Understanding Christian Theology and Fundamentals Thread (Part 1)

This thread is for believers, lukewarm believers and non-believers at the same time. I’m making this short and to the point. As I am able to give an answer to every question you can raise about or against the Bible, I only have 140 characters so bare with me.

Let’s start with the Holy Bible

The fact that we have a Bible mitigates against the idea of blind faith. The Bible is a reliable collection of historical documents written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses. (1/5)

They report supernatural events that took place in the fulfillment of specific prophecies and claim that their writings are divine rather than human in origin. (2/5)

The Protestant Bible is made up of 66 different books written on three continents (Asia, Africa, and Europe) in three languages (Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic) by more than 40 authors, most of whom never met one another because they wrote over a period of about 1,500 years. (3/5)

The accuracy of historical events presented in the Bible is supported by the findings of more than 23,000 archeological digs and no scientific dig has disproved the Bible to date. (4/5)

God protects His word truly and the Bible after 2000 years of having closed cannon remains unaltered by time. The most recent archeological find that supports this claim is the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls Discovered: 1946 –1956, which contains fragments of the NT & OT. (5/5)

Next is the Bibles Structure.

The Christian Bible has two sections, the Old Testament and the New Testament, the word testament meaning Covenant in Hebrew. As the book foretells the complete story of God's covenants and plan to reconcile with man from beginning to end. (1/5)

The Old Testament is the original Hebrew Bible, the sacred scriptures of the Jewish faith, written at different times between about 1200 and 165 BC. The New Testament books were written by Christians in the first century AD. (2/5)

The Bible is not just one book, but an entire library, with stories, songs, poetry, letters, and history, as well as literature. There are also additional books outside of the main canon named Apocrypha or Deuterocanonical books. (3/5)

The word Apocrypha means “hidden,” while the word deuterocanonical means “second canon.” The Apocrypha/Deuterocanonicals were written primarily in the time between the Old and New Testaments. Those books teach many things that are not true and are not historically accurate. (4/5)

While many Catholics accepted the Apocrypha / Deuterocanonicals previously, the Roman Catholic Church officially added the Apocrypha / Deuterocanonicals to their Bible at the Council of Trent in the mid-1500s A.D., primarily in response to the Protestant Reformation. (5/5)

Basics of Christian Theology (Reformed)

The most important thing in Christian Doctrine is the Gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. (Romans 1:16). The word Gospel means “Good News” and it is the good news you may ask? Jesus Christ. (1/4)

You can summarize (very brief summary) the Gospel into 6 key points.

1. God created us for his glory.
2. Therefore every human should live for God’s glory
3. Nevertheless, we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.
4. Therefore we all deserve eternal punishment. (2/4)

5. Yet, in his great mercy, God sent his only Son Jesus Christ into the world to provide for sinners the way of eternal life.
6. Therefore eternal life is a free gift to all who will trust in Christ as Lord and Savior and supreme Treasure of their lives. (3/4)

I truly recommend you read the whole thing as it is the only way to gain the complete picture. However, there are key doctrines needed to understand the Gospel.
I'll talk about the keys to unlocking the Gospel message next
(4/4)

Lesson 1 Understanding Sin.

Sin is described in the Bible as transgression of the law of God (1 John 3:4) and rebellion against God (Deuteronomy 9:7; Joshua 1:18). Sin had its beginning with Lucifer, probably the most beautiful and powerful of the angels. (1/4)

Not content with his position, he desired to be higher than God, and that was his downfall the beginning of sin (Isaiah 14:12-15). Renamed Satan, he brought sin to the human race in the Garden of Eden where he tempted Adam and Eve with the same enticement, “you shall be like God.

Genesis 3 describes Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God and against His command. Since that time, sin has been passed down through all the generations of mankind and we, Adam’s descendants, have inherited sin from him. (3/4)

Romans 5:12 tells us that through Adam sin entered the world, and so death was passed on to all men because “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). (4/4)

Lesson 2 The fall and total depravity of man.

The doctrine of total depravity is an acknowledgment that the Bible teaches that as a result of the fall of man (Genesis 3:6) every part of man his mind, will, emotions, and flesh have been corrupted by sin. (1/3)

In other words, sin affects all areas of our being including who we are and what we do. It penetrates to the very core of our being so that everything is tainted by sin and “…all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” before a holy God (Isaiah 64:6). (2/3)

It acknowledges that the Bible teaches that we sin because we are sinners by nature. No man no matter his appearance of Godliness does deal with some aspect of daily sin in his life. (3/3)

The 10 commandments (God’s moral law)

1. I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have any strange gods before Me.
2. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
3. Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.
4. Honor thy father and mother.
5. Thou shalt not kill. (1/2)

6. “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”
7. “Thou shalt not steal.”
8. “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.”
9. “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.”
10. “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods.”

We all have broken at least one of these. (2/2)