Christian Beliefs

Christianity is a loving relationship with God. This is what Christians believe. This relationship starts with a belief in God – a belief that there is a God who exists and who loves all people. This relationship grows out of a love for God and out of a love for His goodness. Christianity is a spiritual journey that involves experiencing God in our lives and that leads us to be with Him now and for eternity. Throughout this journey we encounter and grow in the values and virtues that make life with God, and people, infinitely special.

Salvation

Faith in God is belief in Him, in His promises and in the words which He speaks to us in the Holy Bible. The ultimate promise that God makes to all people is the promise of salvation. This salvation is that death isn’t the end. Christians believe that it is possible for even the worst of us to be saved. This is because the Bible says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:16-17). This is the Good News (or Gospel) which Christians believe. This Good News is that we have everlasting life in heaven with God and, not only that, but this everlasting life starts now, because Jesus Christ says in the Bible that, “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21).

Unity with God

Having the kingdom of God (or heaven) within us is a part of the intimate relationship that Christians have with God. This intimate relationship is often spoken of in the Holy Bible and it is a life giving relationship that Christians enjoy. Christians believe that God lives within them and that they live in God. This is because the Holy Bible says, “we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them” (1 John 4:16). Jesus also tells us in the Bible that “I am in My Father, and you are within Me, and I am in you” (John 14:20). Furthermore, the Holy Bible tells us that, “you yourselves are God’s temple and … God’s Spirit lives in you” (1 Corinthians 3:16). This is a profound belief that Christians have – that the supreme and infinite God who created the universe is so loving and gracious, as to want to live within them and to allow them to live within Him. Therefore, as mentioned in 1 John 4:16 – in love, Christians feel that they are with God and in being with God they have love. Importantly, love is the greatest of all God’s commandments and leads to all goodness (Matthew 22: 37-40).

This intimate relationship is further explained by Jesus Christ who says to us in the Holy Bible, “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15: 4-5). Naturally, a vine and its branches are one entity and without the vine, a branch has no life but dries up and dies. The Bible explains further and says that Christians, are members of Jesus Christ’s body (Ephesians 5:30) and that the Church is His Body (Colossians 1:18) ( Ephesians 5:23). Therefore Christians believe that Jesus Christ gives them life, that they are a part of Him and He is a part of them, and that His love flows through them and helps them to produce fruit, which is goodness in all ways and and in all things.

Christian Spirituality

Christians believe that, by being with God so closely, that they are filled with God. They feel His love and His love satisfies their souls completely and, in return, they love God. In the Holy Bible, Saint Paul writes, “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3: 16-19). This verse from the Bible, describes the way in which Christians find spiritual fulfillment and spiritual joy by being united with God. And by being filled with God, they experience, grow and live out Christian values. Christian values such as those, which are called in the Holy Bible, the fruit of the Holy Spirit which is “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). Therefore, with love based on faith, Christians follow Jesus Christ and listen to Him and obey Him. The Bible says, “But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did” (1 John 2:5-6). Again, the Holy Bible also says, “The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us” (1 John 3:24). Therefore it is important that we keep God’s commandments so that we stay in intimate relationship with Him. We do this out of our love for God and out of our love for others. Christians believe that this love comes from the love that God has for us because the Bible says, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

Christian Practises

As a part of love, Christianity involves spiritual practices, which establish Christians in God and help them to obey His commandments. These include prayer which links us to God and whereby we lift up our hearts to God and speak with Him. Also, reading the Holy Bible is an important spiritual practise because, in it, we read God’s words to us. There is also baptism, in which a person becomes a member of the Church and this also unites a Christian with God because the Bible says, “for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:27). Through the practice of holy communion, Christians come together to remember Jesus Christ and to remain in Him and He in them (Luke 22:19) and (John 6 : 56). If we sin and do the wrong thing, the Holy Bible tells us to repent, which is to reject our wrongdoings and to turn away from them (Matthew 9:13), (Acts 3:19). Repentance leads to confession which is admitting our wrongdoing. Confession leads to forgiveness and healing. Other important Christian practices are fasting, giving to others, serving others and meditation.