Christianity Q & A

Who established Christianity ?
　Jesus Christ who was born in Judea about 2000 years ago did.

What is the canon of Christianity ?
　The Bible is. It consists of 39 books of Old Testament and 27 books of New Testament.

Was the Bible written by Jesus Christ ?
　No, it wasn't. Any literatures written by Jesus do not exist now.
　Old Testament was edited with histories, poetries and literatures before Christ. They were written by many authors from the point of view of faith.
　New Testament was edited with teachings of Jesus and the histories of church in early time. They were written by his disciples. It is the promise of God given by Jesus Christ.
　The Bible says that it is inspired with God. We can say the real author is Holy Spirit.

What is written in the Bible ?
　It is written that salvation of God was realized by Christ. The Bible is the word of God and the guide of our life.

What is the church ?
　It is the community of people who were saved by Jesus and live with Him. It is built to spread the teaching of Christ.

What is done in church ?
　We have a worshipping service on Sunday, a praying meeting and other activities of mission.

What is done in the service on Sunday ?
　We sing hymns, pray and listen to a sermon according to the program.

Who can take part in the service ?
　Anyone both adults and children can take part in it. General people can freely take part in it.

Is any fee necessary to hear a sermon ?
　Not at all. We have an offering time. Offering is neither a membership fee nor a charge for prayer. It is for thanksgiving. So If you don't understand the meaning, you don't have to offer it. Church never force you to do it.

Is any fee necessary to take counsel with a pastor ?
　Not at all. Do not hesitate that.

Must a church member pay an entrance fee or a membership fee ?
　Entrance fee and membership fee are not necessary. When you are a member, monthly offering is supposed to be offered as decided by yourself. In the Bible one-tenth of our harvest is supposed to be offered, but it is not forced. The Bible supposes to offer as you have decided, not with regret or out of duty.
　And basically a faith belongs to the individual. The fee for his family who is not a member is never demanded.

What is "offering" used for ?
　It is used for the activities of mission. They include keeping organism and building of church and a pastor's reward. Income of church generally consists of "offering" alone. The accounts are open to every member.

How is the pastor's reward decided ?
　In case of Baptist church, It is decided in the general assembly in which all members can participate.
　

Don't you force me to become a Christian in church ?
　Not at all. It is necessary to believe and confess that Jesus Christ is your savior in order to be a Christian. When the church approve your faith, you will be baptized and be a member.

I hear there are many denominations and groups. How about that ?
　In general there are Catholic Church, Protestant Church and Orthodox Church. Each of them are divided to many denominations.
　Some churches historically committed a fault as a result of abiding the government. Some churches who had old fixed doctrines could not reply new needs. At those times some people left the old churches and built new churches to ask the truth. And old churches also improved themselves. So we have many denominations. We can say that is a result of having continued to ask the truth. Nowadays in the ecumenical movement many churches are working together.

What should I choose a church ?
　You choose the church where the cross raised.
　Then try to take part in the worshipping service or some meetings.
　If you are forced to be a member soon or demand to pay much money, you should leave that church. It might be a heresy who has wrong doctrines. Be careful.
　Churches have each features. They have some different policies. You can choose the church who can reply your needs.

What is the Baptist Church ?
　The features of Baptist church are "Bible first", "Baptism into the water", "Baptism to believer", "Operation by all members", and "Individualism of church".
　"Bible first" means that Baptist church doesn't have any human authorities like the Pope or any canons other than the Bible. The Bible is the only canon.
　"Baptism into the water" means that we sink the believer into the water as baptism. To sink means to die in sins, and to raise from water means to be born into the new life.
　"Baptism to believer" means that we don't baptize babies who cannot confess their faith. So there is no native Christian in Baptist churches.
　"Operation by all members" means that all Christians are created equal before God. We have no class system. All members can take part in the church operation. A pastor is one of them. He is not approved to stand above the other members to operate the church.

What are the heresies of Christianity ?
　Main heresies are World Unification Spiritual Church, Jehovah's Witness, and Mormon church.
　I think the most dangerous is World Unification Spiritual Church. It is popular with the inspired business, mind control and mass wedding ceremony.
　Jehovah's witness often visits your home with the book "watch tower". It denies trinity and divinity of Christ and has an extreme thought of the end of the world. The members are said to be saved by visiting home for mission. It is famous of denying the blood transfusion.
　Mormon has a canon of Mormon other than the Bible.
　Heresies feature that they don't approved Christ as the savior, the founder insist that he has the same authority as Christ, it is demanded to trust in the organism more than direct relationship with God, the operation of organism is secret to members, extreme money collection, taking advantage of weakness of people, threatening with hell, extreme pressing some parts of the Bible, and keeping isolation in the group life apart from the world.

What is salvation of Christianity ?
　Human being has a nature of sin from birth. We live far from God because we are tied with sin. The salvation changes us to the existence who live free from sin with the love of God.

What should I do to be saved ?
　We cannot delete all sins completely by ourselves. Even if we do the right things, the sins do not decrease. But we cannot be saved still with sin. Then Jesus Christ who were sent to this world by God died on the cross for us who have sins. And He forgave our sins. We call that "redemption". Though we cannot solve the problem of sin, God love us and realize that by the redemption of the cross. If you accept that you are the sinner, repent and believe the gospel, you are forgiven and saved.

Can a man with crime be saved ?
　Even if you had a crime, when you accept that you are sinner and believe the gospel, you can be saved. Even if you called the righteous, when you don't accept you have sins and not repent, you cannot be saved. There are no man who don't need the salvation.

Don't I have to do any good things to be saved ?
　No. After the salvation, you will do good things as the response to the love and grace of God.

What comes after my salvation ?
　You will get a close relationship with God. You will assure that God always loves you and leads you. Even if you are suffered from anything, you can trust in God and always have a peace.
　The Bible describes that we will be a child of God, a citizen of the kingdom of God and given the eternal life.

If a Christian sins, what occurs ?
　He is a human being, not God. He might sins sometimes. The believer might be suffered from his sins that appeared to his mind. But when he repent and come to God again, God will forgive him. That is the salvation of the cross. That is the grace of God. We can live with appreciation of His love. When you notice that you easily sin, you will notice that you need to forgive the others. It is enormous misunderstanding that you think you alone will be purified and become the righteous when you will be a Christian.

Who is God ?
　God is the only one who created all things and reigns them now. God is Spirit invisible. Human being also wes created by Him. We call him God the Father.

What is "trinity" ?
　We might think that there are three Gods, because God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son and Holy Spirit have each works. But that shows the three faces of view of God. The only one God exists.

Who is Jesus Christ ?
　He was born in Judea about 2000 years ago. He proclaimed the kingdom of God and the gospel. But He was killed on the cross by the authorities of this world. And He was raised from the grave on the third day, appeared before his disciples and went back to heaven. Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the savior of us.

Who is Holy Spirit ?
　Holy Spirit is the spirit of God and Christ. He works directly to men. The Bible says that Christ would send Holy Spirit after Christ was lifted. Holy Spirit teaches us the truth in God and leads us when we read the Bible, pray and live a life. The Bible says that Holy Spirit lives in the believer of Christ.

Why did God create a human being ?
　God created a human being as those who live with God and in the love of God.

What is the object of Christianity ?
　It is to have all people to believe in Christ and to build the world of God where they live and love each other in His love.

What is the kingdom of God ? Is it different from heaven ?
　The kingdom of God or heaven is the coming world where God completely reigns and all people loves each other. In general, it might be thought that heaven would be a world where dead persons go to. But the Bible says that both living and dead people will live in heaven when it will be completely built.
　And the Bible says that the kingdom of God exists in or between you. The kingdom of God has already started and is now growing in our heart and in the relationship of us.
　God is going on to invite all people to enter his world and to be his family.

Does hell exist ?
　The Bible describes that it is the place where the dead people wait for the last judgment or where they fall down for their sins. If you repent and believe in the gospel of Christ, you don't have to be afraid.

Where will a dead person who doesn't believe in the gospel of Christ go ?
　The Bible says that Christ taught dead persons in hell just after his death. If anyone died without knowing the gospel, he might has a chance. The Bible says that a man who did not repent would be punished with everlasting destruction.

Are there worlds before birth and after death ?
　Christianity does not accept reincarnation. So there are not worlds before birth and after death. We do not have the idea that a man who did good things would be born better or a man who did bad things would be born worse in the next world. The life of man is only once. It is important how we should live our life.

Why do not Christians worship the spirits of their ancestors ?
　Christians believe in God the only one. We cannot regard the other one as the same as God. But the Bible teaches to respect your father and mother. It is good to respect your parents and ancestors who bore and grew you.

Do not Christians hold memorial services for the deads ?
　Buddhists in Japan think that the deads can be Buddha and go to the heaven after 50 memorial services held by their descendants. We believe that we will be saved and go to the heaven by the faith of ourselves, not by our descendants.
　We sometimes hold memorial meeting for our ancestors and thank for their memories and our properties in our hearts.
　We sometimes hold the service in front of the grave of our ancestors and keep clean. But we never worship them.

Do Christians have posthumous names ?
　In the original Buddhism, living disciples are given the name after training or austerities. But now many people buy the name for a dead person. Good name is expensive.
　Generally in Protestant Churches, any Christian will not be given the new name after death. Catholic church might give a Christian name at baptism.

Do the spirits of ancestors exist ?
　The Bible describes two kinds of spirits. One is Holy Spirit, and the other is a demon. The Bible does not say about a spirit of ancestor. We understand the desire to talk to parent died. It may be valuable. But on the other hand it is often said that the spirit of ancestor sometimes give us unhappiness. It is rude to our ancestors.

What do you think about gods of other religions ?
　The Bible says that there is no god other than God but there are only demons. We think that there are excellent religion made by the good ideas of men. But there are some bad religions made by demons. Many religions were born from anxiety or respect to unknown things. Some good religious customs were born and some bad religious customs were born from them. We think that they were made by men who had sins, it is sin to worship them as the same as God. That is called idolatry.

What do you think about fortunatelling or channeling ?
　The Bible never accept fortunatelling or channeling. Holy Spirit teaches us the truth of the spiritual world when we need. Fortunatelling is to know the future without God. Channeling is to contact with the spiritual world without God. Demons can give an information without God. You must be careful. Fortunatelling or channeling are sins.

Why do religious wars occur in Christian countries ?
　Wars are caused by politic or economic things. Politicians use the religion or nationalism. The authorities try to control of nations to unite their minds. About 50 years ago in Japan the authorities reigns our nations by regarding the emperor "Tenno" as God and lead them to the world war II.
　So we must divide politics and religions. It is misunderstanding to call a country a Christian country. There is no Christian country other than the kingdom of God.
　Christ teaches us to love your enemies. That might be realized only in the kingdom of God.

Why are there bad things like wars or environmental polution in spite God exists ?
　All bad things are results of sins of men. They are not by God. God made men have free minds, not be robots or puppets. God is waiting for men to notice their sins, to repent and to come back to Him.

Why are some persons born unhappy ?
　The Bible says that the blind is not a result of sins of his ancestors or himself, but in order that God works at him. All persons are made to the object of God on the base of His plans. Even if a person feels unhappy, God is with him. Trust in His plan.
　Some religions say the reason of unhappiness is the badness of his parent's life or the anger of his ancestors. That is large misunderstanding. They let him be afraid and take money of him. They are terrible religions.

Does Christ really save me and our world ?
　Yes, of course. Jesus Christ is the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He is the savior. When you believe and accept him, you will be sure to be saved.
　Do not be afraid. Trust in Him.

Postscript
　I tried to answer to the simple questions about Christianity as easily as possible. But the answers might lack some important things. Those might be my confession of faith. If you have more questions, please send them to me.
　If you would like to know more of Jesus' teachings, please read the Bible. And take part in the worshiping service of church. In our adult class of church school, we are studying Bible with together. Please join us.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　Written by Tsuyoshi Watatani of Fukuyama Baptist Church.

Please give me your opinions and questions.

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ご意見、ご質問は、

E-Mail :immanuel@urban.or.jp

Christianity Q & A

For the beginners who are interested in Christianity but be afraid of taking part in religions.

What is Christianity

* Who established Christianity ? * What is the canon of Christianity ? * Was the Bible written by Jesus Christ ? * What is written in the Bible ?

What is the church?

Isn't much money necessary ?

About church, denomination and heresy？

What is Salvation ?

Who is God ?

Do heaven and hell exist?

About ancestors and spirits ?

About this world ?

Return to Homepage

ご意見、ご質問は、

* Who established Christianity ?

* What is the canon of Christianity ?

* Was the Bible written by Jesus Christ ?

* What is written in the Bible ?