If you’ve never really committed to the Christian faith, are unsure about what it even means to be a Christian – or have questions that you’d like answers to before you make a decision to follow Jesus, this is the place for you. We’ve got answers to questions about Christianity itself, answers to questions about Jesus, and sections on The Gospel and the Jesus Story.
Questions about Jesus
Who was/is Jesus?
We firmly believe that Jesus was and is the Son of God. You can read the full story of who Jesus was and is on the Jesus Story page, but here’s our much shorter answer to this commonly asked question:
Basically, Jesus lived 2000 years ago in Israel. He taught His disciples, healed the sick, performed miracles, raised the dead, and walked on water. People flocked after Him to hear His teachings, and the Jewish leaders didn’t like that. So they paid Judas, one of Jesus’ disciples, to betray Him. Jesus was arrested, beaten, and whipped… and then He was crucified.
Stripped naked, made to wear a crown of thorns, He hung on a cross with criminals for hours until He died and the curtain in the temple ripped apart. He was God. He could have stopped the suffering at any time. But He chose suffering and death because He loves mankind so much that He wanted to suffer in our place. God is angry with man’s sinfulness, but Jesus took the full force of God’s anger so that we don’t have to – so that if we believe in Him as our Saviour we can have the freedom of forgiveness and the gift of eternal life. Jesus died, was buried in a tomb, but death couldn’t hold Him and on the third day He was resurrected from the dead. He later ascended to Heaven to sit on the right hand of God the Father.
How Do I Get to Know Jesus as My Saviour?
There’s nothing complicated about entering into a relationship with Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. If you have read the full version of the Jesus story, and have looked at the Gospel page on the website, and you think you’re ready to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin, and that He rose again from the dead and went to Heaven to live eternally with God, His Father, then there’s only one more question that you need to ask yourself. Do you accept that you have sinned, as all mankind has, and are you ready to repent of your sins and turn to God for forgiveness?
If you have more questions about what it means to be saved, you can find the answers on our Salvation page. Otherwise, you can just go ahead and pray the prayer at the bottom of the Gospel page.
Questions About Christianity
Isn’t Christianity just a bunch of rules telling me what I can and can’t do, and when I have to do it?
You’re confusing Christianity with “religion”. That startled you, didn’t it? Yes, Christianity is called as “a religion”, in the broadest sense of the word, but the Bible tells us that Jesus came to set us free, not bind us up in new sets of rules and regulations.
The Jews had tons of rules and regulations – things they couldn’t eat, things they couldn’t do on certain days, and things they had to do on certain days. It was all a bit much really, because it was more about the rules than it was about God. There were certain rules that God had given to the Israelites, and certainly some of those, such as the Ten Commandments, still stand for Christians. But Jesus came to shake things up a bit. He said it was okay to eat things the Jews thought were “unclean” for example.
Basically, Jesus came to simplify our relationship with God. Yes, there are things that are morally and legally wrong that we shouldn’t do, like stealing, murdering, committing adultery, etc. – but those aren’t just Christian rules; they’re the rules of society, too. Our conscience even tells us that those things are wrong.
In Christianity, there are no rules on how often you have to pray or read the Bible or what you can and can’t eat. You don’t have to go to church. You don’t have to sing worship songs. Most Christians do those things because they want to, not because they feel obligated to!
The crux of the matter is that Christianity isn’t a bunch of rules that takes all the fun out of life. What it is, is a change of heart that often leads us to make changes in our lives, not because we are being forced to, but because we have been convicted of the sin in our lives by the Holy Spirit, and because we want to make the choice to live our lives differently.
What’s the difference between Christianity and religion? I thought Christianity was a religion!
Christianity is a religion in its broadest sense, but the word religion can also be used in a different sense. A Christian can be described as “getting religious” when they become bound up in rules and regulations, having to pray at specific times of day for a specific length of time, reading a specific amount of Scripture every day, and beating themselves up, figuratively speaking, if they don’t meet the standards they set for themselves.
They can also be considered religious if they start comparing themselves to other Christians and thinking of themselves as “better” Christians because they pray for longer or read their Bible more frequently. Prayer and reading Scripture are both important parts of a Christian lifestyle, but we don’t need to “get religious” about it!