Why Christianity?

By New Christian Bible Study Staff
     
This painting by Richard Cook  of the newborn baby Jesus, with Mary and Joseph, evokes the spiritual power of this long-awaited advent.

What happened with the birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth? Was he the Messiah, the Christ, whose coming was prophesied many times in the Old Testament?

In Christianity, we believe that he was. In New Christian thought, we emphasize that this miracle was that God took on a human form, being born as a baby to Mary, a virgin, in Bethlehem.

We believe that Jesus grew, learned, and prepared himself to teach, and heal, and inspire people in such a powerful way that the course of human history would change. He performed miracles here, while he lived on earth. Then, after his crucifixion and resurrection, he was seen several times by his followers, whose spiritual eyes were opened.

In Jesus's lifetime, battling the powers of hell, he opened the way for the new truths that he taught - about loving the Lord and the neighbor, and about repentance, and reformation, and forgiveness, and rebirth. These truths formed the basis of Christianity, which grew from its inception in Jerusalem and Galilee to spread throughout many parts of the world.