Just the Basics: A Simple Introduction to the Christian Faith

By Dallas Johnson

Have you ever wondered what the Christian faith is about? Just the Basics is written for you. Essential Christian beliefs are explained in everyday language with simple illustrations, biblical references, and practical applications. Just the Basics answers questions, such as:

* How can we know there is a God? * What is He like? * What difference can God make in our lives? * How does He want us to live? * What happens to us when we die?

Just as a faulty foundation will undermine anything built upon it, flawed fundamentals will also hamper any endeavor you have in life. You need to get the basics right. The same principle applies to learning about the Christian faith. Just the Basics will help you understand the foundational beliefs of the Christian faith from which you can build your life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 28, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490852720

Dallas Johnson

Dallas Johnson worked in broadcasting for several years before sensing a call to the Christian ministry. He is a graduate of Bethel Theological Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, and has pastored churches in the Midwest for over twenty years. His passion is to present the Christian faith clearly and simply.

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Copyright © 2014 Dallas Johnson.

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 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-5271-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-5273-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-5272-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014916934

WestBow Press rev. date: 3/7/2016

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1     God’s Existence and Nature

Chapter 2     The Heavenly Father

Chapter 3     The Son of God

Chapter 4     The Holy Spirit

Chapter 5     The Trinity and God’s Love

Chapter 6     Our Guilt and Sentence

Chapter 7     Jesus’ Life and Death

Chapter 8     Jesus’ Resurrection

Chapter 9     Our New Life

Chapter 10     Restoration in Prayer

Chapter 11     Restoration in Circumstances

Chapter 12     Restoration in Scripture and Worship

Chapter 13     Restoration in Everyday Life

Chapter 14     Home with God

Acknowledgments

Questions for Reflection

Introduction

We learn like we build: from the ground up. First, the foundation. Then, the building. First, words. Then, sentences. The fundamentals of subjects. Then, the advanced courses. But just as a faulty foundation will undermine anything built upon it, flawed fundamentals will also hamper whatever we do in life. We need to get the basics right.

The same principle applies to learning about the Christian faith. We must first understand the foundational beliefs of the Christian faith:

* How can we know there is a God?

* What is He like?

* What difference can God make in our lives?

* How does God want us to live?

* What happens to us when we die?

Just the Basics provides answers to these and other questions with simple illustrations, biblical references, and practical applications. We will find the more we know God, the more we will know how to live.

Chapter 1

God’s Existence and Nature

Do mermaids exist?

There are many old sailors’ tales about mermaids. But they seem like greatly exaggerated fishermen’s stories about the one that got away. Chances are no one we know has ever claimed to have seen one. There have been movies about mermaids. But those films are the product of artists’ creativity and Hollywood’s special effects.

Is there any proof that mermaids are real? Science would say no. There has never been any observable data from nature and certainly not from the laboratory to indicate the existence of mermaids. None.

Mermaids are nothing more than an invention by storytellers who love to entertain an audience.

How about God? Does He exist?

To some, believing there is a God is as much nonsense as believing there are mermaids. We may think of Him as no more than some make-believe character like Santa Claus: someone we are told about as children but can later disregard as the product of someone’s imagination.

Is there any proof that God is real? What does science say? Is there any observable data from nature or the laboratory to indicate the existence of God? Actually, there is.

The Existence of the Universe

It is said that on a clear night, the naked eye can see perhaps a few thousand stars. But that is just a tiny fraction of the number of stars in our immense universe. Recent estimates say the universe has up to one septillion stars. That’s a one with twenty-four zeroes after it.¹ When we consider the power of our sun, which is just one medium-sized star, we can appreciate that the universe contains what would seem to be an almost-infinite amount of energy. Where did all of this energy come from?

The science of physics says there is a cause for every effect. The technical term is the principle of causality. This is the logic behind the familiar expression, Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. In other words there is a cause (a fire) to account for the effect (the smoke). Likewise, if you see an explosion or the aftermath of an explosion, you will conclude there was a source of power to account for the explosion. And the size of the explosion will reflect the amount of power available at the source.

Many astronomers say the universe started with what is known as the big bang, a huge explosion of energy about fourteen billion years ago.² If so, there had to be a source of incredible power capable of unleashing enough energy to produce our universe. There are theories, old and new, about the source of this power. But each theoretical source begs the question, "Where did that come from?"

Whenever the universe began, there is a simple explanation for the source of energy necessary to produce it.

The opening chapter in the Bible begins with this statement: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.³ God is the source of infinite power responsible for the existence of the universe.

Three thousand years ago Israel’s King David wrote a song expressing his faith in God’s creation of the universe. While growing up, David had spent many days and nights shepherding sheep under brilliant sunshine by day and star-studded skies by night. He thought anyone should be able to look up at the sky and know this was all made by God.

The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech;

night after night they display knowledge.

There is no speech or language

where their voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out into all the earth,

their words to the ends of the world.⁴

As the prophet Jeremiah said, this vast universe was created by the great power of God, for whom nothing is too difficult.⁵

Their conclusion should seem even more reasonable and obvious to us, as powerful telescopes have shown the universe is incredibly larger and more beautiful than they could have ever known.

The Existence of Life on Earth

Go to a zoo or botanical garden. Or just take a walk in a park or a drive in the countryside. This planet is teeming with all kinds of life: grasses, bushes, trees, fish, birds, reptiles, and mammals. Where did these myriad forms of life come from?

The science of biology has shown that all living things originate from other living things. The technical term is the law of biogenesis, which says life comes from life. This has been proven again and again in nature, in gardens, on farms, and in the laboratory. Any and every organism descends from something else that is alive.

Once again there are theories, old and new, to try to explain the presence of life on earth. One says life on earth developed from inorganic chemicals in the oceans billions of years ago. But this concept is just the old debunked theory of spontaneous generation, which said that life just happened to develop in such things as water, mud, dust, and trash. Since there is no such thing as the spontaneous generation of life springing from nonliving material, like chemicals in the ocean, then how did life start on this planet?

Let’s consider another possibility. The Bible says life here was created by God.

Then God said, ‘Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.’ And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.⁶

Every kind of plant and tree came from God’s command. And so did every kind of fish, bird, reptile, and mammal.

And God said, ‘Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.’ So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.’ … And God said, ‘Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.’ And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.⁷

All life on earth was created by a living God.

Humanity’s Belief in God

People in every culture tend to believe in some kind of God or gods. This was recently confirmed in a three-year study completed in 2011 by fifty-seven researchers in twenty nations around the world.⁸

The science of archeology has shown that this global belief in one or more supreme beings has been true throughout history. We humans have always built places to worship our deities, whether simple outdoor altars, temples, synagogues, mosques, or churches. And we have always offered sacrifices to these deities, whether grain, animals, humans, prayers, or music.

How did this global belief in the divine get started? And why does it persist? Why is it that almost all people believe in a deity or something more powerful than themselves?

Some would say this is just wishful thinking: we like the idea of having a higher power out there who can help us. Others would say it is peer pressure: everyone else seems to believe in a supernatural being, so we do too. And still others would claim our faith in the divine is dictated to us: someone in authority over us, like a king or a parent, has told us to do so.

However, there is another possible explanation why so many people in different cultures believe there is a God. And it is as simple as looking at a picture.

If a world-famous painter placed a portrait of himself in our home, we would have a constant reminder of his existence, as well as the close relationship we had with him.

God has done that. Not in our homes—but in our hearts.

The story of creation that opens the Bible concludes with God’s crowning touch: Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness,’ … So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them.⁹

When God made the first man and woman in His image, He was not working on their physical appearance—what kind of faces they would have or the shape of their bodies. God is a spiritual being.¹⁰ So when God made them in His likeness, He was working on their spirits inside them.

Although our spirit is invisible, we can feel its presence inside ourselves. An old children’s rhyme says, Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. But they do. Sharp, cutting words that tell us we are ugly, weak, or stupid can and do make us experience great pain, even though no physical harm is done to us. Our spirit, also commonly known as the heart, is hurting. Not the physical heart that pumps our blood, but the spiritual one that feels life. Our spirit is the part within us that hurts when someone insults us.¹¹ It is also what wants to soar when we hear words that affirm us.¹² Worry makes it feel heavy.¹³ Peace gives it strength.¹⁴

God made our spirits or hearts to be a picture of Himself. This built-in portrait of God within all humans makes us aware of His existence and explains why a belief in God has been and continues to be so prevalent. The fact that beliefs in the divine are not uniform does not negate the truth of His reality. It only shows that our perception of His image within us has dimmed.

Humanity’s Belief in an Afterlife

The same global study of beliefs also revealed a second common thread that connects people of all cultures: almost everyone believes in some kind of an afterlife.¹⁵ Again the archeologists have shown this has also been true throughout history. This is why so many cultures have buried their dead with goods to be used in the next life. Other cultures have taught the afterlife involves a reincarnation to another life on this earth. Some people believe we become part of a cosmic power. And still others believe we are going to some kind of paradise, whether it is called nirvana, Valhalla, or heaven.

Where would we humans even get such ideas about an afterlife? And why is it that almost everyone believes in life after death?

Again we could attribute this to wishful thinking or peer pressure or because we have been told to believe it.

However, having God’s image in our hearts would also give us this kind of hope.

If the painter who gave us the gift of his portrait was also wealthy, we could also hope he may provide a new home for us if a dangerous storm were approaching that could destroy our house.

This is what happens inside ourselves when we think about the storm of death.

Because God cared enough to give us the gift of His image and because He has the infinite power to create, we have an innate hope that once these bodies are destroyed by death, our spirits may move into another body, which God will provide for us. This was the hope the apostle Paul expressed in one of his letters. He believed once his temporary body died, he would be able to spend eternity with God in an eternal body in heaven.¹⁶

Again the fact that beliefs in the afterlife vary does not refute the hope we can and should have in an existence beyond this world. It merely indicates that our understanding of God and His plans for us has become faint.

The Nature of God

If the Bible can explain where everything came from, how life began, and why people believe in a divine being and an afterlife, then we can trust it to tell us what this Creator God is like.

In a word, God is holy. The prophet Isaiah and the apostle John both had the extraordinary opportunity of seeing the throne of God and hearing angelic beings proclaim the Almighty as holy.¹⁷ Unfortunately, we often misunderstand what those heavenly creatures meant. This is because the meanings of words sometimes change.

For centuries the web was talking about something a spider wove. It still does. But now the web is more likely to refer to the Internet.

A virus was a biological bug that made us sick. Now it also means a technological bug that infects our computers.

A hard drive used to describe a long trip in a car. Now it usually means the part of our computer that gets infected by a virus we caught from the web.

However, technology is not always responsible for changes in the meaning of words over the course of time.

In William Shakespeare’s day wherefore meant why. Consequently, Juliet’s familiar question, Wherefore art thou, Romeo? was not wondering about his location. Her question was actually a lament: "Why does the