The Essence of Christianity

by László Balogh

 

       If I had to summarize Christianity, I would highlight three things. They are not widely understood and talked about, yet I consider them foundational. Without these three, we can’t even fully understand why Jesus came to earth and what He accomplished.

 

A New Type of Human Being

 

       Jesus showcased what a person’s life can look like when they are filled with God’s Holy Spirit.  We look at how He tackled life’s difficulties, how He healed sick people, supplied needs miraculously, imparted wisdom as to how to live in love and harmony with each other, and we conclude that, yes, it was easy for Him because after all He was the Son of God. In doing so we forget that Jesus didn’t come here to set a barrier between Him and us, and show us how insufficient we are compared to Him, but He came so we can step into the type of life He presented for us.

 

       Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross accomplished the greatest thing anybody has ever done. Now anybody who believes in Him can become a son or daughter of God. Jesus’ intention was that we become one with God, just as He was. He once prayed, “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us”. The apostle Paul wrote that a person “who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him”, and that God “predestined (the believers) to be conformed to the image of his Son”. God has always wanted sons and daughters that lived like Jesus. That doesn’t just include good morals, but also the same abilities Jesus had. Jesus had already forecasted that intention to His disciples when He told them: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do”. 

 

Overcoming Life’s Problems

 

       Contrary to what many believe, God doesn’t want you to suffer. God is good and He’s for you. God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him. You may suffer persecution or ridicule for the Gospel’s sake, but that’s not what I’m talking about here. Jesus warned His disciples that they would be persecuted; God revealed to the apostle Paul that he would suffer persecution. But that’s because this world is full of darkness and it can’t stand the light. What I’m talking about is that Jesus came to “set the captives free” – as it is stated in an ancient prophecy. He came and fulfilled that prophecy by setting people free from everything that caused them grief.

 

       Originally, humanity was meant to keep all evil in check, but they lost that position, so Jesus came to restore it. He restored it by gaining many sons and daughters back to God – believers that can live and act just as He did. Jesus eliminated suffering by any way He could. He healed the sick, He rescued people from mental and emotional anguish, He raised the dead, He supplied material needs, He calmed storms, He gave them hope of an eternal life, and by it, removing the fear of death.

 

       Believers in Christ have regained authority over all these adversarial things I just listed – everything that tries to keep you incapacitated, depressed, fearful, or in danger. Humanity was always meant to reign over the hostile elements of this world, so Christ came and set the record straight. Jesus told His disciples: “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you”. We were not meant to just limp through life’s problems, but to overcome them. The apostle Paul wrote: “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession”.

 

Healing and miracles

 

       Christianity without miracles is just another philosophy. The reason we witness so many debates between Christians and atheists is because we don’t see enough hard evidence for the existence of God. The Bible is full of miracles, but it’s easy to dismiss them, because there is no continuation of those miracles later on. They seemed to have stopped in Bible times and there is nothing similar in present day history. Or is there? Surely, a good old miracle – or a series of them – could put an end to those debates.

 

       In my opinion, all of this is the Christians’ fault, or more specifically the churches, the religious system that haven’t taught believers that the Scripture actually means what is says. If people would just believe those few Bible quotes I cited above, we could see miracles happen again. If people believed that they can “do the same works as Jesus” and “nothing shall by any means hurt them”, there would suddenly be plenty of evidence for the existence of God. We have access to those Bible promises by faith; God activates His written Word by us expressing faith in it.

 

       There is a segment in the present day church where Christians finally decided to believe those promises, they took command of their life circumstances and started to heal the sick around them. I’m not talking about the questionable rock-star preachers, neither the charlatans that cheat the gullible, but everyday ordinary believers who have nothing to gain but that they see the hand of God in action again. They are still few and far between and you will obviously not hear about their healing miracles in the evening news. There is a strong resistance against, and scrutiny toward anything that is not of the material nature. There is no way I can convince you here, and even if you look up something on the internet, it will be nothing more to you than an unconfirmed story. You’ll have to find your own proof somehow. But if you truly want to know, you’ll find a way.