Welcome to Christianity: Born Again 101

By Kristina Redenius

Welcome to your guide for salvation and Christianity, spelled out for us common folk. Theres no catch. Theres no forcing your hand. There are no membership fees. Come along for the ride and decide for yourself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 31, 2011
• ISBN: 9781449746049

Kristina Redenius

Kristina Redenius grew up in a small town in Iowa. She married her high school sweetheart after graduating from Iowa State University in 2005 with a degree in Early Childhood Education. Her husband’s Air Force career has kept them on the move ever since. While they were stationed in Texas, she learned about Jesus and salvation. Both Kris and her husband were saved and have committed to a life serving Jesus Christ.   “I am a daughter of The King.  I am a desperate housewife of the Air Force and mother of four.  I needed this Christian stuff spelled out for me and I figured someone else might need it spelled out for them too.  This book is my attempt at doing just that and being obedient to what God has called me to do.” 

Book preview

Copyright © 2012 Kristina Redenius

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

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and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

ISBN: 978-1-4497-2951-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-4604-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011918514

WestBow Press rev. date: 5/31/2012

Contents

Introduction

Jesus, Is It? Hi There, It’s Nice to Meet You.

Saved! Now What?

Your Welcome Packet Should Include Your Itinerary

You Had Me at It Is Finished.

"They May Take Our Lives, but They’ll Never Take Our FRRRREEDOM!"

And These Are the Days of Our Lives.

I Think This Is the Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship.

Citations

Introduction

I once heard a comedian speak about Jesus freaks. He painted a picture of a woman wearing an ABC cardigan with a cross necklace who introduced herself and opened a conversation with, Hi there! I’d like to talk to you about Jesus.

Awkward pause.

He went on to describe various scenarios in which the same Christian woman attempted to make Jesus conversation with a number of people, even a priest who threw his hands up to keep her at arm’s length and said, Whoa, freak! Let’s keep work at work, huh?!

There is also the ever-popular Church Lady from Saturday Night Live, who calls people out on their sins, alleged or not. She keeps track of church attendance and generally just goes on and on about her superiority to others because of her Christian-ness.

If we can be completely honest here, isn’t that how the world views us? By us, I mean Christians, specifically those of us who express our faith in any way, at any level. We’re just a bunch of holier-than-thou goody-goodies passing judgment on everyone else. These conservative freaks all seem to be competing for the prize of best person on earth—or at least they want to appear that way. Another view of someone who is strong in his or her faith, or who has found strength or freedom in Christ, may be someone who just has a void to fill—a void caused by a bad childhood, addiction, depression, etc. Maybe it’s just someone who needs an outside motivation to be a good person.

For the sake of argument, let’s say a non-Christian has had a good childhood, becomes fairly successful in life, and fulfills all his worldly needs. It’s easy to brush your hands together and say, Fair enough. I can control my world and I’ve done a pretty good job. I don’t need this spiritual mumbo jumbo. You probably do, because you are more messed up than I am. So … good luck with that. So here we are, basking in the glow of Christ’s love while this person pities us for needing Christ. Such people are convinced that they are too smart and educated to believe in such fairy tales.

This raises