Terms To Know

Come to this post if there's a word/phrase that you do not know the definition of, or want more information on, when reading my regular posts!

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My hope & prayer is that there will be a mix of believers and unbelievers that come to this site to learn more about Christ with me. I realize that there will be many terms/words/phrases that unbelievers or new believers may not know or understand. This post will be updated as needed!

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| The Trinity | - One God, three persons. (This is a confusing and brain wrecking topic, so if you get confused or leave more lost than before, that's okay. It will also sound silly to those who do not believe. That's to be expected. When you do believe in the existence and power of God you understand that there will be countless things you will not understand- but that's because God is God, and we are merely human, and it only causes us to fear and love Him more). I do not want to do any injustice to the importance of this topic, so I am going to link a wonderful article that describes this relationship in depth. It unpacks all the complexities and questions of the Trinity, while keeping it simple enough for the average reader to understand! https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-is-the-doctrine-of-the-trinity

| God | - God the Father. God is the sovereign Lord who created the Heavens and the earth, and everything in it. We believe that the earth was not created through a big bang, or any other means. We believe that God was the creator. God is perfect, He is love, He is merciful, He is just, holy holy holy, in complete control of all things, cannot be beaten, all knowing, and all seeing. God is also eternal. There was no one before Him, there's been no gods besides Him, and there never will be any. He has always been in existence, He always will be. It's hard to think of something of that scope, but that's perfectly fine, we should be in awe of Him. God also is the Holy Judge. When we die, we have two places to go, Heaven or Hell. If, while still alive, we had genuinely put our faith in Jesus Christ & believed His sacrifice and resurrection was the only way to Heaven, we are accepted. If, while still alive, we did not believe in Christ & rejected His truths, we are not accepted and instead sent to Hell. God the Father is the final Judge in that day. There is so much more to say, but for introduction purposes, this is what you need to know.

| Jesus Christ | - God the Son. Jesus is the only Son of God who was sent to earth, born of a God-fearing virgin. He lived a sinless life, and was still crucified on the cross. He died on the cross to take the punishment for all of our sins: past, future, present. He took on God's full and complete wrath on the cross, and was buried when the work was finished. Three days after His death, He rose from the dead, fully alive. In this resurrection, death was defeated by Him. This is why faith in Christ alone is the only way to our Father in Heaven; Christ sacrificed Himself for us, so that we would not have to face God's punishment, but could find forgiveness and grace instead. There's endless more information I could put here, but for introduction purposes, this is what you need to know.

| Holy Spirit | - God the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is not necessarily a physical person as Christ was, but the Spirit is also not an “it” but rather a “He.” He is one of the ways God reaches out and interacts with us here on earth. This doesn't mean that God the Father is unable to interact with us without the Holy Spirit, but the Spirit is how God the Father reaches us without coming to earth Himself. The Spirit (in my own words) tends to reveal Himself in supernatural feelings in your heart/soul. He's the indescribable feeling of peace, or that convicting thought that you know would never come from your own head/heart, He's the reason your heart has been softened and opened to Christ. An example of the Spirit's importance is that it was by the Spirit that Mary, the virgin, was given Jesus in her womb. He is also how the men, appointed by God, wrote the Bible. For a third time, there is so much more to be said, but this is a good gist of who the Holy Spirit is. (To what a wonderful representation of how the Holy Spirit works in our lives is by listening to the Hymn “Holy Spirit Living Breath of God.”)

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| Sovereign | - In the Biblical sense, we use sovereign to describe one of God's countless attributes. You will most likely hear the phrase "our sovereign God" or a variation of it, when learning about Him. So what does it mean? It means that God is in ultimate, complete, full, control of everything. Since we believe that He is the Creator of all things, we also believe that He is in control of all things; that He knows all things (past, present, future), and He can do all things. He is completely self sufficient. We believe that no one is greater, or will be greater, than He.