What Part of Christianity Don't You Understand
By Wayne LaidackerAuthorHouse
Copyright © 2011 Wayne Laidacker
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4520-4540-5 Chapter One
It seems like, every time I open up a newspaper or turn on the television, somebody is telling me what it means to be Evangelical, Conservative, or Christian. So I figured, since I like to think that I'm all of the above, I would put in my two cents.
I am not a writer. I am not a preacher, although I have been guilty of pretending on this count a couple of times. Actually, if we are going to be honest with each other, I may as well confess that I am a dummy! This is without a doubt my one and only qualification to write this book. As a matter of fact, when I decided to do this, I intended to use as a title "Christianity for Dummies". However, after I thought about it, I realized that somebody had already published a whole bunch of books about this and that for dummies. I figured they might have a problem with me horning in on their turf, and besides, if you write a book for dummies and expect people to read it, what does that say about the guy who wrote the book?
I have been a Christian for a long time. Let's not go into any more detail, or to quote Forrest Gump, "That's all I have to say about that". One thing that has never ceased to amaze me is the number of people I talk to who have gone to church all their lives and refer to themselves as Christians, but when Christianity is explained to them, their comment is, "Wow, I never heard that before". I certainly don't consider these folks dummies. They are simply smart people who are uneducated in a particular area of knowledge.
Enough of that! Let's get down to business. First of all, some people call Christianity a religion. Wrong! Christianity is not a religion. Unfortunately, I cannot take credit for this revelation. One of my best friends (I don't have an overabundance of friends, so I consider every one of them a best friend) reached this conclusion shortly after he joined the ranks. Christianity is not a religion; it is a relationship. It is a relationship with a man. It is a relationship with a man who is also God. Oops.... I bet you are saying "whoa.... hold on.... back up here.... you're going too fast for conditions". Okay you're right, I was getting a little carried away. We'll go back to the relationship thing.
Christianity is a relationship with Jesus Christ. A no-brainer, right? Christ; Christian; makes sense, right? You would be surprised at the number of people who call themselves Christians today, but don't recognize Jesus or the influence His life has had on our civilization. Although Jesus or any reference to Him is not considered politically correct in our society today, His existence and life on earth is probably one of the most documented facts in history.
I guess this is as good a time as any to tell you that I am going to be basing all the conclusions that I will be sharing with you on one reference book, and in case you haven't already figured it out, that would be the Holy Bible. Now don't get all fussy! I know the Bible isn't thought to be politically correct either, but even us dummies realize that if we are going to talk about the main character in a book, we almost have to refer to the book. With your permission, I would like to draw a few conclusions about the Bible.
Number one; the Bible is God's word. Oh, you know what? I forgot to tell you, but from time to time I am going to make note of some Bible verses or references in case you want to check up on me. You can look them up or not.... your choice.... but at least you'll know I'm not just pulling comments out of my hat. For instance, a couple of references for conclusion number one would be II Peter chapter 1, verses 19 through 21; Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12; Revelation chapter 22, verses 18 and 19.
One of the questions that is commonly asked of Christians is "You say the Bible is God's word, but it was written by men". Absolutely. The men who wrote the Bible were inspired by God. To use the Bible's own words, they were moved of God. This just means God told them what to write and they wrote it.
Conclusion number two; the Bible is the truth. Some of the references you can use to prove this fact are; II Timothy chapter 2, verse 15; II Timothy chapter 3, verses 15 thru 17; Proverbs chapter 30, verses 5 and 6.
The Bible has been around for centuries longer than our nation has been in existence. Although I wasn't there, I have it on good authority that the Bible arrived in this country on the Mayflower. Many of our past presidents and political leaders read, believed, and based their decisions on the moral values established by the Bible. With your permission, I would like to go into a little more detail about what they believed.
Chapter Two
We've established that the Bible is the word of God, and that it is true. What does it tell us? Let's open it up. Before we do, I better remind you the Bible is in two parts; the Old Testament and the New Testament. Some folks say "Oh, we don't need the Old Testament; that's ancient history". Maybe so, but since God is eternal, it doesn't seem so ancient to Him. Okay, from the beginning. The Bible is divided into books. There are 66 of them in all. The first one is Genesis. When I open my Bible to the first page of the first book (Genesis), guess what hits me right between the eyes. "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth".
Awesome! Don't forget, we're talking about truth here. You know, there's a pretty interesting debate going on in our society today. The two sides of the debate are referred to as evolution and intelligent design. The folks who are doing the debating sometimes get pretty fanatical about their positions, but like a lot of other debates it seems like nobody really knows what they are talking about. In one corner we have the 'evolutionists'. Evolution is a theory. I don't know a lot about these guys, so I guess anything I say concerning them would be a theory too. I mean, I'm entitled to a theory, right? It works for them. Now a theory is something somebody thought up, but nobody was ever able to prove it, so whoever thought it up figured because he thought it up it oughta be right. Maybe that statement is slightly redundant, but I didn't know any other way to say it.
I don't believe in evolution, and since it is a theory I think everybody should have that option. I do remember years ago, when this first started to be an issue, that folks thought that evolutionists believed they were descended from monkeys. The only expert I can quote on that idea is a gentleman by the name of Ernest Ford, a figure from the history of folk music who some of you might recognize more readily by his professional name as Tennessee Ernie Ford. In one of his popular musical productions Mr. Ford summed up the situation by singing (and I'm paraphrasing here), if you believe your ancestor was a monkey, I'd rather be that monkey than you.
Don't get me wrong, I don't put a lot of stock in the term 'intelligent design' either. If we attribute the existence of the earth and all it incorporates to anybody's intelligence, I'm sure Mr. Darwin or somebody like him would likely be taking credit for that too. Remember Genesis chapter 1, verse 1; "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth". It doesn't get much plainer than that! A while back this debate boiled over in a town in southeast Pennsylvania. It seems that the school board in this town voted to allow teaching both the theory of evolution and intelligent design, since theoretically they were both theories. Somebody sued. One of those people who think that because it's their theory it oughta be right. Well, a judge decided to agree with them, and the only theory that can be taught in that school today is the theory of evolution. No big deal, right? Right. The only reason I brought it up is because I got to thinking when I read the account. While I don't know for sure, I think there's a pretty fair chance that the judge who made the call, who was elected by the people, when he took his oath of office, put his hand on a Bible and swore to fulfill his duties. Why would he do that? First of all, this practice has been standard procedure since the United States of America became a nation, and secondly the reason the Bible was used for that ceremony is because it has always been considered the only source of ultimate truth. I bet it would surprise the daylights out of that judge if he ever opened a Bible and read the first verse! Sorry, I got on a roll there.
What does all this have to do with Christianity? Well, I'm getting to that. If we read on in the first chapter of Genesis we find out that in four days God made light, earth and sky, plants and trees, the sun and the moon, and all that good stuff; created them, if you will. That takes us up to verse 19. Then He really got in gear. On the fifth day He came up with all the birds of the air and the fish of the sea. Stand back. On the sixth day God was on a roll. He created all the animals, and then decided it was time for the 'piece de resistance'. Verse 27; "So God created man in His own image"! Evolutionists, proponents of intelligent design, what part of 'God created' don't you understand? Just for general information, God called the man Adam, and the garden where He established residence for Adam He called Eden.
Chapter Three
So, here we are. We got a world, we got plants, we got animals, we got a man, and we got a garden, and God created it all in six days. Pretty good job for only one chapter of Genesis, right? But, you know what, you just can't stop God. In the second chapter of Genesis He took a break. God rested on the seventh day. Seemed like such a good idea, He said we oughta do that too. Then He put Adam in charge of the garden. In chapter 2, verse 15, God put him in the garden to dress it and keep it, and He told Adam to help himself to any fruit of any tree in the garden, except one. We'll elaborate more on that in a minute. The next chore that had to be attended to was, all these creatures God had created needed to be named. Guess who got the job? You're right, it was Adam.
Wait until you see what God did next; this is awesome. God created a woman, and called her name Eve. I'm not even going to try and tell you how He did that, because you probably wouldn't believe me anyway. Start with chapter 2, verse 18 and read to the end of the chapter. I've heard a lot of speculation about why God made Eve, but I'll just share one story I heard somewhere along the line. After God was finished with Adam He looked at His work and thought 'Oh, I think I can do better than that.' Well, that's not my theory, but the ladies might appreciate it. Seriously, God created Eve to be a helpmate for Adam. She was his wife.
Remember back a bit we said we would elaborate on the fruit trees in the garden? In chapter 2, verses 16 and 17, God told Adam he could eat freely of any tree except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and God was very specific; 'Thou shall not eat of it, for in the day that thou eat thereof, thou shall surely die'. To put things in perspective, we must realize that Adam and Eve were vegetarians, as were all the animals God originally created (chapter 1, verses 29 and 30). The other thing we must realize is that Adam and Eve were created with perfect bodies; bodies that were designed to live forever. They had no concept of death, but I'm sure because of God's warning they didn't want any part of it. However, the other aspect that God incorporated into the makeup of His creation was free will. A common question often asked in reference to the creation is, for what purpose was man actually placed on earth. God created man for fellowship. Therefore, He did not want them to be robots, but rather to be rational thinking humans, capable of making decisions based on intelligent free will. When He laid out the plan of eternity for Adam and Eve it was for them to tend and care for the garden, multiply and replenish the earth, and fellowship with Him. He gave them complete control over the creation with the exception of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He forbade them from eating the fruit of that tree, and warned them of the consequences. I like to think this was the first commandment God ever gave to a human being.
Chapter Four
Enter the villain! A new presence is factored into the equation. Genesis chapter 3 opens up on a discussion between our heroine (Eve) and our newest player. Let me introduce him to you. His name is Satan. Possibly you know him as the devil, Lucifer, or some other appropriate nickname, but officially I think we will refer to him as Satan. While I don't want to spend a lot of time on this character, it is vital to our understanding of Christianity to know who he is and to comprehend the role he plays in God's plan of the ages. First of all, he is not a human, neither is he a god. He is a created angel; Job chapter 1, verses 6 thru 12. He was one of the highest ranked angels in heaven, referred to as an angel of light; II Corinthians chapter 11, verse 14. He aspired to usurp the throne of God, and was subsequently cast out of heaven; Isaiah chapter 14, verses 12 thru 14, and Luke chapter 10, verse 18. Since that time he has made the earth the scene of his tireless activity, with the intention of counterfeiting the work of God and deceiving those who trust God for His will in their lives; Ephesians chapter 2, verse 2 and I Peter chapter 5, verse 8. He is also alluded to as the father of lies; the Gospel of John chapter 8, verse 44.
As we first see him in Genesis chapter 3, he is not referred to as Satan, but as the serpent, which is the animal form he assumed in order to tempt Eve. Now if you feel the same way I do about snakes you are probably wondering why in the world he thought Eve would be attracted to a snake. As Indiana Jones once said "Anything but snakes"! Well, in order for this to make sense we must realize that the serpent in its' original created form was one of the most beautiful of God's creatures, even to the point of walking upright. It only became the loathsome reptile we recognize today after God cursed it for its' role in deceiving Adam and Eve.
Let me just say here that I do not intend to go chapter by chapter through the entire Bible, but if you bear with me for a short time yet in Genesis I think you will agree this is very pertinent to establishing a foundation for our thoughts on Christianity.
So Satan, in the disguise of the serpent, approached Eve. You can read it for yourself in Genesis chapter 3, but here's a quick eavesdrop (please don't mind if I paraphrase): Satan; "Hey Eve, how's it goin'?, I hear God told you not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil". Eve; "Oh hi, Mr. serpent, yea.... right.... we can eat of any other tree, but God says if we eat that bad one or even touch it we'll die. Hey, what's die anyway?" Satan; "Oh come on Eve, you're not gonna die. God's just trying to scare you. See, God knows if you eat that apple (or whatever) you'll know the difference between good and evil, and then you'll be just as smart as God. Besides, that's probably the best fruit in the whole garden. You better try a bite".
Well, you probably know the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey would say, and if not, read the book. Eve ate the forbidden fruit! Then she went looking for Adam and said (paraphrasing), "Hey Adam, you want to taste something good? Try this fruit God said we weren't supposed to eat". Adam also ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Here again, folks come up with different theories why Adam joined his wife in disobeying God. One story I've heard has a romantic flavor; it supposes that Adam, realizing that he would be separated from Eve forever as a result of the curse, chose to share her punishment because he loved her so much. Pure speculation. There was nothing romantic about what happened to Adam and Eve.
Okay, let's recap. God told Adam and Eve if they ate the forbidden fruit they would surely die. Remember we said this was the first commandment God ever gave to a human being. They disobeyed and ate. This act constituted the first sin ever committed in this civilization. The punishment for that sin was death. God loved Adam and Eve with a love so great that only He could be capable of, but He is a perfect, just, and righteous God, and they were the ones who broke the commandment and sinned. They gained the knowledge of good and evil alright, but guess what, they came out on the wrong end of the stick. Later on that day, God came to the garden looking for Adam and Eve. With their newfound knowledge of good and evil, it didn't take them long to figure out they were the bad guys, so they did what bad guys do; they hid. God called them out, and to make a long story short, they fessed up.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from What Part of Christianity Don't You Understandby Wayne Laidacker Copyright © 2011 by Wayne Laidacker. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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