Christianity 101

The corrupting world and corruptible man

We contend that a baby is born with a pure soul. Yet in time he or she is tarnished to some degree by environmental factors. This confirms that the pure soul is corruptible, and that the world is corrupting. So, when a couple conceives a child, by the grace of God and through our corruptible nature, a new good but corruptible person is produced.

The wrongs that we do in the course of life may offend other people but are infinitely egregious to God. This is on account of our acting against divine love. For although it is bad to hurt a stranger who does not care for us, it is so much worse to offend a relative who has unselfishly given all he had to us in loving us. So, although most of us are unaware of it, God is owed recompence from us, or at least a request for his pardon. This means also that to the extent that we can, we must appreciate the truth concerning sin, with respect to God.

The ”Good News” or Gospel is that through Jesus’ death and resurrection, God both revealed the horror of sin from His perspective. Through this same action of Jesus, God is also offered due recompence on behalf of mankind. And then, by sending the Holy Spirit on us so our lives may conform God’s divine will, God offers to re-create us. Thus, starting with our spirit. we could become incorruptible in our complete humanity —in spirit, and eventually in body as well.

God, The Holy Trinity

Christianity teaches that the one indivisible God is a community of 3 distinct persons, (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), all are equal in majesty, and all always agree. The Son always obeys the Father, who always gives all he has to the Son. The Holy Spirit makes the will of the Father and the Son happen.

The spiritual dynamic

All goodness comes from God. Incorruptible (perfect) relationships between persons are dependent on our relationship with God. God The Son became the perfect human, Jesus who gives perfect worship and obedience to God the Father. Because of this, God the Holy Spirit comes upon those who align themselves to Jesus, empowering them to relate lovingly to others, even to those who hate them. As a person allows the Holy Spirit to guide them, their love is perfected.

This perfect dynamic between God the Father and God the Son through which all goodness comes and is perfected, is given to us to partake in. This happens through the “breaking of the bread” which is the Holy Eucharist, —the real and sacramental Jesus.

It is important to understand that God’s love comes to perfection through Jesus. This perfection is not just natural human affections. It is a perfection which comes through uniting our joys, but particularly our sufferings with those of Jesus. Disciples are to rejoice and be thankful in their hearts for everything they endure, whether pleasant or unpleasant, and to consider all as opportunities to show appreciation to God the Father who turns everything to their good.

Creation of a new incorruptible man.

Jesus is the pure uncorruptible Son of God who, in obedience to the Father became man to firstly bear the consequences of the wrongs every human will ever commit. He did so by suffering and dying in obedience to God the Father. Secondly, he offers his Spirit to empower and guide anyone who chooses to accept it. This Spirit in some way marks the soul of the individual as one who is to be incorporated with Jesus’ state of incorruptibility. Even though such a person might still do wrong, as long as he or she diligently works with the Holy Spirit to obey and follow Jesus, they are guaranteed to be purified and rendered incorruptible, if not before their physical death, in the life to follow.

All who are baptized become members of Jesus’ Church. In some mystical way, the Church is joined to the resurrected Jesus, and destined to share in his divine, incorruptible nature forever, even as he chose to share our human nature.

The role of the mother of Jesus.

A wife announces, “Darling, we are having a baby,” and there is joy mixed with some anxiety in the home. Is it a boy or girl? What will its future be in our crazy world? The parents have hopes but ultimately have no certainty. This is so different to the unique instance of The Holy Annunciation when Jesus was conceived in his mother’s womb. Then it was not a matter of a woman hoping to get pregnant, not knowing the sex or the future of her child. Most remarkably, the child himself willingly chose with all his heart to be conceived in the womb of that particular woman, and the woman chose to bear that particular child.

Procreating with God is remarkable but commonplace. Women get pregnant all the time. However, what happened at the Annunciation was unique. It was the first and only time that conception was not the result of a woman willing to work with God to create another person with a corruptible nature. In the conception of Jesus, the woman worked with God to re-create a new human with a new incorruptible nature. Corruptible man will later learn that he too could share in Jesus’ incorruptible nature. Jesus has the power to make this possible because although this new person Jesus is a man, he is not a creature but the eternal creator Himself. What a stupendous and wonderful thing!

Except for the Annunciation, conception involves 5 persons, —a man, a woman, and the Holy Trinity. Often, the three Divine Persons are the only ones totally willing to the process of procreation. However, the Annunciation uniquely involved four persons, each totally committed toward the fulfilment of one and the same mission which was the father’s plan. It is important to appreciate that the purity and love of each of the four persons is vital and integral to the salvation of the world. It is true that we are redeemed by the will of the Father, the sacrifice of the Son, and the power of the Spirit. But it is equally true that through that one creature’s willing involvement in the plan, all creatures are redeemed.

We must understand that God’s plan to re-create fallen creation was given to this pure humble creature for her assent to be part of it! We might say that when God asked the virgin to bear his child, God was asking creation whether creation was willing to be redeemed. On behalf of the whole of creation, Mary said Yes. God will not save any soul which has no desire to be saved. The same holds for the salvation of the world. God would not have saved humankind without the willing acceptance of mankind. This was done on behalf of all of us by our blessed Mother.

The bible tells us that the first created woman accepted the fruit of death and gave it to the rest of mankind. The virgin however, who through God’s special grace is the first re-created creature of the new creation, accepted the Son who is the fruit of life. And she invites every member of fallen mankind to accept him who is the source of life for our rebirth, our re-creation. To deny or downplay Mary’s active role in the redemption and re-creation of the world is to deny the fulness of the Gospel of Christ.

The Church, which is the bride of Christ and our mother, follows in the Virgin’s work. The Church continues to contribute to God’s plan of redemption and re-creation. Through the baptizing of corruptible people and its witness to the world, souls have been re-created since the beginning of the Church. So, even as we get all sentimental with our usual cultural and traditional Christmas preparations, let us appreciate the wonder of the virgin birth in its full context, along with the birth of our beloved Church. But in particular, let us meditate on the birth of our redeemer, and the role of his Virgin Mother, our co-redeemer, according to the Father’s plan.

What a disciple may expect

In the spiritual path one’s perception of many things changes. One sees that being Christian involves appreciating that one was created through Christ and for Christ; one’s purpose is not so much to do but to be. One must strive to be like Christ. That means one sees oneself as an obedient child of the Father, even to often deny oneself in serving others as Christ did. One begins to value human life differently than how most of the world does. For example, one may see abortion as much more egregious than if someone destroys a priceless work of art or some ancient monument.

Gradually one grows to see responsibilities as privileges more than obligations. Life becomes more appreciated as a gift from God and a gift to be offered back to God in living it in accordance with God’s wishes. Praying, fasting, and offering penances are realized to be great privileged opportunities to express love, and be more sensitive to the will of God.

The Christian becomes less fearful of death or of any disaster but learns that if he or she give themselves faithfully to God’s wishes, God will give him or her everything required for a fulfilling life. And although life will have sufferings as anyone will have, even the sufferings will be meaningful, and one may rejoice even in the midst of it all.

One would experience an inner peace which is not necessarily a peace without conflict, but one which exists regardless of whether or not there is conflict. It is as Christ says, “a peace the world cannot give.” It is a gift of the Holy Spirit. One should expect other gifts such as unconquerable joy, patience and self-control.

One’s value system becomes more and more geared toward being godly as opposed to being wealthy or honoured by the world, or becoming more proficient in any other skill than being sensitive to the will of God and the service of others. As Jesus described in the bible, one finds oneself when one loses oneself. Christ himself lost himself in service to the Father and us, and was raised from death to immortal, glorious life. The Christian is assured a similar fate like Christ’s.

An analogy of heaven and the final things (this is my understanding of Christian teaching on the subject, put in graphic form.)

One might think of a soul as a flat mirror which has no light of its own, and God as a flat mirror which issues the most resplendent light. The soul-mirror of each person is different from all others in size and shape, and without baptism it is hidden behind a veil. This veil clings to the nature of corruptible man. It is indeed what makes him corruptible. Baptism permanently removes the veil.

When a person sins, part of the soul-mirror becomes tarnished. If the sin is serious enough, the entire soul-mirror becomes tarnished and unable to reflect anything.

After a baptized person dies, the soul faces the God-mirror. If it bears no tarnish, the God-mirror is infinitely reflected in the soul-mirror, and the soul-mirror is infinitely reflected in the God-mirror. In this way, the soul-mirror partakes in the nature of God. If it is partially tarnished, the light which is reflected from the untarnished parts becomes healing rays as it is re-reflected onto the tarnished parts. This is a process of purification which is painful but necessary.

Whether or not a person is baptized, if the soul has serious sin that tarnished the whole soul-mirror, the light from the God-mirror will forever burn it without hope of healing. This is eternal hell. If the soul-mirror of an unbaptized person which has no tarnish from serious personal sin comes before the God-mirror, even if it does not suffer the pains of hell like the completely tarnished soul mirror does, it still could never reflect the glory of God in itself. It would not partake in the nature of God because of its veil. It will forever be in total darkness, suffering deprivation of everlasting joy.

Baptism

The Church is mandated to spread the good news of redemption, and to baptize all who wish to be children of God in Christ. The formula for baptism the Church was given involves the use of running water and certain words. However, the Church recognizes that the sincere wish to follow Christ by a person who, for reasons not of their own making had not been able to undergo formal baptism, might be considered baptized in God’s eyes. I am not in a position to exhaust the theological implications of this and can only exhort all non-Christians to consider this unique gift of love from God, and to be formally baptized.

Epilogue

Christianity is often classed as just another religion which teaches moral perspectives, or philosophical and theological ideas. However, the most obvious difference between Christianity and all other religions is its claim of offering the supernatural power for disciples to move beyond natural inclinations which lead to the corruption of humanity. It is not about willpower or techniques of prayer or meditation. It is fundamentally about a supernatural gift from God; it is about a supernatural offer. This power is attested to by the historical resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and his subsequent formation of his Church of politically powerless disciples which endured and grew amidst a hostile world. And of course, attested to by its countless miracles throughout its 2000-year history.

A huge difference between Christianity and all other religions is that while other religions may see divinity as benevolent towards people, it costs those gods little to nothing to assist humans. Christianity contends that through Jesus, God revealed that it costs him everything to love us. Our redemption might be free for us, but it is not free. The cost is the broken body of Christ and the broken heart of God. God offers everything possible, everything he has, his very self unreservedly. The only question is how much we desire to receive Him.

The following was used as an introduction to Christianity for a very good Buddhist friend. Perhaps others may find it useful.