Genuine Christianity

Is this really Christianity? I remember reading through the first Bible given to me as a young boy, trying to understand God and my true standing before Him. I read from Genesis 1 through Revelation 22 and it was clear that God punishes sinners. It was clear God is righteous and He is just. I memorized the Ten Commandments and it was crystal clear I was a doomed person before a God who was all together separate from me and eternally unreachable. The thought of standing before God caused me intense dread and debilitating fear. Night and day I was troubled and anxious to the point I went to the pastor of the youth group I was occasionally attending on Wednesday nights and told him about my state before God. I knew I stood condemned before God. I wanted to be saved. His response was something like “invite Jesus into your life and be baptized to wash away your sins.” He told me that baptism was the means by which I would be saved. He proceeded to talk with my parents, who were not at that time Christians, and scheduled my baptism. The day of my baptism, my first one, I will never forget coming out of the water and then walking away with the mindset I have to go and sin no more. The despair, anxiety, and fear ceased for all but ten minutes until on the ride to my grandma’s house I broke one of those pesky Ten Commandments. The despair, fear, and dread returned with even greater force. I asked “how can I possibly go and sin no more?” I walked out of that car utterly undone, not knowing what to do. I had lied. I had read in James that if you break one of the commandments before God you are guilty of them all. I stood condemned again. I could not go back to get re-baptized, the church was closed now. I eventually did what any religious person does when faced with guilt; I tried to atone for my sin. I began by asking Jesus to pardon just this one sin and come back into my heart and life. The next several years I would ask Jesus to forgive me and come back into my heart every time I consciously sinned. Is this really Christianity? Is Christianity my sins being washed away by a work I did and living life trying my best not to lose my salvation by being on my best behavior. Christianity, is it just a decision I made, a card I filled out, a hand I raised to procure for myself an eternity of bliss away from the fires of hell? As a young boy I was told it was, and when I entered adulthood Christianity was something I no longer wanted anything serious to do with. After all, this type of “Christian God” was impossible to please. He was a demanding and tyrannical deity holding my failure over me. I could not escape His wrath and judgment. I could not atone for my sin. The real problem was what I thought was Christianity was in reality a counterfeit. It was not Genuine Christianity.

What is Genuine Christianity? One of the greatest places in the Bible to define “Genuine Christianity” is Paul’s letter to Titus. Paul wrote this epistle to Titus around 63–64 A.D., as Paul and Titus traveled to Crete after leaving their fellow laborer in the faith, Timothy, at Ephesus. Paul stays briefly at Crete and leaves Titus behind to teach and organize the church at Crete (Titus 1:5). Paul cared deeply for these people and wrote this epistle to Titus not long after leaving him behind. He writes with clear instructions concerning the infant church in Crete.^[1] Paul instructs Titus how to organize the church, how to raise up pastors, as well as what the church is to be and look like. This letter is, in essence, a manual for the church and its operation at its origin. Throughout this letter we are presented with genuine Christianity and will be compelled to compare it with our own experience.