Christianity Unraveled E-Book

Jennifer Chamberlain

• Herausgeber: Dove Christian Publishers
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

Should worship in church be loud or quiet?
Is a woman really required to submit to her husband?
Does God want people to worship on Sundays or Saturdays?

Questions such as these are hotly debated in churches, on social media, and living rooms across the country. This pattern of infighting is so prevalent that it actually draws Christians away from the essentials of a relationship with Christ. In their desire to be relevant, trendy, or progressive, they rip up their foundations of salvation in Christ and wind up with an unsteady house.

Many of these arguments have nothing to do with salvation through Christ. Christianity Unraveled lays out what is necessary for salvation and what is not. Using unambiguous and plain language, some of the decisive church and religious issues are discussed. Many scriptures and the context of their origin in God's Word are included and explained. Part tutorial and part salvation message, Christianity Unraveled encourages the reader to focus on what is essential and to avoid vain babbling. The basis of the book are Matthew 11:28-30, where Christ tells us His burden is light, and 1 Timothy 6:20, where he is instructed to avoid irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called "knowledge."

Christianity Unraveled will, as the title suggests, help you clear up the puzzling questions and focus on what’s important, your salvation and relationship with Christ.

Leseprobe

Unpacking the essentials of salvation

Jennifer Chamberlain

Christianity Unraveled

Published by

Inscript Publishing

a division of Dove Christian Publishers

P.O. Box 611

Bladensburg, MD 20710-0611

www.inscriptpublishing.com

Copyright © 2021 by Jennifer Chamberlain

Cover Design by Mark Yearnings

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used or reproduced without permission of the publisher, except for brief quotes for scholarly use, reviews or articles.

Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scriptures marked (KJV) are taken from the King James Version of the Bible. Public Domain.

eBook Edition

Published in the United States of America

Dedicated to my husband Pastor John Chamberlain. I pray that our journey in ministry together continues for a long time.

Contents

Preface

What Christianity Has Become

The Complexity of the Church Today

The Earliest Believers

God is Real

The Virgin Birth

Christ Died for Our Sins

We Must Repent

The Resurrection

If You Don’t Believe Me, Believe Paul

Living for Christ

Maturity

God’s Word Brings Unity, Not Division

Tithing

Water Baptism

The Holy Spirit

Discerning Truth

Our Ideas

Conclusion

Preface

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matt. 11:28-30)

Have you ever felt that Christianity, salvation, was complicated? Differences of opinion in the church often get in the way of the simple truth of Christ’s death and resurrection for our sins, and salvation becomes wound up with all kinds of other issues.

Repentance and a relationship with God take a back seat to topics that cause debate among the members of God’s body, the church. Non-believers get confused, and new believers may leave the church, not knowing if the grace of God saves them. We cannot allow this to happen.

Christ said we are to find rest for our souls when we come to God. Our relationship with our Father should be easy and refreshing. He offers us peace and joy and all the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The church needs to take to heart what Paul said to Timothy.

O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge.” (1 Timothy 6:20)

Unfortunately, we often do not rest in the knowledge that Jesus Christ has saved us and that God will help us understand His word and how we should live. Instead, we argue and discuss topics that take our focus off Christ crucified and resurrected. We fashion a heavy yoke of rules, titles, and requirements and hang it gladly around our necks. We think Christianity must be difficult for us to be worthy.

Humankind has a great need to control what we do not always understand by naming them and adding a few rules just for good measure. We do not need words, works, or debate; we need a relationship with Christ.

Examples of terms that have made Christianity confusing to some are ‘denomination’, ‘non-denominational’, ‘Pentecostal’, ‘charismatic’, ‘protestant’, ‘Catholic’, ‘nominal’, ‘spirit-filled, and more. Over time, these labels have developed as we strive to make our personal mark on what God gave us.

Along with these terms, we have added burdens to what Christ told us were supposed to be light burdens. We concern ourselves with rules and regulations that we believe might be in the Bible. We have complicated, twisted, studied, discussed, argued about, and even died for what Christ wanted us to enjoy.

We memorize scripture verses that are educational and uplifting, which is wonderful. I have listed several in this book as examples of various points. However, God’s word can be made burdensome by taking scripture verses out of context and basing theology on just one verse or section.

Context tells us who wrote the scripture, to whom they were writing, and what was going on in the area or church at the time. It is valuable to carefully examine what we read and hear so that we do not add weighty unnecessary concerns that hurt our relationship with Christ.

Christianity is not burdensome. Christ told us this truth. Let’s unravel the foundation of Christ’s teaching, and in doing so, toss away any burdens we are carrying.

Join me as I do my best, with God’s guidance, to unravel some topics that can be confusing. I can’t cover them all, but I will cover the most common ones that have been brought to my attention over the years.

When we allow ourselves to get caught up in issues and topics that have nothing to do with our salvation through Christ, we cause Christians, at whatever level of their relationship with God, to question their faith. It is a tactic of the devil to draw us away from the simple truth.

A story from my past:

Not long ago, in a retail store, I saw seven college-age students with clipboards trying to engage people in conversation. One of them approached me and asked if I knew that God is a woman. I tried my best to explain that there is neither male nor female in heaven, but he was in some ‘Bible’ college (a name I did not recognize) and, as college students often do, felt he knew more than I.

How many people were deceived that evening is unknown to me, but my heart was breaking. And why? What difference did it make? Even if (though the Bible is clear there is no male or female in heaven) God is a man, or if God is a woman, it has no bearing on our salvation. Why do we allow ourselves to get wrapped up in these types of worthless, time-wasting discussions?

What are we doing in the name of Christianity? Our salvation through Christ is a gift of grace, and we just keep meddling and twisting and leading others astray with our presumed knowledge.

When we begin to study scripture or other human ideologies pertaining to Christianity, we must always return to the basic message of Christ and the simple Christianity that He intended for us. Salvation is salvation through the grace (unmerited favor) of Christ.

In these last days, we will find more of this type of false teaching. Some will fall away from Christ because of the false teaching, burdens, and fears.

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. (1 Timothy 4:1-3)

Christianity Unraveled examines what salvation through Christ requires and looks at scriptures that teach and guide us. The Bible is the Holy Spirit-inspired word of God given to us as historical information and instruction in living a Christ-like life and how we can obtain salvation through God’s Son, Jesus. The Bible is to encourage, uplift, and make our lives better, not harder.

1

What Christianity Has Become

It is mind-boggling what Christianity has become in our churches today, with rituals and memorized sayings, bowing, robes, oil, and such. What is necessary to be a Christian seems complicated. The rules, suggestions, warnings, and regulations humans require to be ‘religious’ confuse us, especially if we lack wisdom in the things of the Lord.

According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, there were 5,500,000 congregations and 45,000 denominations in the world in 2019.1

Many churches say they are following Christ and teaching God’s word, but like the ‘Bible’ college student telling me that God is a woman, there is much false teaching done in the name of Christ.

Churches and denominations have their own terminology and ways of acting, dressing, and living a particular lifestyle. These traditions come about over time. Those who practice these traditions can knowingly or unknowingly put pressure on attendees with expectations that have nothing to do with salvation through Christ.