¶ … Christian? After taking the course and learning a lot of different concepts, I have asked myself at least a 100 times, what does it mean to be a Christian? Does being a Christian mean just going to church on Sunday mornings? Or bible study on Wednesday nights, and then after that you take a break from being a Christian and go on a week vacation? I bring this up because I have seen this behavior more and more, particularly in close friends. Many people are going around wearing the "What Would Jesus Do?" bracelet on their wrists and wearing the Jesus shirts, nevertheless in my opinion where is the change process? Are these people living their lives like a Christian? Is there an obvious alteration in them after they have acknowledged Christ? With that said, I will address the following principles that I have learned throughout this course that have changed my understanding of what it means to be a Christian: Did Jesus need to be born of a virgin?, How can we be confident that Jesus is returning?, If a person is a Christian, does it matter how they live their life?

Did Jesus need to be born of a virgin?

It is clear that a lot of people really do have a hard time trusting the idea of believing in the Virgin Birth. If a person normally believes in the Bible, then more than likely they will have no problems believing in the Virgin Birth. In the course, we learned that as a person deals with the derivation of humanity, it is important not to restrict the study merely to the opening of man that is upon the earth; rather consideration should also be given to the resolve of man's origin. Well, our origin as new creatures in Christ Jesus has a lot to do with our second birth which is by accepting Jesus as our Lord and savior. However, this new birth could not have happened without the virgin birth.

Inside the outline...

The Bible shows us that God Almighty was mystically perceived in the womb of a virgin (Matthew 1:23). If a person gives it a lot of thought, they can see that it does make some sense. God chose to do it how He saw fit, and yet he could have sent Jesus to this earth all grown up, yet human body that was sinless. A meteor could have shot out of Heaven with Jesus plunging to the ground as a mature man. Nonetheless if Jesus had come down in that form, it would have been hard for individuals to relate to him as a person, as a part of the mortal race. God also could have had Jesus come into the world the normal way with a man and woman. It could have been a normal natural birth. Nevertheless then most of us would have distrusted His spirituality. That is exactly the reason why the Incarnation does not sound illogical.
It is clear that Jesus needed to be born of a virgin in order to prove his birth was from something that came from beyond humanity. Jesus was created by God therefore being completely God, and born a birth that was human. This way he would undergo the human life, going through pain, love, adversity and even death. Jesus was also able to utilize his spirituality to aid persons to see the supremacy and grace of God. His health-giving wonders, his wisdoms and particularly his death presented the world that he was not just a mere human but something more powerful. As mentioned earlier, He had not a drop of sin in him because of how he lived his life, not because he was born supernaturally. Jesus would have to be entirely human and completely celestial in order to produce the bridge that transports us nearer to God during the course of our lives. He recognizes our sorrow, and can bring the mercy and power…