Charlie’s White Paper

Christians can often seem quite strange. A group of Christians – the particularly annoying and enthusiastic ones – who sometimes seem to live on a completely different planet to the rest of humanity. They seem determined to convert everyone to their way of thinking and refuse to just leave people alone to live their lives their own way.

I’m sorry if we come across as arrogant or disrespectful of others opinions. But, as Christians, we are completely committed to speaking about Jesus.

The reason we live differently is that we worship and serve the Creator of the universe. We want to honour Him with our lives and want to do what He says.

Here are some of the main reasons that we seem so set on telling others:

Number 1

Because the great news about Jesus means that everyone can have what we have – a relationship with God.

Imagine a beggar who discovered an amazing feast, but did not tell others starving on the streets. It would be so selfish and mean. The Bible tells us that heaven will be like an amazing feast, we want you all to be there.

Number 2

Because we care about our friends. The consequences of continuing to ignore God are catastrophic. The most loving thing to do is warn everyone.

Just like it would be inexcusable not to warn a friend standing in a road as a bus came thundering along, so it would be selfish and evil not to warn everyone of the coming judgment.

Number 3

Because God has told us to go and tell everyone, and we want to do what He wants.

If you love someone, you want to do what brings them pleasure. We know that God is really pleased every time someone comes to trust Jesus. So pleased that there is a massive party in heaven.

So what is this message?

The Problem

The problem is a broken relationship. We were created in God’s image, like Him, for relationship with Him. He is our creator, He made us and the world we live in. He deserves our respect, love and obedience. We ignore Him and His generosity and live our lives without reference to Him.

But we don’t treat him as He deserves. We commit treason against the King and are rightly punished for such disobedience. The punishment is Hell - eternal separation from God and all the good things he gives us..

The Solution

But God does not leave us to an eternity in Hell. He loves us, His creatures, and is willing to go to extraordinary lengths to bring us back.

In fact, He loved us so much that He sent His Son Jesus to mend this broken relationship.

Jesus lived a perfect life, and yet He took the blame and the punishment for our disobedience. Now, we need not suffer eternal death and a permanent broken relationship with God. Jesus suffered that instead.

The Result

Because of Jesus’ death, He forgives us. This forgiveness is so amazing, so all-encompassing. We can now be innocent in God’s eyes.

We can now come into a close personal relationship with the creator of the universe. What an awesome privilege for disobedient creatures.

The Future

Jesus did not stay dead. On the third day after His execution by the Romans, He came alive again. This proves His innocence and the effectiveness of His death for us.

It also proves that one day He will come back. The Bible tells us that Jesus will come back to wrap up history.

He will judge the world. All those who have continued to rebel against God, will be punished forever. But all those who trust in Him for forgiveness will be received forever into heaven – God’s home.

So no wonder Christians keep banging on about this God stuff. It’s such great news. Absolutely anyone can come and be forgiven. Absolutely anyone can come to enjoy this close personal relationship with the creator God.