The Origin of Christian Beliefs

By Freeman Rhoades

In this composition, the origin of more than forty essential Christian beliefs are explained in order to provide answers for all Christians to such questions as "Where did God come from?" No longer will any Christian who has read this book need to avoid questions like "Who made sin?" "Is the devil real?" "Are heaven and hell real?" Did Jesus really live?" and "Should a Christian tithe?" The author's will is to help the Christian to know, to better understand, to teach, and to defend Christian beliefs. Beginning in the Old Testament book of Genesis, some essential Christian beliefs are presented on subjects, such as the family, anti-God sex, drug abuse, grace, sin, and marriage. From the New Testament, the writer presents the issues and Christian beliefs on Jesus Christ, disciples, origin of the church, origin of the Pope, Catholic, Protestant, and Baptist. In the Christian beliefs of the Baptist, the teaching of Jesus Christ as the norm, the founder, savior, and spiritual head are exalted. With supporting evidence from Jesus's own words, the last part of the book presents Jesus's teaching on hell, heaven, the steps of salvation, and tithing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 12, 2019
• ISBN: 9781645150046

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The Origin of Christian Beliefs

Dr. Freeman S. Rhoades

Copyright © 2019 by Dr. Freeman S. Rhoades

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

All scripture quotations taken from the King James Version.

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Lesson 1

Lesson 2

Lesson 3

Lesson 4

Lesson 5

Lesson 6

Lesson 7

Lesson 8

Lesson 9

Lesson 10

Lesson 11

Lesson 12

Lesson 13

Lesson 14

Lesson 15

Lesson 16

Lesson 17

Lesson 18

Lesson 19

Lesson 20

Lesson 21

Lesson 22

Lesson 23

Lesson 24

Lesson 25

Lesson 26

Lesson 27

Lesson 28

Lesson 29

Lesson 30

Lesson 31

Lesson 32

Lesson 33

Lesson 34

Lesson 35

Lesson 36

Lesson 37

Lesson 38

Lesson 39

Lesson 40

Lesson 41

Lesson 42

Lesson 43

Jesus said, Make disciples of…

Matthew 28:19

Go ye therefore, and teach (make disciples of) all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Motto: I cannot know all things, but I can know some things.

I cannot teach all things, but I can teach something.

I cannot do all things, but I can do something for Jesus.

Preface

Too many Christians have been moving from book to book, subject to subject, issue to issue, curriculum to curriculum, scripture to scripture, and opinion to opinion, and not studying any subject long enough and thoroughly enough to know, understand, master, teach, and defend the will of God.

Using any of the following subjects, anyone can divide Christian pastors, associate ministers, elders, bishops, superintendents, deacons, deaconesses, stewards, trustees, ushers, missionaries, Sunday school teachers, and boards of education, associations, conventions, and congregations:

Check out the persons who are proabortion or prohomosexuality, and you will find persons who believe that they are right as Christians. Check out the persons who are antiabortion or antihomosexuality, and you will find persons who believe that they are right as Christians. The problem is that too many churches are accepting, believing, and teaching everybody’s will and ignoring the will of God.

This book was written to be used by Christians who are sincerely interested in three essentials:

Learning and understanding the origin of some essential Christian beliefs.

Learning and understanding how to become a true disciple or follower of Jesus Christ by following the method Jesus Christ used to make disciples.

Learning and understanding how to let Jesus Christ use you to make true disciples or followers of him.

For too long, the church has produced good Sunday worshippers of Jesus Christ, but not many true disciples.

The contents are basic, simple, explicit, and to the point, in order that Christians can easily understand and teach God’s will on these subjects. Teachers are expected to be creative in presenting the lessons.

Acknowledgments

I thank my wife, Anna Rhoades, for her consistent support, and my parents, Tom S. Rhodes and Roberta Rhodes, who cannot be thanked enough for being such strong parents. I also would like to thank my brothers, Tom Roy, Robert Edward, Samuel Jasper, William, and James Russell Rhoades, who have always supported me; and my sisters, Martha Worsham and Margaret Boswell, who have been good, supportive sisters. I appreciate the loving support of the members of my previous pastorates: First Nottoway Baptist Church, Morning Star Baptist Church, Rising Star Baptist Church, Grafton Baptist Church, Pleasant Valley Baptist Church, Grove Baptist Church, and Bethlehem Baptist Church. Finally, I thank Brenda Leach for her clerical skills in the development of this work. Most essentially of all, I thank God.

Introduction

Every Christian church should teach for the specific purpose or objective that was commanded by Jesus in St. Matthew 28:19—to make disciples of all peoples. Consequently, all the teaching of the church should be evaluated for the purpose of determining whether the teaching helps to make disciples. Jesus used the following methods:

Teaching and preaching

Testing

Commissioning (Discipling all human beings)

This work is a guide that is designed to give Christians essential knowledge that can be used in making disciples and preaching.

Lesson 1

Origin of God

Teacher: A disciple

Aim:

To explain the origin of God

Life Need: (5–10 minutes)

In our time of drones, smart phones, and continuous claims of unidentified flying objects, believers need to be able to teach or to explain the true origin of God. Potential followers and followers of Madalyn Murray O’ Hair, the founder of American atheism, and believers in the evolutionary teachings of people like Charles Darwin demand a sensible answer to the following question: Where did God come from?

Bible Learning: (10–15 minutes)

Genesis 1:1–31, 2:1–17, 3:1–23, 6:1–22, 30:22–24; Psalm 90; Exodus 3:1–9; Exodus 14, Exodus 20; Matthew 28:16–20; Matthew 6:9, 14, 15, 18, 26, 32; Acts 2:17; John 1:14, 14:1–31; Luke 23:34; 1 Corinthians 12; and Revelation 1:9–15, 22:8–13.

Where did God come from?

Where did God come from? Sigmund Freud, an Austrian neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis, believed that man, in order to explain the good in the world, came up with the belief in the existence of a god who was the source of good and with the belief in the existence of the devil who was the source of bad. Thus Freud believed that the existence of god was man-made. He and other atheists believed that superman and God are about the same.

Christians believe that God had no beginning. Always, God existed.

Christians believe that the real and only existing God is unique in as much as he had no beginning, origin, or start. Always, God was. Consistently, God is. Eternally, God will be.

Some Egyptian theologians believed in gods whom they said were created by gods. Any god that is created is not a god. Before the beginning, God was. Just before he began the beginning, God was. Using what the Hebrews called his bara power (power to bring from only himself everything), God created the world. Consequently, God had no origin. Always, God was.

God always existed

God always existed. God was here or existed before the beginning of anything.

Look at the following:

God was. Consider Genesis 1:1 and 1:26–27. He always existed.

God is. Consider Exodus 3:1–9. He is always here.

God forever will be. Consider Revelation 1:8, 11 and 22:13. He will never end. Look at Daniel 2:32–33; Romans 1:19–20; John 14:9–14; Job 38:1–41, 39:1–30, 40:1–24.

Some views of God

Some views of God. Over time, some good and some bad views of God have been developed.

Some of these views are as follows:

Monotheism. This is the view that there is only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4–5). Christians believe in one God who has revealed himself as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Polytheism. This is the view that many gods existed. The Greeks believed in several gods. Some of the gods they believed in are as follows:

Zeus was the Greek’s god of the sky.

Hera was the Greek’s goddess of marriage, mothers, and families.

Poseidon was the Greek’s god of the sea.

Ares was believed to be the Greek’s god of war.

Christians do not believe in many gods.

Christians are challenged to affirm or to deny beliefs about God.

Atheism. This is the belief that no god has, is, nor will ever exist.

Theism. This is the belief that not only does God exist, but he is personally involved in each person’s daily life. Christians believe in theism.

Pantheism. This is the belief that all that exists (humans, animals, sun, moon, earth, trees, etc.) is god. Christians do not believe in pantheism.

Deism. This is the belief that God exists. He created everything and set the world and man in motion, then he withdrew leaving the world and man to determine their own fate and future. Christians do not believe in deism. Christians believe that God is always involved in the world and in their daily lives.

Agnosticism. This is the belief that man cannot obtain the knowledge that is necessary to prove nor to disprove the existence of God. Consequently, agnostics are neutral. Christians believe that we have more than enough knowledge to prove that God exists.

Arguments for God

Arguments for God. Christians have some interesting arguments that affirm God.

The following are arguments for the existence of God, which Paul Tillich, in his book, Systematic Theology, used to affirm the reality of God:

Cosmological: Christians believe that there was when only God existed. Then God, existing by himself, caused all other things to begin to exist. Some Greeks, like Plato, identified God as the First Cause. Animate and inanimate beings are too complex, intricate, and unified to have just happened. Christians believe that God, the First Cause, caused everything (except himself) to be.

Ontological: inanimate and animate beings are evidence that God exists, especially human beings who are made in the image and likeness of God. The trees, rivers, animals, and planets affirm the existence of Divine Being.

In its news, the University of Portsmouth in England reported that the fossil (a tooth) of our ancient ancestors had been found in Dorset. The labeling of a tooth as belonging to our ancient ancestors may just be a conjecture; however, humans are undeniable evidence of a supreme being. The continued existence of human beings who are physically weaker than many other beings but mentally superior affirms the reality of a supreme being who has kept humans living from the time of their creation until this time. The stars (which are too many for man to count), planets, rain, sun, moon, and earthquakes that could destroy all humans are under God’s control. Christians believe that life is a gift from God.

Teleological: Christians believe that the fact that so many things are designed for each other affirms that God, the designer, exists. Only a divine being could have created trees designed so that they take the carbon dioxide through their leaves and produce oxygen for humans to breath. Furthermore, only God could have designed a man for a woman and a woman for a man. The teleological argument for the existence of God is dynamic.

Paul Tillich stated that the arguments do not prove the existence of God. I believe that they do.

The Trinity

The Trinity. The Trinity is the belief that one God has revealed himself to us in the following three forms:

Father. Look at Isaiah 9:6; Matthew 6:9, 14, 15, 18, 26, and 32. In John 10:30, Jesus said that he and his Father were one.

Son. Look at Genesis 1:26–27, John 1:1–14, and Daniel 3:25. The Son came to the earth in flesh, as a baby named Jesus Christ.

Holy Ghost (Spirit). Read Genesis 1:2, 41:38, 6:34; Luke 11:13; Romans 15:19; and Acts 2:1–12. Some translators of modern versions of the Bible have replaced the word spirit with the word force. In Genesis 1:2, the Hebrew word Rauha means Spirit. The creation story presents God the Holy Spirit.

Trinity is the belief in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father is the final authority, commander, and controller. In fact, in Genesis 1:2–31, God the Father said, Let there be light and Let us make. Why do you think God said, Let us? God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit work together with each other. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are referenced in the Old and in the New Testaments. Look at these references: Father, Genesis 1:1; Son, Daniel 3:19–25; and Spirit, Genesis 1:2.

One of the ways God speaks to us daily is through our conscious. Sometimes, the Holy Spirit works in our conscious. The Holy Spirit can enter our bodies and our minds. Look at Matthew 28:20 and Acts 2:17.

Some attributes of God

Some attributes of God. Look at some of the attributes of God. God is Omnipotent. He has unlimited authority or freedom of action. God is Omnipresent. He is everywhere. God is Omniscient. He knows everything.

Man-made gods

Man-made gods. In seeking to fulfill his need for a relationship with God, man has made physical images or named parts of God’s creation god. Any reference to God in such a way is spelled with a lowercase g. The making of a god out of anything is strictly forbidden. Look at Genesis 35:1–4 and Exodus 20:4–5. People deal with people, sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, racism, money, cars, drugs, friends, etc., as their gods. Look at Isaiah 6:1–8 and Leviticus 20:1–7. God is spirit. He is the only creator. Christians believe that there is only one real God who has revealed himself in three forms.

Bible Application: (5–10 minutes)

Does knowing that God has no origin make you or encourage you to communicate with him? Although he knows all of your good and evil, God continues to bless you with life. He is your Father. As the Holy Spirit, God is always with you to help you. As the Son, God is your Savior who forgives your sins. How do you see God, yourself, and your brother? God is God of all people. He is your God, and he is God of your brother.

Bible Response: (5–10 minutes)

Are you willing to accept God as your God? He should be accepted as your Savior. What should you do for God, self, and your brother? Are you willing to live in trust and obedience to God? How do I live in trust and obedience to God?

Repent for my sins.

Accept God the Son as my Savior.

Trust and obey God.

Stay ready for judgment day (Matthew 25:31–46).

Remember: hell is real (Psalm 9:17, Luke 16:23, and Revelation 20:14).

Remember: heaven is real (Revelation 7:4–17; Matthew 5:12, 16, 18–20).

Remember: God is forever!

Quiz

Explain the origin of God.

Were God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit created?

When will God end?

Explain God the Father as the authority figure.

Are there any scriptures in the Old Testament that affirm the preexistence of God the Son?

Name the three forms that the scriptures reveal God.

Explain the meaning of monotheism.

Explain the way one should see God, himself, and others based upon Genesis 1:1–2 and 1:26.

Lesson 2

Origin of God’s Power

Teacher: A disciple

Aim:

To explain the power of God

Life Need: (5 minutes)

How much power does God have? Has God got all power? Has the devil got some power? Has man got some power?

Bible Learning (10–15 minutes)

Genesis 1:1; Exodus 14:21–22; Matthew 19:26, 28:18, 4:1–11, 12:22, 15:29–31; Luke 18:27; Isaiah 14:12; 1 Kings 18:21–40, and 2 Kings 20:1–11.

Consider the following:

Creative power

Creative power. God is the only true creator who can, from the existence of only himself and nothing, create something (Genesis 1:1, Genesis 1:6–27).

Where did, has, or will God get his power? God has unlimited power or authority, which includes forever being the greatest power. He gets his power from himself. God is the source of his power. Why? How? Because he is God. To be self-sustaining, self-existent, and dependent upon nothing and no one but yourself with unlimited power are what makes him God. God told Moses that his name was I am that I am. Scholars like John Bright, author of A History of Israel, interpreted (Exodus 3:14) I am that I am to be God’s way of saying, I am a self-sustaining being.

God depends upon only himself. Man can only take that which God has created and make something. Man takes trees, which God created, and makes houses. Scientists concluded that man cannot create or destroy matter. He can change matter’s form. Using fire, man can change a tree into the form of ashes. Look at Genesis 6:14–16. Scientist have concluded that human beings cannot create anything. Christians believe that God is the source of a Christians’ power.

God gave us some of his power. God gave away some of his power when he gave us free will (the freedom to choose to do or not to do). God did not create slaves or robots. God gave Adam and Eve the power to choose. Look at Genesis 2:16–17, 3:6; Exodus 32:26; 1 Kings 18:21; and Acts 2:21. Even the angels were given some power.

Angels. Angels were given free will or power. The devil or Satan is an angel who abused his free will. Everything that God created was good. The devil (an angel) was first to make sin (to choose to go beyond the limits God had set). The sin of the angel who would be named Devil made the angels chose between him and God. One-third chose to follow the devil. Look at Isaiah 14:12; Luke 10:18; Matthew 4:1–11; Genesis 3:1–6; Revelation 12:9, 20:2; Matthew 25:41; and Peter 2:4.

Human beings. Men and women were given power or free will. They could use their power to do good or to do evil. Look at Genesis 4:8, 6:1–3, and John 19:10-11. Man, not God, is the one who is responsible for evil in the world. The mass killings in Las Vegas and in Springfield, Texas, in 2017