r.e christianity basics

omnipotent- all powerful with unlimited authroity in the bible the angel Gabriel answered marys question about her pregnacy by saying... 'nothing is impossible with god' although he is all powerful chrisitans belive he only uses that power and authority to do good. God's omipotence is benevolent.

god is loving (benevolent)- chrisitans belive that god loves humman and wants whats best for them, chrisitans belived that gods greatest act of love was sending jesus to earth... 'god so loved the world that he gave his one and only son' the bible contains this definiton of love.. 'love is patient' 'love is kind' 'love never fail'

god as just- god is belived to be the perfect giver of justice. not only of right and rong but the prefect jude of human charcter.- because of this god will never support injustice and ill-treatment prejudice or oppresion.

many people question why if god is all loving he lets suffering go on in the world 

trinity- there are three persons in one god; the father, the son and the holy spirit are separate, but are also one being. 

god the father- christians belive that the first person of the trinity is god the father. the lords prayer begings with 'our father in heaven' as creator of life he acts as a good father by being; omnipotent, benevolent, omniscient and omnipresent.

god the son- the second person of the trinity is often refered to as the son of god became incarnated on earth as jesus. christians believe jesus was fully human on earth and also fully god at all times 

god the holy spirit- christians belive that once jesus left the earth god sent the holy spirt to infulence, guide ans sustain earth and all life on it. belived to be an unseen power of gos at work in the world 

'in the beginig god created heavens and the earth'

'god said "let there be light" and there was light' 

the trinity where all present at creation... 

the holy spirt- the spirit of god was mentioned 'hovering over waters' 

the father- the creator

the son- the word 'in the begining was the word'

this reinforces the idea of the onness of god 

'the word became flesh and made his dewling amoung us'

although both mark and john mention sevral times that jesus is the son of god and that mary did conceive him sexually, neither of them include any information about the birth of jesus but this may just be because they did not find it important. both clearly say that jesus is the son of god

'when jesus was baptised a voice from heaven siad "you are my son"'

'you may believe that jesus is the massiah, the son of god'

even though christians belive jeus was the son of god doesnt mean he was spared of the pain and horror of his death - not only was he fully god he was also fully human and had the same feeling as anyone else.

according to luke's version jesus forgave the gaurds who crucified him because they didnt realise the significance of what was going on. he also forgave the the two men who where crusified with him. 

in the bible it says 'jesus called out with a loud voice "father into your hands i commit my spirt" when he had said this he breathed his last breath' 

one of the roman centurians in charge of the crucifiction praised god and actually acknowledged that jesus was a righteous man he said; 'surley this man was the Son of God' 

this impacts christians today because it gives them confidance that sin can no longer destroy their lives because god forgives those who asks for forgiveness, they belive suffering is a part of life just as it was a part of jesus' and having experianced it he understands what the person suffering goes through.

resurection-placed in a tomb onthe sabbath day (friday) no time to anoint the body, so when 4 women came to do it (Mary Madalene is the only one all 4 gospels agree on being there) and found there was no body there and they met 2 men (possibly angels) who told them jesus had rose from the dead.

ascension- there are other explanations to jesus ascension. but if jesus had the power of god to rise from the dead, its ewually possible he had the same power to rise up to heaven. only marks and lukes gospels finish the story...

'while he was blessing them he left them and was taken up into heaven' 

ressurection- many christians belive that the soul gets ressurected where as others belive that jesus will return to earth and the death will get ressurected to be judged. 'so it'll be the resurrection of the dead'

life after death- by trusting in god there lives after death will remain in the presence of god

the afterlife- humans receive eternal life as a gift from god, and so a belief in the afterlife for christians depends on belief in god. christians believe their souls , enter a diffrent dimension whixh little is known about.'he ascended into heaven'

'the resurection of the body'   'and the life everlasting' 

judgement- christians beleive that god who decides the fate of those who die, there is a parable of the sheeps and the goats which explains the criteria of what god will judge them on and what they need to do to be saved. 'i am the way the truth and the light' 'he will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left'

heaven- a state of eternal happiness in the presence of god; the place of eternal peace ruled over by god.

hell- the place of eternal suffering or the state of being without god.

purgatory- the intermediate state where souls are cleansed in order to enter heaven or hell.

**big deabate about how a loving god could send people to eternal torment and pain**

sin- any action or thought that separates humans from god, that is, an axtion or thought against gods laws and wishes or prinsaples of mortaslity god requires people to follow 

orignal sin- everybody is born with the urge to do bad things and disobay god; this idea comes from the story of adam and eve- the reslut was a separation from god. 

grace- a quality of god which god shows to humans by providing love and support which they do not need to earn

salvation- saving the soul, delevrance from sin and admission to heaven brought about by jesus. 

** 'for the wage of sin is death, but the gift of Gods eternal life in christ jesus our lord' ** 

christians belive that jesus' death makes up for orignal sin and so bring people back to god. as son of God jesus could easily have avioded being crusified, however he knew that his death was nessacery to restore the relationship of God and his belivers. 

atonement- as the bible makes clear atonement removes the effects of sin and allows people to restore their relationship with God. this is only possible because jesus atoned for the sins of mankind when he died. 'if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the father'