The starting point for considering Christianity or becoming is a Christian is, well, Christ. To be a Christian is to believe in the unique historical person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
What do you need to know about Jesus?
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Christianity is based on history. Jesus walked this earth as a real person.
Not only does the Bible treat Jesus as a real, physical person who was born, lived, loved, ate, slept, walked, and everything else that real people do – his physical body is important.
One eye witness points out that "He bore our sins in his body on the tree." (1 Peter 2:24)
Because he was a person like us, he is qualified to represent us to God. (Hebrews 4:14-15)
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If you knew someone who made the same claims Jesus made, you'd think they were off their rocker. The religious leaders of his day charged Jesus with blasphemy because they clearly understood him to claim that he was God. (John 10:30-33; Matthew 24:64-65)
Jesus' followers also understood him to be God. (John 1:1-3)
He did things God would do. He knew people's thoughts, he controlled nature, he healed people without being present, he could create.
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Every religion seeks to explain God. Only in Christianity, though, is God knowable as a person. Most people want a God who is like them or whom they create in their own image.
God is knowable because we can know Jesus. (John 1:14; Matthew 11:27)
Since Jesus is the only way to know God, there is no other way to have a relationship with him or to be right with God than through Jesus. (John 14:6)
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God is high and lifted up, he inhabits eternity, and he is holy. (Isaiah 57:15) He could have kept his distance. But he didn't!
Jesus represents God's love for us! God pursued us and his heart was not to condemn us, so he sent Jesus. (John 3:16)
When you see Jesus you must know that God loves you!
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The cross of Jesus may be the most prominent aspect of his life on earth. The cross is recognized worldwide as a symbol of Christianity.
On the cross, God canceled our debt and enabled our forgiveness. (Colossians 2:24)
The cross of Jesus is the means of reconciliation with God. (Colossians 1:20)
On the cross, Jesus took the wrath of God against our sin. He did this as our substitute. When Christians talk about faith they mean that they believe God will totally forgive their sin because Jesus' work as a substitute is all God requires. They believe the cross of Christ counts for them personally.
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The cross isn't the end. Christianity does not maintain that Jesus merely died on a cross but that he also rose from the dead never to die again.
Jesus' experience was not like the out-of-body experiences you read about in some best-selling "I saw heaven" book. Jesus rose with a body that could be touched, could eat food, and could be seen by several people at a time.
The resurrection was God's exclamation point that he did, in fact, accept the cross as all that was required! (Romans 4:25)
He then ascended to heaven in his body. (Acts 1:9-11) His resurrection makes certain the final resurrection of our bodies, too.
What Does it Mean to Believe?
The question about Jesus, then, is: do you believe him? Do you believe he is who he claimed to be and that his death and resurrection accomplished what the Bible says it did?
To believe, or have faith, you have to, first, decide if it is true. There is no sense in believing a lie. Then, if it is true and happened as claimed, you have to ultimately commit yourself to the fact that God did what he said he'd do through Jesus. And, finally, God did all that – and he did it for you. It must ultimately get personal.
Some people worry that they don't have enough faith, but that is not how faith works. You don't stand in a room wondering if you have enough faith to sit down on a chair. You look at the chair. You have to determine, "Will this hold me?" And then, you either sit down or you don't. You commit yourself to the trustworthiness of the chair.
It works the same way with God. It isn't how much faith you have. The question is whether or not Jesus can be trusted. If he can be, you commit yourself to him as you would to a chair. It is that simple, yet still difficult!
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