So, therefore, I hope I don't mess it up and write something that I don't mean. Well, let me just state what I believe. I believe that Jesus is the son of God, that Jesus came to Earth fulfilling God's promise of a savior. While on Earth, he told us how we should live and showed us the way to heaven. I believe that Jesus was executed and that he rose from the dead, thereby paying for the sins of all humanity if we want our sins paid for (to be absolutely clear, I do actually believe that there was a dead body of Jesus, and then later that body was no longer dead). I believe that if I ask God to forgive my sins, God will forgive them, thereby making me free of sin.
So, that's the basics, but there is a little more I'd like to say. I think that many non-Christians don't understand Christians well. That is probably because we Christians don't explain ourselves well. While I can only speak for myself, I think at least some other Christians would agree with what I say (if you don't, send an email, please!). Note: if I refer to God as "He", that's not because I think God is somehow "male" or "masculine", but rather because it sounds clunky to talk otherwise. Also, in German (which is where English comes from), the word for "God" is "der Gott". "Der" is a masculine word, and therefore is referred to back to as "er" (he), "ihn" (him), or "ihm" (him - dative). Also, note that the Germans don't think that God is always a "male" thing. "Das M�dchen" is a word for a female person, but "das" is neuter. As my German professor said "If the German's didn't know that girls were females, there wouldn't be any Germans left".
Do Christians think their better than other people? Well, I'm sure some do. But, we shouldn't. One of the main things about being Christian is admitting that we are no better than anyone else, admitting that we are bad and asking that God forgive us of that (and God guarantees our forgiveness). So, while Christians often act high and mighty, we aren't. There are some sins that are easier to abstain from, and sometimes Christians will play up those sins in order to make themselves look "better" in their own eyes (I'm sure I've done this many times - and I ask both your forgiveness and God's forgiveness for that). However, to quite the Bible, "Why do you see the speck in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log in your own" - Luke 6:41.
Why do Christians do so many bad things? There have been hundreds of times through history where people have done terrible things and they did it claiming that's what God wanted them to do (from what I hear, even Hitler was good at quoting the Bible). Just because Christians did it (even under God's name) doesn't mean that's what God actually wants! As I was saying before, Christians are only humans and therefore we commit sins like everyone else. Sometimes we use the fact that we're Christian to gather momentum among Christian for our human causes and we do it under the Christian banner (and we manage to put another sin of top of the sins we were already committing - using the Lord's name in vain).
Aren't most people Christian simply because their parents were Christian? Well, that's not necessarily true. Ask any Christian raised in a Christian family, and ask him/her if he/she has ever challenged his/her own faith (stupid political correctness). You will probably find that most people raised Christian, including myself, at one point felt uneasy with their faith. They probably realized that maybe they were only believing something because their parents believed it. However, even after I re-evaluated my faith, I realized that my parents were right after all.
How can you be so sure there is a God? How do you know you have the right God? This is a really tough question to answer. Different people have different answers. If you don't believe in any God, ask yourself this question: "How can I be sure there is no God at all?" Suppose there was plenty of scientific evidence against the existence of a God or a creator. Couldn't God have created that evidence himself? After all, an all-powerful God could certainly make a bunch of bones buried in the dirt somewhere. So, it becomes quite scientifically impossible to "prove" there is no God. Then another question to consider is "where did we come from?". I'm not talking about some creationist/evolutionist debate, but rather, where did matter come from? Suppose there was a "big bang", where did the matter for that come from? As far as I can tell, it's quite hard to create a scientific explanation for the start of the universe. So, if you think there is no God, at least consider that there could be a God. And, suppose there is a God, couldn't God know what you're thinking. So, even if you're still doubtful, you should ask God to show Himself to you. You don't have to say anything out loud, just ask God to show Himself to you. So, I haven't answered the question yet. How can I be sure there is a God? Well, I asked God to show Himself to me and he did. I had to pay good attention, but it happened. "Feeling God's presence" is not an easy thing to describe. It's not something you would expect and it isn't the way you might expect it (the Bible describes an event where God wasn't in the storms or fire, as you might expect from an all-power God, but rather, God was in the calm).
How do I know I have the right God? Again, very hard to answer. The stories of the Bible hold together amazingly well, and they describe clearly how to communicate with God and who God is. When I communicate with God, I can tell that the Bible described God as He is. Also, if I'm feeling doubtful, I can look to some of the physical evidence that God left. For example, the Shroud of Turin are the supposed burial wrappings of Jesus Christ (I'll talk about the Shroud in a second). The Shroud provides a little reassurance if I'm doubtful.
Wait a second, didn't they prove the Shroud was a fake? Ah, glad you asked. It just so happens that my grandfather and grandmother on my mother's side are quite good Shroud researchers. A lot of what is known about the Shroud was first seen by my grandparents. Therefore, I have seen a lot about the Shroud that the mass Media has never published. There was once a carbon dating done of the Shroud that placed the date of the Shroud around 1300 AD. The media quickly accepted the results at face value and labeled the Shroud as fraud and largely ignored later findings. Well, there were a few problems with the test. One problem is that the Shroud still has living bacteria on it, and carbon dating requires that the item be dead so that the scientists can measure the ration of carbon 14 to carbon 12, which have different half-lives. If the item is still alive, the amount of carbon will not even start to decrease. Another factor, which I think is (correct me if I'm wrong, Granddad) is that the sample taken from the Shroud contained fibers from the repairs done to the Shroud. The Shroud was once caught in a fire and some of it was burned and patches were added to it. If I remember right, I was in my grandparents basement, and I was shown a video of the sample being taken, and watching it in slow motion, one could see that the sample was party from the replacement patches. There is also an amazing amount of evidence showing that the Shroud is real. There are images flowers that can be seen on the Shroud, and the pollen around those images match the flowers, and the flowers place the Shroud right where it should be (that is, the flowers show that the Shroud originated from where Jesus died). The body shown on the Shroud is also anatomically perfect, not even the most crafty surgeons and artists working together in the 1300's could have possibly drawn such an accurate image (and it is now generally accepted, even by critics, that the Shroud was not painted with a paint brush). There's a ton more, if you're interested ask me. If I don't know, I'll ask my grandfather, who probably does know.
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