What is Christianity?
Christians follow the teachings of Christ. Since Jesus was Jewish and considered the Old Testament to be the Word of God, Christians also believe that the Old Testament is the inspired Word of God. In this, we agree with Jews, and I am told that some Muslims also believe this about the Old Testament. Where we differ with other religions (some of which profess to believe that Jesus was a "great person," a "great moral teacher," even a "prophet of God," Christians believe that Jesus was the ONLY begotten Son of God, born of a virgin, both true God and true man. We believe that he lived a perfect life without sin, and He died on a cross to pay for the sins of all humanity. The only way to salvation is through faith in Jesus. Because of our beliefe in Jesus as the Son of God and Saviour of humanity, we also believe that the New Testament is the inspired Word of God.
The need for Salvation
Most religions acknowledge that mankind has some how fallen out of favor with God (or the cosmos, Mother Nature, or whatever the particular religion refers to as the "spiritual realm") and that something needs to be done to bring us back in harmony with the spiritual realm. Almost every religion focuses on what each person needs to do to get back in God's good graces. Some preach good works. Others preach meditation or positive thinking. This I believe is delusional. How can a person be sure that they've done enough good deeds to offset all the bad ones? How can meditation make up for "bad karma"? The fact is, you can never be sure... and "good thoughts" can't make up for evil deeds. The simple fact is that everyone has sinned and deserves to go to hell and there is nothing we can do about it.
God's plan for our Salvation
Fortunately, we don't have to do anything about it. God, in His infinite love and mercy, has done everything for us. He sent his only Son Jesus to live a perfect life in our place and to die on the cross to pay for our sins. If we have faith in Jesus, we are saved. Even the faith itself is a gift from God, and doesn't depend on anything we ourselves do. "By grace" we are saved, "through faith..." I didn't "find it" nor did anyone else. It is completely a gift of God.
Good Works
Many religions teach salvation through good works. If we can just do enough good works to cancel out our evil deeds, God will let us into heaven. Even some mainstream Christian churches have allowed works-based salvation to creep into their theology. They site passages like James 2:14-26 as proof that works are required for salvation.
That is not what the Bible teaches. Among other passages, Romans 11:5-6 and Ephesians 2:4-9 make it very clear that it is faith in Christ, not works, which saves us. Note in verse 5 how God makes us alive in Christ while we are still spiritually dead. We are dead in our sinful state when God saves us. Think about what this means. A dead person can't do anything, including "make a personal decision to accept Christ as their personal Saviour." Our natural state is sinful, at war with God, spiritually dead. You may already be a Christian and gone to a church that practices such decision-based theology. If so, you may have been told that your faith is not authentic if you've never made that personal decision to follow Christ. That is pure snake oil. It is not what the Bible clearly teaches. Decision based theology is nothing more than a variation on works based theology.
What about good works then, in light of passages such as the one in James? If you read the passage carefully, good works are not the reason for our salvation, but evidence of our faith in Jesus. " ...I will show you my faith by my works. Yes, good works are evidence that we have saving faith. But notice what was credited to Abraham as righteousness in verse 10.
Updated February 21, 2007