What Christians Believe
Christians believe in one God, who made the whole world and everything in it.
Humans are very special in God’s creation. The Bible says he created them ‘like himself’.
But the first humans disobeyed God, and so it became human nature to do wrong, to sin. Now everyone sins against God, even when we try not to.
Sin separates us from God. God does not like this separation. Yet his perfect nature does not mix with humans' sinful nature. Without help, humans would be separate from God for ever.
Then God sent Jesus. The Bible says that Jesus was the perfect human. Unlike the rest of us, he never sinned. And yet he was executed like a criminal. When Jesus died, an innocent man, he died in place of the rest of us. He was punished, so we do not have to stay separate from the love of God.
Christians believe that the choice not to be separated from God is given to all people. Jesus is the only way back to God. To become a Christian - a follower of Jesus Christ you (or anyone) need only to believe in Jesus as God's Son and to accept that Jesus died for us. You would pray to God, apologize for the things you know that you do wrong and turn from them.
A new Christian would soon want to be ‘baptized’, a simple ceremony that involves washing in (or with) water, as a sign of being cleaned from his or her sins.
How can the death of one man save so many? Because that man was not like any other. When he was on earth he performed signs (‘miracles’) that showed that he has the power of God. Finally he showed power even over death itself. He rose from death, spent more time on earth, then went to heaven. Christians believe Jesus sent the Holy Spirit - God living inside them - who gives them the power they need to live as God’s people on earth. They also believe that Jesus will return to this world one day in final and open victory.