Christianity 101

This post will entirely contradict this title.

Christianity isn't about going to church. Though church is good for reinforcing the foundation of your faith with knowledge. Church is also good for fellowshipping and building relationships with fellow believers - other people who share your faith and can strengthen you.
Christianity isn't about having all the right friends and exclusively talking to Christians. You are not better than any other person because we all sin. If you exclusively talk to Christians, then how can you possibly reach out to those who don't know God?
Christianity isn't about denomination. People like to think it is. People like to think that the way you worship makes you a better Christian, or the language you speak, or the dogmas and doctrines that distinguish one church from another. The commonality between Mormons, Catholics, Lutherans, baptists, Pentecostals, and all the others is one thing: the Bible. All of these denominations follow the Bible and it's teachings. The difference is what you take from the words that are written. Sure, the Mormons have an additional book that they teach from. Yes, the Catholics have added some books. Or from another perspective, the Protestants took out some books. Either way, this blog will be a focus on the 66 standard and universal books.

The truth is that Christianity is about the relationship between you and God.

Being a Christian is not just about reading the Bible, but about understanding it and applying it to your life. Even when you mess up, a Christian understands that God always forgives and He never wants you to give up on your pursuit of Him, because He will never give up on His pursuit of you.

Christianity is about faith and faith alone. A man can have all the knowledge in the world, but if he doesn't have faith in God, then he is no better off than an atheist. My mom's stepdad could quote scripture, and he would use it against people, twisting the words into a different meaning. He had the knowledge, but he did not have a speck of faith and therefore when he died, his soul did not enter Heaven.

As a Christian, there is no single verse or idea that is the basis of faith. As a Christian, you MUST believe in 3 things equally. You must believe in 1) the Father God, 2) His son Jesus, and 3) the Spirit of the Holy Ghost. The trinity. You must believe that those three are the same entity. They are the same. They are equal in authority. But they are separate in order to explain different qualities of God to humanity.
There are also 3 events in the bible that you have to believe in. These three events are also equal in importance. You can correlate each to a different part of the trinity.
1) You must believe in creation. You must believe that God with a snap of his fingers created. Not creating like painting where you buy paints from someone who makes paint, or baking where you have to collect all your ingredients and then wait for it to be done. The
only way I can describe it is that He created like magic. You must believe that the God you worship is so omnipotent that He made things that were not there before. He was not replicating something that had already been. He imagined something new, and then he made it real. He still has this power. Probably because the events of sin, he stopped using this power. But that doesn't mean he's rusty.
2) You must believe in the virgin birth and immaculate conception. You must believe that the Holy Spirit came to Mary and without male DNA contribution, a baby was formed.
3) You must believe that Jesus, the Son of God, died to save your soul from Hell. Not gonna go all fire and brimstone on you, but you must believe that He sacrificed Himself so you could be reunited in Heaven as we were originally intended. The other half of this, is that you must believe that Jesus came back to life after dying. He was dead for 3 days and then not only did He save our souls, but to prove His power, He rose from the grave, in a non-zombie fashion.
Some people choose to celebrate one event more than others. Easter celebrates when Jesus rose from the grave, Good Friday celebrates that His death saves us, and Christmas celebrates the virgin birth. Where is our holiday to celebrate creation? This is why you should celebrate being alive everyday. Every day is a holiday when you know that God created you. Go ahead, leave up your Christmas decorations all year round. Go ahead, sing songs like "in Christ alone" and "Christ The Lord has risen today" and "the wonderful cross" all year round. Doing things like this every day is how you incorporate Jesus into your everyday life. Don't be a Sunday Christian who only lives like a Christian only on Sundays and holidays. Don't be a person who's only a Christian as long as the banks and post offices are closed.