I am a Christian, although I also identify with my Jewish heritage in the fact that in the Jewish faith are found the roots of the Christian faith. My favorite verse in the Bible is Romans 5:8 because it shows how God's love for us is unconditional, and it is proven in His actions: "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." I'd like to briefly share a little about how my Christian faith has impacted my outlook on life. This is a discussion of my personal religious beliefs which are not derived from my scientific agreement with the theory of inteligent design.
In trying to understand what is most important, I have found that it really comes down to knowing God, and growing in that relationship with Him through His son Jesus Christ. What does that mean? Knowing God basically means coming into a right relationship with God. The problem for all us humans is that we are all sinful (me especially!). Since God is perfect and holy, our own imperfection and sin prevent us from having a right relationship with Him.
But what is sin? The Hebrew definition simply meant "missing the mark." But at its essence, sin is our own selfish tendency to follow our own ways rather than God's perfect, loving ways--for "God is love" (I John 4:8). We want to be God instead of letting God be God.
Unfortunately for us, sin requires death (Hebrews 9:22). That's why the ancient Jewish law required animal sacrifices to "pay" for sin. But God loves us. In His mercy, He came to earth as a perfect sinless man--Jesus Christ--to be a one-time sacrifice for our sins. God loves humans and made us to be in a personal relationship with Him. By receiving forgiveness for your sins through Jesus Christ's sacrifice, you can have that relationship.
A personal relationship with God is something real. JudeoChristian religions teach that however God made us, we are made in the "image of God." That basically means that excluding qualities like omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence, we have a similar emotional and spiritual make-up to God (He's also morally perfect and holy and we are not). Some of the same things that hurt Him also hurt us, and we are made so we are fulfilled when we know Him.
Some people like to think that humans created our own concept of God to satisfy our own emotional needs. But I think that an equally parsimonious explanation is that God created us in His image with emotional needs which only He can fulfill. The French mathematician Blaise Pascal observed that "there is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person..." Why is there such a hole? If God is a relational being, then this makes perfect sense. Since God is a relational being who created us to know Him, we can get to know him like we can get to know another person. Like any relationship, the best way to get to know God is to spend time with Him.
At various points in my life, God has used difficult circumstances to help me better understand what really matters. I am thankful that God values growing character in our lives much more than He values our convenience. Christianity doesn't teach that life will be perfect, or even generally easy. In fact, I have found that the more I learn about the gospels, the more I realize that Jesus promised that we would have trouble in this life. People may attack you because of your beliefs. But that's not a problem because the point of it all is that God is there to guide us and grow us through it. Life is full of good times and bad times. I feel blessed to have had many wonderful experiences in my life. Regardless of how your life has been or will be, without God it ultimately ends without any net gain. With God, you gain Him, and you'll also learn that a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ is all we really need.
Thanks for reading.
