Hello It's Seeker/Dave I wasn't sure where to put this but several people said to post such things here I want to check if I understand several things correctly and ask about things I'm not sure about.
1.The purpose Of God's Son-So the way I understand this is people sin so therefore god has every right to punish them but god in his mercy wants to give people a way out through his son who was totally innocent who suffered the punishment that mankind deserved and his blood is given as a ticket for the repented and changed sinner so that he can be fixed and after death go to heaven instead of hell.
That's one perspective. There are actually several different what are called "Theories of the Atonement", the one you're describing sounds like what's known as Penal Substitution Theory. All Christians agree that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, and that by His death and resurrection our sins are forgiven, that we have peace with God, and the hope and promise of eternal life with God. But the "specifics" are debated.
But, in essence, yes: Man, because of sin, is estranged from God; but God in His love for the world wants to rescue, redeem, and heal the world. And so God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary to rescue us from sin, death, and the devil. He lived, He was arrested, He was crucified, dead, buried, and three days later rose from the dead victorious over sin, death, hell, and the devil. And we are invited to share in His life and victory, with our sins forgiven, restored to communion with God, with our hope that even as Jesus rose from the dead God will also raise us from the dead at the conclusion of history, when God makes all things new.
2.Purpose of the bible the old and new testaments are God's information and guide book to guide the people to him and to help the believer live a righteous life.
Kind of, and some might argue that. I'd instead say that the Bible is a collection of many different books which have been accepted, received, and read down through the centuries which God's people--the Christian Church--have received as faithfully conveying and containing God's word. In them we hear God's commandments of how we ought to conduct ourselves as good neighbors toward our fellow man, as well as hear God's promises to us, of our hope and salvation in Jesus. In fact, the most important thing about the Bible is that it points us to Jesus. The Bible is about Jesus.
3.I have heard Arguments that the holy day for Christians was originally Saturday but that Constantine changed it to Sunday so that he could make pagens join the church as Sunday was a pagan worship day is this true?
This isn't true. Christians have gathered together on the first day of the week (in English we call this day "Sunday") since the time of Jesus' own apostles. And we know this because Christian writers, since the beginning, have said so.
Constantine didn't change anything. What he did do, however, was pass a law which made the first day of the week a day off from work within the Roman Empire; but this only applied to people living in the cities, out in the countryside farmers could still work their fields. It's a lot like how we have a weekend today, people tend to work Monday through Friday, then get Saturday and Sunday off. That's all Constantine did.
It's also important to remember that Christianity didn't only exist in the Roman Empire, by the time of Emperor Constantine Christianity had already been well established in many parts of the world, Ethiopia, Persia, India, Arabia, etc. And Christians in all these places did (and still do) gather for worship on the first day of the week, both long before Constantine and long after Constantine; and they were never under any influence from the Roman Empire.
4.If one sins after being born again does that previous regeneration become null and does the person need to be born again for the second time or do they simply need to repent and ask for forgiveness?
New birth is a one time thing. The traditional Christian understanding is that we receive new birth--regeneration--in the Sacrament of Baptism. And once baptized there's no additional baptism. Baptism is baptism, and it is forever. When we sin we repent, and we have God's promise that we are forgiven. St. John in his epistle writes, "If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9).
5.Baptism-Is ok to baptisze children or is it just for adults i think it should be for adults as a baby cannot make an intellectual descion for christ
Traditionally Christians baptize their infants and young children, it's a practice which we see from the very earliest years of Christianity; and we understand that since Baptism isn't about us making a decision for Jesus, but rather Baptism is about God's acceptance of us in Jesus then the decision making aspect isn't an issue. On the contrary, making a decision to follow the Lord Jesus isn't a one time thing, but is part of what it means to be a Christian. Every day is full of choices, and so following Jesus, deciding to live as a Christian as we face the circumstances, struggles, and temptations of life is what this life is all about. And we will make mistakes. In fact we'll mess up all the time, we'll sin, we'll fail, falter, stumble, and many of our decisions will be against Jesus. But we always can remember God's promise to us which He made to us in our baptism, when we were sealed in Christ by the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit; where God spoke His word upon each of us that we belong to Him, for we have been clothed with Christ (Galatians 3:27)
6. Baptism2- is water baptism
necessary for salvation or Is it purely symbolic Christ and the apostles preached baptism but the theif crucified at Christs side was not baptised yet christ promised to save him.
Again, I'm coming from a traditional perspective. The answer is both yes and no. Yes in that God appropriates the saving work of Jesus to us through Baptism, so it's as we read, "this baptism which now saves you" (1 Peter 3:21), that we have been crucified, buried, and dead with Christ to share in His resurrection life (Romans 6:3-10, Colossians 2:12). So God has attached these promises to us in Baptism. This doesn't mean, however, that someone who isn't baptized can't be saved, it's exactly as we see with the thief on the cross, where Jesus says to him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me in paradise."
That's because Baptism isn't an obstacle, a work, that we need to do in order to earn salvation. Baptism is God's work, He works through the means of His Word and Sacrament to grab hold of us and convert us. So God works through Baptism to accomplish what He gave Baptism to accomplish--to give us new birth and join us to Jesus Christ and His saving work.
Think of it this way: Ordinarily when a person is born how are they born? The mother goes into labor and the child is delivered vaginally. But not everyone is born that way, sometimes there are circumstances which get in the way of natural birth and so a doctor will perform a c-section. Just because a person was born differently doesn't change the fact that they were, in fact, born. So we can say that yes, people are born this way, the natural way which we have seen done for thousands of years. But that doesn't mean if a person is brought into the world through a c-section that they are any less born.
God's grace is way bigger than us. So of course God can save a person however He might choose to do so. Throughout the history of Christianity there are stories of people who, tragically, had their lives cut short before they received Baptism. There are a number of martyrs who died as catechumens--adult converts going Christian instruction prior to receiving Baptism. Of course we don't believe they weren't saved, they were.
So this is one of those issues where it's about understanding that God's use of means doesn't mean that God somehow has His hands tied, as though He is helpless to save us. The Scriptures say that God is the Savior of
all men (1 Timothy 4:10). And the Church has, throughout history, really believed that. God is pro-salvation. Salvation isn't about jumping through all the right hoops, getting all our t's crossed and i's dotted. Salvation is about the God who loves the whole world, sent His only-begotten Son, that He might reconcile, rescue, and redeem all which He has made.
-CryptoLutheran
