the top 5

[fireof god98]

can you give me the top 5 reasons why you are christian? or the 5 things that Christianity brings to your life?

 

[ViaCrucis]

can you give me the top 5 reasons why you are christian? or the 5 things that Christianity brings to your life?

Five reasons why I'm a Christian:

1) I believe what the Christian religion historically teaches, as such I'm a Christian.

2) I was raised in the faith, albeit a very different sort of Christianity than I have now. So that helps a little bit.

3) I remain a believing Christian because I find the Jesus of Christianity utterly compelling, that is, I want to believe Him and believe in Him.

4) The Christian tradition has a rather well documented history, a recorded history that goes back to the earliest years of Christianity itself in the writings of St. Paul. As such I can be reasonably confident that the essence of the Christian religion has changed remarkably little, and that what is held in common today is in fact apostolic in character. Most arguments to the contrary seem very unconvincing. As such I have no trouble confessing and believing the historic confessions and Creeds of the Christian faith.

5) I don't know whether Christianity is in fact true or meaningless nonsense; but I take my leap to faith anyway, believing and trusting these things.

Four things Christianity brings to my life:

1) A religious and spiritual life centered upon the Person of Jesus lived out in the community of the Church.

2) A way of perceiving the world as the good creation of God, that all people are my neighbors beloved of God, worthy of dignity, respect, and just and kind treatment. An ethos rooted in the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ for the world, by which to understand myself as a servant and friend to everyone, and to treat even my harshest critic and enemy as a beloved neighbor and friend.

3) An understanding that the reality of sin is deeply imbedded in the world, and that there are real injustices, evils, and ills in the world that are truly engaged by God in Christ; and thus to understand the deep wrongness in the world and believe, and hope for the righting of all wrongs, the healing of all wounds, and that there is a better world for the world, and it's for everybody. This life is a cross carried, and one carried with faith in the Christ who suffered, died, rose again, and is coming again to renew and restore all things. Evil, injustice, death, war, violence, hate, suffering, disease, these are not the final word to the world, the final word to the world is, "Come to Me all who are weary and I will give you rest." It is "Come forth!", it is "Get up and walk!" It is the command of Christ for the dead to rise, for life, love, peace, and justice to reign forever and ever. That the End isn't a violent bang or a sad whimper, but resurrection.

4) Baptisimus sum. An identity rooted ultimately in forgiveness. That who and what I am is not ultimately defined by me, but defined by the good, gracious, kind God who forgives me, renews me, and makes me ultimately what He wills, the image of Christ, a partaker in the Divine Nature. No matter the circumstances, who and what I am has been declared to me and for me in my Baptism.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[ebia]

can you give me the top 5 reasons why you are christian? or the 5 things that Christianity brings to your life?

If you knew what God was doing to put the world to rights, wouldn't you want to be involved?

 

[dcalling]

Top 5 reasons:
1. It made me a better person.
2. I am much happier now than before.
3. Most Christians I meet has flaws but have a loving heart.
4. Most of its scriptures are consistent.
5. Does not appear to be man made.

 

[ForJesusChrist]

J
E
S
U
S

 

[Sketcher]

1) Because Jesus died and rose again to grant forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
2) Because God showed me that what he did applies to me, too.

There you go, quality over quantity. There are other aspects of the faith that I very much like, but without those two, they are non-starters.

 

[hopefinder]

Christianity is a very perseverant religion. Its against-all-odds quality is fabulous. Couple that with the contents from where Paul draw and wrote having no naturalistic clue that he was to be proven right. Couple that with what you you get which is more then quite acceptable to a inquiring person, whether it be someone who had never heard of Christianity before, or anyone. No doubt about it that Scriptures were meant to stand the tests of time and space. The epic dedicated to the constant. Makes one go wow. Accept it or deny it. Still it will sure take you places where you think you want to go.

 

[TheyCallMeDavid]

can you give me the top 5 reasons why you are christian? or the 5 things that Christianity brings to your life?

The reasons are embedded in this :

I used to be a person that embraced
atheism/humanism for many adult years and who bought into the cultures
mantra of sexual
hedonism , going for the gusto in life, and doing virtually anything I
felt like doing to satisfy the urges and impulses in an effort to find
ultimate fulfillment , happiness, and joy. Everything I tried was
short lived , destructive to myself and others, and essentially
superficial . A g/f I had at the time started taking me to her
families church and over the period of a year, I started to realize
that life was more than just going on a personal feeding frenzy of
joyseeking , material acquisition, prestige, fancy vacations, and the
like . During this same time period, I heavily investigated the
scientific evidences for our personal theistic Creator , for the Bible
being the most accurate historical document in existence which gives
eye witness evidence to the life, death, burial, and ressurection of
Jesus Christ who claimed to be God in the flesh. I started reading
books by popular notable Researchers/ Scientists / and Philosophers /
and Law Professors such as Prof. Simon Greenleaf who is THE worlds
foremost Law Professor in Court of Law Evidence techniques that put
the New Testament to a stringent mock court trial as encouraged by his
students...and based on the evidence became a Christian from an
Agnostic. As I surrendered bit by bit my life to God and his control
eventually leading me to become a dedicated Christian , I noticed my
heart, will, emotions , desires taking a drastic turn toward the
things of God , living righteously, caring and serving Others, and
loosing my quest for self centered lifestyles. Like so many others
testify, God reconstructed my life from the inside out. This is only
part of what GOd gives to those who choose him over the worlds idea of
living ...in addition, I have the assurance of knowing where im going
after this brief earthly interlude , I have been reconciled to God
thru what Christ has done and my sins are not counted against me (and
there are many) , and the lure of sin (what our culture promotes for
narcissism) doesnt have any power over me. My life is filled with
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness , goodness and physical death for
me will be a welcomed graduation day because there is no unknown when
death comes knocking -- Christ conquered that too on the cross for me
(and you) .
That is how my life has been changed by the real and living Christ.

 

[Harry3142]

1. I accept that life does not end with the death of the body, but is eternal.

2. I accept that a perfect God will not accept imperfect beings into his presence.

3. I accept that we are indeed imperfect beings.

4. I accept that God, the ultimate realist, recognized this flaw in all of us, and so laid out a blueprint for our salvation which did not include our actions in order to accomplish it, but rather his own.

5. I accept that Jesus Christ is indeed the first begotten of God, and as such carried out all of the work which was necessary in order to bring God's blueprint for our salvation to fruition.

Also, Christianity as taught in Scripture is of benefit not only for those who accept Christ, but also for those whom they live among. What are we taught in Scripture to do? We are to alleviate suffering via feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and comforting the sick and imprisoned. Our compassion for others is to show itself not through prayers and platitudes, but instead through our rolling up our sleeves and going to work.

 

[Joshua260]

can you give me the top 5 reasons why you are christian? or the 5 things that Christianity brings to your life?

So may good responses here, and these are actually the kind of questions I really welcome...so open-ended and thought provoking.

The first thing I notice is that the question sounds like "what reasoning do you use to continue to decide to call yourself a Christian?" I happen to be a once-saved-always-saved kind of Christian...in that I believe that a person, who has been transformed into a saved creature, can later get confused or misled sometimes into even questioning the truth of the Christian faith. They may even get "snagged" into some temptation which will make them eventually convince (or self-deceive) themselves that maybe they never really got saved in the first place. I like to think of salvation as God stretching out a hand, which I take, and then he pulls me in the boat. Now after I'm IN the boat, God seals the hatches so that no one can snatch me off, or if I get confused about who or where I am, I cannot re-open the hatch to jump back into the ocean. He's got me and he won't let go.

So with that in mind, I would say that the first reason that I am a Christian is that I became a saved creature and that the holy spirit witnesses to me about the truth of what I believe. I think that this is sometimes referred to as a "properly basic belief".

I also think that there are several good philosophical arguments for the existence of God, such as the Leibniz argument, the Moral argument, and so forth.

So to go on for the rest of the reasons, if you mean by way of apologetics, I think the evidence surrounding the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is quite convincing, the numerous prophecies he fulfilled, I think Paul was right that nature witness to us, etc...

I would echo much of what TheyCallMeDavid said about how his life changed. I suspect he went through a lot more than I did growing up, but I also questioned the worthiness of what I was putting my life into before I became a Christian. Jesus has given me JOY, which is soooo much better than just "happiness". "Happiness is a yuppy word" (from Switchfoot). All of this part of my reply is very similar to what Solomon wrote in the book of Ecclesiastes, which I highly recommend for seekers or wisdom and truth.

 

[gord44]

can you give me the top 5 reasons why you are christian?

I don't really have a choice. So I can't take credit.

or the 5 things that Christianity brings to your life?

hmmm. not sure. a bit of peace i spose.

 

[South Bound]

can you give me the top 5 reasons why you are christian?

The only reason I'm a Christian is because God, in His great mercy, saved me.

or the 5 things that Christianity brings to your life?

Reconciliation and peace with God
Forgiveness of sin
Adoption as a son of God