Title: BASIC CHRISTIANITY AUTHOR: JOHN R.W. STOTT
PUBLISHER: OMF LITERATURE INC. PHILLIPINES, 1999 No. of pages: 222 BASIC Christianity is a
book of facts, which presents the Gospel under the subheadings: 1. Christ’s person, 2. Christ’s work, 3. Man’s need and 4. Man’s response. The opening line of book is the core premise upon which book is written. It says, ‘Hostile to the Church, friendly to Jesus Christ.’ These words describe large numbers of people, especially young people, today. The person and teaching of Jesus have not lost their appeal. For one thing, He was Himself an anti-establishment figure, and some of His words had revolutionary overtones. His ideals appear to have been incorruptible. He breathed love and peace where ever He went. And, for another thing, He invariably practiced what He preached. ゐ
But was He true? ゐ
Can we believe that He was also in some sense,’ God’? ゐ
Is not the deity of Jesus a rather picturesque Christian superstition? ゐ
Is there any evidence for the amazing Christian assertion that the carpenter of Nazareth was the unique Son of God? ゐ The answer of these questions is the birth of “Basic Christianity.” Is basic Christianity the belief that Jesus is the Son of God who came to be the saviour of the World? Author says:
No, it is not even that. Christianity is not just a creed; it involves action. Our intellectual belief may be beyond criticism; but we have to translate our beliefs into deeds. The book is thought provoking. It is not a collection of pious thoughts but rather historical facts, which proves the historicity of Jesus’ existence. The book will work as a tool for every believing Christian to place Christian fundamental to the non-believers. The book deals on proving various aspects of Christian faiths, which is directly related to Jesus. At this Knowledge worker age our emotion alone is not sufficient in believing but one should be critical about our own belief/ faith. This is what the book envisages for.
Instead of elaborating the ideas from the book I will put main points in systematic order: ゐ Christianity is a religion of salvation. ゐ God has sought us. He is still seeking us. We must
seek Him. Indeed, God’s chief quarrel with man is that he does not seek. ゐ You cannot fix God at the end of a telescope or a microscope and say ‘How interesting!’ God is not interesting. He is deeply upsetting. The same is true of Jesus Christ. (
It is upsetting indeed, where am I?) We must cast aside apathy, pride, prejudice and sin, and seek God in scorn of the consequences. Of all these hindrances to effective search the last two are the hardest to overcome,
INTELLECTUAL PREJUDICE AND MORAL SELF WILL. Both are expressions of fear, and
fear is the greatest enemy of Truth. Fear paralysis our search. ゐ
WE DO NOT FIND BECAUSE WE DO NOT SEEK. WE DO NOT SEEK BECAUSE WE DO NOT WANT TO FIND, AND WE KNOW THAT THE WAY TO BE CERTAIN OF NOT FINDING IS NOT TO SEEK. (Have I really accepted Christ?) ゐ Take Christ from Christianity, and you disembowel it; there is practically nothing left. Christ is the center of Christianity’ all else is circumference. ゐ He was not just another signpost, but the destination to which the signposts had led. ゐ A lecture will not solve our problem; we need a saviour. The education of the mind is not enough without a change of heart. ゐ We are always charitable to ourselves and critical of others. The cross is the symbol of our faith. The Christian
faith is ‘the faith of Christ crucified.’ ゐ Becoming a Christian is one thing and being a Christian is another. ゐ The balanced Christian who takes Scripture for his guide will seek to live equally and simultaneously ‘in Christ’ and ‘in World’. Final note: The statement that Becoming and being a Christian will make a great difference has challenged me. The book has hit the mind, which I know will surely bring about the change in attitude and behaviour.
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