Holistic Christianity

Christianity is first and primarily the offer of God, through Jesus Christ, to provide redemption to mankind.  That adoption is necessary because human imperfection (identified as sin, faulty, immoral, etc.) demands repair if the individual desires to be included as a child of God in the spiritual (immortal) meaning identified beyond the natural (mortal) creation.  God’s redemptive meaning spiritually proceeds beyond the natural creation, whereas God’s physical creation does not require spiritual identity in nature’s life – as the animals do not hold spiritual inheritance.  The concept is summarized in that human beings belong to God by his creative gesture, but unacceptable for immortal relationship with God.  In the acceptance of the redemptive plan of God, the human individual is not only God’s child by creation (a context that will end), but by adoption (a context that will never end).  Creation belongs to time: immortality belongs to eternity. Each context is guided by its own laws even in overlap for understanding both.  Our concern is to be clear about what our maturity includes in the human/divine partnership.

1.Love – God in his nature is a loving person, and presses his children to become loving persons.  God’s direction is toward forming loving persons (agape).  Mankind attaches it to physicality (phileo/eros).

2. Service – God serves his creation, and presses his children to serve that creation, especially in serving the needs of other human beings.  This begins with the communication of the Gospel of Christ.  From the perfection of God, human beings are directed to care for each other as faith obedience as worship.

3. Maturity – God is mature (perfect), and presses his children to learn, understand, and find wisdom that leads to right thinking and conduct.  In this is found the modeling concept as witness of God in mankind.

4. Righteousness – God is holy, and presses his children to be righteous in their persons so to reflect the nature and character of Jesus Christ.  Christians find their models first in Jesus Christ – then others.

5. Values – God declares morality that begins in his nature and administration, and presses morality’s values on mankind for the success of human order.  Mankind varies on values evolving in changing cultures.

6. Work – God is occupied with creativity necessary to his nature, and presses mankind to work so to give meaning to life in responsibility.  Every normal person possesses some gifts for constructive service.

7. Holistic – God is interested in the unity (wholeness) of anything, and presses his children to make of their lives (compounds) the formation of individual (singular) lives that strive for ideals – the right life.                                                           

8. Faith – God is identified in faith related to himself and his creation, and presses his children into that context so to rise above limited nature and embracing the context of the Kingdom of God.  Faith is a vital factor in itself, needed even in a secular context so to avoid self-defeating contexts.

9. Redemption – God is vitally involved in the recovery of human beings to qualify for citizenship in his kingdom, and presses his children to communicate by word and deed the forgiveness principle identified in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ – effective for reconciliation with God.  Forgiveness is the most vital principle in problem-solving both in personal (single) and social (compound) matters.  In all this we find peace. 10. Scripture – God revealed the narrative for the above context of life through revelation and experience, and presses upon his children the mastery of Scripture for knowledge, understanding to wisdom for belief and conduct.  The issue to be addressed is sin (fault, guilt, error, rebellion, depravity – or by any word relating to violation of God’s meaning and righteousness for mankind). If we can believe there has been this revelation, we are well along the way.  God addressed the human condition.  All true affirmations are his.