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How do I become a Christian? New Jesus
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JesusA good way of finding out what Jesus is really like is to read one of the books that Christians call the four “Gospels”. These books are about 40 pages of small to medium size print and can be read in one night by a good reader. See the article “Why should I read the Bible?” for information about a website where you can read a modern English translation of the Gospels (and other Bible books) for free. (Other languages and translations are also available.) I also have a link from that page to a website where you can search on Bible topics and links to websites that discuss why you can trust the Bible.Another good way of seeing what Jesus did is to watch the movie “the Passion of the Christ” or the “Jesus” movie. While the “Jesus” movie does not look as polished as Mel Gibson’s movie it does cover more of Jesus’ life than just his trial and crucifixion. Both movies are worth watching at least once for what you can learn about Jesus. You can watch the Jesus film online for free and if English is not your first language there is a large selection of languages as well. Jesus Christ is a man who was born about 2000 years ago in the town of Bethlehem in Israel. (Historians place his date of birth between 6 B.C. and 0 B.C.). He lived in a small town in Palestine called Nazareth and worked as a carpenter. But what sets Jesus apart from other men is that he claimed to be more than just a man. The name Jesus means ‘God saves’. The name Christ means Messiah or ‘the Anointed One’. To the Jews the Messiah was someone special, someone who was going to fulfil many prophecies written about him in the part of the Bible known as the Old Testament. The Jews were waiting for the Messiah because they believed that he would rescue them from the Roman Empire. The Jews were looking for a political king but Jesus came to teach people about a kingdom that was meant to rule their hearts and to give his life up as a sacrifice (more about that later). Jesus claimed to be the Son of God (another name for the Messiah) but the Jews rejected him and pressured the Roman Governor called Pontius Pilate to have him crucified because Jesus upset the religious leaders of the Jews when he called them hypocrites. He called them hypocrites because they loved religious laws and tradition more than they loved God and people. This was not an accident; God actually planned that the first time that Jesus came to the World that he would be rejected, beaten, whipped and killed Jesus started his public ministry when he was about 30 and spoke publicly for about 3 years. He was put to death by Roman crucifixion when he was about 33 years old, just outside of the city of Jerusalem. Jesus had predicted that he would die on a cross and rise from the dead 3 days later (Luke 24:46). The Bible teaches that sin is doing something that God tells us not to do or not doing something that God has asked us to do. The Bible also says that the punishment for sin is death (Rom 3:23). The ultimate meaning of “death” in the Bible is to be separated from God and his love. But Jesus came to die for our sin; he took our punishment so that we would not have to stay separated from God. So Jesus sacrificed his own life to pay for all of our sins. Jesus said, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son [Jesus], so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.” (John 3:16-17) Jesus selected a group of followers that were known as his disciples. He went throughout Palestine teaching, healing sick people and bringing dead people back to life. He told his disciples that he was ‘the way the truth and the life’ (That it was only through him that people could know God and live forever) and that to see him was to see ‘the Father’ (meaning to see him is to see God). Jesus’ disciples were timid and afraid the night before Jesus died. After Jesus died his disciples were discouraged and must have felt that it had all been for nothing. But something happened that changed the disciples from fearful and timid cowards into bold men who were able to stand up to the same authorities that they had been hiding from. What was it that changed them? There were two main events that radically changed the followers of Jesus. One was when they saw Jesus alive and risen from the dead. The other was about seven weeks later when they had a supernatural encounter with God. God gave them a supernatural ability to talk to people from different countries in their own languages. God took away their fear of the religious leaders and they started talking about Jesus everywhere they went and that is how the Christian church was started. See Acts chapters 1 and 2. Jesus is still alive. He is still healing sick people, still raising people back to life from the dead and he is changing millions of people’s lives all over the world. God loves you and he wants to change your life for the better. To see how you can become a Christian see ‘How do you become a Christian?’ To find out how to find a Church where miracles are still happening see ‘How do you find the right Church?’ To see a video talk presented by If you would like to learn more about Jesus then I recommend that you read the book of John in a modern English Bible like the New Living Translation (NLT). See the index in the front of the Bible if you can’t find the book of John. (Don't get it mixed up with “The first letter of John” or “1 John”, 1 John is near the end of the Bible, John is about 3/4 of the way in). Here is a link to on a website where you can read the Bible for free. |