The Basic Idea

The central idea behind Christianity and the reason for our need for salvation may seem ungraspable to some, too simple for others, and to yet others it just seems unconscionable that being a good person is not enough to guarantee a pass on condemnation.  In actuality, it is indeed simple, yet it is intensely rational.  It is my intent to present this strictly in layman's terms, and in terms that I believe Christians of any denomination can accept.

The basic idea is, first of all, that there is a God who created everything.  We may digress into discussions of how old the world is, or whether or not there is such a thing as evolution, but all of these issues are secondary to the central important fact that there does exist a Supreme Being who designed and built life and the universe around it. These other issues can be discussed once this has been firmly established.  There are many scientific evidences that point to a Divine Designer in the universe and within the structure of life itself, but ultimately this realization has to boil down to a personal experience with the Creator through faith (the choice to believe without requiring further evidence) -- once faith has been given its place, all evidence necessary for the individual will present itself in due course.¹  

The second premise is that this Creator made humanity with such a quality -- something beyond sentience -- that allowed them to interact with Him on a personal level.  In effect, He endowed them with a sort of extradimensional awareness that made them, in a sense, like their Creator.  This is partially what the Bible means when it says that God created Man in His own image²; it does not mean that God has two arms and two legs, but that we were endowed with a part of Divine nature. 

Thirdly, Christianity claims that at some point humanity made a grave error in judgement.  Man disobeyed a direct command from his Creator and in essence allied himself with the Creator's adversary.  The story of Adam and Eve in the Garden seems innocent enough as they eat the forbidden fruit, but the insidious subplot is that they were not satisfied with the God-like nature that they had been gifted with, and they wanted to be even more like God.  This act of rebellion severely damaged -- in fact, killed -- this God-nature within the human race such that Man could no longer associate with God on a personal level, no more than matter can associate with antimatter.  Man became dead to God.  This defect was so integral to the makeup of humanity that it did not only affect the guilty parties, but it was passed down to their progeny.³ 

This defect is what makes it impossible for Man to please God simply by "being good".⁴  We are not capable, because of this defect within our very essence, of the kind of goodness that would restore to us the God-like nature that our distant ancestors forsook.  Even if a person was able to live a perfectly blameless life from birth, this defect could not be removed.  It would be like teaching a dog to talk then claiming that he is no longer a dog.  The only way to remove the defect was to destroy it, which would require the destruction of the body and mind (the offending elements) of all humanity -- this is why the Bible states that removal of sin is impossible without the shedding of blood.⁵  Rather than do this, however, God chose to allow for a substitute -- in the Old Testament, people sacrificed certain animals whose blood would offer some temporary satisfaction of this requirement.   However, this was only a bandage where surgery was required.  In order to permanently remove this defect, God would have to imbue Man once again with His divine nature, just as He had done in the beginning. 

But before this could be done, the requirement for the shedding of blood had to be satisfied once and for all.⁶  In order to do this without requiring the destruction of humanity, there had to be a perfect sacrifice.  It had to be a human who would act as a representative for all humanity, but there was a catch.  This human had to not only live a spotless life, but he would also have to be free of the inherent defect that affected all people from birth.⁷  There was only one way to do this. 

Since Man had rejected the image of God in which he had been created, God made Himself in the image of Man.⁸  He created for Himself a body through the process of a supernatural birth -- one in which He had no biological father -- and lived an entire life as a human.  He afforded Himself no special privileges; He worked with His hands and lived in no great wealth.  He offered Himself as an example of what He wanted us to be like -- of how exactly one went about being like God.  Finally, He offered Himself as the only possible sacrifice:  a truly innocent man put to death for the crimes of those who could not be innocent if they wanted to be.  And, to demonstrate that the death that had separated Man from God had finally been conquered, He returned to life.

Then, finally, before leaving to return to His divine natural state, He did what He had come to do all along.  In the beginning, when He had endowed Man with that portion of His nature, He is said to have breathed it into the Man's nostrils.   Now, having taken the form of a man Himself, having died in Man's place and having returned from the dead, the man named Jesus breathed upon His followers and, at last, Mankind once again possessed the nature of God.⁹ 

This is why salvation is necessary.  It is simply not good enough to be good; it is not enough to just believe in whatever fits your inclination.  It is only possible to be saved by believing in, and receiving, this breath of God.¹⁰ 

-- Rob

2. Genesis 1:26

3.

4. Isaiah 64:6

5. Hebrews 9:22

6. Matthew 26:28

7. 1 Peter 1:19

8. Hebrews 10:5

9. John 20:22

10. Acts 4:12