Christianity For Dummies

Richard Wagner is publisher of Digitalwalk.net, a Web-based Christian discipleship magazine. He has more than a decade’s broad experience in church leadership and teaching roles.

• Foreword: xxiiiIntroduction 1About This Book 1Conventions Used in This Book 2What You’re Not to Read 4Foolish Assumptions 4How This Book Is Organized 4Part I: Uncovering What Christianity’s All About 5Part II: Exploring the Basic Principles of the Christian Faith 5Part III: Here’s the Church, Here’s the Steeple: Peeking into the Christian Church 5Part IV: Christian Living in a Postmodern World 5Part V: The Part of Tens 6Icons Used in This Book 6Where to Go from Here 7Part I: Uncovering What Christianity’s All About 9Chapter 1: Good News in a Bad News World 11Packing Christianity into a Nutshell 12Going back to the beginning: People choosing, God responding 12Understanding how Christians define their faith 13Being forewarned of stereotypes: What Christianity is not 16Making Sense of Christian Paradoxes 20Understanding How the Branches of the Church Came About 21Putting It into Perspective: Christianity in the World Today 22Focusing on facts about the faith 22Relating Christianity to other world faiths 23Chapter 2: Christianity: But Is It True? 27Defending the Faith Through Apologetics 28Exploring Whether God Exists 28The world appears to be intelligently designed 28People (most, anyway) can think and reason 29People instinctively sense right and wrong 30Demonstrating Christianity as a Livable Faith 31Retracing Christianity as a Historical Faith 33Examining artifacts 33Documenting history in the Bible 34Chapter 3: That Amazing Stuff Called Grace 41Defining Grace 42Grace is a costly gift 42Grace is undeserved 43Grace is an unexpected surprise 45Grace in a nutshell 46Receiving God’s Gift of Grace: Salvation 47Principle #1: God loves 48Principle #2: People sin 48Principle #3: God responds 50Principle #4: People must choose 51Understanding Salvation by Faith 52Being “Born Again” 54Dealing with Hopeless Cases 55Last gasps for a thief 56Within a stone’s throw of judgment 56The original “wretch like me” 56Part II: Exploring the Basic Principles of the Christian Faith 59Chapter 4: Sin: Why “Do’s and Don’ts” Miss the Bigger Picture 61Desiring to Be Different: The Original Ego Trip 61Revisiting the Fall 62Considering how the Fall changed everything 63Grappling with the Definition of Sin 65Categorizing two types of sin 65Weighing different sins 67Misunderstanding sin 67Empathizing with God’s View of Sin 69Tying in Humans’ Relation to the Fall 70Warring with Satan (And Knowing Who You’re Fighting Against) 71Experiencing Temptation 74Recognizing temptation 74Responding to tempting situations 76Sinning After You’re “Saved” 77Chapter 5: Jesus Christ: His Life, Ministry, and Radical Claims 79In Brief: Introducing Jesus 79Accounting for the early years 80Stepping into the spotlight 82Fulfilling his purpose 82Looking at How Jesus Lived 83Jesus pointed people toward himself 84Jesus healed and cared for the down and out 85Jesus taught his followers how to live 85Jesus provided the ultimate example of how to live 87Jesus changed the perspective of one’s relationship to God 88Jesus prepared his disciples to be leaders of his Church 89Jesus voluntarily died on the cross 90Considering Who Jesus Claimed to Be 90Saving People: God’s Game Plan from the Get-Go 92Seeing sacrifices as prototypes of the real deal 93Uncovering others’ prophecies about the Messiah 93Considering Jesus’ prophecies for his own life and death 95Questioning Why Jesus Was Crucified 96Expecting the Messiah to be different 96Feeling threatened by Jesus 97Manipulating authority to get rid of the troublemaker 98Peering into an Empty Tomb: Revisiting the Resurrection 99Reviewing biblical facts 100Explaining it away 101Coming to a Conclusion: Was Jesus a Good Teacher or the Son of God? 103Chapter 6: Peeking Inside God’s Diary: The Bible 105Retracing the Bible’s Formation 106Stage 1: Hebrews first recognized writings as sacred 108Stage 2: Jesus and the early Church treated Old Testament writings as scripture 109Stage 3: Jesus indicated that more scripture would come 110Stage 4: New Testament writers recognized their writings as inspired by God 111Stage 5: Early Church recognized New Testament writings as scripture 111Stage 6: The Church closed the book 113To Be or Not to Be: The Apocrypha 114Reasons for including the Apocrypha 115Reasons against including the Apocrypha 116Reading the Bible Appropriately 116Believing the Bible is inspired 117Dealing with inconsistencies 118Confronting contextual issues 119Finding No Expiration Date for the Bible 121Chapter 7: The Trinity: How 1+1+1 Equals 1 123Introducing the Trinity 124Considering God as a Whole 125Qualities of God that’ll make your head spin 125Qualities of God that humans resemble 126Qualities of God that express his personal nature 128Examining the Three Parts of God Individually 129God the Father 129God the Son 130God the Holy Spirit 131Understanding the Significance of the Trinity 131The Trinity made Jesus’ sacrifice worthwhile 132The Trinity justifies worshiping Jesus 133Digging Up the Biblical Foundation of the Trinity 133Picking up on hints in the Old Testament 134Putting the pieces together in the New Testament 136Chapter 8: The Rite Stuff: Sacraments, Ordinances, and the Christian Faith 139Understanding the Role of Sacraments and Ordinances 140Grasping four keys to understanding the sacraments 141Viewing sacraments through different lenses 142Baptizing Christians into the Faith 146Considering the nature of baptism 147Exploring the relationship between baptism and salvation 148Deciding who should be baptized 149Add one part water (But how?): Choosing a method of baptism 151Exploring the Lord’s Supper 153Deciphering Jesus’ explanation of the elements 154Timing the observance of Communion 155Being earnest regarding the Eucharist 156Maintaining a Christlike Balance 156Chapter 9: Heading for Home: The End Game 159Enjoying Heaven for Eternity 159Exploring seven ideas about a place called heaven 160Speculating on heavenly bods 162Being Purged of Sin in Purgatory 166Catholics: Purgatory is part of God’s plan 166Protestants and Orthodox Christians: Purgatory is a Colorado destination 167Going to Hell: Considering the Underworld 168Eternal suffering 169Extinction of the unsaved 170Awaiting the Second Coming of Jesus Christ 171Enduring Tribulation 172Being taken up in the Rapture 172Celebrating Jesus’ triumphant return 173Resurrecting the dead 173Enjoying the Millennium: Peace on earth 174Facing final judgment 175Frolicking around the new heaven and new earth 175Part III: Here’s the Church, Here’s the Steeple: Peeking into the Christian Church 177Chapter 10: Tradition, Tradition: The Catholic and Orthodox Churches 179Transferring from a Nation to a Church 179Following the deaths of the apostles: The apostolic Church 180Expanding and governing as a single Christian Church 182The Great Separation: Western and Eastern Churches go their own ways 184Viewing the split today 187The Catholic Church: From Rome to a Parish Near You 188Understanding what it means to be Catholic 188Examining the Catholic Church structure 196The Orthodox Church: Restoring the Image of God in People 197Understanding what it means to be Orthodox 197Examining the Orthodox Church structure 202Chapter 11: Back to the Basics: The Protestant Church 203Exploring the Protestant Reformation 204Urging the Church to reform 204From reformation to separation 206Examining Core Protestant Beliefs 210Yielding to the Bible as the one and only authority 210Seeing Christ as the one and only mediator 211Being saved by grace alone and faith alone 211Giving kudos to God alone 212Considering all Christians as equal in God’s eyes 212Answering the core questions 213Breaking It Down into Denominations 213Looking at More Protestant Labels 217Confronting the Challenge of Modernism 219Looking to the Future: Trends in Contemporary Protestantism 220Chapter 12: Making Sense of Worship 223I Worship, You Worship, We All Worship: Defining the Christian Tradition 224Examining the Worship Service as a Whole 226Worshiping together: Why Christians believe it’s essential 227Deciding when to worship 228Exploring Ways to Worship: Liturgical Versus Free Worship 229Taking the high road with liturgy 230Worshiping freely along the low road 231Incorporating Music: A Call to Musical Arms 232Leaving out the band 233Tooting a few horns 233Revolutionizing praise and worship music 234Crossing Cultures with Worship 235Part IV: Christian Living in a Postmodern World 237Chapter 13: I’m a Christian — Now What? 239Experiencing Spiritual Transformation 240Fellowshipping with a Church 241Considering why biblical Christianity says church is necessary 241Finding a church that you can call home 242Going One-on-One with the Lord 245Being a Disciple 247Living Out Your Faith 249Seeing why faith is fundamental for a Christian 250Clutching four keys to living out your faith 251Boosting your faith in three (kind of) easy steps 255Taking on a Christian Worldview 256Viewing the ripple effect of worldviews 256Looking at the Christian worldview 259Bringing the Christian binoculars everywhere you go 262Chapter 14: Being in the World but Not of It 265Being Salt and Light for the World 266Adding zest with salt 266Shining truth with light 267Living Out Christ’s Calling in Different Ways 267Running from the world 268Hugging the world 269Working for the greater good 269Walking a tightrope 270Transforming the world 270Delving into the Messy World of Politics and Governing 271Looking at what the Bible says about government 271Interpreting the Bible in regard to government: Five key understandings 273Tossing political hot potatoes 276Chapter 15: Tackling Thorny Issues in the Church 281Observing Hypocrisy 281Considering two types of hypocrites 282Weighing hypocrisy against Christianity’s truth claims 284Dissing Nice-Guy Thinking 286Pointing out fundamental flaws of the Nice Guy approach 287Finding out how to be good enough for God 289Playing Salvation Monopoly 290Questioning whether all roads lead to heaven 290Understanding why Christians say Jesus is the only way 291Accounting for people who’ve never heard of Jesus 292Chapter 16: Taking On Tough Issues Raised in the Real World 295Wondering Why Bad Things Happen 295Specifying two types of evil 297Understanding why evil exists 297Debating Moral Relativism 299Seeing why moral relativism is popular 299Sizing up moral relativism from a Christian view 301Considering Darwinism 304Noting the difference between Darwinism and science 304Distinguishing between two theories of evolution 306Exploring Christian alternatives to Darwinian evolution 308Part V: The Part of Tens 311Chapter 17: Ten Christian Holy Days, Holidays, and Seasons 313Lent 313Palm Sunday 314Maundy Thursday 315Good Friday 316Easter 316Pentecost 317National Day of Prayer 318All Saints’ Day 319Advent 319Christmas 320Chapter 18: Ten Christian Leaders You Should Know About 321St Augustine of Hippo 321St Francis of Assisi 322St Thomas Aquinas 322Martin Luther 323William Tyndale 324John Calvin 324John Wesley 325William Wilberforce 326Dietrich Bonhoeffer 326Alexander Solzhenitsyn 327Chapter 19: Ten New Testament Teachings You Should Know About 329Walking Along the “Roman Road” to Salvation 329Listening to the Sermon on the Mount 330Praying the Lord’s Prayer 331Identifying with the Prodigal Son 332Detailing the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ 332Going Out with the Great Commission 333Appreciating Ancestors in the Hall of Faith 333Mixing Faith with Deeds 333Promising the Coming of the Holy Spirit 334Suiting Up with the Armor of God 334Appendix A: Glossary of Christian Lingo 335Appendix B: Timeline of Christian History 3476–0 B.C (approximate) 347A.D 27 (approximate) 34730 (approximate) 34730–70 34864–312 34870–73 34885–95 348271–272 349313 349324 349325 349374–430 349380 349393–397 350403–461 350429 350451 3501054 3501095–1270 3511208 3511382 3511382–1415 3511427 3511457 3521517 3521525 3521532–1534 3521536 3521530–1540s 3531540 3531609 3531670 3531703–1791 3531734 3541789 3541793 3541820–30s 3541901 3551962–1965 3551978 3551950–present 355Index 357