Audience of One is the weblog of Matthew Weston, a UK student, Christian, technophile and musician.

My Faith

What I Believe

I am a Christian – a term that has come to mean all sorts of things that I disagree with. So-called Christians have been responsible for racism, misogyny (as well as extreme patriarchy) and many other such things; the God of these people has used as an excuse for anything from murder to child abuse. That's not what I mean when I say Christian. I use it as it was originally used, to mean a follower of Christ.

So what do I believe, and what has led me to call myself a follower of Christ?

Firstly, that there is a perfect God who made everything, from our planet and the people on it to the many billions of scattered stars and galaxies in the Universe; but he didn't just make it: he is continually upholding it, and making it work. What we call science is a description of the rules that God chooses to follow in his upholding of the world. (Genesis 1:1-25.)

Secondly, that we are special; that we alone as humans are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27) and were created to have a relationship with him. We, as people made in God's image can have a relationship with him – the creator, the one who made us, who knows everything about us. That same creator wants to know us personally, and we'd be mad not to want the same. Well, not mad… but sinners.

That's the third point: that we're all sinners – we all sin. Sin is a word often used to mean wrong things that people do: murder, theft or lust are often called sins. Sin as I often think of it is quite easy to remember: it's sIn – putting I in the centre (or putting me in the centre for grammar purists such as me – pity it doesn't work like that) as opposed to God being in the centre. We all do it; we all put ourselves before God. God made us to have a relationship with him and to follow him, so that is what we should do – it's the way things are meant to be. However we all reject God, whether consciously or unconsciously, by choosing to put ourselves first. That's what sin is: putting ourselves before God. The thing is, God as our creator actually knows what's best for us better than we do ourselves. So by rejecting him we're missing out on two things: the relationship we were created for in the first place and the guidance of someone who knows what is best for us.

And that's not all we miss out on if we reject God. By rejecting him, we're saying that we don't want to know him. So he grants our wish, and when we die, we go to a place where we can't know God. It's called Hell. That's what Hell is; it's not burning sulphur or red demons with pitchforks and forked tails, but simply separation from God: what we asked for. Now, everything good comes from God – so what will it be like in a place with no God? Not good, that's for sure. That's why Hell is always thought of as so bad. God's not there, so good's not there either. Who wants to be in a place with no good?

Knowing that, we try to have the relationship with God that we're created for. One problem: it's impossible. No-one can do it. However much we try and live as God wants we cannot, and fall back into our own selfish ways.

There's also the fact that God is perfectly just, and cannot let wrongs go unpunished. Guess what the punishment for this is? Separation from God – because God is perfect, and cannot stand imperfection. We are imperfect, so God cannot let us into his presence. He must punish the wrong – and the punishment for that is eternal death (another name for Hell).

So we're faced with two choices.

The first: we live for ourselves, and are cut off from God as we want to be. Result: Hell.

The second: we try to live for God, but fail, and are cut off from God as he can't be with imperfection without being unjust. Result: Hell.

The human race seems pretty screwed. Two choices, same ending. Why did God create us if he knew this was going to happen? Because right from the start, he had a rescue plan. It started with his chosen people, the Jews, back in the Old Testament of the Bible, and (almost) ended up with a Jewish carpenter-turned-preacher getting executed by the Romans. This plan means that even though we've messed up and continue to mess up, in God's eyes we can now appear perfect.

Jesus was the plan. Right back at the beginning of creation, we are promised a serpent-crusher, one who could save everyone from sin. Later on he was called the Messiah, or saviour. The Greek word for this is Christ.

Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the saviour. Now, who could defeat sin but one who had no sin himself? Humans are all sinful, though. Only God is perfect. So Jesus, if he was to be the Christ, must be God. However, how could he take away the sins of human without being human himself?

Jesus was both God and man. He was the rescuer. So how could he save everyone? We've been talking about saving people from sin; how can Jesus save us from sin? The answer is by substitution. We as sinners deserve the punishment of separation from God. That's what our wrongs deserve, but Jesus gave his own life up to this death, this separation that we deserved. By trusting in that sacrifice – believing that Jesus died in our place – we can have the relationship with God we were created to have. There's no sin in the way, we're now perfect in God's eyes, because Jesus' death took away everything we've ever done wrong. If we believe this, then we can have a relationship with God.

Why I Believe It

But how can we know that it worked? How can we be sure that Jesus' sacrifice has taken away our sin, and that we will have that relationship with God after we die? Or now, for that matter?

It comes down to the heart of the Christian message – the bit which without it, Christianity would be nothing. The bit about the resurrection. The end of the Easter story. The end of God's rescue plan. Jesus coming back from the dead.

Jesus was so powerful (being God) that even death could not hold him. He came back from death, defeating sin. That's how we can be sure that this is all true; that Jesus was the Son of God, he was who he said he was and his death did what he said it would do. By coming back to life Jesus showed that yes, he was God, and yes, he did have power over death – and yes, sin was defeated. Yes, we can have that relationship with God that we were made for.

That's one reason why I believe what I believe. Another reason could be the amazing effect that I've seen him have on my and other people's lives; yet another reason could be just that it makes complete sense of everything. It all comes down to evidence. Does Christianity make sense of the world, but most importantly, is it true? I believe it is. Historical evidence, scientific evidence, psychological and physiological evidence – it's all there and it all points to Jesus. He's saved me.

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