Christianity

What We Believe Logo ABOUT JESUS

He really lived. Whatever people’s view of Jesus Christ, the one fact that no serious historians have any question about is that he was crucified around AD30. And if he died, it's a pretty safe bet that he lived! The earliest surviving non-Christian writing to mention Jesus is a history of the Jewish people by Josephus, a Jewish writer in the court of the Roman Emperor, published this work in AD93.

He is God’s son, promised for centuries before his birth ("But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." Micah 5:2). If Jesus is the one and only Son of God, then it means that knowing Jesus is the only God-given way to know God. As Jesus says in the Gospel of John, "I am the way, the truth and the life; no one goes to the Father except by me."

He is the promised Messiah. The only time Jesus is explicit about this was at his trial. The High Priest asks, "Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed God?" Jesus answered, "I am." and for this he was sentenced to death (Mark 14:62-64). In John's Gospel Jesus speaks openly and at great length about who he is: the unique Son of God, the way to the Father, the Saviour of the world. "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" is one of his most striking claims. (John 14:9). He earlier said that “God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him will not die, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16)

He was crucified (for us). In addition to Biblical accounts and that of Josephus, an early mention of Jesus death is made by the Roman Historian Tacitus. Writing around AD110 following the Fire of Rome in AD64 he records, "To stop the rumour, [that he had started the fire himself] Nero falsely accused and executed the people called Christians”. Tacitus goes on to record that their originator, Christ, had been executed in Tiberius' reign by the Procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate.

He Rose from the dead. Jesus said it would happen! In Matthew 20:19 he said “[They] will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!" The whole of the New Testament revelation rests on this as an historical fact,

“If Christ be not risen, our faith is vain” (1 Cor. 15:14). Following his resurrection Jesus was seen many, including Mary Magdalene and other women, Peter, two disciples on the road to Emmaus, ten disciples in the upper room, then again with the addition of Thomas, his brother James and over 500 people by Galilee.

He is with us today. Jesus said “I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you ... I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (John 14:18 & Matt 28:20). If Jesus was no more than a good man we would be fools to worship him today, only remember him as a good teacher. But he is more than this, he is God with us. CS Lewis who wrote the Narnia Chronicles once wrote this about Jesus: “He would either be a lunatic on a level with a man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse .... You can shut him up for fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that option open to us. He did not intend to.”

We believe in Jesus Christ And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary: Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried: He descended into hell: The third day he rose again from the dead: . He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty: From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

From The Apostles Creed

What We Believe Logo ABOUT EASTER

EASTER STONE The events of the first Easter have been highlighted again fairly recently with the release in 2006 of Mel Gibson’s dramatic film The Passion of the Christ. Interestingly, the word “Easter” is not found in the Bible, indeed it is thought that its origins are Anglo-Saxon and stem from pagan times. In the early church, controversy raged over when to celebrate Easter and it was not until the Council of Nicea (325AD) and the later Council of Laodicea (364AD) that matters were formally addressed and Easter was celebrated as the moveable feast we know today. The popular view of the biblical events of Easter start with a particular scene, Jesus around a table in an upper room sharing a Jewish Passover meal with his friends - the Jewish Feast of Passover and the associated Feast of Unleavened Bread commemorate how God delivered the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. It is true, of course, that the story of Easter started, really, even before a certain baby was born in a manger and was spoken about long before, as we see from our Old Testament (the Hebrew Scriptures)

But is Easter important? ‘Yes!’ it is vitally important, even though much of the secular world has turned to Christmas for its major annual celebration. Easter is important because it is when we recall that the Son of God* came to earth for a purpose.

Let’s deal with that now – here’s what Mark records “He [Jesus] then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again” (Mark 8:31). So there’s something to learn here – that Jesus’ death was not a plan gone wrong but was an integral part of God’s plan for the salvation of the world; and far from Jesus being caught-up in a tragedy beyond his control, he knew he came to die and he was aware of what lay before him (“But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed!” - Luke 12:50). In explaining why Jesus came the Gospel of John records these words of Jesus’, “God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not die but will have everlasting life. God did not send His Son into the world to be its judge, but its Saviour” (John 3:16,17 paraphrased).

So if we accept that Jesus came to die, and died, what about the resurrection? Here is the crux of the matter for if you really think about it, the whole of Christian belief rests on this pivotal event. If Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead then he did not fulfil the scriptures, he did not prove himself to be the promised Messiah, God’s anointed one, the Son of God … but the Bible and many witnesses tell us that he did and he is! Those early witnesses knew he was alive because, firstly the stone was rolled away** (not to let him out but that we could know he was not there); and secondly he was seen by many many people, not least the sceptic Thomas.

Jesus friends and followers had a lot to lose after Jesus died. In Palestine/Israel with its occupying Roman forces , its puppet King and its dominant religious authorities all set against Jesus and his followers, they would have been forgiven for shrinking into anonymity and the would have been forgotten about in the mist of time. But they did not just “disappear”. Why? Clearly these first followers of Jesus were convinced of his rising from the dead and many testified that they met and spoke with him. Just a few weeks after the crucifixion one of them told the crowds in Jerusalem at one of the great Jewish religious festivals, 'You killed Jesus by letting sinful men crucify him. But God raised him from death, setting him free from its power, because it was impossible that death should hold him prisoner.' And later the speaker, Peter, adds, 'God has raised this very Jesus from death, and we are all witnesses to this fact.’*** Indeed it could be said that despite all Jesus taught them and all they witnessed of his healing miracles it was this event, his resurrection, that finally convinced his disciples that Jesus was who he said he was, the Son of God. Many knew at first hand, or were so convinced of the resurrection of Jesus that they held to the truth even though it meant persecution and loosing their lives – not the actions of people who were just trying to pull the wool over the eyes of others for personal gain. Moreover, it is not just Gospel writers who have recorded facts about Jesus and his friends. Jesus' resurrection and the persecution of his followers were documented outside of the Bible by historical authorities including Gaius Suetonius Tranquillas, Flavius Josephus, Thallus, Pliny the Younger, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and the Jewish Sanhedrin. Beyond these ancient historians there are documents from other sources such as the 2nd century Greek satirist Lucian.

So, in summary, what do we believe about Easter. That Jesus Christ, God’s Son, died for a purpose, for you and me, to reconcile us to God. He fulfilled what had been written centuries before him about the Messiah, God’s anointed one, and overcame death by rising on the third day just as he himself said he would. We believe no other person has ever done what Jesus has done for us, and that only he could. Good Friday is a time when we ponder on Christ’s sacrifice for us … and Easter Day is a time of great celebration and joy as we worship our risen, reigning Lord and Saviour!

** Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20 ***Acts 2: 22-32

ABOUT CHRISTMAS

Christmas is an exciting time for lots of people, not just children. It is a time when we celebrate Jesus Christ’s birth, although his actual date of birth is unknown. Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church. It was not celebrated, commemorated, or observed by the apostles nor by the early church In fact history reveals that only around 440 A.D. did the Church at Jerusalem commence the celebration of Christmas. It had been sufficient for the early Christians to know that Jesus, as their Lord and Saviour, had been born. They certainly praised God that Jesus Christ had come into the world, however, the day and the time of His birth had no relevance for them because they worshipped him as the risen, exalted Christ – the King of Kings - who had died and rose again, not as a babe laid in a manger. So where does the celebration of Christmas in winter stem from?

December 25th was particularly important in the pre-Christian pagan cult of Mithras, a popular deity in the Old Roman Empire. Robert Myers (a proponent for celebrating Christmas) in his book Celebrations, says: "Prior to the celebration of Christmas, December 25th in the Roman world was the Natalis Solis Invicti, the Birthday of the unconquerable sun. "Yule" is a Chaldean word meaning "infant" and long before the coming of Christianity, the Anglo-Saxons called the 25th of December "Yule day" - in other words, "infant day" or "child's day". In the spread of Christianity this already existing celebration of infant day was given a new focus, the birth of the Saviour Jesus Christ as a baby in Bethlehem. Many symbols of Christmas, such as the Christmas tree, holly wreath and Yule log also have their roots in ancient beliefs and are not, in fact, Christian symbols. The two major symbols stemming from the early church were ICHTUS (the fish) and, later, the cross.

So what about Christmas for us today? If you think from the above that I’m about to pour cold water on the idea of Christmas (bah, humbug!) then you’re very wrong. Christmas seeks to remind us that God’s Son Jesus was born as human, that God came down to earth for our sake because he loves us. What a great reason to celebrate! We Christians believe that God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in Him (trusts and puts their life in Him) will not die but will have eternal life (John 3:16). The Bible goes on to explain this further, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (Jn 3:17). How do we know that Jesus is the Saviour? One of the ways is to look at if and how he fulfils what was written about the Promised Messiah long before his birth. For example, can you imagine someone predicting with accuracy the city in which a future Prime Minister would take place in the year 2707 (seven hundred years from now)? Well that's the scale of what the prophet Micah did 700 years before the Messiah when he wrote, "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times" (Micah 5:2). How difficult do you think it would be to give precise details of the death of a new, unknown, religious leader over 1000 years from today and at the same time invent and predict a new form of execution - not currently known - by which that exact individual would die? That's what David did in 1,000BC when he wrote Psalm 22 (have a look at it). On the other hand, if you thought-up fifty specific prophecies about some person in the future that you would never meet, how difficult would it be for him to fulfil all fifty of your predictions even when at least 25 of them were completely outwith his control? It’s this scale of things we’re talking about when we speak of Jesus in relation to the Hebrew Scriptures of ancient days.

So what do we believe about Christmas? We believe that Love came down at Christmas, for you and all of us!

What We Believe Logo ABOUT THE CHURCH

cleticcross The word "Church" comes from the Greek ekklesia which means "assembly" or "gathering", but the church is much more than a meeting place. It is even more than a gathering of Christian believers who profess the true and living God and attend weekly worship. It is not the building, the meeting place, an organization, or a denomination. The Church is the totality of all believers regardless of denominational affiliation. The Bible tells us that Church is the body of Christ: “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others” (Rom 12:4-5).

So let’s clear-up some lingering issues. Firstly here is what the Church is not: it is not like joining the AA or RAC "just in case it's needed someday"; only for baptisms, weddings and funerals; for the ever-so-good and righteous; somewhere to go on a Sunday (when it's too stormy for golf or fishing); perfect. The church is not for perfect people, which is fine because the Bible tells us that, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23) So, then, how should we view the Church? As the body of Christ; a collection (or congregation) of ordinary people who believe that Jesus Christ is God's Son and Saviour of the world; people who accept and respond to God's love, who acknowledge their need of His forgiveness and who accept Christ’s invitation to “follow me”; a community of faith; a witness to the work of the Holy Spirit in today's world; the vehicle for Christian commitment, worship & service

The Church is comprised of believers, equipped by God with teachers, pastors (ministers) and Elders (1 Cor. 12:28) who grow in their relationship with Jesus through prayer, fellowship and the study of God's word, and who actively seek to further God's kingdom through living the Gospel day by day (not just Sundays). The Church is called to be a light to the world; to teach Christ’s values and ways; to make a stand against wickedness, oppression, poverty and injustice – and to do all of this with gentleness, love, patience, kindness, and wisdom. Here’s what St Paul wrote to the early church in Thessalonica, “We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers … The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia-- your faith in God has become known everywhere.” (1Thess. 1:2,8). That was obviously and active church, as should the church of today be. It is clear from Scripture that every member of the Church has duties and responsibilities and therefore should be an active part of the fellowship of Christ’s people.

What We Believe Logo ABOUT CREATION

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1). Christians believe that the natural world was made and is kept going by God; that the balance of nature and the size of the universe show us something of God's awesomeness, majesty and power. Many songs and poems have been written over the years which reflect how we Christians feel about the world in which we live, this by Thomas O. Chisholm being an example: “Summer and winter and seedtime and harvest, sun, moon and stars in their courses above, join with all nature in eloquent witness to your great faithfulness, mercy and love”. Our churches at Meldrum and Bourtie, along with most others, are regularly decorated with flowers to remind us of God's creation, and we join with Christians all over the world in singing songs that celebrate God as creator. We, of course, hold annual Harvest Thanksgiving services to say “thank-you” to God for His provision and to acknowledge our part in the stewardship of the land and in brining-in the harvest: "We plough the fields and scatter the good seed on the land, but it is fed and watered by God's almighty hand."

Centuries ago scientists began looking at how the world worked. From this time, known as the Enlightenment, Science has attempted to bring the deep questions about where we came from, why we’re here and how we have developed within human understanding and a great deal of progress has been made. Unfortunately, however, we have been caught short time and time again for, truly, there is much that we don’t understand even though we may have many theories (often presented as fact but later found wanting). For example the “Big Bang” theory about when things began to happen in a hap-hazard way that finally, over many millennia, made the world, its plants, insects animals and fish, and the human race what it is today. Even if one were to accept this chaotic theory and that there was a “Big Bang”, I’d like to know who pressed the button in the first place! There at times seems to be a war of attrition between science and Religion but this is often far from the case and many Scientists have come to know God through their work. James Tour, an American nanoscientist, said recently, "I stand in awe of God because of what he has done through his creation. If you really study science, it will bring you closer to God." There is, of course, a great debate between Christians and non-Christians (and even within the Christian Church) about Creation vs. Evolution. Even the basics of this argument would take many books worth of writing and couldn’t be addressed within the confines of this article, but if you’d like to look at that issue a good place to start is at this web address, you can follow it through from there and make-up your own mind (http://www.eauk.org/resources/idea/bigquestion/archive/2005/bq7.cfm).

The Bible begins by saying that God created a perfect world. “God looked over all he had made, and saw that it was excellent in every way." (Genesis 1:31), but if God made the world why is it spoiled by disease, earthquakes, pollution and suffering? The exact timing and process whereby suffering entered the world is controversial amongst Christians but all agree that the Bible describes how suffering is part and parcel of when we humans decided to disobey God and ignore his advice and commands: broken relationship, broken lives, broken world. Indeed the further people stray from a proper relationship with God the more they can expect the entire system to dysfunction and for that dysfunction to bring about suffering (Genesis 3:16-19). Now this is the bare “Theology” but really, just as Scientists will never fully provide answers for our current condition, neither do we Christian fully understand why God allows suffering, and it is a real dilemma for us as well as non-Christians. While human suffering, then, is not surprising as an overall concept in Biblical terms, it is none-the-less difficult to make sense of in individual circumstances, and Christians are not immune from suffering either. Human beings, though, even today contribute to natural disasters and suffering. For example, many floods result from the cutting down of forests; increasingly violent weather is the result of global warming; we build houses on floodplains; the lust for power or dominance of ideologies along with selfishness and greed bring about much violence and other atrocities.

The Bible makes it clear that humans are given a special part to play as stewards, carers of the environment. Here is what Hildegaard of Bingen wrote in the12th Century, “With nature’s help, humankind can set into creation all that is necessary and life-sustaining. This is possible, possible through the right and holy utilisation of the earth, the earth in which humankind has its source.” So God gave us the job of caring for his creation, including animals: "The Godly are concerned for the welfare of their animals." (Proverbs 12:10). In truth we have not always been good stewards of God’s creation, nor are we still. Many Christians are acutely aware of the need for change and the Christian Ecology Movement has recently launched a campaign called “Operation Noah”. It aims to encourage Britain’s churches and government to lead a radical transformation in both our culture and economic systems; a transformation towards simpler, supportable lifestyles that will increase happiness and well-being, while safeguarding the whole of God’s creation for future generations. Now, that is something we can sign-up to.

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CHRISTIANITY

Where to start? A Good place is with the question, "What is a Christian?" Having been baptised doesn't itself make you a Christian, going to Church doesn’t make you a Christian, nor does trying hard to be nice. It’s a matter of the heart.

According to Jesus, his followers are people who have a personal relationship with him. Knowing about Jesus simply isn’t enough. As you read the bible you come face to face with the claims Jesus made about himself. Most importantly, Jesus says he’s the Son of God - with authority over each one of us - and we need to consider how we are going to respond to that. The world is full of people who haven’t found what they are looking for. There’s something missing. A restless feeling inside. Jesus teaches that real satisfaction and purpose come when we put him at the centre of our lives. The separation between us and God that was caused by our sinful natures can be ended when we understand the mission of his Son who came to reconcile us through his crucifixion - his own innocent life given for us, the guilty. Jesus makes this offer to all of us ‘I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in and eat with him‘ Revelation 3:20.

Want to more about what we believe? Then come and join us Sunday by Sunday if you live near us. Below you can read more in articles written for our church magazine headed "What we believe".