What's all th' noise?

OK, now, a lotta people have been wondering what's all this noise about the Christian God, so here's the skinny. I'll be adding Scriptural references, both to God, and His Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, all of their roles (as typically understood, according to the Bible), not to mention all manner of other cool things later, including why the Bible is right on as opposed to other "religious" documents. First, tho, I just wanna give you the skinny on who's this God guy, and what's all the noise about this Jesus character...

Who's God?

OK, this is an easy one, in a way, just because everyone has some idea of a God of one type or another. Basically, before time began, God was on the scene. Before there was anything at all, there was God. Imagine a complete void, like in deep space, except without all that empty space; less than a void. There was God, all alone. He created, well, all of Creation. Genesis, chapters 1 thru 3, tells us how He made light and dark, the whole universe, the earth, water, sun and moon, animals of all types, and finally, man and woman. This was the beginning of Creation, and God liked it. So that's the Christian God, the one true God, and the beginning of Creation, in a nutshell. But there's more...

What about Jesus?

God has a Son, named Jesus. He (Jesus) is both God and man, as He was born a man, and walked the earth with other humans. Even before His birth, though, He was still God. John 1:1-3 tells us this:

Right here, John is talking about Jesus. See, John's whole job from God was to tell everyone that Jesus was on the way, and to prepare the world for His coming to earth as a man. In fact, John himself says so in John 1:6-8:

John 1:6 There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John.
John 1:7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.
John 1:8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

Now, Jesus was born of humans from a virgin named Mary. it says so in Matthew 1:18:

Pretty straightforward there, but I'll go over it to clarify. Mary was gonna get married to Joseph, but before they did, she got pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Please remember here that the Holy Spirit is a Spirit, not a physical being, and that this was a celestial act by God. In other words, how it physically happened we'll never know; suffice it to say that Jesus was born of a virgin, and is the Son of God. When He was born, He became known also as the Son of Man, which He referred to Himself as several times.

So, we've established quite a bit here, with just a few verses. First there was God, and Jesus, His son, was with Him from the beginning. Jesus was born to a virgin (Mary), and she bore Jesus from the Holy Spirit. So we can say that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit all exist, and that at least two of them have been around since the beginning of Creation. On a side note, the Holy Spirit has been around all this time too, but I won't go into that at this point. Check back later for more on that one.

Uh-huh, and... ?

So God exists, and Jesus does, too, as His Son, and the Son of Man. What does all this have to do with us? Well, don't miss out, kids, here's the cool part. See, the whole reason Jesus came to earth was to save us from sin. Ya see, sin is all the bad stuff in our lives, that keeps us away from God. He's so perfect that if God showed Himself to us in His glory, we'd die! Obviously, we're imperfect. We do bad stuff to each other all the time, and most of that is sin. Sin, basically, is anything that goes against the rules that God has given us to follow, such as not killing each other, or stealing from each other. In general, a good list of rules to follow; good enough that if everyone followed them whether they believed in God or not, we'd have a pretty perfect world.

OK, so we sin against God, and therefore can't go near Him. How does this help me? Listen up, here's the good part: Jesus, the Son of God and Son of man, came to take away our sins! Long story short, Jesus was crucified, or put to death, by a bunch of people, and left by even His closest friends. When this happened, Jesus took all of our sins, past present and future, on Himself. All we have to do is accept the fact that Jesus is really God's Son, and that He has freed us from sin! We will no longer be separated from God, cause Jesus lives inside of us when we proclaim Jesus as Lord! So what's the catch? I mean, this is a bunch of really cool stuff here, that we can know Jesus, and be free from sin, and all that. Where's the trick? There isn't one. Jesus loves you, and He wants you to be with Him. There isn't a catch. There's no trick. That's what makes it all so cool. All we have to do is say, Jesus, I accept you as Lord, and then we're free.

Look, I've written out a prayer below. If you say this prayer (and mean it!), Jesus literally comes into you, to live with you and guide you, and you don't have to be separated from God anymore. Wherever you are, say this prayer out loud, as if you're talking directly to God, cause you are. He is ready for you to do this, He's been waiting for you for a long time! Don't miss out on all that God has to offer you; say this prayer, and accept Jesus as Lord.

w0O-H0o!!

Ta-daa! That's all there is to it, to begin with. Now a lot of times, we don't -feel- any different, and that makes us think that we weren't saved, or that we should try again, or whatever. Don't listen to that voice! If you prayed, you're saved. If you're uncomfortable about it, you can pray that prayer as many times as you want, cause it won't make Him unhappy, but you don't have to worry about whether or not God heard you. He did. At this point, I suggest you get in contact with a church near you for more guidance. They can help you figure out more about what this all means, as well as answer any questions you might have. Just so you know, I prefer a Spirit-filled, nondenominational Christian church, but that's really just a bunch of words that mean that they really love God.  *grin*  Any true Christian church will work, but every different denomination, or "brand", believes slightly different things about the small stuff, like tattoos and earrings, hair length, etc. To be safe, read the Bible, and find out what it has to say, but definitely get involved with a church.