Salvation
How to Become a Christian
You can have a relationship with God
that is full & meaningful
There is one God who expresses Himself in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God has an unchanging character which includes the qualities of holiness, mercy, justice, hating sin, and loving people. He possesses all power and knowledge - and it is He who created from nothing the world and everything which exists.
Mankind is created by God in His image; that is, we are spiritual beings capable of making moral and rational choices. It means that our lives have value and purpose. It also means that we are capable of a relationship with God that is real and meaningful. This stands in contrast to the view that says that everything real is material, that there is no God, nor meaning to life - we are nothing but accidental by-products of evolution.
However, sin entered the world and mankind was corrupted. This corruption has had an effect on us as persons, hindering our relationships with others and with God. We are still able to know right from wrong, but not always. We have a conscience, but it produces feelings of guilt. We are unable to discipline ourselves to do many of the things we know to be right. Our "want to" is broken - we have trouble even wanting to be what we know we ought to be. We are born into the world estranged from God.
Still, God in His love has sought us out. He has revealed Himself to us through creation and through the Bible. We have His commandments to show us His perfect righteous standard. In spite of all this, we have continued to think, speak, and act in the ways we wanted instead of in the ways God wanted. Thus, the Bible exposes us as sinners.
God's holiness and our sinfulness present a dilemma: God's perfect standard requires that we make a 100 on God's test; a 99 will not do. The perfection of God requires perfection from us. James 2:10 tells us, "For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it" (Revised Standard Version). Some of us have done worse than others, but "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Therefore, we cannot know God or enter heaven through our own goodness.
Not only is God holy, He is also a God of justice. He can not simply overlook our sins and pretend they didn't happen. He must punish sin. Now, before we say that a God of love wouldn't do that, we have to consider things like unsolved murders. What about these horrible crimes that were never brought to justice on earth? Are we prepared to accept injustice as a permanent state? Do we really want God not to be a God of justice? Regardless of our preferences, God is absolutely just and will punish every sin. The Lord "will not at all acquit the wicked" (Nahum 1:3).
What now? We are in a situation from which we can not deliver ourselves.