I need a clear explanation

[Red Prince]

Hello everyone,
I'm new to your forum, and this is actually my first contribution.

I live in a society filled with Christians. I have been following up on Christianity for years, and it seems I'm stupid enough not to understand what over 1 billion people believe.

Can anyone tell me, what is the concept of God in Christianity? I mean is he one God or 3 Gods? Did God die for mankind's sins?

OK, not to get carried away. Can I first have an answer for the above? Please consider that I need a clear answer without ambiguities so a simple person like myself can understand it. Thank you.

[McCulloch]

Good luck with that.

Welcome

There is one God. Jesus is God, the Son of God. God is Holy; God is Spirit. God the Holy Spirit is a separate person from God the Father and God the Son. There is one God.

God (don't ask which one, because there is only one) created humans in his image. These humans sinned, therefore God condemned them to eternal torment. But God loves humans and wished to save them from his wrath. So God became a human and allowed himself to be killed by the humans so that he could take the punishment for all of humanity on himself. In order to avail yourself of his forgiveness, all you have to do is accept these facts as being true, without regard to logic or evidence. That is called faith.

Understand? Neither do I.

[Red Prince]

I take it you're not Christian . Actually what you described is exactly the reason of my confusion. But religion is a serious topic that I can't take lightly. My salvation depends on my belief according to all religions, so I have to be quite sure. I hear that one of the two largest religions in the world is Christianity, so it's not logical either that all these people are not thinking.

Can any Christian help out?

[Goat]

I take it you're not Christian . Actually what you described is exactly the reason of my confusion. But religion is a serious topic that I can't take lightly. My salvation depends on my belief according to all religions, so I have to be quite sure. I hear that one of the two largest religions in the world is Christianity, so it's not logical either that all these people are not thinking.

Can any Christian help out?

I can't help you out with this whole christian thing . ,.. but I will point out that the concept of 'salvation' is not one that appears in all religions. The Jewish religion doesn't have it for example.

[Red Prince]

Thank you. Actually this is not entirely true. Both Jewish and Moslem faiths have salvation, but it is different from Christianity. They both claim that salvation depends on the belief in one God and following the commandments. The likeness in the "Fundamentals" of both religions is striking. Actually Jesus in the bible teaches the same thing: Believe in one God and follow the commandments. But I can't understand why Christians are doing otherwise. I found other teachings -almost contradicting to Jesus's- that belong to other bible writers, most specially Paul.

This is why I wanted a Christian to walk me through the religion concepts so that I understand them better. Unfortunately, so far all the Christians I met are giving me ambiguous answers to the very basis of the religion. I don't want to rely solely on my understanding to the bible, and the churches so far are either unhelpful or at least can't relay a solid story.

[Pazuzu bin Hanbi]

This will pretty much sum it all up for you!

[Skyler]

Hello everyone,
I'm new to your forum, and this is actually my first contribution.

Welcome!

I live in a society filled with Christians. I have been following up on Christianity for years, and it seems I'm stupid enough not to understand what over 1 billion people believe.

I doubt most of those people know what they believe either, so you're not alone.

Can anyone tell me, what is the concept of God in Christianity? I mean is he one God or 3 Gods? Did God die for mankind's sins?

There is one God. He is composed of three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. An analogy I like is comparing God to an apple--an apple consists of one skin, one meat, and one core. But it's still one apple.

Jesus Christ, the second "person" of the Trinity, died not for the sins of all mankind but for the sins of those who would believe in Him and repent of those sins.

OK, not to get carried away. Can I first have an answer for the above? Please consider that I need a clear answer without ambiguities so a simple person like myself can understand it. Thank you.

I'm not sure if that's clear enough or not. If not, ask!

[Zzyzx]

.

But religion is a serious topic that I can't take lightly.

Religion is a serious topic to those who are influenced by religion – and those who are opposed to religion.

It is a matter of choice. Proselytizers often cajole or coerce with fear and guilt – and promises of "salvation".

My salvation depends on my belief according to all religions,

"Salvation" (being "saved") is arranged by the same people who provide that which one is supposedly "saved" from – some sort of punishment in an "afterlife". It is convenient to create the "problem" and the "solution" and make a profit "saving" people.

Rather than becoming concerned about "salvation" I ask proponents to show evidence that 1) an "afterlife" – life after death – exists beyond reasonable doubt, 2) the "god" they worship controls the "afterlife", 3) they know and can demonstrate exactly what is required to guarantee "salvation".

To date, no proponent of any of the thousands of religions has provided even one of the three with reasonable verification.

so I have to be quite sure.

Prepare to be disappointed. The best anyone can do regarding supernaturalism is "faith" and "belief".

I hear that one of the two largest religions in the world is Christianity,

Christianity claims to be THE largest religion in the world – even though various sects and individuals often regard each other as "not real Christians". When it comes to counting noses for the faith, but any Christian variety will do for the count.

so it's not logical either that all these people are not thinking.

No rational person would maintain that Christians do not think. Many maintain that Christians think that supernaturalism is true and valid. Just as when they insisted that the Earth was flat, widespread belief does NOT insure accuracy.

[muhammad rasullah]

Hello everyone,
I'm new to your forum, and this is actually my first contribution.

I live in a society filled with Christians. I have been following up on Christianity for years, and it seems I'm stupid enough not to understand what over 1 billion people believe.

Can anyone tell me, what is the concept of God in Christianity? I mean is he one God or 3 Gods? Did God die for mankind's sins?

OK, not to get carried away. Can I first have an answer for the above? Please consider that I need a clear answer without ambiguities so a simple person like myself can understand it. Thank you.

Red Prince this is a very profound questions and a questions that leads one down a path of true understanding of coming to know God and then after knowing God acting upon that knowledge as God says. It tells us in the quran in the most simplest of answers about who God is chapter 112 it says to us 1. Say he is God the one and only. 2. God the eternal the absolute 3. He begets not, nor is he begotten 4. And there is none like unto him. This is the clearest statement you will find about who God is. I have to admit That I have been reading the bible a lot and have yet to find a statement more clear and precise about who God is.
The explanation of this verse by verse goes from verse 1. He is Allah (God) the one and only. Meaning he is the one and only God, the one to whom worship is due; all other things or beings we can think of are his creatures and are in no way comparable to him. Verse 2, He is eternal meaning without beginning or end, absolute meaning not limited by time or place or circumstance, the Reality. All other existence is temporal or conditional, that he is dependent upon no person or things, but all persons and things are dependent upon Him, thus the idea of Gods and Goddesses who ate and drank and slept depending on these for there existence cannot be considered as God. Verse 3, we must not think of him as having a son or a father, for that would be to import animal qualities into our perception of Him. The idea of God being begotten or begetting a son is in direct opposition to who God is. We know that everything which begets takes on some if not all of the characteristics of that person or thing. So to say that God beget a son then that son would natural take on some of the characteristics of God. Again this is in total opposition to the statement mentioned before that He is the one and only and the absolutue. And from what the following verse states in 4, And there is nothing like unto Him.
When we think of God like this it becomes easy for the mind and intellect to grasp because this is natural, logical and reasonable. You don't have to mix up words and pull things together to understand the concept of God and it should not be confusing to do so. As god says in the bible 1st Chronicles 14:33 For God is not [the author] of confusion...