The Importance of Christ

I would like to apologize to my readers, if any are still around, for taking so long between posts. I just was not feeling up to it and what I write about should not be written if not with passion and conviction.


Christ Jesus is the central figure of Christianity. That seems like a fairly obvious statement. I suppose one might say the Trinity is, but we come to know the Trinity through Christ first, he is the spokesman and facilitator of God's will to His people through His preaching and Resurrection.

Yet stating all this, why do we need Jesus? What would be the effect if he did not exist to us?

This is a critical question to be able to answer well for Christians, as it is one many non-Christians will likely ask us is discussion, and because it is so central to faith and how we interact with the world.

I would start out with saying we only know of Jesus and His importance because God revealed His son in prophesy and in the flesh. We could not know we needed Christ otherwise. But why was this revelation necessary? Precisely because of prior revelations from God and in examinations of humans and their condition. For when God created man, He gave us a choice between His will or our own (free will), with Adam and Eve choosing to abandon God for our own will (how literal one takes the creation story is irrelevant to the proof). This lead to what is commonly know as "The Fall", humans being consumed by sin and sentenced to death, separating themselves from God. The sin was tied to the physical being of us, and we were doomed to physical existence and separation from God as long as this endured. What happens next is God slowly reestablishing contact with His creation, perhaps most significantly with Moses and the gift of the Law to the people of Israel, which allowed for repentance and redemption not previously available.

The Law; however, was a poor method of forgiveness of sins, and really dealt with the symptoms rather than the cause. This is critical to understanding the importance of Christ. Beside anything he said, what his arrival signified was a cure for the disease that plagued us, sin, rather than a variety of treatments which the Law provided for. Before, one had to be constantly aware of sin in order to cleanse oneself of it, and the treatment was giving in such a way as we would now call a "clinical trial", meaning it was available to a select few and everyone else was excluded no matter how much the treatment might have benefited them. Christ, simply put, changed everything.

If one does not accept that humans have sin, are in rebellion against God and that death is tied to all this then surely Christ is unnecessary. If humans in the Law are and were perfect and offered perfect sacrifice and devotion to God's will then Christ is unnecessary. But if the above is true then a solution is necessary. What is needed is something without sin that is fully of God's will as a result and can defeat death and transform creation. This is Christ on the cross. Humiliated, mocked and beaten, the perfect lamb whose blood is sacrificed to spare the people of God from their own iniquity. That is in rising the physical body, he defeated death and the Devil, and restored the sinful creation to its Maker, and providing means for all people, regardless of race, gender, or religion, to find the truth, light, and way to salvation.

We must remember that the way Christ lived his live as critical. His life was the perfect manifestation of the human conforming to God's will. He shows that the Law was perfect, and that it was us that had failed, even at our best to reach the standard it set. He provided real world application of perfect obedience and service to the Father.

He also preached and did forgive sins and by doing so allowed for the Holy Spirit to come to any and all, removing the forgiveness of sin from direct appeal to god through imperfect sacrifice to attaching oneself to a perfect sacrifice through the Holy Spirit, removing the sin and barrier to God. This process allows for the new creation to occur, so that one is of Christ rather than merely from Christ.

It can be thought of as well that Christ is the mechanism of reconciliation between us and God, not only derived from His purpose and function as savior and King over us all, but through his very meaning, being equally human and God.

While I realize that most of this is obvious and I probably missed a thing here or there, but I hope it is helpful in making it clear in all Christians mind that Jesus is not merely a nice guy that said nice things, but the beginning and end of our journeys to be creatures obedient to God. We cannot fulfill God's will without Christ, for to ignore Christ or deviate from in any way is to do the same to God. But we must not at the same time separate Christ from His context and purpose, and come to know the Christ revealed and known rather than the Christ we desire for our own will. For as Jesus completely surrendered His will to God, may we surrender our will to him.

News Flash!

I'm back! Well sort of, my internet fast will continue after this post until tomorrow because of internet troubles but I will hopefully have an article ready in the next couple of days. Anyways if anyone is still out there this blog is not dead yet!

No New Posts / My Change on Predestination

I am going on a personal week long internet fast (I still have to use the internet for work), so I will not be posting again until Friday next week. If you are wondering what an internet fast entails it is like a food fast, basically no internet for a week. I have also decided to limit my computer access (minus the internet), to one hour per night, which would be for writing articles for next week and maybe finishing watching arrested development :)


I will write on the experience and why I did it when I return, I just feel I need to regroup mentally. I also see it as a great opportunity to really focus on reading and reflecting on scripture and God's grace and truth which he delivered through Jesus (John 1: 17). So I hope it is a good week and I gain something valuable from the experience and I wish all my readers the best until I post again.


God Bless






Predestination? Craziness or Truth?

I always thought predestination was bonkers. How could we not have a say in our salvation? Did I not decide to believe in God, do I not choose to do good? Why only a few posts ago I argued  how choice was in humans or else our existence did not make any sense. However, I now believe I was wrong.


The reality is that most people believe they have some control over their lives, and that this control is central to their happiness and well-being. This applies to most Christians too. Whether it is about God or the car we drive or our career or what to eat, we see ourselves as having some free will in the decision to do and/or believe. I myself have always held that we have minds that can think and God must have given them to us for a reason. The reason he did though is where I believe I have faulted in my thinking.


Firstly, can we earn salvation? Well I would say no, since that would require perfection and perfect obedience to God, which we cannot do as sinners.We cannot forgive our own sin and cannot earn this forgiveness, we can merely ask God to forgive us through Christ's death on the cross and resurrection. additionally, God's grace cannot be conditioned and compelled, for if it was it would mean he was not in complete control of all things and His dominion could be challenged.


So now to predestination (salvation of the elect), or more specifically double predestination (the elect and everyone else). So God chooses His elect to save through grace alone. And the rest He leaves to themselves to do as they like. The thing to remember is that we all start as sinners in rebellion against God. We have no way of reaching God on our own or of fixing our condition. God chooses to forgive the elect, even without earning forgiveness and "free will" to choose God is merely the awareness of salvation already given, acknowledging the power of the Holy Spirit to help align ourselves more closely to God's will. Meanwhile, those not of the elect, already turned from God, merely face God's justice at the end times. God does not abandon them nor put evil upon them, He merely lets them live in sin and face judgment.


It is not the best explanation of predestination, a better one is found here, but it is suffice to say I am more convinced than ever before of this. When  you remove our desires and opinions and thoughts and read scripture without prejudice, I feel this becomes more clear. I like to think I can explain everything rationally, and learning to be humble and trust in God's plan for me has been difficult but rewarding.


How do we know we are saved or how does God choose are for another day, if they matter at all. Those that follow Christ's example, who act for ours and  for the fulfillment of God's plan and glory are the signs of the saved. It is merely trusting in His grace and mercy, which when you think of it is an immensely freeing experience to know that God will deliver us to salvation regardless of our weakness and failings and the dictates of the world. To end I would say simply if you are not sure about your own salavtion: Love unconditionally to all, as God has loved us unconditionally, as he gave his son unconditionally.

A Note to Readers

Moving forward with this blog, I plan to better plan my posts my having different categories of posts. I feel the blog at the moment is sort of directionless, and having more focus will make it easier to post and more enjoyable to read hopefully. Some of my ideas for post categories include:


Personal Reflections: Posts focusing on my growth as a Christian, the ups and downs of living for Christ in a modern world. (Planning an article about my faith and Predestination tomorrow hopefully)
Intro to Theology/Christian Definitions: This will be posts that will help illustrate basic ideas and concepts in Christianity 
Ancient History: Posts about the history behind biblical events, and possibly early Christian history. 
Bible Study: Review and discussion on particular Bible passages, books and stories.
Book Study: Like bible study, but of non-scripture books. (First book will be The Cost of Discipleship, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Expect to start in next couple of days.)
Inter-Christian Discussion: Posts that will focus on a theological issue and how different groups in Christianity interpret it, as well general comparisons between groups.
Guest Posts: Posts on relevant and interesting Christian topics, discussions, and experiences from writers and people I respect.
Current Events and Christianity: Responding and relating to world events and issues through a Christian perspective.
Other: For the posts that don't fit the above categories.


If I have missed any categories that seem essential to cover, let me know. I will try very hard to develop a basic schedule to help readers follow along better and to deliver content on a more regular basis.


God Bless

Post about Cats!!!

I promise not to do this too often, but with my last post about my blog not caving in to popular demands and tastes, i decided to become a hypocrite and talk about the populist topic on the internet: CATS!!! More specifically, about my two family cats back home, Kitty and Pepper. There are some pictures to hopefully redeem this tangent.