What is Christianity?

This list is not exhaustive, so you can see the great variety that has developed in different types of Christianity over the past two thousand years. Their beliefs can differ quite a lot, but they all share a belief in one god, his son Jesus Christ and using the Bible as a holy book.

Unique branches tend to form in religion when members of that faith disagree about something and break away, as with the Puritans, who emigrated to North America or when King Henry VIII wanted England to become protestant, so he could remarry. A Christian is someone who believes in Jesus Christ and follows his teachings. The Bible says ‘If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come.’ This means that when we become a Christian we may look the same on the outside, but something has forever changed on the inside. There are various metaphors to describe it – we have ‘changed country’, ‘come under new ownership’, or ‘been born again’. Christians believe that God sends his Holy Spirit to live within everyone at that moment.

It’s like we’re in a war, in a concentration camp, and suddenly you’re hearing on the smuggled-in radio that the troops of deliverance have landed in helicopters five miles away. They’re conquering everything in their path and they’re just about to get to the gate and open the doors. And having lived all your life in this concentration camp, you’re now going to be set free.

That’s Christianity. It’s news that God sent rescue troops into the world, namely Jesus Christ, and that at great cost to himself he has conquered our enemy the Devil, opened the gates of the concentration camp, and welcomed us home.”

Piper is right. Christianity may contain a series of moral pronouncements, but that’s not the core message. The essential element of Christianity is good news or “gospel”. It is the message that God the Father planned when “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Patriotism is the love of country. It is different from nationalism, which is an argument about how to define our country. Christians should recognize that patriotism is good because all of God’s creation is good and patriotism helps us appreciate our particular place in it. Our affection and loyalty to a specific part of God’s creation helps us do the good work of cultivating and improving the part we happen to live in.

Our old way of thinking is gone. Our motivation, desire, and purpose are replaced with delight in the things of God. The joys and pleasures of our lives are exponentially enhanced through our relationship with Christ. And our selfish and worldly pursuits are exchanged for desire to honor God. When you sponsor a child through our holistic child development program you provide life-changing help to that child: medical care, nourishing food, access to clean water, education opportunities, support from caring adults, and the opportunity to hear about Jesus Christ and be encouraged to develop a lifelong relationship with God.

Christians are people who believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and who follow His teachings and those of the Christian churches that grew after His death. They believe that through Jesus’ death on the cross we can find forgiveness of all sin, and therefore be reconciled with God. They believe that Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to His disciples to show everyone that there is another life with one eternal loving God, and life in all its fullness is available to us today, and for all eternity.