From what I am witnessing there are many people younger than myself that have missed much needed information about Christianity what it is all about and why be one. Lent followed by Easter will come and go, and you wondered about. Some of you may have thought, none of my friends said anything oh well where is the next party.
Peace be with you all,
Joe Govea, a true Catholic whose duty is to Evangelize
In this article I will attempt to give those that want to learn, some information on why you should be a follower of Jesus Christ the only son of God all mighty father creator of the universe. Jesus followers are called Christians.
All that information is found in the Bible but that takes a lot of reading. I will attempt to narrow it down to what I will call a quick start to why be a Christian.
Okay, here we go.
First God created earth and the whole universe. Before God created man, he revealed his plan to all the angels that were with him in heaven. He told them he was going to populate it with humans and create a Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. He informed them that eventually he would take on a man’s body and would live with mankind as King of his kingdom on earth and the universe. He would have human nature as well as divine nature, both God and man. The angels were to worship him on earth as they do in heaven. The people on earth were to be saintly and have angel status.
When one of the strong angels heard this, he did not like it. He was not going to worship a human. Many angels thought the same way. God heard that thought and threw all those angels out of heaven. They fell to earth and were here when God made Adam then Eve.
The first man, Adam, then later Eve had a glorified body. Thus, they were worthy to be around God and live in God’s paradise. They had it made.
The fallen angel that is called Satan, went to work to prove man was unworthy. The plan was to corrupt man by getting them to break the one rule God required of them. One was not to eat the fruit from tree of knowledge of good and evil. Satin told Eve a big lie that the only reason they could not eat the fruit was that they would become like God. He got her to eat the fruit. She in turn got Adam to eat from it. Yep, just like most of us do now, Adam and Eve misused the free will God gave them
Because of that violation man became unworthy and lost his glorified status. They were condemned to leave paradise and fend for themselves. Adam and Eve then populated the world just as God expected. From them came you and me.
God loves us like any good father loves his children. He still wants us to be with him in his kingdom, but we must be worthy.
Adam caused all of mankind to be unworthy. It would take another man to make man worthy again.
That is why Jesus Christ the man was born. Jesus was not created through hocus-pocus. It took hundreds of years for his birth to happen.
God established the Jewish nation from the tribe of Abraham. This man proved his stock was worthy to become God’s people when he was willing to offer his only son as a sacrifice to God as God had asked him to do.
After this proof of loyalty God gave the Jews all the rules and laws of how to live and worship. They became a nation apart from all the world of that time. It is all written in the Old Testament of the Bible.
From them was to come Jesus, the Messiah. The prophets foretold him in the Old Testament. The Messiah was to come and establish his kingdom in the entire world. He was to fulfill what was written in the Old Testament.
The Roman empire was ruling most all the known world during Jesus’s time. The Jews were anxious for the Messiah to come and set up his Kingdom. They wanted out from under Roman rule. They knew they would be part of the new kingdom. The high priest who ruled the Jews assumed they would have cushy positions in that kingdom.
When Jesus the Messiah finally did come, he did not come as a warrior. He came preaching that we should all love one another. He performed many miracles that proved he was from God. He even told them he was God’s son and the Messiah. Jesus was not the Messiah they were expecting.
The Jewish leaders saw and heard all the good he was doing but still rejected him and had him put to death. Jesus had seen how corrupt Jewish leaders had become and told them so. This was a threat to them and their positions.
During Jessus’s short life and 3-year ministry he establishes his Church on earth. He showed the Apostles what we must do to become a member of his kingdom here on earth as it is in Heaven. He taught them how to pray and live as members of his kingdom. He sent the Holy Spirit to guide them as they built his Church. This Holy spirit will also guide us if we just listen.
Jesus gave us the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist to keep us in a state of grace whereby our soul is ready to be with God in his Kingdom for eternity. Catholic Christians partake in these gifts.
We receive the Eucharist during our Catholic Mass. This ritual was established by Jesus during the “Last supper.” Jesus told his Apostles he was creating a new covenant with God by offering to God his body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. He knew the outcome which was getting ready to happen to him and let it happen. The Jews were to have him arrested, falsely accused of blasphemy and to be put to death. Jesus, a man, willingly suffered a horrible and painful death as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. He did it to prove his love for us. He proved his loyalty to God by trusting in the promise that he would rise again after death.
Love God back, be a Christian, Jesus has already done all the demanding work. All we have do is love God with our whole hearts, our whole minds, our whole selves, and love thy neighbor as we love ourselves.