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Question 50: Why should I become a Christian? What good would it do me and how can Christianity guarantee me an afterlife? The Muslims don’t think highly of Christians, much like the Christians feel about the Jews: how can I find the right religion? One religion makes the other sound like a fairy tale, how can you prove the truth? What is the proof? A Creator does indeed exist, but which of the religions is right? (TR)
Answer: First, the text of the book and the answer to the previous questions should have shown that the Christian faith claims to be the true faith on the one hand, but it does not follow that it is therefore justified to take the stance that other faiths, such as the Jewish or Muslim faiths are completely false or worthless. The Questioner ought to carefully read chapter 11 and chapter 4, as well as the answer to question 42 with this statement in mind.
So, why should someone become a Christian? Because, as every convinced Christian will tell you, being a Christian means meeting Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, and the life (see John 14:6) and because the Christian faith therefore satisfies what the truly seeking person is looking for in life. What does it bring a person to become a Christian? It “brings” Jesus Christ, the “Son of God” into his life, allows him to follow Him and to the people of the church who believe in Him, it brings him such lasting joy and fulfillment here on Earth such that only the true God can grant.
Christians, along with the Christian church believe that God, our merciful creator and Lord revealed Himself through his “Son” Jesus and therewith also revealed the Truth. It is therefore absolutely crucial to get to know Jesus, the Person and what He claims, and to honestly make yourself available to confront Him face-to-face. To the things already mentioned in chapter 2, we would like to add an extract from the book written by the theologian Otto Herrmann Pesch “Kleines Glaubensbuch” (Topos Taschenbuch 29):
The “Son of Man”
…If you want to understand what believing in Jesus Christ, the Son of God means, you first need to have a look at His life on earth. He lived as a normal person of His time… He was a person through and through and a good person at that. But what about Him was so special above and beyond that?
First of all, He brought with Him a very exciting message, much more wonderful than those of all the greatest prophets before him. He proclaimed: “the Kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15). That means: God is close to all people – all people. Everyone should know and trust that God is a God for the people. An uncertainty as to how God reacts towards man no longer exists. Jesus derives some downright adventurous consequences out of this message for man’s life. We should not be afraid – neither fear God nor man. And we should no longer be worried about our lives – meaning this deep worry that is always fuelled by the deep-down fear that everything could ultimately be in vain and superfluous. Even guilt and failure are no obstacle for God to show us His love. People should know that they can walk towards perfect, unthinkable joy – and they should live so that others can see this in them
Because God loves all people, differences certainly remain, but there are no longer any barriers between people, neither those of status nor those of knowledge, talent, or virtue. Even those laden with guilt are accepted – for no one is without guilt. Justice, reconciliation, and love should govern the way in life and heal us, because that is the result of God’s reconciliation with sinful mankind.
More than all the Prophets
Jesus lived the message that he preached. He gathered His disciples and made them His partners in spreading His message, and he chose the kind of people no teacher of the law who was concerned with his reputation would have chosen: fishermen, simple, despised people from the villages and the countryside. He chose to dine with those who were considered outcasts: with women of ill repute, men of dubious careers (tax collectors) – and He advised the others to do likewise. He turned the normal standards of his society on their heads, where they discriminated against the poor: for example, the sick who also were to be helped on the Sabbath. He went into the temple and denounced the whole system of Jewish piety, as it was at the time, and declared it to be contrary to what God wanted. God’s favor cannot be bought. People should believe that God loves them just as they are and not for their good deeds.
The great prophets also said this, but they stayed within their own parameters. In the same way, many of Jesus' contemporaries initially thought of Jesus as a new, powerful prophet. But there is a difference… Jesus claimed to be more than all the prophets and teachers before him. A teacher says: Moses said… a prophet says: the Lord said… But Jesus said without any comparison or calling on any higher power: truly, I tell you.
And further: whether one comes into God’s divinity which Jesus proclaimed, or the “Kingdom of God” as it is often called, depends on how that person sees Jesus. This becomes especially apparent in the sermons Jesus gave in his home town of Nazareth (Luke 4:14-30). Here Jesus explains: I am He in whom the promises of the prophets have come true. The listeners didn’t believe Him – and in Jesus’ eyes it was plain and simple disbelief that prevented him from performing powerful works in Nazareth, as well as in other cities. Only those who followed Jesus – at least believed in Him, not seldom also followed him in the literal sense, namely took part in His travelings –experienced God’s closeness.
And finally: When Jesus spoke of God, the Father, He never included Himself and His listeners in a unifying “Our Father”, rather, He made the difference between “Your Father” and “My Father”. Everyone is a child of God, but only He alone is “the Son”.
The “Son of God”
The near-by listeners of Jesus’ sermon understood already: we are to either accept this unbelievable claim and involving ourselves with Him and with what He says, or He is an incredible blasphemer and imposter. Those who didn’t want to believe Him, behaved consistently by arresting Him and bringing Him before the people as a blasphemer, and before the Roman military courts as a troublemaker and crucifying Him. Nothing happened as they taunted Him on the cross: “He saved others; He can’t save Himself” (Mark 15:31).
We know how the story continued: the complete desperation of His disciples, who had given up all hope (Luke 24:21), was only short-lasted. He appeared to them alive, resurrected from the dead. And then those who came to faith when they heard it from them, thought about how they were to explain what to make of Jesus. And they called Him the “Son of God” and praised him as the “Son of God”. Certainly that what is meant can also be expressed in other ways, especially nowadays. But this name in particular was exactly appropriate for the expression of faith and for the proclamation of the faith and it still is so today.
Firstly: Jesus Himself told his listeners that such a name would be the right one. There are many places in the Gospels where we read that Jesus calls Himself the “Son of God" or where others ask themselves or him whether He is the “Son of God” (i.e. Matthew 16:16, Mark 14:61, Luke 1:32). And when He emphasizes that God is “His” father, how could it be wrong to call Him “God’s Son”?
Further: at the sound of this name, the Jews as well as the heathens listened, this meant at the time: the people of Greek and Roman culture. The Jews envisioned a secret and wonderful king when they heard His name, the one the prophets claimed was coming to save them, as God was to remove all evil from the world and make everything good. The Greeks were reminded of their myths which often speak of “Sons of Gods” and about gods who took on human form on the earth. Naturally, Jesus didn’t fit in to neither the Jewish idea of a “Son of God” nor the Greek, both ideas needed to be adjusted. But one thing was immediately clear to everybody when Jesus was called the “Son of God”: Jesus was something very special, He is more than more than man. It was even a huge challenge to apply this name to Jesus. Because the Christian faith erases the Jews’ and the Romans’ dazzling or extraordinary images of the “Son of God”. “God’s Son”, the Christians said, is no one other than this controversial, ridiculed, pursued, and crucified Jesus. No wonder that the authorities didn’t want put up with this.
Something similar happens when Jesus is called “Lord”. This same word usually referred to a “Lord and master” and is used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, which pre-dates Jesus, to describe God. Because for the Greeks, the title Lord described a deity, and this is also the reason why the Roman emperor called himself “Lord” – because he demanded the worship that is due to a god and had Christians martyred because they retorted to him: only Jesus is “Lord”.
The mystery of Jesus
Not only then, but also today it is still accurate to summarize what we believe about Jesus with the name “God’s Son”. In as much as comparisons with human concepts have the power to illuminate anything at all, it expresses that Jesus and the Father are one and the same. And at the same time, it becomes apparent that they are not the same person, as though the Father had shared in Jesus' life on Earth. The authors of the New Testament express themselves much more precisely than we usually do. When they say “God”, they always mean the Father. Jesus is the “Son”, the “Anointed One” (=Christ), God’s Servant; for Christians, He is the “Lord”. Despite His “unity” with the Father, Jesus is a separate entity, He prays to Him. And one time, He said a word that has always been a dilemma for Christians, who regard Him as God’s own Son: “the Father is greater than I” (John 14:28).
The name “God’s Son” means: there is a unique relationship between Jesus and the Father, a relationship of trust, of devotedness, of always being there for one another. This is why Jesus can act in God’s name. What he says and does, the Father also says and does, and the Father fulfills His purpose for mankind through Jesus – just as long ago kings and lords used to call their representatives and assistants “son”. It is in this sense that Jesus wants to include all those who believe in His son-relationship with the Father. The core of His being as God’s Son can never be achieved by any human being. The difference between “my” Father and “your” Father is never nullified. But in His living relationship to the Father – all people should follow Him. Paul frankly said: “For through faith you are all children of God in Jesus Christ” (Galatians 3:26). And when someone accused Jesus that He acted contrary to God’s way, He defended Himself with saying that already the Psalms speaks of people: “I said: You are gods” (John 10:34; Psalms 82:6).
The name “God’s Son” therefore truly explains everything that we think about Jesus. And at the same time, better than any other name for Him, it shows that we will never really understand the mystery of Jesus. For “God’s Son” is none other than the “Son of Man”, Jesus, the crucified Jesus. One may ask oneself whether these days the name “Son of God” isn’t liable to many misunderstandings. Then again, does this not always happen when one tries to explain the unique? The first thing to do to eliminate misunderstandings is not simply to stop using a meaningful name, but rather to explain what it means. Those whose interest does not go deep enough for this, have no right to complain that is possible to misunderstand the name. The best way we can eliminate the misunderstandings is by continually reminding ourselves of the incredible concepts that are contained in the statement that the man Jesus of Nazareth is the incarnate Son of God. No-one has yet found a better name less threatened with misunderstanding. For this reason, we pray in our creed: “I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son…, born of the Virgin Mary”.
“The word became flesh“
The New Testament itself offers us more help. In the introduction of the Gospel of John, Jesus is called “the word become flesh” (John 1:14). The same tremendous paradox bound up in the name “God’s Son”, also shows up here: “God’s Son” is the crucified Christ. The “Word of God” made “flesh”, the man from Nazareth whose fate it was to be crucified. This is about the same deep mystery: the God above all, the Lord of His creation, has opened His heart to His rebellious people – as if that is not already unbelievable enough – entered history in coming to live on earth, share His life with us, but still remains God over all the Earth. “God spoke through partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he spoke to us through a son” (Hebrews 1:1-2). God took on the form of a slave in human likeness, He became human, becoming obedient to death even death on a cross (see Philippians 2:6-8).
With regards to the question at hand, the point is not to decide which religion is right, but rather how the questioners reacted to Jesus’ claim. In the Gospel of John He says of Himself: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). “I am the way, the truth and the light. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). “For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:37). Thus, the Church professes Jesus Christ as the Truth about God, mankind and the world.
Question 51: Are there verses in the Gospels about tolerance, brotherly, and neighborly love? Can you give some explanation on this? (TR)
Answer: Generally speaking, the Gospels are the books that describe God’s unerring love of mankind, revealed in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. This love encourages us and enables us to practice tolerance and brotherly and neighborly love. The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew, chapters 5-7) is the prominent summary of how Jesus lived and what he taught. Among the innumerable references in the Gospels we would like to quote just representative sections from 1 Corinthians, chapter 13 and the Letter to the Romans 12:9-21:
“If I speak in human and angelic tongues, but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and comprehend all mysteries, and all knowledge; if I do not have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflate, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes in all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; If knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. For we know partially and we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully as I am fully known. So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians, 13)
„Let love be sincere; hate what is evil, hold on to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; anticipate one another in showing honor. Do not grow slack In zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the holy ones, exercise hospitality. Bless those who persecute [you], bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep wit those who weep. Have the same regard for one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly; do not be wise in your own estimation. Do not repay anyone evil for evil; be concerned for what is noble in the sight of all. If possible, on your part, live at peace with all. Beloved, do not look for revenge, but leave room for the wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” Rather, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by doing so you will heap burning coals upon his head.” Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good. (Romans 12:9-21)
Question 52: How does one become a Christian? (TR)
Answer: “From the time of the apostles, becoming a Christian has been accomplished by a journey and initiation in several stages. This journey can be made rapidly or slowly, but certain essential elements will always have to be present: proclamation of the Word, acceptance of the Gospel entailing conversion, profession of faith, Baptism itself, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and admission to Eucharistic communion. Since the beginning of the Church, adult Baptism is the common practice where the proclamation of the Gospel is still new. The Catechumenate (preparation for Baptism) therefore occupies an important place. This initiation into Christian faith and life should dispose the catechumen to receive the gift of God in Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist. The Catechumenate, or formation of catechumens, aims at bringing their conversion and faith to maturity, in response to the divine initiative and in union with an ecclesial community. The Catechumenate is to be "a formation in the whole Christian life . . . during which the disciples will be joined to Christ their teacher. The catechumens should be properly initiated into the mystery of salvation and the practice of the evangelical virtues, and they should be introduced into the life of faith, liturgy, and charity of the People of God by successive sacred rites." Catechumens "are already joined to the Church, they are already of the household of Christ, and are quite frequently already living a life of faith, hope, and charity." "With love and solicitude mother Church already embraces them as her own." (CCC 1229, 1247-1249).
As the catechism of the Catholic Church explains, a person becomes a Christian through the celebration of baptism. During baptism, the believer is baptized with water in the name of the triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The baptism is preceded by a time and a process called the Catechumenate. The Catechumenate is the time of preparation for baptism. The duration of the Catechumenate can vary depending on the candidate. It can also take a rather long time. During the Catechumenate, the baptism candidate must especially improve his knowledge and understanding of Jesus Christ and His message. He also needs to familiarize himself with the Christian faith and life within that faith, in order to learn to lead his life solely focused on the teachings and the example of Christ. This includes especially the learning of and familiarization with the basic Christian articles of faith. The believer shall lead a life consciously based on the principles of the faith, and honor God not only in prayer and worship in church, but also in all aspects of daily life, serve Him and proclaim Him, in word and in action.
Question 53: If I can prove to you that your Bible is no longer valid under Allah, who created me and you, would you accept and even convert to Islam? (DE)
Answer: The Bible exists and has been read by countless people as a book inspired by God for centuries. We discuss this in chapter 1 of the book which can also be found on this website. The Bible is really a complete library of writings that were written by various authors and groups of authors over many centuries in various situations and in various literary forms. They were later bound together in one book. First of all are the books that document the religious stories and experiences of the Jewish people, then come the writings which were created in the earliest parts of the history of the Christian Church. The question of validity does not arise. The reliability of the texts contained in the biblical books has been confirmed by generations of critical researchers. The results of this critical research fill many, many bookshelves. The question is rather, how do I respond to the message(s) found in the Biblical writings. Jewish believers interpret the writings of the First (Old) Testament in a "Jewish" way. We Christians read the texts of the First Testament in the light of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, whom we consider to be the true Messiah and Son of God. According to our Christian understanding, the revelation concludes with the chronologically last book of the 2nd (=New) Testament, which, for us, together with the Old Testament, forms the Bible. Above and beyond the fact that God made Himself known to the world in Jesus Christ, in other words, that in Jesus Christ God became human, there can, according to Christian faith, understandably be no further new revelations (see also the answers to questions 39, 28, and 47).
Question 54: As I understand it, in the Christian religion too, committing suicide is considered a major sin, and a person who commits suicide is (or was) refused a Christian funeral and he will is (or was) buried outside the cemetery. How is it possible that Hannelore Kohl, the wife of the former German Chancellor, has been buried in a Christian grave when she committed suicide? (DE)
Answer: According to the law book of the Catholic Church (Codex Iuris Canonici=CIC) which was valid from 1917 to 1983, people who committed suicide were denied a Christian burial. Such people were considered "public sinners". When the norms of the CIC of 1917 were updated in the new law book of the Catholic Church, the CIC of 1983 (Canon 1184), an additional criterion to evaluate the denial of funerals for this group of people was introduced. It was the compulsory individual assessment whether, based on the known personal circumstances of the decreased and the religious-ethical views of the members of the parish concerned, a Christian funeral would be expected, or whether it had to be assumed that public disquiet would be the result. With a Christian funeral, the local parish serves the deceased in brotherly love. Within the given parameters, it, or better, the local bishops and parish priests, therefore have certain powers to make their own decisions.
The following thoughts from the church about suicide make up the background for these rules. Conscious and voluntary suicide, even when there are high-minded motives, is not morally justified. Free, desired suicide, through which one consciously wishes to document one's autonomy is simply by its nature a denial of God's "Yes" to mankind. It is also a denial of love of oneself, of the natural desire for life, and of the responsibility one has for justice and love of one's neighbor and mankind.
Our Christian faith counters the glorification of voluntary suicide with a view of life that is grounded in faith. Our faith tells us that God can always find us again in any situation in our lives, whether this situation be our own fault or brought about by unsuccessful relationships in our environment.
The philosophical debate about freedom and the moral justification voluntarily to take ones own life assumes that such a free and voluntary decision is indeed possible. The theological grappling to shed light on this phenomenon has not resulted in the fundamental rejection of such a possibility. In former times, pastoral reality meant that people who had committed suicide were refused a Christian funeral. This stipulation has not been included in the new law book of the Catholic church, because it is impossible to prove that in committing suicide, a person has truly pronounced their final “no” to themselves and to God, and because the church condemns the sin of suicide, but not the person who committed it, because it is not certain that he was in the state of mind to freely commit suicide.
With this position mind, the Church has accepted the results of more recent research into suicide. This research has empirically shown that suicide is often the last stage of a developmental period that is strongly connected with a restriction of the mental control of oneself and is the expression of an overwhelming life crisis and/or low self-esteem. Most people who commit suicide do not commit a voluntary act, but rather, they find themselves in an extraordinary situation in which everything leads to suicide. For this reason, anyone who takes his life or attempts to do so, may not a priori be held fully responsible for their actions (see Katholischer Erwachsenen-Katechismus, Band 2: Leben aus dem Glauben. Freiburg, 1995, S. 282-284).
Question 55: What do the Jews think about Jesus´ birth? If He is seen as a child born outside marriage, then why wasn't Mary stoned to death and thrown out of the Temple together with all her family? Why was this Jesus as an adult so held in such high esteem by the Pharisees that he was allowed to teach in the Temple and speak to thousands of people and was called Rabbi and Master by the people? Did he conceal his real identity? Did no one recognize who he was? How can these questions be explained with help of the existing Gospels? (DE)
Answer: There are many, and in no way uniform, views and portrayals of Jesus from Nazareth in the rabbinical sources and then a number of younger Jewish depictions, as well. A brief overview is found in the writings: Jesus Christ 1st term in the Jewish religious lexicon: Judentum, Christentum, Islam, hg. Von Adel Th. Khouy (Graz, Wien, Köln: Styria, 1987), Spalte 528-531. Tendentious portrayals in the rabbinical sources do indeed claim that Jesus was the bastard child of an adulteress (tract Kallah 51a) and that forty days before his crucifixion, a “town crier” officially proclaimed the grounds for his punishment so that he would be exonerated by the statement of an eye witness: "but there was no acquittal for him" (b Sanhedrin 43a). One of many other factual contemporary stories about Jesus' life and teachings written from a Jewish perspective is Pinchas Lapide’s publication, The Rabbi from Nazareth, 1974.
Question 56: Do married couples remain married for eternity or does their marriage end with death? Can they still be together in the afterlife? Further, is it true that we will receive new bodies in the afterlife? (TR)
Answer: What will become of me after I die? Humanity is infused by the more or less obvious longing for a life after death. Philosophers have come to the conclusion that the human soul, because it is spiritual, cannot really die. It is also logical to think that our longing for fulfillment and justice would be in vain if everything ended at death.
The Bible allows us to experience how the answer to this basic question of our existence has crystallized in the course of the centuries. But it does not base its views on us and our longing, but rather on God. The original idea that a hopelessly shadowy existence awaits us in the underworld was not something a person of faith could imagine. God is, after all, the source of life, He is faithful, He will never let us go completely! And so the believers’ convictions became stronger and stronger: even death cannot separate us from His love, we are always accepted and loved by Him. The New Testament further clarifies this thinking: Christ is our life. We are immortal because our life comes from Him and is aimed towards Him.
Our death means: we stand before God, the eternal truth: then all our masks fall away, all our self-delusions come to an end and we suddenly realize whether our lives have lead us towards God or towards the darkness far away from God. Thus, death is a judgment on our lives. To summarize: our bodies decay in death. Our souls, our being, the core of our personhood, remain. The church teaches that the saints go straight to Heaven. However, those who still carry any remainders of sin can only come to God after having been cleansed of them (purgatory). Since our bodies are not "secondary components", but rather are part of our human person, we also expect a bodily resurrection. Christ has saved us body and soul. For this reason, we can also expect the transfiguration of our bodies and souls – just as the Church already teaches about Mary, God's mother.
It is not very meaningful to dwell on the nature of this resurrection, for example on the question of whether our bodies will be made of the same matter as in this life. The debate concerns things that are beyond our comprehension and all that matters is that God desires to lead us to perfection. He desires to bring every opportunity in us to perfection - a wonderful call to oneness with God and with one another is what we have been promised! Thus, the hope for eternal life is no empty consolation. Rather, it allows us to comprehend our status and our dignity. He who holds mankind in such high esteem is called to fight for man’s dignity, freedom and rights already in this world! Together with us, all of creation shall become part of God’s glory. This is a fascinating thought. It stops us in our tracks: all of creation – even the evil which has spread in it? Does not the dualism of good and evil in the world have to be removed first, so that all that exists is the Kingdom of God, without any shadows of evil and sin? That, precisely, is what the church understands when it teaches about the coming judgment. (see Winfried Henze, Glauben ist schön. Ein katholischer Familien-Katechismus. Harsum 2001, p. 173f. ISBN 3-7698-0887-8
This page was translated by Erika Baker and Leanne Cvetan.
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