Good thing I'm a Christian

You scored as Christianity. Your views are most similar to those of Christianity. Do more research on Christianity and possibly consider being baptized and accepting Jesus, if you aren't already Christian. Christianity is the second of the Abrahamic faiths; it follows Judaism and is followed by Islam. It differs in its belief of Jesus, as not a prophet nor historical figure, but as God in human form. The Holy Trinity is the concept that God takes three forms: the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Ghost (sometimes called Holy Spirit). Jesus taught the idea of instead of seeking revenge, one should love his or her neighbors and enemies. Christians believe that Jesus died on the cross to save humankind and forgive people's sins. Christianity 79% Judaism 50% Paganism 42% Islam 42% Hinduism 38% Buddhism 33% Satanism 21% agnosticism 17% atheism 4% Which religion is the right one for you? (new version) created with QuizFarm.com

In reality, it is not simply my philosophical leanings that make me a Christian. God wants all of me, not just my doctrinal positions.

It is interesting, though, how our doctrinal positions affect the whole offering we bring to God. Doctrinal misunderstandings often lead to moral confusion. Many gods lead to disunity. Nationalistic Christian philosophy marginalizes people of other races and religions. And separation of "the spiritual" from "the physical" leads to greed, adultery, and over-eating. The Corinthians, for example, were way off in their doctrine of the resurrection (cf. chapter 15). They didn't believe Jesus was raised bodily, nor that they would be. Paul gets pretty excited about the fact that their conclusion would lead to grim consequences that I have summarized: 1) the 500+ people claiming to witness Christ's resurrected body are the most immoral and successful liars in all history, 2) sin and death are permanent, and 3) there is no hope in an afterlife even if you think somehow the soul is immortal. (15:1-19) In other words, if no resurrection, then faith is futile.

But Paul assures the Corinthians that Christ has actually been raised from the dead and that his resurrection is directly connected to their own fate! (15:20)

There are really only three significant points in history: 1) Creation, 2) Christ's Cross/Resurrection, and 3) The destruction of all Christ's enemies, including death, and the general resurrection of all who belong to Christ. (15:20-26)

Christ will hand the Kingdom over to God the Father who will then be "all in all". (15:24, 27-28)

I believe that this doctrinal position would have affected the whole offering that the Corinthians would bring to God. First of all, they may have realized that even without holding an accurate doctrinal stance on the most basic Christian teaching (i.e., the resurrection), God and his agent, Paul, recognized them as saints with all the rest whose Lord is Jesus Christ! Why?Because they "were called into the fellowship of God's Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Corinthians 1:1-9). So, thankfully, I don't need to be rebaptized now that reading the Bible has shifted my "afterlife" paradigm.

Second, God has also shifted my "beforedeath" paradigm. God wants to redeem our entire existence--body, spirit, psyche, mind, heart, vocation, vacation, time, possessions, money . . . We, like the Corinthians, like to think in terms of a physical/spiritual dichotomy. We don't think God needs to redeem our destructive physical habits and attractions because we think our bodies aren't eternal anyway. But the use of our possessions affects our "treasure in heaven", so the use of our bodies and minds, etc. will also affect whether we remain to be people who belong to Christ and therefore have the hope of being raised imperishable (15:52).

Third, Christ showed that he can deal with death by destroying it. Death is clearly a tragedy. But Christ will destroy death in the end. So, since we are between the two most important point in history (Christ's resurrection and our own), we can feel free to mourn over loss. But we also long to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling (2 Cor 5:2) while we wait for the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:23) and the new heavens and earth where righteousness is at home (2 Peter 3:13).

It's a good thing to be a Christian, but it requires everything, including our bodies.

Posted by Jason