What do Christians believe? What lies at the heart of the Christian faith? How can we articulate the essential teachings of the Christian way of life? In this 10-part series, we explore the basic beliefs that have characterized Christian faith since its inception. Part 1: The God Question & Our Search For Meaning Part 2: The Sin Problem & Our…
Christian claim #10: “I believe in the resurrection of the flesh and the life everlasting.” In the end, Christians believe in resurrection. Jim McGuiggan once quipped “Jesus died once…two thousand years ago…and he hasn’t been dead since.” The cross is certainly part of the great news from heaven to all of creation; but what makes it good news is that death…
Christian claim #9: “He will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom shall have no end.” “When Christ bids a man, he bids him come and die.” The man who penned these words, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was a preacher in Germany during the years of Adolf Hitler. He took the calling of Christ seriously,…
Christian claim #8: “I believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic church, and the communion of saints.” When the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer decided to write a book describing the community of God’s people known as “the church,” he chose to title it Life Together. What a beautiful choice! Many people tend to think of the church as the place…
Christian claim #7: “We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.” I have long appreciated this fascinating quote from Reinhold Niebuhr: Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore, we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore, we must…
Christian claim #6: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified.” The God of all grace, who rescued us–in Christ Jesus–even when we had nothing to offer him, calls us to a way of life that is patterned after…
Christian claim #5: “Who for us and for our salvation came down, was incarnate, and was made man; He suffered and the third day he rose again, and ascended into heaven, and is seated on the right hand of the Father.” On May 12, 2013, Maya Angelou appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show. The award-winning American poet sat opposite Oprah…
Christian claim #4: “I believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord, very God of very God, who for us came down from heaven and was incarnate.” Linda Ellis tells us that the most important element on any tombstone is the dash. “It matters not how much we own, the cars…the house…the cash. What matters is how we live and love, and…
Christian claim #3: “For us and for our salvation he became man, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.” Dying to Live In the early morning hours of September 2, 1666, fire broke out in the city of London. The source of the fire was the King’s own bakery, oddly enough, on Pudding Lane. It could not…
Christian claim #2: “I believe in the forgiveness of sins” Houston…We Have A Problem! We have a problem. And how we deal with the problem is, well…problematic. On the one hand, we all sense deep down in our bones that something is wrong. The psychiatrist Carl Jung’s theorised that deep in our bones we are fractured and are in search…