Bible Theology

In our study today we will study going to some real basic material concerning the Bible, who God is, who Jesus is, so it will be a study in basics of theology. Now the Christian faith is often times referred to as a religion, some people say that Christianity is not a religion but what is the definition of religion?

Just imagine going to church and hearing all types of religious phrases and you hear them for years and you wonder, what do they mean? What does that word mean? The preacher uses it over and over, such as redemption or salvation. What does salvation mean anyway?

A religion is a system of belief. In other words, it's a belief system. Regardless of what religion you adhere to whether it be Christianity or Judaism or Islam or Shinto. It's a system of belief and there is five component parts to every religion.

Number one, you must have a deity. The deity is the object that you worship. You must have a belief in somebody. Now, humanism, the religion of humanism is that men have a belief in man for their moral standard for their, for their lifestyle and for everything that they believe.

Number one, you must have a deity, an object, a person that you worship. Number two, you must have a set of doctrine, doctrine. What is doctrine and that is your belief concerning that deity. Number three, a code of conduct, a code of conduct. What is required by your deity in your lifestyle? How do you live? Well, in Christianity we call that sanctification. It gives ethical values whereby you govern your lifestyle. Number four is sacred writings. In the Christian religion, we have the Holy Bible. That's our sacred writing. And number five are the rituals of that religion and in Christianity, the Biblical rituals or ceremonies are water baptism and communion.