What do you understand the core message of Christianity to be?

[Godlovesmetwo]

The long winded will not make it to Heaven.

 

[fhansen]

What do you understand the core message of Christianity to be?

Man must learn his place, of the infinitely vast difference between himself and God, between creature and Creator, even as man is made in His image. Man must come to know who he is-and who God is, to the best he can. And this takes time-and is the reason Jesus came when the time was ripe-to reveal God as He'd never been revealed before. God is love, and loves man with an unfathomable depth. As we become jaded by this world's offerings, by sin, by the emptiness in a world without God for all practical purposes, where man's will reigns instead, where pride and self-righteousness have their day in the sun, where we come to know both good and evil, we can become more malleable clay in the hands of the Potter who wants us to ultimately choose the good, to choose Him when that true light is offered.

As Aquinas put it, "God alone satisfies."

 

[Hazelelponi]

What do you understand the core message of Christianity to be?

The reconciliation of man to God.

John 12:32; John 3:14-17; 2 Corinthians 5:19-20; Colossians 1:20-21; Hebrews 2:17; Romans 5:10

etc. etc.

 

[PuerAzaelis]

What do you understand the core message of Christianity to be?

Acts 2
24 But God raised him up again, releasing him from the pangs of death; it was impossible that death should have the mastery over him.

HOLY BIBLE: Acts 2

 

[Maria Billingsley]

What do you understand the core message of Christianity to be?

"God is with us".
Once lost through Adam and Eve, the relationship between God and man is once again restored through the work on the cross by God in the flesh, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. The restoration is open to all who believe in Him and receive His Holy Spirit. God will be with you forever in the Kingdom of God.

"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another".

 

[Josheb]

Hi Andrewn,

In a nutshell:

1. We have all sinned against God and are destined for hell when we die because of it;
2. We are unable to save nor perfect ourselves;
3. God loved us so much and wanted to have a relationship with us that He sent His Son Jesus to earth to live a perfect life on our behalf, die a sacrificial death in our place (taking the punishment we deserved for our sins), and be raised to life again so we might have life in and through Him;
4. If we put our trust in Him for what He did for us on the cross, believing He paid our sin debt in full, we are forgiven, saved, and enter into a personal relationship with Jesus. Not to mention we get to go to heaven when we die.

DING! DING! DING!

Ladies and gentlemen (and those of you who may not be ladies or gentlemen) we have a winner!

I would add #5:

5) When we do #4 God comes to live within us through His own Spirit to l will and work in us for His purposes and our edification and restoration.

 

[aiki]

What do you understand the core message of Christianity to be?

God. Not God and us. Just God. He is the Core of Christianity and the Core of all reality and truth. Everything is ultimately about Him.

 

[ViaCrucis]

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[martymonster]

The core message of Christianity is that Christ came and died on the cross, so that if you make a wise and timely decision and choose to believe in him, you won't be tortured by his father for all eternity.

That of course is what Christianity teaches, which is completely different from what Christ teaches.

 

[section9+1]

Reconciliation. God is not angry anymore. He has reconciled himself to the world through Christ. And those in the world now have the opportunity to reconcile themselves to him.

 

[misput]

What do you understand the core message of Christianity to be?

Love God, Love others and have faith that He will forgive us for doing such a bad job of both.

 

[throughfiierytrial]

What do you understand the core message of Christianity to be?

We are all born in sin and in need of a Savior. Turn to Jesus and repent and we shall inherit eternal life. Try to live a sanctified life.

 

[DeepWater]

The 2 core messages of the bible are :

1. The Love of God
2. Righteousness

In the Old Testament, you are given the Law, which can't make you righteous, yet, you are demanded to keep it. It is your prison, because you are "under the law". Its a judge. It judges you to be "fallen short of the glory of God, all are SINNERS". That is what the law does. It judges you, (to be) as a sinner

In The New Testament, you have .. "The law came by Moses, but GRACE and TRUTH (same) came by Jesus The Christ.
Christ came to : = "redeem you from the CURSE of the Law". "as cursed is everyone who hangs on a TREE..(Cross) "
He bore your sin, became YOUR SIN on the Cross, so that the judgment of the LAW that held you accountable for your sin, in Eternity, crucified Him so that you are set free from the Law's ability to judge you, as Christ has been judged in your Place. This is the EFFECT of the Cross. Its is in fact, REDEMPTION.
'"Redemption" : = is to be set free from.... to be delivered from......something.

In the case of the born again, we are delivered from our sin, from the curse of the law, and from Hell. AND, we are delivered INTO something..."in Christ"... "the righteousness of Christ".. "The Gift of Righteousness"... "the Kingdom of God"...."Heaven"

Thank you JESUS !!

 

[Basil the Great]

Jesus told us that the two great commandments are to love God and love our neighbor.

 

[Lost4words]

Jesus.

One word that sums it all up for me.

 

[St_Worm2]

Jesus told us that the two great commandments are to love God and love our neighbor.

That sounds doable enough brother, but not so much once the qualifying phrases are added back in The lawyer, who asked Jesus the question to test Him, knew right away that he came up short. Quite frankly, I wonder if anyone (save the Lord Himself) has ever been able to fully obey those commandments, even once?

Luke 10
25 A lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 And Jesus said to him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?”
27 And he answered, “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”
28 And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE.”
29 But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
​

--David

 

[Josheb]

God. Not God and us. Just God. He is the Core of Christianity and the Core of all reality and truth. Everything is ultimately about Him.

Fail.


God could have left Himself unknown and everything would have been about Him and Him alone. The moment creation was created a relationship with something other than God was likewise created. 1 Peter 1:20 tells us that necessarily had to do with Jesus and with Jesus as the perfect blemish-free sacrifice foreknown before the world was created. It was by, through, and for him that all things were created. Within that creation is the fact we are being created in his image (Eph. 2:10) culminating in our being raised incorruptible and immortal. Without us there is no warrant for any sacrifice.

Christianity is Christ crucified and resurrected to bring us into eternal fellowship with the God Who is inherently relational; the triune God Who exists inherently already in-relationship bringing us into that pre-existent relationship.

2 Peter 1:2-4
"Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature..."​

Ephesians 2:4-10
"But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."​

Ephesians 4:11-24
"He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth."​

The very word "Christian" (Gk.: "christianos") literally means "little Christ." Christianity is about Christ crucified and resurrected to bring the created creature into divine fellowship with the Creator, with the nature of God, not just a passing hand wave hello. No salvation is ever reported to have been offered the angels. Salvation through Christ and all of the inheritance that accompanies it is the privilege of humanity alone.

 

[Godlovesmetwo]

Fail.


God could have left Himself unknown and everything would have been about Him and Him alone. The moment creation was created a relationship with something other than God was likewise created. 1 Peter 1:20 tells us that necessarily had to do with Jesus and with Jesus as the perfect blemish-free sacrifice foreknown before the world was created. It was by, through, and for him that all things were created. Within that creation is the fact we are being created in his image (Eph. 2:10) culminating in our being raised incorruptible and immortal. Without us there is no warrant for any sacrifice.

Christianity is Christ crucified and resurrected to bring us into eternal fellowship with the God Who is inherently relational; the triune God Who exists inherently already in-relationship bringing us into that pre-existent relationship.

2 Peter 1:2-4
"Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature..."​

Ephesians 2:4-10
"But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."​

Ephesians 4:11-24
"He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth."​

The very word "Christian" (Gk.: "christianos") literally means "little Christ." Christianity is about Christ crucified and resurrected to bring the created creature into divine fellowship with the Creator, with the nature of God, not just a passing hand wave hello. No salvation is ever reported to have been offered the angels. Salvation through Christ and all of the inheritance that accompanies it is the privilege of humanity alone.

be careful. rumour has it that the long winded's salvation is in jeopardy.

 

[aiki]

Fail.

Nope. Perhaps you should read more carefully instead of jumping at the chance to correct someone. I wrote, "Everything is ultimately about Him." You might ponder why I used the word "ultimately" (instead of, say, "only" or "solely").

God could have left Himself unknown and everything would have been about Him and Him alone.

Yes, and? He made the universe and it is all ultimately about Him. All of Creation was made for His purposes, to serve and glorify Him. Do you deny this?

The moment creation was created a relationship with something other than God was likewise created.

Yes, and? This doesn't negate the fact that all of Creation exists by and for God.

It was by, through, and for him that all things were created.

Yes. This was my point in the post you said was a "fail."

Within that creation is the fact we are being created in his image (Eph. 2:10) culminating in our being raised incorruptible and immortal. Without us there is no warrant for any sacrifice.

None of this alters the supremacy and centrality of God in Creation.

a

Christianity is Christ crucified and resurrected to bring us into eternal fellowship with the God Who is inherently relational

Again, none of this defeats what I pointed out about God ultimately being the point of everything - even and particularly Christianity.

The very word "Christian" (Gk.: "christianos") literally means "little Christ."

Yes, I'm aware.

Christianity is about Christ crucified and resurrected to bring the created creature into divine fellowship with the Creator, with the nature of God, not just a passing hand wave hello.

And the ultimate purpose of God doing this through Christ was His own glorification. Christians are not the ultimate focus of Christianity; God is. This is Christianity 101...

 

[1213]

What do you understand the core message of Christianity to be?

I think it is what Jesus preached. Repent, reject sin, become righteous.

"Neither do I condemn you. Go your way. From now on, sin no more."
John 8:11

"Most assuredly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can't see the Kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born?" Jesus answered, "Most assuredly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can't enter into the Kingdom of God! That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Don't marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born anew.'
John 3:3-7

But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God's children, to those who believe in his name: 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

…The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life.
John 6:63

...Whoever is born of God doesn't commit sin, because his seed remains in him; and he can't sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are revealed, and the children of the devil. Whoever doesn't do righteousness is not of God, neither is he who doesn't love his brother.
1 John 3:7-10

These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
Mat. 25:46

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23