forsaking all your sins you are saved, Is as simple as that.
At that point, the Holy Ghost comes and overshadows you,
reactive your spirit for example, which was dead to sin. Jesus clearly says in the book of Acts 1:5 "
For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence".
3. Repentance from dead works - dead works here means the ceremonies and movement that people go through to get to God, which are contrary to God's word. No human acts or sacrifice lacking the spirit of God is acceptable to God.
All God requires of man is to accept, proclaim, and submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ over one's life and be saved. So through the blood of Jesus Christ, we have our conscience purged from dead works. I like the way the book of Hebrews chapter 9:13-14 puts it. Especially, in the last part of verse 14 "
purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"
4. Laying of hands - every Christian or minister of God who is filled with the Holy Spirit of God can lay hands. So the meaning of laying of hands as Christians' belief is the act of placing a hand upon somebody for definite purposes for example, a sick person by either
giving of prophetic words or prayer.
There are five reasons for laying of hands:
i. For anointing
ii. For healing - in the book of Mark 16:17-18 Jesus says "when born again Christians lay hand on the sick they will recover".
iii. For the infilling of the Holy Ghost - then in the book of Acts 1:8 Jesus says "
you shall receive power after the Holy Ghost come upon you".
iv. For ordination into the ministry Act 13:1-3
v. For the impartation of spiritual gifts 1Timothy 4:14
5. Resurrection from the dead - in Christianity we believe that the spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead can do anything. So resurrection means restoration from the dead to life, that is rising from the dead.
Now there are two kinds of resurrection based on this Doctrine:
a. Physical resurrection - it means when someone physically dies and he is raised again. Physical resurrection is further divided into two kinds:
i. The resurrection of the righteous to life before the millennium
ii. The resurrection of the wicked to damnation after the millennium
So the souls of the righteous at the physical death go straight to Heaven when the righteous die physically while his body is buried to the ground to wait for the second resurrection.
And on the other hand, the souls of the wicked go straight to hellfire. Point to note: the souls go without neither physical nor celestial body yet, but if any kind of body could go it should be the celestial body because the physical body can not go to heaven or hell.
The celestial body will go only in the second resurrection.
b. Spiritual resurrection - this is the kind of resurrection interpreted to mean when somebody is living in sin; when somebody lives a life contrary to the gospel of Christ. For example, living in fornication, adultery, idolatry, killing, stealing, lying and all sort of evil and immoral lifestyle.
So when the individual change from that lifestyle, maybe by the reason of repentance to
accept Jesus Christ as his lord and savior; is said to have been quickened from death in trespasses and sin. So this kind of resurrection causes somebody to be renewed in the glorious likeness of God.
6. Eternal judgment - Christians also believe in the second coming of Jesus Christ based on what the Bible says. Therefore, eternal judgment will occur after the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. This time every soul will be rewarded accordingly, based on their work whether evil or good, compensate or repay them for their works on the earth according to the gospel of God.
Two judgments are going to take place:
a. The judgment of the unbelievers for condemnation - this judgment is the punishment for the rebellion of men who did not believe in Jesus Christ or the gospel as recorded in Rev 20:11-15
b. Christian judgment for reward - this particular judgment is for the souls of born again Christians, and this will take place in Heaven after the rapture.
The book of Romans 8:1 clearly states "
There is, therefore, no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit".
Finally: every Christians' activities revolve around the foundational Doctrines of Christ. Thus, each time those questions "what is Christianity?" or "what is Christianity about?" show up, just head to those Doctrines of Christ. You will get even deeper answers. Subscribe immediately to this blog so that you will not miss the upcoming hot topics.
You can also leave a comment to share your thoughts on this topic, or
you can contact me for a personal issue to discuss.
