What is the core belief of Christianity?

[ChristianSwede]

I am new to Christianity and want to know the core belief Ortodox, Catholic and Protestants share. God bless you

 

[LaSorcia]

Love God with all your heart, mind and strength and love your neighbour as yourself.

 

[Philip_B]

Χριστός Ανέστη ! Christ is Risen !

After that the next text for common belief is the Nicene Creed (filioque is a later insertion in the west)

The Old and New Testament as received text, and the Apocrypha as being useful but not good for doctrine.

 

[~Anastasia~]

I am new to Christianity and want to know the core belief Ortodox, Catholic and Protestants share. God bless you

THE core belief?

I would say it is the Gospel. Because of God's great love, Christ-God became man, died, and was resurrected in order to defeat the curse of death and redeem mankind.

There is of course much, much, MUCH more. And there are points we diverge upon because we may be Orthodox, Catholic, or Protestant (IMO "Protestant" is too wide a group and represents many other points of emphasis or disagreement). But we should all be able to agree on the core of the Gospel.

If you want more, the Nicene Creed, defined as Christian dogma against various heresies, is also helpful.

I believe in one God, Father Almighty, Creator of
heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of
God, begotten of the Father before all ages;

Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten,
not created, of one essence with the Father
through Whom all things were made.

Who for us men and for our salvation
came down from heaven and was incarnate
of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became man.

He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate,
and suffered and was buried;

And He rose on the third day,
according to the Scriptures.

He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father;

And He will come again with glory to judge the living
and dead. His kingdom shall have no end.

And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Creator of life,
Who proceeds from the Father*, Who together with the
Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified, Who
spoke through the prophets.

In one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.

I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

I look for the resurrection of the dead,
And the life of the age to come.

Amen.

(*Most Catholics and Protestants use the Filioque "and the Son" here, but the Orthodox reject it as not in the original Creed.)

 

[ChristianSwede]

THE core belief?

I would say it is the Gospel. Because of God's great love, Christ-God became man, died, and was resurrected in order to defeat the curse of death and redeem mankind.

There is of course much, much, MUCH more. And there are points we diverge upon because we may be Orthodox, Catholic, or Protestant (IMO "Protestant" is too wide a group and represents many other points of emphasis or disagreement). But we should all be able to agree on the core of the Gospel.

If you want more, the Nicene Creed, defined as Christian dogma against various heresies, is also helpful.

I believe in one God, Father Almighty, Creator of
heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of
God, begotten of the Father before all ages;

Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten,
not created, of one essence with the Father
through Whom all things were made.

Who for us men and for our salvation
came down from heaven and was incarnate
of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became man.

He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate,
and suffered and was buried;

And He rose on the third day,
according to the Scriptures.

He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father;

And He will come again with glory to judge the living
and dead. His kingdom shall have no end.

And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Creator of life,
Who proceeds from the Father*, Who together with the
Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified, Who
spoke through the prophets.

In one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.

I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

I look for the resurrection of the dead,
And the life of the age to come.

Amen.

(*Most Catholics and Protestants use the Filioque "and the Son" here, but the Orthodox reject it as not in the original Creed.)

Thank you.

I do not understand the forgiveness of sins. When are the sins forgiven? Are they forgiven when we become Christians or at the judgement day?

 

[~Anastasia~]

Thank you.

I do not understand the forgiveness of sins. When are the sins forgiven? Are they forgiven when we become Christians or at the judgement day?

Hmmmmm. That's a good question.

I believe I would say that sins are forgiven on an ongoing basis.

Baptism has always been the method of entry into the Church, and in the Nicene Creed, we say that we believe in "one baptism for the forgiveness of sins". Yet the fact is, even after we are washed in the waters of baptism, we will sin again. In fact, the closer we grow to God, the more we become aware of smaller and smaller sins, that we would not even have been aware of as a new Christian. St. John writes in his epistle that "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us". So as we go through our lives, we continually repent and confess, and receive God's forgiveness. We also receive the Eucharist "for the forgiveness of sins" (among other things). The Christian life is a process. It is not completed though until the time of the final judgment, when God does indeed declare for all eternity that we are His, and we enter fully into the Light, never to depart from it again. (May it be so for each of us!)

Some teach otherwise, but we in the Orthodox Church do not believe that we are simply "forgiven" once and for all at a moment of conversion, for example, nor do we believe the Scripture teaches this nor that the earliest Christians believed this. But there are many instances of forgiveness throughout our lives, such that we would not say it does not happen until the judgement either.

Salvation is a relationship between God and man, not simply a one-time legal declaration.

 

[ChristianSwede]

Hmmmmm. That's a good question.

I believe I would say that sins are forgiven on an ongoing basis.

Baptism has always been the method of entry into the Church, and in the Nicene Creed, we say that we believe in "one baptism for the forgiveness of sins". Yet the fact is, even after we are washed in the waters of baptism, we will sin again. In fact, the closer we grow to God, the more we become aware of smaller and smaller sins, that we would not even have been aware of as a new Christian. St. John writes in his epistle that "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us". So as we go through our lives, we continually repent and confess, and receive God's forgiveness. We also receive the Eucharist "for the forgiveness of sins" (among other things). The Christian life is a process. It is not completed though until the time of the final judgment, when God does indeed declare for all eternity that we are His, and we enter fully into the Light, never to depart from it again. (May it be so for each of us!)

Some teach otherwise, but we in the Orthodox Church do not believe that we are simply "forgiven" once and for all at a moment of conversion, for example, nor do we believe the Scripture teaches this nor that the earliest Christians believed this. But there are many instances of forgiveness throughout our lives, such that we would not say it does not happen until the judgement either.

Salvation is a relationship between God and man, not simply a one-time legal declaration.

Thank you and God bless you.

 

[~Anastasia~]

Thank you and God bless you.

You are most welcome, and thank you! I hope the answer helped. God bless you.

 

[ChristianSwede]

I do not understand the thing about the word as God. Is the word the Holy Spirit?

 

[~Anastasia~]

I do not understand the thing about the word as God. Is the word the Holy Spirit?

We call Christ Jesus the "Logos" which means "Word" of God. Many times when people say "the word of God" they mean only the Scriptures. This DOES cause confusion for some, because of course Christ is not the same as the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit, if given a title of the same kind, is sometimes called "the Breath of God."

The beginning of the Gospel of St. John that speaks about "The Word was with God, the Word was God ... The Word became flesh" refers to Christ Jesus.

I'm not sure if this helps or confuses matters more.

 

[miamited]

I am new to Christianity and want to know the core belief Ortodox, Catholic and Protestants share. God bless you

Hi CS,

Can't speak for others and what they find to be a single core belief, but according to Jesus you must be born again to receive the promise that his Father holds out to us.

God bless you.
In Christ, Ted

 

[DeepWater]

Jesus Saves.

 

[ChristianSwede]

Hi CS,

Can't speak for others and what they find to be a single core belief, but according to Jesus you must be born again to receive the promise that his Father holds out to us.

God bless you.
In Christ, Ted

How born again? How was the man who became Christian with Jesus Christ on the cross born again?

 

[ChristianSwede]

We call Christ Jesus the "Logos" which means "Word" of God. Many times when people say "the word of God" they mean only the Scriptures. This DOES cause confusion for some, because of course Christ is not the same as the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit, if given a title of the same kind, is sometimes called "the Breath of God."

The beginning of the Gospel of St. John that speaks about "The Word was with God, the Word was God ... The Word became flesh" refers to Christ Jesus.

I'm not sure if this helps or confuses matters more.

No this helped. Jesus Christ was in heaven right, it was he who walked in the garden of Paradise and talked to Adam and Eve?

 

[graceandpeace]

How born again? How was the man who became Christian with Jesus Christ on the cross born again?

I know this wasn't addressed to me, but we are born again in baptism.

Water baptism is the normative means of entry into the Christian faith. Many Christians also speak of other special cases of baptism, such as baptism by blood (martyrdom) or baptism by desire (confessing Christ, with or without water baptism).

Basically, we trust in God's grace for each situation. Jesus extended grace to the thief on the cross.

 

[ChristianSwede]

I know this wasn't addressed to me, but we are born again in baptism.

Water baptism is the normative means of entry into the Christian faith. Many Christians also speak of other special cases of baptism, such as baptism by blood (martyrdom) or baptism by desire (confessing Christ, with or without water baptism).

Basically, we trust in God's grace for each situation. Jesus extended grace to the thief on the cross.

So basicly it is enough to be a Christian and so be born again.

 

[Albion]

So basicly it is enough to be a Christian and so be born again.

Just a minute. You started us off by asking what the core belief is. Now that we've offered some answers to that question, for you to ask "so basicly (sic) it is enough..." is to switch to another question that's quite different. NO, it is not enough to believe in Christ as the Son of God and place your trust in him for salvation, resolving to live as Jesus taught.

That--or something like what those words say--would be enough to justify calling oneself a Christian. But that is the bare minimum by which you could do that--call yourself a Christian as a matter of identification, not the bare minimum of what you should DO as a new Christian.

It is not a basic of the faith to be a stray or lone believer. The Bible teaches much more, beginning with Baptism and including associating with other believers, worshipping together, receiving the Lord's Supper, and so on.

 

[graceandpeace]

So basicly it is enough to be a Christian and so be born again.

No.

What I was saying is that God is gracious to us in our circumstances. The thief on the cross was an exception to the normative way one becomes a Christian & what follows from there. Water baptism is the norm, which itself is a channel for God's grace to us. We are born again in baptism, & marked as belonging to Christ. That is how we become Christians.

 

[ChristianSwede]

Just a minute. You started us off by asking what the core belief is. Now that we've offered some answers to that question, for you to ask "so basicly (sic) it is enough..." is to switch to another question that's quite different. NO, it is not enough to believe in Christ as the Son of God and place your trust in him for salvation, resolving to live as Jesus taught.

That--or something like what those words say--would be enough to justify calling oneself a Christian. But that is the bare minimum by which you could do that--call yourself a Christian as a matter of identification, not the bare minimum of what you should DO as a new Christian.

It is not a basic of the faith to be a stray or lone believer. The Bible teaches much more, beginning with Baptism and including associating with other believers, worshipping together, receiving the Lord's Supper, and so on.

OK thank you. God bless you

 

[ChristianSwede]

No.

What I was saying is that God is gracious to us in our circumstances. The thief on the cross was an exception to the normative way one becomes a Christian & what follows from there. Water baptism is the norm, which itself is a channel for God's grace to us. We are born again in baptism, & marked as belonging to Christ. That is how we become Christians.

OK thank you. I will be baptized in maybe two months. First I need to go classes. God bless you