I entered this life screaming my lungs out. And some days it feels like I'm going to leave it the same way, with little to no change in between. Stress, frustration, fear, and anger. I don’t want any of them in my life. But every time I watch the news, read a blog, or even talk to a friend, I feel all these emotions coming back. Life seems unfair and out of control.
I gave my life to Christ because I wanted him to carry that load and take all that away from me. But it still feels like it’s landing on my back. What went wrong? Am I not giving him the load? Is he not taking it? I felt relieved for a while. Did he give it back to me?
Fortunately, Christianity came with an “owners manual” for life — the Bible. But the one on my shelf is more than a thousand pages long. It contains 66 books. And it clocks in at about 750,000 words. If I start now and commit myself every day, I can get through it in about a year. But I feel like I don’t have that much time.
The world seems crazy and Christianity seems so… complex.
Help!
That was my struggle several years ago. At that time, I cried out to God, “Why is this so difficult? Where is the Easy Button for Christianity? The more I learn, the more confused I feel. The closer I think I am to you, the more distant you sometimes seem.”
“David,” He replied, “I can strip away the complexity and show you that Christianity is very simple. But don’t confuse that for easy. It won’t ever be easy. In fact, I promised you that it wouldn’t.”
This Substack documents some of the things that I’ve been learning on my journey. I hope it helps you see Christianity and the world around you in a different way and causes you to draw closer to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
I want to build this Substack into a community of people who first and foremost are committed to following their savior, whatever it takes. I’m writing for people who want to strip away all the extra-Biblical tradition and nonsense and ground their faiths on immovable foundations.
Let’s be clear, I’m just a layman. I’ve got a college degree in computer engineering, but I’ve never been to seminary. While I did take a class on ancient Greek in college (the hardest class I ever took, by the way), I haven’t studied the Bible in Hebrew or Greek. I don’t know the ins and outs of every doctrinal argument going back 2000 years.
I’m just a very flawed Christian dude, married to a flawed Christian dudette, with flawed Christian kids and flawed friends, living in a flawed city, in a flawed world. But I’ve also got a keyboard and an Internet connection, and maybe I can help you through some of the question that I had myself.
And why not? Many of the famous Church fathers, like Augustine, didn’t start off thinking they were going to be theologians. They were often drawn into it because their soul thirsted to know Jesus. And they wrote what they learned. I’d like to think I’m upholding the same tradition, but with modern technology, not a quill pen and ink.
I’ll warn you, though. God was right: Christianity may be simple at the core, but it isn’t easy.
First, life is rough and it will continue to be rough. God never promised you that you’d escape all that, just that He’d help you through it.
Second, Satan hates it when Christians start to get their lives together and follow closer to God. Satan loves it when we’re dispirited and despondent. So, you can be sure that he’ll engineer a double dose of crazy to make your life more complicated and test your will to follow God.
The biggest issue you’ll face is that God will force you to choose between what He says and what the culture around you says. You may think that you’re following God pretty closely, but I bet you that he’ll still show you where you’re not fully aligned. And that will create some loss in your life as you let go of things.
But I can promise you that if you go on this journey, you will be more free than you’ve ever been before. You’ll breathe easier. Your relationships will be better, more loving and less dramatic.
And whatever your circumstance, you’ll be able to hold a few simple, bedrock-solid Biblical truths in your mind that will help you through those circumstances.
So, welcome to Simple Christianity. God loves you. I love you. Let’s dig in and figure this stuff out.
Try Leviticus, and take it seriously, not literally though. Catholic Jew here. Adjective noun.
Amen! Thank you. Wonderfully put. There is nothing freer in this fallen world then accepting the yoke of God. Simple, but definitely not easy, yet absolutely worth it.