If you have a question, please email, call or write Pastor Ron:
Email: PastorRon@NundaTrinity.org
Mailing Address: PO Box 15 Nunda, NY 14517
Q: Aren’t all religions (including Christianity) really about the same?
A: Thank you for your question. If we are only looking quickly – on the surface, it is easy to be misled. There are many superficial similarities between several different religions. Most urge their followers to try to aim at the good rather than evil – that is to pursue inner goodness. Most encourage generosity and kindness to the poor or socially weak, which would be outer goodness.
However, when we look at the big questions – things like: Where did we come from?, Why are we here? How do we achieve God’s favor? What happens after we die? The answers from each are very, very different.
For instance Hinduism would suggest that after one dies, one is caught in a repetitious cycle of reincarnation. Islam instructs that one faces a judgement and that the person can have no idea what will happen. All they can do is hope that enough good deeds outweigh the bad deeds and they can enter paradise.
Christianity states that there is indeed a judgement. Those who are followers of Jesus will be rewarded for their faith based on the work Christ did while on earth to redeem their life. Those who have rejected Jesus as the messiah will face eternal judgement.
The other big questions are equally or more diverse in their answers. Simply put, other than a few basic similarities, the major faiths in the world are not at all alike.
May God bless your search,
Pastor Ron
Q: How do I become a Christian?
A: Thanks for your question. The first step in becoming a Christian understanding what we mean by “becoming a Christian.”
A Christian is someone who wants to follow Jesus, both his teaching in the Bible, and also the examples we see in how he lived his life – also found in the four Gospel accounts in the Bible. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Most evangelical Christians see the process of becoming a Christian this way:
a. Acknowledge you are a person who has not followed God’s teaching. We call sin anything that is not done the way God wants us to do them. For instance, stealing, lying, living a prideful life or failing to love others would be ways that we sin. The Bible says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
b. We acknowledge the punishment for sin. The Bible says, “The payment for sin is death.” That is, like pay for your job, what we earn by sinning is death. By death we mean spiritual separation from God, and eternal death away from God’s heaven.
c. Realize that you are unable to fix this sin by yourself. We, as sinners, cannot wash off our sin. It is like we are covered with spiritual mud, but we have no clean water, only dirty rags to try to wash with. We need outside help.
d. Understand that Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins. When he was crucified, he took the punishment for all who would let him. He is willing to pay the price for your sins.
e. We then state that we accept his death on our behalf, and give thanks. You might say a prayer like this; (prayer is just talking to God, who is always listening). You could say, “God, I know I have done wrong things, and failed to do good things. I cannot fix the sin in my life. I understand that my sins mean spiritual death. But I know that Jesus died on the cross to pay for my sins. Please forgive me and come into my life and make me whole and clean.
f. This is the starting point for the Christian life. After your receive God’s gift of life, you are both invited and empowered to live a Godly life following God’s teaching in the Bible. One of the best ways to do this is to attend and participate in a Bible-believing church. There are many good churches in the Nunda/ Dalton area. We hope that you will join us as we are also trying to follow God’s teaching and understand his love for us.
Please feel free to contact me in any of the ways listed on this website so I can help you with any other questions you might have.
May God bless your search,
Pastor Ron