Editor,
I am writing this letter about Christianity, the reason being that there may have been a generation who knows little about it except negative things they’ve heard.
Christianity 101: we believe in God and that God had a son who came as a savior and deliverer. His name in Greek is Jesus. In Hebrew, it’s Yeshua or basically Joshua which means “deliverer,” as many names have meanings, especially in the Bible. We don’t believe God is just some “energy” as do new-agey people — and I live in Santa Fe where there is every kind of new-age woo woo you can think of. We believe that God is one but that God has a son and an omniscient Holy Spirit. To understand this, an earthly person can be a son and a father and still be the same person. Jesus said, “I and the Father are One.” God is a God of love, but sometimes disciplines us as an earthly father does. The word “disciple” contains the element of discipline.
One thing most college students may not understand is that most, if not all, colleges were started by Christians. So, Christians aren’t anti-intellectual. But, you can be very intelligent and do dumb things! Also, most hospitals were started by Christians. And most charitable work is done by Christians and people of other spiritual faiths. And, FYI, Christians aren’t mainly white, male Republicans! We are a variety of colors, shapes, sizes, with a variety of intellects, talents and nationalities across the Earth.
We believe that we are to worship God and not nature. We believe that nature is a gift to us from God, but we are not to worship nature. I love looking at flowers, trees, birds, cats, dogs, mountains, etc., but I do not worship them. I worship God. Recently, people have tried to make science a religion, as it is something you can see and measure unlike God who is a spirit. The only thing wrong with that is...people couldn’t see atoms or bacteria for a very long time...does that mean they don’t exist, because they were not visible?
Science is the study of the natural world. The Bible is the study of the supernatural world. The Bible is the study of the spiritual meaning of life. There is a story of one of Jesus’ disciples, Doubting Thomas he is called. He said that he would not believe that Jesus had been resurrected unless he saw him with his own eyes. Well, he saw Jesus after he was resurrected, and he believed, but Jesus said to them, “Blessed is he who has never seen me but believes.”
Jesus is not a sexist, and, in fact, I view him as the first liberator of women, as when they were going to stone an adulterous woman to death, he told them, “Whoever has no sin, cast the first stone.” And, women were the first to see him after his resurrection. In fact, the word “woman” has the word “man” in it, and the word “she” has the word “he” in it. Why? Because we are of the hu(man) genus. So, frequently when “he” is used, it means both man and woman.
Lastly, we believe that one day, we will have a more beautiful planet only by God’s hand, as we humans are often so good at causing harm to one another. It speaks in prophecy of a time when Jesus will return for a millennium. We believe in eternal life. We believe that we all need salvation and that God sent Jesus to die for our faults (sins) and is now in the heavenlies, interceding for each and every one of us. So, don’t shy away from reading the Bible. There is hope in it, wisdom and help for us for our struggles and help for us for our struggles here on Earth.
Jean Hampleman
Student
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
