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THE
BIBLE
Can we trust a book written 2000 years ago?
EYEWITNESS
Did the writers of the New Testament get their picture of Jesus right?
GOD
- MAN
Is Jesus really God?
RESURRECTION
Did Jesus really rise from the dead?
RELIGIONS
With so many religions, why Christianity?
SUFFERING
If there is a God, why is there so much suffering?
TRINITY
Understanding the Trinity.
SCIENCE
The complementary nature of Science & Christianity.
FORGIVENESS
What it is and why it matters?
GUIDANCE
How does God guide?
REPENTANCE
What it is and why you can't get to heaven without it.
BORN
AGAIN
What does it mean to be converted and born again?
SAVING
FAITH
The kind of faith that will get you to heaven
ASSURANCE
Can I know for sure that I am going to heaven?
TRUTH
What is truth and does it matter?
MORALITY
Does it matter how we live? A Christian view of morality.
THE
CHURCH
God's vision for his family, the Church. A call to the churches of the
new millennium.
PURPOSE
How
can I find a great purpose for living?
IDENTITY
Who am I; Finding my true identity as a human being and as a child of
God.
SELF-ESTEEM
How
can I feel good about my self? The Christian basis for proper sel-esteem.
LIFE AFTER DEATHChristianity's Hope & Challenge.
THE CROSS
Why did Jesus Die? What the Bible says about the Cross.
Grace
The importance of grace in the New Testament.
A victory over evil & death which has already been won
After a Muslim in Africa was converted to Christ, his friends asked him why he became a Christian. He answered, "Well, it's like this. Suppose you were going down the road and suddenly the road forked in two directions, and you didn't know which way to go; and there at the fork were two men, one dead and one alive. Which one would you ask the way to go?" The fact that Christ was alive attracted him to Christianity. Of the four major world religions that are based on a personality, rather than on a philosophical system, only Christianity claims that its founder came back to life after death.
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"Only
Christianity claims that its founder came back to life after death"
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The resurrection of Christ from the dead is at the heart of Christianity and is referred to repeatedly in the New Testament. Paul declares, "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins" (1 Corinthians 15:17). Both the death and the resurrection of Christ are presented as a complete victory over evil. His sufferings on our behalf make our escape from the condemnation of sin possible. "If you belong to Christ Jesus, you won't be punished" because God "set you free when he sent his own Son to be like us sinners and to be a sacrifice for our sin" (Romans 8:1,3). His resurrection is proof of his claims to be the divine Son of God. It is also proof of his victory over the powers of evil, which are the cause of death. He is "declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead" (Romans 1:4). It is also the guarantee of his final victory when he will return to judge the world. God "has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead" (Acts 17:31).
If we trust the risen Christ as our Saviour and yield our lives to him as Lord, then we become "co-heirs with Christ" of his kingdom (Romans 8:17). His resurrection will be the guarantee of ours. "God did this so that in the future world he could show how truly good and kind he is to us because of what Christ Jesus has done" (Ephesians 2:7). The future he longs for us to be part of is one of personal fulfilment, relationships with God and others, service and joy. This is in marked contrast to the Buddhist Nirvana which implies the loss of individuality. The word nirvana comes from a Sanskrit word nirva which literally means "to extinguish", though Buddha himself never affirmed this.
If we reject the reconciliation which Jesus won, at tremendous cost to himself, then we are left to our own resources. We must endeavour to work out our own salvation by good deeds, either over innumerable lifetimes, as some religions declare, or in this one short life. Both of these, according to the Bible, are impossible. The Bible also warns us that, "We die only once, and then we are judged" (Hebrews 9:27)*.
*If you wish to explore further the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, and some of its implications, may I recommend reading Resurrection: Did Jesus really rise from the dead?
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With so many Religions, why Christianity?
The character of its founder, Jesus
The analysis of our real problem
The way by which we see forgiveness
A victory over evil and death which has already been won
The kind of commitment it asks of its members
