What is a Christian?
This site is called Christian Suicide Loss, what does “Christian” have to do with it?
“Christian” means “little Christ”. We are imitators of Jesus Christ.
My son, Tristan, became a Christian when he lived on this earth. Because of his personal commitment to Christ, his faith, he is, right now, in heaven.
What is faith?
“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” This is how the Bible describes faith in the book of Hebrews.
The Christian faith is rooted in history. Real. Live. History. A real man was born over 2,000 years ago who claimed to be God– an outrageous claim for anyone to make. It’s outrageous, unless it’s true. This man, named Jesus, proved His claim by being the boss of space, time and matter. He performed miracles that were recorded in a historical record. They were witnessed by large audiences. These recorded claims were corroborated by eyewitnesses.
What did these masses do with this God-Man, Jesus? They loved Him. They hated Him. They killed Him.
How can God die?
God incarnate in the form of Jesus was killed but the historical record also says He “laid down His life”.
Why would Jesus willingly lay down His life for those who hated Him?
Out of love. He knew his death would replace our own.
The Bible says that God created us to be in a personal relationship with Him. He created a wonderful world that was perfect. Then evil entered the world in the form of God’s greatest enemy, Satan. Satan hated God and His creation so much that he sought to ruin the beautiful world and people that God made. Satan lied about God to the first man and woman. Their names are Adam and Eve. They believed Satan’s lie and committed the first sin of humankind. Sin entered the beautiful world and brought upon it a curse. No longer would they enjoy a face-to-face relationship with God. They would now be separated from Him. Adam and Eve opened the door to death, sorrow, trauma, trouble, pain, defeat, and all the bad things that had not been part of the beautiful world.
Satan thought he won, but God had a plan all along. He bridged the separation with His own Son, Jesus. God would become a man, and come to earth to live the perfect life we were unable to. He became the sacrifice that our sin demanded.
Jesus beat sin by living a sinless life. Jesus beat Satan by rising from the dead. His life covers anyone willing to accept this and join Him in a relationship with God. He says, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand”.
To repent is to simply say what is true about your own sin and yield your life to God so that in His power, and under the forgiveness of Christ, you can now live for Him.
When you do that, your sins are washed away in God’s forgiveness, and you become a new creature on this earth. That’s the good news. The sad news is that the earth is still cursed and under sin’s domain. But there’s more good news! God has a plan for a New Earth!
Our ultimate destination is to live on an earth with no sin, no sadness, no sickness, no tears, and in perfect relationship to God and each other just like God created it in the first place. And that’s what’s coming in the future. In God’s perfect timing this current earth will be redeemed into a new one!
Once you are a Christian, you will be living for God, and waiting for the redemption of the world.
You will still sin, but the direction of your life will be ever onward and upward, living for God by the power of His Holy Spirit.
And when you die as a Christian, you go straight to be with God and Jesus in heaven. Everyone up there is waiting for Jesus to come back and ultimately establish the New Earth.
Tristan is there right now! And we can’t wait to see him again.
For more on becoming a Christian, and excellent proof texts from the historical account of the Christian faith, click this link:
For a biblical perspective on Heaven and the New Earth, click here:
https://www.epm.org/browse/heaven/