Why Christianity?
by Mihran Kulhanjian
My dear Friends,
If you want to know truth, you receive Jesus Christ. Yield to Him. Accept Him and believe. Christianity is truth. Truth is not relative. There is but one truth. A Christian is a believer, by faith, in Jesus Christ, His work, life, death, burial and resurrection. A Christian worships Father God, who created the heavens and the earth. Jesus Christ, the beloved Son of God, is the only person, as man, who was sinless, perfect, died, was buried and rose (resurrected) from the dead and now lives. Jesus was a heavenly Spirit, born a virgin birth by the Spirit of God, given a body by God, to be the propitiation for the sins of man. Jesus was crucified on the cross as a sacrifice to God for the sins of man. He was the only acceptable sacrifice because He was God incarnate. The sacrifice was a living body. Jesus has a spirit, soul and body. The cross was the alter. The sacrifice had to be a body. Life is in the blood and blood is in the body, and Jesus' blood was offered so that we might live and have communion with God. Jesus' mission was to fulfill the will of God. His mission was complete at His death when His last words were "It is finished." What was finished? It was the will of God which Jesus fulfilled, to save mankind from self-destruction, from eternal death in hell. This is the love of God for His creation. Human beings are His creation. God's love for us send His own Son to the cross and by a humiliating death. But Jesus, three days later, rose that the dead as the Scriptures recorded and defeated death and the devil forever. He paved the way so that now we, believers, disciples of Christ have power with Christ living in us to defeat the devil in all things. Satan has no power over Christians who live the will of God. On the cross, your old man, your old sinful man was crucified with Jesus. Satan has no authority over a child of God. Make a decision to do the will of God and live it every day, every moment, as a true disciple of Jesus Christ. If you want God's blessings in your life you must commit to God, to align yourself with God.
In Romans 12:2, the apostle Paul instructs us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds:
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
We renew our minds with the Word of God, yielding to Him in all things. We turn our life over to Him. We surrender our body to Him completely, in trust and love.
Jesus is alive today. He is the only Lord and Savior of man and He is living; A Christian is a believer who addresses God as “Father.” True Christians are called the children of God. There are no other gods: Islam, Hindi, Buddhism, Taoism, Mormonism and others are inventions of Satan with the help of evil, false, and delusional men to distract people from knowing the truth of God and the plan for salvation. The truth is one God (our Father in Heaven) His Son, Jesus Christ who was God incarnate and our Helper, the Holy Spirit: one God existing in three persons (the Trinity, a Triune God). God is spirit and He is omnipresent (He can be in many places at the same time). A triune God created a triune man with a spirit, soul and body. Man is created in His image and in His likeness. His home is Heaven but He is not restricted to Heaven. When we believe in and follow Jesus, we are set apart from the world and sent the Holy Spirit to indwell in us. The Spirit is a promise from God. The Holy Spirit dwells in us and helps us in our walk with God for the rest of our lives on earth. The holier we become the more the Spirit helps us and directs us. We must seek holiness and all the blessings from God that follow.
Becoming a Christian is to come face-to-face with truth. When we receive the Holy Spirit we receive gifts of the Spirit. As explained in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11:
“ But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of [1] wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of [2] knowledge through the same Spirit, to another [3] faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of [4] healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of [5] miracles, to another [6] prophecy, to another [7] discerning of spirits, to another [8] different kinds of tongues, to another the [9] interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.”
There are nine different gifts noted here in 1 Corinthians 12 that the Holy Spirit gives. But there are about twenty-two gifts in total noted in the New Testament. If you have the Holy Spirit, you will have at least one of these gifts, and perhaps many of them.
A true Christian will also exhibit “Fruits of the Spirit.” What are the “Fruits of the Spirit” you might ask. The “Fruits” are noted perfectly in Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering [patience through tough times], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control [temperance with food and drink]. Against such there is no law.” These are some of the attributes of God that we inherit as His children. We take on the family traits.
Before I go further, I want to clarify a term I use. You might have noticed that I use the term ”true” a lot before “Christian.” Why do I use the word “true?” It is to distinguish the difference from the many false [pretending] Christians professing to be “Christian.” A true Christian can be recognized by their “fruit”, that is by their behavior, their actions and conduct. God is action orientated. We know Him by his actions. A Christian does not use cuss words, filthy language (Colossians 3:8), does not dress immodestly, is not vulgar, is self-controlled and takes on the good and holy attributes of God and the character of God. A professing Christian who uses swear words, is profane, is pro-abortion or pro-homosexual marriage, or indifferent to these things or supports any anti-God, anti-person movements (Black Lives Matter, Socialism or Communism [man nor government has dominion over man], pride parades, political parties who support them, all that is contrary to God’s character and holiness) does not know God and is a false Christian in every sense. God is holy and will not be mocked, and He commands us to be holy and perfect, not rebellious haters of man and God. He could command nothing less.
Why become a Christian? It is what the Father wants. He chooses His children. God the Father wants us to take on the character of Jesus. And as children of the living God we should want to please Him. Those who do not receive Jesus are not the children of God, but they are the children of their father the devil. Yes, the devil is a loser. There will be more people destined for hell than Heaven; quite a bit more.
It is with great gratitude that we would want to please God for the love He has shown us by offering us a chance to not perish but live. He is offering us eternal life, with all the blessings, which begins in this life when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Through being born again, our life will continue on into heaven. We are grateful for His grace on us, that by His grace we are saved through our faith (Ephesian 2:8, 9). Do you not want to know the truth? There is only one way to heaven and life. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me” (John 14:6). Do you think Jesus is lying? He cannot lie; He is perfect—sinless. If Jesus lied just one time in his entire human life of thirty-three years, then the entire Bible is worthless and there is no salvation for anyone. Jesus was pure. He was the sacrificial Lamb of God, brought down from the heavens to cleanse us from our sin.
God the Father gave Jesus to us and He also gave Jesus full authority to judge all on earth and in heaven (when we die we will be judged by Jesus). He did not come to condemn us, for we are already condemned (John 3:17-19) unless we believe in, receive, obey and follow Christ as our Lord and Savior we will perish in tormenting hell for the sins we have committed. Remember this: God does not send anyone to hell, we send ourselves for not believing in and obeying the only Son of God. Because of God’s love for us He has given us a chance to live with Him in heaven; He has given us a way out from eternal damnation. But we must accept His offer. If we do not, then we stay condemned and our eventual destination is hell because we are not forgiven sinners and refused the cleansing of the blood of Jesus. Heaven is exclusive and the Bible says few will get there, but many will be destroyed. The old saying “there are a million ways to hell but only one way to heaven” still holds true. Jesus is the one way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). He is the only way, because all have sinned and cannot have communion with a holy God.
We have a choice, heaven or hell. We have a choice love or hate. We have a choice truth or lies. We have a choice peace with God or enmity with God. We obey God or we don’t. We must not forget that God is love (1 John 4:8,16) and Jesus in sacrifice. God showed his love by sending Jesus to take the punishment for your sin. This is personal. Jesus loved you enough to die for you, He sacrificed Himself so that you might live and have a complete salvation in this life and the next. But God is also wrath (John 3:36), and the guilty (transgressors of God’s Moral Law) will one day be punished, unless they turn to God for forgiveness and follow the commands of God [Jesus]. God must punish the wicked because God is just, and He is holy. Just like in any court of law the guilty must be punished. An honest judge cannot let the guilty go unpunished. As judge, God will discipline those who are disobedient. As a Father (to Christians, believers) He will also discipline. He is the Creator and we are the creation. We must understand clearly that there are consequences to our disobedience. Contrary to what people believe, and I will state it again, God does not send people to hell, they send themselves by refusing to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.
God demonstrated His love for us by offering His Son, Jesus Christ, as a sacrifice for our sins, so that we might escape condemnation (John 3:16). We only become children of God when we believe and obey Him. When we do not obey or believe in Him, we are not His children. The disobedient, unbelievers are children of their father the devil (John 8:44); they are the children of wrath. Why would anyone want to be the child of the devil and end up in hell? Our spirit does not die. God created the spirit to live. Each and every one of us will either be in Heaven with Jesus and all the saints or in Hell with all those who turned away from God.
Why do you want to become a Christian? Because it is what God wants for all of us. God takes no pleasure in our destruction. He is our Creator; He wants us to be his children. Children respect their Father. He wants us to know Him. If you know the Son (Jesus) you know the Father (John 8:19, 14:7). For the Son was with the Father in the beginning. Jesus is the creator of the earth and galaxies (John 1:1-5). And Jesus has all authority in heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18). God is holy and for us to have fellowship with Him we must also be holy. Our holiness, our righteousness is through Jesus because Jesus is holy and accepted all of our sins as His (2 Corinthians 5:20-21). Jesus is the only advocate to bridge us to God our Holy Father [a Christian called God Father, because a Christian is a child of God] in Heaven. This is the only way we can have communion with God. Through Jesus we have fellowship with God. This is why we need to become Christian and obey Jesus as our Lord and Savior; He is the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through Him” (John 14:6). We are perfect in Jesus. But as Christians we must strive for perfection and holiness while on earth as God commands. He cannot command anything less than perfection. And when we fail (sin), we must confess and repent of our sins to God our Holy Father.
We should want to become Christian because it is what God wants for all of us so that we can have fellowship with Him to escape condemnation. God wants no one to perish. In the New Testament, Jesus brings us to the “Father.” As the adopted children of God (Christians only) we are accepted into heaven after we die. God becomes our Father as Christians. He chooses us; He adopts us into His family and we take on the family traits (the character of Jesus). In the Old Testament, God was not customarily referred to as “Father.” The Israelite's called God Jehovah not Father. The Israelite's view of God was that God was far off and a personal relationship could not be attained. Jesus changed all this when His death on the cross brought back our communion with the Father. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). Adam broke communion with God and Jesus returned communion with God. One act of disobedience of Adam brought in sin and one act of obedience with Jesus brought us back to the Father. This love that God has for us is unfathomable. After the offensive ways we have treated God He has showed us His love for us again and again.
We should want to become Christian for the simple fact that if we do not, we are selfishly ungrateful creatures. Created by God, how could anybody not be a Christian and obey the Father who created us for fellowship with Him? His love for us is beyond anything we, as mere creatures, can comprehend. We can never know God purely because God does not reveal Himself to us this way. God does not tell us everything about God. But He shows us enough. He reveals Himself to us from the His Word, the Bible. This is why He asks us to have faith. We are saved by His grace through our faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).