Exploring Christianity

If you’re not a Christian but you’d like to find out more, you probably have a lot of questions. That doesn’t stop once you become a Christian either. At Trinity Baptist Church we love reading the Bible, thinking about what it means and how it applies to our lives. In fact we think that constantly asking questions is an essential way to help us grow as Christians.

There are plenty of great books and online resources that will tell you more, but a good starting point would be to check out the two videos below or read on to hear from someone who recently became a Christian as an adult.

What is Christianity?

 
 

Reflections on Christianity by Charlotte, Trinity Baptist Church member:

There might be a number of reasons why you’ve found yourself reading this page of our website. Perhaps a friend or family member has introduced you to Christianity, or maybe something has happened in your life that has made you reconsider your existing beliefs. Often a life event leads people towards the Christian faith, but sometimes it can be a vague feeling that something is missing from your life. 

I spent the first four decades of my life either ignoring Christianity or dismissing it. I thought it was just for people who needed a crutch in life (although who doesn’t?) and that is what people around me told me too. Believing in God felt like a weakness rather than a strength. My life was ticking along nicely, thank you very much, and there was no room for God in it. It was only when a family crisis struck five years ago that my life abruptly stopped ticking along nicely, and that’s when God did his work.

Whether they are a Christian or not, everyone has faith in something. Think about it. What is your set of beliefs? Even if you don’t believe in a God who has control in our lives, that’s a belief in itself: you believe that something else is in control – you, or someone else, or Mother Nature, or whatever it might be. Those beliefs require you to act in certain ways, to rely on certain assumptions, or to say that you just don’t have the answers.

But even if you agree with all this, you might still be thinking: sure, but how does that make Christianity the one true faith? And even if it is, why should I follow it? Can’t I just decide to be a better person?

Perhaps there are a few assumptions you have made about Christianity: 

• That God, and therefore Christianity, do not have roots in reliable evidence
• That following it means sticking to rules
• That being a Christian means being ‘good’

There is no evidence for God

This is a big one and, in an age of both devotion to incontrovertible evidence at one extreme and the emergence of fake news at the other, it’s the reason why many people dismiss God. 

There are a few questions to ask as a starting point here. First: what does ‘evidence’ mean when it comes to proving God’s existence? It’s useful to have a think about what trustworthy evidence would look like. Second: how do you know the measures you use for testing a theory are the correct ones to use? What if God isn’t measurable or provable using the tools we have as humans? Third: have you read the Bible? It’s a book that was written by around 40 different writers over a period of 1500 years. Most of the authors didn’t know each other, either because they lived in different regions or their lives didn’t overlap. But there is a solid thread that runs through the Bible, and that thread is Jesus Christ, God in the form of man, whose existence was predicted thousands of years before he was born on earth and whose time here was documented by those who knew him. Beyond the Bible, there is much credible evidence of Jesus’ life and crucifixion from historians who lived during or soon after Jesus’ lifetime. 

 

Being a Christian means sticking to rules

Nobody wants more rules in their lives. We have enough of those already. Why not opt for freedom – the freedom to choose how you live, to do what you want without anyone telling you it’s wrong?

It’s true that if you’re a Christian, you try to live a certain lifestyle. But this lifestyle isn’t a bind. It’s a way of doing things that most of us would agree with: help others, have compassion, show love, forgive…in short, be more like Jesus. And at the core of it all is one big rule: love and serve God before all else in life. Put him centre stage and be guided by what he says is right.

It sounds like a big ask. But if you look around, a lot of the culture in which you live is guided by Christian principles. Christians created the modern healthcare system and education for the masses - and the concept of human rights, embraced by people worldwide, are anchored in Christian values.

We need rules to live our life the right way. Putting ourselves before everyone else, searching for satisfaction in things that don’t bring fulfilment, trying to always be in control and worrying when we’re not: these things only constrain us, making us a slave to the lifestyle we have created. As Christians, we have been given freedom through Christ’s sacrifice for us, meaning we no longer need to be fearful or rely fully on ourselves. It’s a liberating place to be; as Jesus says in The New Testament (John 8: 31-32): ‘If you abide in my word…you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’

 

Being a Christian means being ‘good’

There are common misconceptions that to be or become a Christian you have to be good – and that what’s more, that’s the only way you will get to Heaven. Or that Christians are superior, because they think they’re better than everyone else.

If these are thoughts you’ve had, you can forget them. One of the central messages of the Bible is that we are saved by Christ – forgiven and granted a place with him in eternity – by his grace alone. This means that he has chosen to forgive us, and save us, simply because he is perfect and has had mercy on us. And also because he knows that there is no way that we can be as perfect as him; humans just can’t stick to the rules, so if we could only get to Heaven by doing so then we might as well give up before we’ve started trying. We’d never get there. It’s precisely because we can’t be good all the time that we need God to show us grace and save us.

As for Christians seeing themselves as better than other people, the opposite should be true. Christians are often even more aware of their own failings than non-Christians, as they try and fail daily in being more like Jesus. However, Christians do feel a deep thankfulness, peace and joy in knowing that despite those failings they have been accepted by Christ, and that a life putting him at the centre will help them be more like him as time goes on.

Christ is for everyone. He doesn’t distinguish between ‘good’ or ‘bad’ people. All who see their need of Jesus can come to him as they are. He knows us anyway, so we can’t pretend to be something we’re not. But if we accept him into our lives and ask him to help us walk the right path, he’ll draw us to him and will never leave us. 

Just as I did a few years ago, you might think your life is going well and there’s no room for God in your life. But that’s looking at it the wrong way round. It’s not a question of whether you will make room for God, but whether God will make room for you - and he already has. I found that I just needed to find my way to that space, because I had been wandering around in the wrong one until then.

We know that this just scrapes the surface of all the questions you’d like to ask, but we hope it gets you thinking. We’d love to hear anything else you want to discuss.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us through the details on this website and we can arrange to meet up. Or come along to one of our services – there are always plenty of people around to talk with at the end.