Christianity: Beliefs and Teachings

Christianity - Beliefs and Teachings

05 May 2023

09:37

Nature of God

Monotheism

• There is only one God --) this belief makes Christianity a monotheistic religion (believes in only one God)

• "We believe in one God" (The Nicene Creed)

  • Shows explicit monotheism

• "You shall have no other Gods before me" Exodus 20:2-3

  • First of the Ten Commandments (applies for Christians and Jews).

Omnipotent - All powerful

• God is all powerful with unlimited authority.

• "Nothing is impossible with God" Luke 1:37

• God's omnipotence is seen through his creation of the world in Genesis.

  • Also omnipotent in the fact he could take it all away (Noah's ark story - Genesis 6-9)

    • God is the one who decides when it is time for someone to die - has the power to end and give life

Omnibenevolent - All loving

• Christians believe that God's greatest act of love was sending God's Son (Jesus) to Earth.

  • "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" John 3:16

• God created humans because he is all loving (omnibenevolent) and desired to bestow his love upon creatures.

Just - God looks on human behaviour and makes decisions

• Since God has unlimited power and authority as well as total love, God is believed to be the perfect giver of justice.

  • Not only includes deciding on right and wrong, but also being the perfect judge of human character.

• Since God is the ultimate source of justice, God should never support injustice, ill-treatment, prejudice or oppression.

  • Christians should do all they can to prevent wrongs when they encounter them.

• Proof of God being Just (and a Judge)

  • 10 Commandments, Floods in Gensis 6-9 (Noah's ark), Judgement Day (Heaven + Hell)

Life after Death

Different beliefs about the afterlife

Evangelical Protestants: When you die your soul will wait until God ends the world (the 'Last Day'), they will be unaware of any passage of time between death and the 'Last Day'.

• Judgement:

  • Good Christians go to heaven.

  • Christians who have sinned (and not repented) join non-Christians in hell for eternity.

General Protestants: When you die your soul immediately goes before God to be judged.

• Judgement:

  • Good Christians go to heaven.

  • (Some believe) bad Christians and non-Christians go to hell.

  • (Many others believe) there is an afterlife for everyone of all religions, and their afterlife is affected on how they lived their earthly life.

Roman Catholics: Personal day of judgement straight after death.

• Judgement:

  • Good Christians go to heaven.

  • Christians who have sinned go to purgatory (place for soul to be cleansed).

  • Non-believers or Christians who have mortally sinned go to hell.

• Judged again at the Last Judgement (After the second coming of Jesus (the Parousia) --) The dead will be raised and reunited with their souls) by God.

  • New heaven --) those whose souls are in heaven or purgatory will go to heaven.

  • Rest will return to hell.

Most Christians believes that at the second coming of Jesus (The Parousia) Jesus will entail God judging all of those who have ever lived, everyone who has died will be resurrected, and end up going to heaven or hell.

• "For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive" 1 Corinthians 15:2255tty

The Parousia is affirmed in the  Declaration of the Mystery of The Faith (Protestant) "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again"  (Said during Eucharist?)

Quote to show the belief of resurrection: "I believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting" Apostles Creed.

Heaven and Hell

• Before Jesus died he told the disciples that he would prepare a place for them in heaven with God, he made it clear that having faith in him and following his teachings was essential to enter heaven.

  • "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" John 14:6

• Heaven is the place/state of eternal happiness and peace in the presence of God.

  • Heaven is a reward for both good faith and good actions.

    • "Faith without deeds is dead" James 2:26

• Hell is the place of eternal suffering or the state of being without God.

  • Some Christians believe that an omnibenevolent God would not condemn people to eternal torment in hell --) they instead would believe that hell is an eternal state of mind in the abscence of God.

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The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25) shows how God will judge people, teaches Christians that if they help others, they are serving Jesus.

• Goats were bad people and went to hell.

• Sheep were good people and went to heaven.

Creation

Genesis 1

• Very well ordered (on the first day, second etc)

• Compatible with the Big Bang Theory:

  • World started from nothing then expanded --) "When God began to create heaven and earth, the world was formless and empty" Genesis 1:1

  • Hebrew word for 'day' is 'yom' which also translates to 'period of time' --) each of the six days of creation could just be stages/periods of time.

• Compatible with Darwinism:

  • God set the ball rolling with the initial humans and animals and then they continued to evolve.

• "God created mankind in his own image" Genesis 1:27

Genesis 2

• More of a fable/myth.

  • No scientific basing.

• Answers more of human kinds questions, how come women die and experience pain during childbirth.

• Presents God in an anthropomorphic way (gives him human characteristics) --) Makes him relatable to humans.

• Shows the origin of original sin --) Adam and Eve's temptation.

John 1:1-3

• "The Word was with God, and the Word was God" John1:1-3

  • Word = Son of God.

  • Shows the Trinity, all parts of God (the Trinity) were involved in creation.

Eg. Explain two ways in which belief in creation by God influences Christians today --) Christians believe all humans are equal as they were all created by God. Believe people should look after the natural world as it is God given.

The Incarnation

• "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us" John 1:14

• Matthew 1:18 --) Shows how Mary was a virgin when she had Jesus.

  • Virgin conception is very important for Christians

    • Gives evidence that Jesus is incarnate.

      • Fully God and fully divine.

      • Through the incarnation, God showed himself as human being for around 30 years.

The Crucifixion = Sacrifice that closed the epistemic distance

• Seen because "the curtain of the temple was torn in two" Matthew 27:51

  • Happened when Jesus was crucified, the curtain was the boundary separating worshipers and God.

• One of the centurions in charge of the crucifixion praised God and acknowledged that Jesus had been a good man and did not deserve to be crucified.

  • "Surely this man was the Son of God!" Mark 15:39

• In Luke's version, Jesus forgave the guards who crucified him because he said they didn't realise the significance of the event.

  • “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." Luke 23:34

  • He also talked to the men being crucified with him, promising one that he would join God in paradise.

Impacts of the crucifixion

• Gives them confidence --) if they accept Jesus' sacrifice, sin can no longer destroy their lives because God forgives those who faithfully ask for forgiveness.

• Believe suffering is a part of life --) it was a part of Jesus' life, since God has then experienced it God understands what the sufferer is going through.

• Christians believe God understands human suffering because Jesus, who was fully human + fully divine, experienced it.

The Resurrection + Ascension

• Resurrection is an extremely important event for Christians as it is significant evidence for Christians of the divine nature of Jesus.

  • "If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith" 1 Corinthians 15:14

    • As there would be no proof that Jesus was in fact the son of God, and he might of just been a normal man performing 'tricks' (miracles)

• Ascension is important as it shows how Jesus really had overcome death - he didn't resurrect to die again, he is living for eternity in Heaven with God.

• "This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." Acts 1:9-11

  • Shows that Jesus is the Messiah --) belief that the Messiah will return.

Significance of the resurrection

• Shows the importance of women to Jesus and Christianity in general:

  • As Jesus first appeared to the women, they were the first to know that Jesus was no-longer dead

  • Angels only appeared to the women in the resurrection stories (Matthew, Mark and Luke)

• Shows Jesus and Gods omnipotence, and emphasises the Trinity:

  • Power of good over evil:

    • Jesus overcame the evil of his crucifixion by coming back to life.

    • Important to Christians as it shows how if they worship God they can overcome the evil in their life.

• Christians don't need to fear death:

  • Resurrection shows how there is life after death for Christians, not necessarily back on earth and resurrected like Jesus was but they will have a life in heaven

Significance of the ascension

• Shows Jesus is with God in heaven.

• Paves the way for God to send the Holy Spirit to provide comfort and guidance.

• Demonstrates God's omnipotence

• Pope Benedict XVI said that since Jesus was fully human and went to spend eternity with God, the ascenscion shows how there is a place for all humans with God.

Salvation and the role of Christ in salvation

Salvation means to be saved from sin and its consequences and to be granted eternal life with God.

How salvation can come about

• Through good works

  • "Faith without deeds is dead" James 2:26,m                                                               

• Through God's grace

  • "For it is by grace you have been saved" Ephesians 2:8

It is believed that the Holy Spirit gives grace to Christians and continues to guide them in their daily lives to help them achieve salvation

All Christians believe that all humans commit sin; nobody is perfect, it is impossible to not sin.

• Further reinforced by the idea of original sin (some Christians believe in it - namely Catholics).

Role of Jesus in Salvation

Atonement is the restoration of the relationship between people and God through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

• Salvation closes the epistemic distance --) only possible because Jesus sacrificed himself for our sins.

  •  "he carried our sins in his body on the cross. So that we might die to our sins and live to do what is right" 1 Peter 2:22-24.

• "[Jesus Christ] is the atoning sacrifice for our sins" John 2:1

  • Without Jesus salvation would not be possible