Gospel Essentials PDF

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Kiley Leonard CWV 101 April 23, 2020 Professor Pasley

Benchmark – Gospel Essentials Christianity and the Christian worldview, like most religions, have always led to religious discussions and differences between people ever since the idea of Christianity became a human staple. Even amongst Christians themselves there have been many different beliefs and ideas on how Christians should live their lives. Even though the worldviews differ amongst groups of people there is a stable foundation that remains consistent for all. The redemption of sin and the chance at an eternal life with God. This stems from Jesus dying on the cross to save us from our humanly sin. Through the belief in Jesus and his selfless self sacrifice it has also granted us God’s undying love. The Christian worldview creates many questions that have to do with God, humanity, Jesus, and restoration and what it specifically means to the different individuals who are followers of Christ. Through this reading we will explore the wonder and fascination of this worldview through the eyes of a believer.

God God is a lot of things but to some it up God is the absolute creator. God is the creator of the Heavens and the Earth as we found out in Genesis 1:1, He is the creator of humans as well as the unliving. God is the only perfect being, he is the wisest, he is the absolute sovereign, He is the decider of all moral authority. God is love! He shows this as He sent his only living son down to

Earth and let him die on the cross and save us from all of our sin so we can live an eternal life with Him. God is the father of all and wants the best for every single one of us. With all that God gives us he expects a certain devotion from us. He wants us to follow Him and live through Him in our day to day lives. Our world should revolve around Him. God proved His willingness to save us from all sin when he put Adam and Eve in the garden and told them both to trust in Him and do not eat from the tree as they will die if so. As we know from Genesis Adam and Eve did eat from the tree and instead of them dying like God said they would He shows them redemption in not killing him and punishing them for not listening. This was beginning of God making human life more difficult and creation of sin, temptation, and death. This not only shows how much love God has to give but also shows that there are consequences to our actions and if we disobey what He says. God is consistent, certain, sturdy, and will never abandon you, He is right by our side through the ups and the downs.

Humanity

Humanity goes hand in hand with human nature, the definition is the “quality or state of being human” (Meriam-Webster, 2020). Humanity can be different for every person and every religion and worldview as well. Humanity when referring to the Christian worldview is the image God had when creating us. God ultimately created what Humanity is and Christians live through his creation of humanity. Genesis 1 claims “the pinnacle of creation is that of humanity in the image of God.” God created all mankind to walk in his footsteps and be with Him on a physical and spiritually journey. He initially created us to live our lives abundantly and joyfully through Him, through praise and worship and carrying His name with us we would get eternal love from Him.

With that being said humanity is far from being perfect like God had intended. Sin ultimately entered into humanity from Adam and Eve disobeying God and eating the fruit that He swore off (Genesis 1). “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Romans 5:13). Adam and Eve created what would be a hard and consistent humanity because of their sins. God brought sin, death, and temptation into human nature causing Christians to struggle to live a sinless life and impossible to live a perfect life and be like God. Though every human falls short of what God is, God forgives all through a relationship with Him.

Jesus Jesus’ identity is both entirely human and entirely God. Jesus was sent to Earth as God’s only son, he was a human lived on Earth from birth to death but God lived through him. Jesus was the human form of God. He is apart of the Holy Trinity as the Son. During Jesus’ time on Earth He never once committed a sin. He was put on Earth to breathe the word of God into people and create disciples of Christianity. He performed miracles after miracles gathering many followers. He died in a way that changed humanity forever, specifically Christian humanity. He paid the ultimate sacrifice and died on the cross for all of the sins of the past, present, and future. “For 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 NIV) Jesus did the most selfless thing possible and gave his life so us humans can live a life of joy and abundance in the name of God. Without this life altering sacrifice our relationship with God would be nonexistent. Jesus’ death is what creates us being able to have a relationship with God. Jesus is so important within the Christian worldview that in Timothy 2:5 Jesus is labeled as the “mediator” between God and mankind. Timothy 2:5

says “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus,” (NIV). Without Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross our relationship with God would be impossible and Christianity would be something of the past, not the past, present, and future.

Restoration Restoration is simply the action of putting something back to its original state. In the Christian worldview God is considered the “Master Restorer” (Tryon, 2018). The promise of restoration is a vital theme throughout the bible God offers hope through restoration when the world looks like it is turning black “I will restore you to health and heal your wounds, declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 30:17). There are a lot of hardships and problems that us humans have done to ourselves and there is only one true answer that solves all of our sins and that is a relationship with God. God is our Father, savior, and ultimate redemption falls in His hands. There are many ways to have a relationship with God including through grace, mercy, and faith. Having faith in God is a pillar in the Christian worldview. Everything starts and ends with us having faith in Him, including a relationship. Grace as well plays a huge role in the restoration of our lives, to achieve ultimate salvation we need to have grace through God to ensure our eternal relationship with him is everlasting. The transformation of self and society all starts with having a relationship with God. Only true and positive transformation comes from God and people finding their identity through Christ, and only with this will we be able to live an eternal life with Him. Analysis There are so many benefits and strengths of the Christian belief. Christians are choosing to believe in a God that paid the ultimate selfless sacrifice and died on the cross for our sins, believing that the love that God has for us is eternal and never lifting, choosing to walk by a God

that is perfect and paves the way for us to live a life of joy and abundance, and so many more. As a Christian the most confusing thing to grasp about Christianity is that God and Jesus are the same. Jesus is fully man yet fully God and it took until a youth group leader explained it to me that Jesus is the earthly being of God. So God is the spiritual being and His human being is Jesus. Once that was grasped for me believing in the Christian worldview was an easy choice. Christianity influences a person’s thinking and behavior every single day because we are taught to live our lives for Him and through Him. He is in the forefront of Christians mind when doing, thinking, acting, and reacting. There are so many verses throughout the bible that proclaim to do everything through Christ. Some examples of that are Colossians 3:17 “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”, Corinthians 10:31 “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” and those are only a few of the first ones that came into my head. One of the first things people learn on their journey to finding God is doing all things in His name, ultimately affecting our daily thinking and behavior. Reflection Being a Christian and following God was an easy decision I made at a young age. Although choosing to follow God was easy it is not an easy task living up to His expectations. Being a Christian can be very difficult at times because being “perfect” is humanly impossible. Temptation and sin happen nearly daily for most of us, especially me, and it is hard to resist at times. But knowing Jesus died on the cross for our sins and God ultimately forgives us of all our sins it is easier to have a relationship with Him. Perfection is the goal for most Christians but realizing and understanding that God is the only perfect one in the world makes it easier to not be too hard on ones self. I am able to live out the Christian worldview with my worldview because

they go hand in hand. I believe in God and I believe in doing everything through Him. My actions, words, and thoughts try to reflect what he would want as best as I can. I triumph in His victories, pray, live joyfully through His word and spread the word of God in my daily routine. I am nowhere near a perfect Christian and never will be but I know that I am doing what I can with what I have to the best of my ability. Conclusion Christianity is one of the largest religions in the world. There is such a positive impact in the world because of God and his following. With it being one of the largest religions in the world that means it also can be one of the most controversial topics. It is good to understand that every person is going to have a different belief in what God is and His characteristics and purpose for the world. Not only will there be differing views on God but also every person will have different ideas of how Christians should live and what worldview is right. I believe there is not a right or wrong when speaking about what you believe in but there is a positive or negative footprint that people leave on this Earth and I believe it is most important to leave that footprint as positive and holy as God had intended.

References

Biblegateway.co. (2019). BibleGateway.com: A searchable Online Bible in over 150 Versions and Languages. [Website]. Retrieved from: http://biblegateway.com/ Biblegateway.co. (2019). BibleGateway.com: A searchable Online Bible in over 150 Versions and Languages. [Website]. Retrieved

from: http://biblegateway.com/ Biblegateway.co. (2019). BibleGateway.com: A searchable Online Bible in over 150 Versions and Languages. [Website]. Retrieved from: http://biblegateway.com/

New International Version (NIV), (2011) Retrieved from:https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+8%3A6&version=NIV

Restore. 2011. In Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved April 23, 2020, from https://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/restore

Tryon, D.N.P., Lillian (2018) "Biblical Concepts of Restoration as a Foundation for Lifestyle Change," The Journal of Biblical Foundations of Faith and Learning: Vol. 3 : Iss. 1 , Article 28.

Hiles, J. S., & Smith, A. F. (2015). Evaluating wisely. In Grand Canyon University (Ed.), The beginning of wisdom: An introduction to Christian thought and life (2nd ed.). Retrieved from http://lc.gcumedia.com/cwv101/the-beginning-of-wisdom-an-introduction-to-christian-thoughtand-life/v2.1/#/chapter/2...