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    Christianity for Beginners
    Christianity for Beginners
    Christianity for Beginners
    Ebook96 pages1 hour

    Christianity for Beginners

    By Mike Mazzalongo

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    About this ebook

    This book explains basic topics such as belief in God, the history and writing of the Bible, the person of Jesus, the nature of salvation and more. All presented in an easy-to-understand approach suitable for those less familiar with the Bible or the Christian religion.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBibleTalk.tv
    Release dateMar 11, 2020
    ISBN9780463407011
    Author

    Mike Mazzalongo

    Mike Mazzalongo has been a Bible teacher and preacher since 1979. He has served as Dean of Students at Oklahoma Christian University. Mike’s first book was published in 1995 by College Press and he has written over 40 other books since that time. He presently serves as the Media Minister for the Choctaw Church of Christ located in the Oklahoma City area. Mike is married to Lise and together they have 4 children and 12 grandchildren.

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      Book preview

      Christianity for Beginners - Mike Mazzalongo

      Christianity for Beginners

      Mike Mazzalongo

      THE FOR BEGINNERS SERIES

      The For Beginners series of video classes and books provide a non-technical and easy to understand presentation of Bible books and topics that are rich in information and application for the beginner as well as the mature Bible student.

      bibletalk.tv/for-beginners

      Copyright © 2014 by Mike Mazzalongo

      ISBN: 9780990415589

      BibleTalk.tv

      14998 E. Reno

      Choctaw, Oklahoma 73020

      Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

      Table of Contents

      1. Belief in God

      2. The Christian Religion

      3. The Bible

      4. Jesus Christ

      5. Salvation

      6. The Church

      7. The Christian Lifestyle

      A NOTE FOR READERS

      This book is designed for those who are new to the Christian religion and for those who want a refresher course on the basic ideas upon which Christianity is based. There are seven chapters in the book:

      Belief in God – The basic reason why we believe in God, or a Supreme Being.

      The Christian Religion – A study of the major religions in the world and how Christianity compares to these.

      The Bible – A brief look at how the Bible was written, how it came to us in its present form, and why we believe that it is revelation or inspired by God.

      Jesus Christ – This chapter will focus on the central figure in Christianity, Jesus Christ.

      Salvation – In this chapter we will review the main idea of the Christian religion which is its solution to mankind's greatest problem - sin.

      The Church – We will examine what Jesus and the Apostles say about the church and how the Bible describes it.

      The Christian Lifestyle – Our final chapter will describe what is the style and purpose of Christian life.

      Of course, Jesus Christ, the Bible, and the church, as well as all of these other subjects can take many years of study to fully understand and appreciate. However, this book is given as a brief introduction, a summary of the Christian religion and its beliefs in order to help students begin their journey of faith and the blessings that come as a result.

      1.

      Belief in God

      When it comes to any religion, including Christianity, the beginning point is a belief in God. Most people believe what their parents and grandparents believed about God. When we examine the question a little more objectively however, we find out that there are many ideas about God.

      Some believe there is no God and that this life is all there is.

      Some believe that there are many gods that exist in nature and beyond nature.

      Still others believe that there is only one God and that He is supreme over all things and people.

      Most religions in the world are based on the belief that there is one or many gods and we'll examine these religions more closely in our next chapter. In this chapter we want to examine what Christianity believes about God and why.

      What Christianity Believes About God

      Christians arrive at their conclusions about God based on three sources.

      #1 - Human Reasoning

      Human beings have asked themselves about the existence of God throughout history. The various thoughts and theories about the existence of God have produced several key arguments that support, from human reason and observation, the idea that there is a God. Here are a few of these arguments.

      The First Cause Argument

      If every effect has a cause, what or who caused the world to come into existence? Scientists can only say that they believe that the universe and all life in the universe are the result of a Big Bang or cosmic explosion millions even billions of years ago. They cannot, however, explain what or who caused this explosion. The first cause argument says that a being greater and more complex than the universe (God) caused this big bang and set the creation of the world into motion.

      The Complexity Argument

      This reasoning says that only a complex mind could have conceived and created a complex world. Since complex, living, animate beings cannot naturally come from simple, non-living, inanimate matter (for example a bird cannot evolve from a stone) then the world of matter and animated beings must have been conceived and created by a being more complex than His creation (God). For example, a person creates a computer not the other way around.

      The Moral/Spiritual Argument

      The desire to do right, or be good does not exist in simple matter. Even in higher life forms like monkeys for example the need to search for God, to reach up and worship a higher being is not present. Where does this moral/spiritual element come from? It does not evolve from matter or lower animals. We reason that it comes from above humanity - God.

      These are some, but not all of the arguments of purely human thought and conclusions about the existence of God.

      Christianity's belief in God includes this human reasoning but has two other sources of information to base its belief in a Supreme Being.

      #2 - The Bible

      We will study about the history and content of the Bible in our 3rd chapter, but for now let us just say that the Bible contains information about who God is and not just that He exists. Christianity's concept of the personality of God is based on the revealing (or revelation) of His character and actions in the Bible.

      Someone could say, How do we know that the Bible's information is reliable? I will answer this

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