Central to Christianity (as, indeed, to most religions) is the concept of salvation. The need for salvation is explained in the Jewish scriptures (what Christians now call the ‘Old Testament’) in the book called ‘Genesis’.

Originally, claims Genesis, God created man and woman (Adam and Eve) in a beautiful paradise – the ‘Garden of Eden’. There was no suffering here, no sin, only innocence. Adam and Eve lived in perfect freedom, talking with God, naked and unashamed, blissfully happy. There was just one law in the Garden of Eden: Adam and Eve were not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But one of God’s angels, Lucifer, in the form of a serpent, tempted Eve to eat this fruit. She, in turn, tempted Adam. Innocence was lost and sin was born.

Adam and Eve were cast out of Eden. The knowledge of good and evil brought with it DEATH. All the descendents of Adam and Eve were subject to the rule of death by virtue of being born of the corrupted flesh of these two sorry people. The sins of the father became the sins of the son.

Being born of the flesh meant being born to die. This was henceforth the law of the material world and there was no escape. And yet it seemed that God promised otherwise to old man Abraham. God promised him that his descendents would inherit a land flowing with milk and honey – a second Eden - if they could keep His law. This promise was the COVENANT - a kind of deal struck with Abraham.

But this was a promise with a sting in its tail. Because of original sin, the descendents of Abraham were never able to keep the law that might have saved them. They thought they had a right to this new, perfect land but it was never to be theirs. They also believed a great Messiah – saviour – would come and fight the great battle that would win them this kingdom. He never came, according to the Jewish people, many of whom are still waiting for him.

How could the law of DEATH be overcome? Only by deep magic from before the dawn of time (as C.S. Lewis would call it)! A man would have to be born who both was and was not of the seed of Abraham – a man without sin, the son of God himself, and yet truly a man. This man would take upon himself the whole of the sin of mankind, even though he was the only person who did not deserve to take this sin. He would suffer and even die for the sake of us – in our place. And then, being God, he would rise triumphant from the grave and ascend to his Father in Heaven. Christians believe this saviour was indeed born and lived in the Middle East in the first century AD. His name was Jesus of Nazareth – the Christ (which means, ‘the anointed one’).

You are born of the flesh. But if you commit yourself to Jesus in faith, you may be said to be reborn. Your flesh will die, as it must follow the laws of sin and death which came into the world when Adam and Eve first disobeyed God. But if you have been reborn in Jesus, you can be resurrected with a new body – your spirit will not die. You inherit not the fleshly inheritance of death but the fruit of the NEW COVENANT - you become, in Jesus, part of the NEW ISRAEL.

Christianity is not, as some people seem to think, something that enhances life or gives it more worth – it is FAR more important than that! Christianity believes that it is the way (many Christians believe it is the only way) to avoid otherwise inevitable and eternal death. It is the way to escape the otherwise inescapable fires of perdition. To be a Christian is to recognise you are fundamentally in the wrong just by being a human being - sharing a common seed with those first two wretched Edenites.

Some say, ‘Christianity is so pessimistic!’. Its own claim, however, is quite simply that it is true, and if it is true it is something to be taken very seriously indeed, pessimistic or not!!

Manichaeism, the religion founded by the second century Gnostic Mani, taught a different philosophy of evil from that presented by Christianity. Whereas Christianity says that man was himself the source of all the present evils, following a single sin inspired by a fallen angel, Manichaeism painted a picture of the whole universe as a battlefield between the cosmic forces of light and dark – of good and evil.

Manichaeism is merely one example of GNOSTICISM - the general name for religious movements based upon the idea of secret, esoteric knowledge (ultimately, the 'gno...' of 'gnostic' is the same root as the 'kno...' of 'knowledge). All forms of gnosticism are DUALISTIC - that is, seeing the world as divided radically into two elements, the dark (bad) and the light (good). Although some forms were associated with Christianity, Christianity has generally shyed away from gnosticism, with its emphasis on secrecy and the mind. Christianity is essentially about openness and the heart. There are, however, places in the New Testament where it is strongly suggested that there is a special wisdom of God, which turns upside down the wisdom of man. Jesus himself says in St Matthew's Gospel that he teaches in parables 'lest the blind see and the deaf hear'.

I look forward to your comments on Tuesday!

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