Day 4 – Basic Christianity

Session #4
Q-1 In your own words answer the question – What is Christianity? 
"All of us have beliefs about the world we think are accurate.  All of us have a worldview picture—at least a rudimentary one—forming in our minds, even if we are not consciously aware of it.  Every religion tells a story of reality.  Every philosophy and every individual outlook on life is a take on the way someone thinks the world actually is. There is no escaping it. These stories are meant to bring order to our beliefs, to explain the “pieces” of reality that we encounter in life, whether big things or little things, important or inconsequential.

All worldviews are not equal, though.  Some have pieces that seem to fit together (internally) better than others, and some have pieces that seem to fit reality (externally) better than others.  If they are good stories—that is, if they explain many things, especially the most important things, in a way consistent with our normal encounters with the world—then we have more confidence the stories are accurate, which is just another way of saying the worldview is true, at least for those parts that fit well."

Greg Koukl - Christianity: Fantasy or Reality?
The Christian story of reality follows a clear and precise order:
 
1- God
2- Man
3- Jesus
4- Cross
5- Resurrection
Mark 12:15-17
 
15 Shall we pay or shall we not pay?” But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a [a]denarius to look at.” 16 They brought one. And He *said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” And they said to Him, “Caesar’s.” 17 And Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they [b]were amazed at Him.
Q-2 In the context of the passage you just read, what do think Jesus meant when he said “render…to God the things that are God’s”? 
Q-3 In some form we all believe in and hope for justice. However, for many of us our idea of who is in need of being brought to justice conveniently excludes ourselves. The fact is we have all sinned against God in violating his moral will.
 
With this fact in mind, what do you think of the idea that those who lead “good” lives are deserving of heaven? 
"There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously - no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption."

-- CS Lewis
Q-4 What do you think of the CS Lewis quote you just read in light of the Christian view of reality?
Q-5 During next two small group session we are going to take the information we have covered to this point and learn how to communicate and/or defend it effectively. With this in mind, try to summarize what we have learned to this point.
 
Use the following questions to help formulate your answer:
 
1- What evidence do we have for a creator?
2- Why Christianity?  Can we trust the Bible or who Jesus said he was?
3- What is Christianity?