Introduction to Christianity

So What's it All About?

I'd like to get one thing straight here right away: this is an introduction to Christianity, not a sermon to try and get you to convert. I won't preach at you why you should become a Christian today. This introduction is for those who are curious what Christianity is all about, but don't want it forced on them like so many sermons. It is also probably much different than anything you've ever heard about Christianity, as it focuses heavily on the supernatural aspect. Many of the details here are up for speculation or downright unknown, but I did my best to make everything fit together and make sense in the big picture.

If you want to read the old introduction, in which I did do some heavy preaching, then click here. Otherwise, read on without fear of fanatical preacher-man talk and weird metaphors!

Christianity is really all about a war: an epic battle between good and evil, God and the Accuser, Satan. This isn't a metaphor - this war is actually happening, right now, in real life. Legions of angels and demons clashing with supernatural powers, fighting each other at every turn. Generally, it happens where us humans can't see - in a parallel universe, an extra fourth dimension, or possibly a spirit realm accesible only to supernatural beings; it isn't known. In some rare cases, however, humans can catch glimpses of this conflict.

A little history on the war. It started when Satan, originally an angel of God the Creator, gathered some followers around him and rebelled against his master. God totally owned him and sent him crashing down to Earth. Naturally, Satan was bitter about his defeat. He decided to get his revenge by ruining God's most prized creation - humans. At that time there were only two in existence, Adam and Eve, living in a paradise called the Garden of Eden. There was just one fruit they couldn't eat, because if they did, they would know evil and be tempted to do it. Satan saw his chance and tricked Eve into eating the fruit, and she convinced Adam to eat it, and the world was never the same. It became Satan's domain, where his evil took root and grew strong. All the bad things in the world - death, disease, pestilence, war, despair, poverty - are a direct result of the Fall, Satan's revenge against God. Furthermore, ever since the Fall, all humans have been corrupted by Satan's taint. Where once we had a good nature, now it is evil. We all became bonded to Satan, doomed to be his slaves for eternity.

For years after that, the war raged. Satan and his demons on Earth, trying to cause as much death and destruction as they can, while God and his angels try to defend the humans against Satan's malice. But it seemed a lost cause: all humans inevitably died, and their souls were claimed by Satan. God couldn't just destroy Satan, because doing so would destroy all the humans with him.

Thus God developed a secret plan to remove the taint from humans. He took human form and came down to Earth, and called himself Jesus. Satan quickly spotted a golden opportunity - with God in human form, he could be killed. God could be destroyed, and Satan crowned King. Not wanting to miss this chance for anything, Satan secretly manipulated the people around Jesus so he would be caught and crucified (the slowest, most painful form of execution in that time). It worked, and Jesus was sent to Hell while Satan threw a party.

What Satan didn't know, however, was what Jesus did just before he died. He absorbed all of the sin of humanity, past, present, and future, and took it on himself. Jesus concentrated all of Satan's vile taint on himself, becoming so evil that God in heaven could no longer bear to look at him. When he died, Satan's taint died. Humanity, while still bound by an evil nature and Satan's temptations, was no longer doomed as Satan's slaves.

Of course, there was still one little problem: God was in Hell, and Satan could do as he pleased. But somehow, Jesus escaped from Hell in three days and came back to life, leaving humanity's sin in the dark fires. How he escaped is unclear, but it is clear that he rose again after three days.

Satan's fate was sealed after that. God could crush him and his minions at any moment now, and send them into the lake of fire. Except he didn't, not yet - he is waiting to save as many humans as he can before Satan is destroyed. While the humans may no longer be doomed as Satan's slaves, Satan can still trick them into that position all too easily. Escaping from the Enemy's clutches requires a purposeful choice to defy Satan and go to God's side for protection. There is no middle ground - without God's protection, Satan can easily snatch up unwary souls. Good and bad character has nothing to do with what happens to someone's soul. So God waits, trying to save as many souls as he can in the meantime.

This is the war that has been waged for the last 2000 years - a war of souls. Satan knows he can't beat God. He knows he is doomed to be cast into the lake of fire after the last battle of Armageddon. So, he is determined to take down as many humans with him as he can, as a last act of defiance towards God. The overarching mission of modern-day Christianity is to help God and his angels make sure Satan takes down as few people with him as possible, by helping them gain God's protection.

That is what Christianity is all about; a war of souls between ultimate good and ultimate evil. It probably sounds vastly different from anything you've ever heard, but it's true, and hopefully more interesting than anything you've ever heard too. Christians are soldiers fighting in a war beyond our understanding, against powers way out of our league, but allied with even greater powers. No one knows when Armageddon will happen and the war will end, so ideally they fight as if it were to happen within the hour.

Christianity is much more than just a religion.

Requirements

There are certain requirements to being a Christian, but fortunately anyone can meet them. Here is a complete list of what you need to do to get God's protection.

1. Belief. The base requirement is to believe that God exists and is the only true God, that Jesus is the son of God, and that he died and rose again to remove our sin. This is the easy part.

2. Acceptance. The first step in becoming a Christian is to accept God as your savior and invite him into your life. You do this by praying to him. This is also pretty easy.

3. Obedience. The next step is to obey God's commands, summarized in the Ten Commandments and expanded elsewhere in the Bible. You don't need to have perfect obedience (this is impossible) but you at least need to try. This is where things start getting difficult.

4. Action. The final step is to go beyond not doing bad things and start doing good things, such as helping those in need and telling others about God. This is the most difficult part but also the most rewarding.

Benefits

There are many potential benefits to being a Christian, some tangible, some that you won't notice until you die. I've outlined a few of them here.

• Eternal Life. Undoubtedly the biggest benefit of being a Christian, however, it is also the least tangible. When you die, if you have God's protection, you will be taken to a perfect place (not boring, that's not perfect) and live forever with every other Christian. The alternative is eternal suffering under Satan's domination.

• Peace. You won't ever have to worry about anything ever again. You will still worry sometimes, but you can know it is completely unnecessary if you beleive God is always watching out for you, and nothing happens without his consent. You won't need to fear anything either, because you'll know what will happen when you die (extreme sports suddenly seem a whole lot safer!).

• Acceptance. Despite popular images of Christians all being self-righteous, intolerant bigots, they are actually some of the most accepting people around (the good ones anyway). If you're lonely, lost, or have serious life problems, you're more likely to find more and better friends in Christians than anywhere else.

Risks

Unfortunately, there are real risks associated with being a Christian as well. If there weren't, then everyone would be one. Before you decide whether to become a Christian, it is only fair that you know about these risks.

• Persecution. Many people, for various reasons, hate Christians to varying degrees. Some will make fun of you, bully you, shun you, reject your friendship, hurt you in various ways. Some may even hurt you physically. A few hate Christians so much, they will kill you. In the worst case, you will have to hide from your government, because if they find out you are secretly a Christian, they will invade your home and kill you and your family or worse.

• Life changes. In all likelihood, your life will need to drastically change to become a Christian. You might have to give up drugs, wild parties, or violence. Smaller, but no less difficult changes might include changing what people you hang out with, what music you listen to, what movies you see, how you treat people, or any number of other things. God might also want you to move somewhere to help people, or do unpleasant work for them, or something else totally unexpected. You never know what God might do to your life if you're a Christian.

The risks of Christianity are substantial, but the prospect of immortality just might be worth it. Do the benefits outweigh the risks? I can't tell you; that is for you to decide. But don't wait too long, because no decision counts as no protection from God.