What is Christianity? One dictionary defines Christianity as “a monotheistic system of beliefs and practices based on the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus as embodied in the New Testament and emphasizing the role of Jesus as savior.” This is certainly a good definition, but we need to go further.

Even though Christianity relates to the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, the word Christian did not exist until after Christ’s time. Christians got their name based on being followers of Christ.

What is Christianity – Doctrinal vs. Denominational
One of the important distinctions is between the doctrinal religion of Christianity and the denominational religions of Christianity. Once the canon was complete and the scriptures identified, the definition of doctrinal Christianity was based upon the literal interpretation of Scripture. One problem in the early church was that Scripture could not be easily duplicated so Christians did not really have direct access to the Scriptures. This gave the denominational Catholic Church the job of interpreting the Scriptures for the common folk. Although today everyone has access to the Scriptures, the fact is that individual denominations still interpret the scriptures for their parishioners.

What is Christianity – Bible-Believing or Pick-and-Choosing?
During the very early apostolic period, the apostles had to continually clarify the Christian doctrine that seemed to get corrupted often. Today, even with our well-documented Scriptures that are accessible to all, the belief in true Christianity (the literal interpretation of the Bible) has been corrupted to an even greater extent. The current percent of Christians who believe in the literal interpretation of Scripture, and do not pick and choose Scriptures to their liking, is about nine percent (Barna).

Most of Christianity today has embraced many humanistic and anti-theistic beliefs. The Christian denominations have accepted many cultural ideas and blended them into their doctrine. Generally, many concepts of sin, judgment, and the wrath of God have been put aside in favor of a religion of love, unity, and tolerance. One example is the New Tolerance philosophy.

In many churches today, Christianity is a doctrinal buffet, including selections from both the biblical and secular menus.

A 73 year old deacon was charged with breaches of the Child Care and Protection Act after he was accused of having sex with an 11 year old girl at the church.

The Deacon, who had been under investigation following an incident in December, is alleged to have attempted to bribe the child with $50 and sweets to keep her quiet about the alleged assault.

According to reports, the complainant was at the church in December when she went to the rear of the premises and was fondled by the high-ranking church member. He then offered her sweets and $50 to keep it a secret. The child, however, reported the matter to her family and a subsequent report was made to the police. An investigation revealed that she had also been assaulted on three previous occasions.

He has been charged with sexually touching a child and having sex with a person under the age of 16.

The deacon is scheduled to appear in the Spanish Town Resident Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

Dis mad gyal LeAnn shawty a real waste material her own baby father Marlon fame di boss say so rite on fb. First she mad a di worl cA she a gwan hot but broke she neva pay Ronron to mek her cloths for her babyfather purple n white party. So she go on fb an diss di designer and call up his name. Day man say di gal broke don’t pay him. So she on fb crying she don’t have cloths n can’t go. Tell mi why she neva stay home? Di girl go to di man big purple n white party in one stripe cheap someting but dat not it. Dis ditty druken gyal left afta dis party wit the man n go a outlaw party wit her druken mumma n fren n go mashup outlaw party a fight. True she don stay good di gyal go fight her babyfather n gal ina di next man party. She her mumma n fren get one piece a buss ass. She all tell babyfather all him fren n man she slept wit fi money n who she dash it wey to to help him. Now she on fb a call man battyman n di yuteis a good yute she a waste. She go on fb a talk bout she upgrade even her fren say di man tallman she talkin bout n dat is no upgrade ca he run tru her same fren. Him n him fren a some back in day (Edited) man but he no on Nuttin again fi years but he use he old time jewlry n people tings fi frightn di gyal. N she sleep wid bout (Edited). She in pic wit fame di boss at his party den fight him a di next par
ty.waste dem waste material fi stay home

A Spiritual walk with ‘’NATURE’’

I recently spoke to Nature, and open the spiritual can of worms. We here at JMG do appreciate the spiritual side of things, so while talking I got excited because I know this will set it of…He is deep

How did you get the name nature?

Nature: My brother gave me the name because he said that my movements were like nature. The same way the sun comes out in the morning and the moon comes out at night, that’s the way I am. I don’t think he just gave me the name, he was inspired by the Most High to give me my name and the reason is that, because everywhere I go people tell me how much the name suits me. I don’t think it just came from him. Most of the time people have names and others will say it doesn’t suit them but everywhere I go people tell me how much my name suits me and you know nature shows the handy work of God , I am the same, I am here to show the handy work of God through my music. That’s my nature.

How long have you been singing?

Nature: I have been singing since the day I was born, when my mother delivered me and the doctor gave me a slap on my butt. I came out crying, I am a wailer (laughs). I noticed I had a great passion for music at the age of nine. In 2002, I decided that music was what I was going to do full-time. At nine years old, I started singing in school

Who encouraged you to continue singing?

Nature: Mostly the Most High, I think music is a part of me naturally because my mother loves music, my father loves music. My mother told me that she used to write songs and I witnessed my father performing already, this was before he became a Christian. I saw him performing as a young child and him mash up the place and thing. After he became a Christian I saw both of them performing in church, also, my father’s mother was a choir leader at the church she used to attend when she was alive. It’s just me; music is a part of my genes.

You said your parents are Christians, is that a reference away from you and is it sufficient to say you are not a Christian then?

Nature: Well it is like this I am a Christian, many people would not understand that I am a Christian and I am also a Rastafarian. Some of the good people like that the book mentions like people talk about Emperor Selassie as well as Jesus Christ. I am just a man of God, which God dwells in flesh for example, Jesus Christ flesh or Yeshiva. God was in Selassie I’s flesh, Emperor Selassie I the 1^st. mainly because they were doing good things for the world.

A lot of Rastafarians believe that Selassie was God, but people will go back and say that he himself did not believe he was God so if he didn’t believe that , then why do Rastafarians insist that he was God?

Nature: Well it’s like this, if you look in the Oxford dictionary you will see that God means great one. I don’t think one person can be the Almighty but everyone can be God because if we are his children and the sheep of his pastures, obviously we are supposed to have his surname. If your father’s name is John Brown, your surname will be John Brown the bible says we are his children, then we should also bare his name as God but we are not Almighty God. No one person can be Almighty God.  Even the bible shows us that when God was creating man-kind, God turned to someone and said ‘’Let us make man’’ in our own image and likeness, that means there was someone there with God. If you pay attention you will notice that people mention God as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, this also shows that God does not reign within one person. God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Now, if we should worship him in spirit, that means we cannot see God and when we worship him in truth, we are giving glory to someone that is living who lives their life as an example of what God is. Or a close example to what God wants us to be. I think one of those persons was Jesus Christ. He was someone who God sent forth, the head God sent forth, just as Emperor Selassie and Buddha and all these other good people who were in flesh. They were in truth but God’s spirit was within them and that is why people worship them in spirit and in truth.

Well you said there is no head God, but then you said the head God sent them forth, well you said there was no Almighty but the head God sent them forth. Explain that?

Nature: What happens is this, I have my body and if I should hide my face or hide my body and show you my feet, what happens now is that it would be ‘’nature’s foot ‘’ so it would be nature just the same. It is like this; the brain sends a message to take up a ball right, your head cannot take up the back but your hand can. That is the way God works; he uses people to represent him. The bible says ‘’no man comment to me but through Christ and if you take it further, the word Christ, there were many’’ Christ’’ in different times. If you should check beyond Jesus Christ or Yeshiva, there were many’’ Christ’’ before him and even Jesus Christ when he was leaving he said he would send someone. There was someone later, there will be always someone to comfort us because he said he would never leave us or forsake us. I am about love, I am a humanitarian and I am about defense

You said you are about love, you are a humanitarian and you are about self -defense, explain in what capacity you are about these three things?

Nature: If you are true to God’s word and try to be what He say and model your life after him. You will be these things and you would also agree that God wraths at times and defends his kingdom

Well God defends his rules and his laws, he doesn’t really defends himself-

Nature: Yes, that’s true; he stands for his rule so whatever you defend, that is what you are. You are defined by what you stand up for.

So do you think that God represents, Love, humanity and defense?

Nature: Yes he does, especially his will. For example the bible tells us that all the wicked shall come to an end. God is defending his kingdom. Another example is when he cast Satan from the Heavens, according to the scriptures. It was because he did not want Satan to deceive the other angels. Satan deceived one third of his angels. So what happens now is this, God realized that this person possessed great influence so God defended himself by putting him out of Heaven and in saying that; God defends what He stands for which is Himself and his rules and laws. That is what you would call defense. And a last example would be this; I am an artist and I see a lot of negativity going on in the music, I would be the person of God who would defend this by doing good music. That would be me defending myself with the Most High’s words, within my music.

If people hear you say ‘’God ‘’ in defending himself, it would make God seem less than God, so much so that he had to defend himself. By right, people will say he put satan out of Heaven because satan in essence wanted more than what God gave him at the time and did manage to influence other angels but it would still be as if he wanted more. It’s like this; if I put a gate up and mark my property off that would be you coming over my gate, so I would say defending I believe God was showing him his place. In saying defense totally in reference to God I as a Christian would have a problem with that, because it would seem as if you are making God seem less than powerful because he doesn’t have to defend himself. I would say he just shows man his mark and that was satan’s limit, to me satan was shown his limit, that is what happened-

Nature: So could we say that God defends what he stands for and what he is defined as?

We could say that is what he stood for but he doesn’t stand for just one thing. When He threw him out it was not just one thing he stood for, we could say also that he stood for not giving out his secret to the reason why man was able to breathe, we could say that , that is what he stood for but the whole fact of the matter is that-

Nature: He made a stand against what satan was trying to do-

Yes but as I said, me as a Christian would have a problem saying that God defends himself because God does not need to defend himself, He defends us as His people because He already is, He said He is Alpha and Omega and the most powerful, the Almighty and in saying that he doesn’t have to defend himself because no one can come up against him. In Psalms there is a verse that says ‘who can battle with the Lord, No one. And that is because everyone is already shown their place. If you go over the line of power that is given to you, of course he will eliminate you so there is no defense there. But in any case, where did your studies and spiritual awakening come from?

Nature: My spiritual awakening comes from God, which is a spirit.

How did it come to you?

Nature: It comes from your inner-self, being humble enough to listen to others and reading many important books. God is a spirit and his spirit only works through people, you can only feel God’s presence through the spirit, through spiritual connection because the flesh could never reflect God. It’s just the action of the flesh, which has to be of God’s spirit in the flesh.

Do you think all our actions as human beings reflect God or the actions of our flesh reflect God?

Nature: It depends on who you are

It goes back again to what you said and also if we all are his children and the sheep of his pastures, all our actions should reflect him so why not?

Nature: That’s a good question but it is like this; when he says that we are all his children, he is talking about his children because not everyone here on earth is of God 100%

Why is that?

Nature: In the bible it says that; and they came and slept with the daughters of men. This referred to what we call fallen angels who slept with the daughters of men. So, now there is a mix in humanity right now as we speak. This is also one of the main reasons why there is so much corruption in the world right now. I think many people try to keep this as a secret right now.

Explain, keep what as a secret?

Nature: Most preachers talk more about Jesus Christ’s death than this but in reality; many of us are mixed with other species; fallen angels and things that are of the devil that is what I would say. These same fallen angels that came down and caused men to change and say in the city of Sodom that; we do not want your daughters, send us your sons. These are the types of angels that are now mixed with humans. It causes, mixed militancy, mixed attitudes and other things.

That is interesting, so while you would say other people who are far from these ‘’mixed breeds’’ end up being closer to God in their ways than these people who are mixed?

Nature, most of those people are considered as poor and the others are rich. The ones who are rich materially are spiritually weak. Many of these people who are of this world who are God’s children have been misled because of the glitter. Those who are rich in collateral or vanity because of their riches they are able to manipulate who are of God, for example; The Israelites, who got blinded by these golden calves.

So, with all this said, what do you consider to be the true religion?

Nature: Religion is based on rules and rituals. I am not much of a religious person .Many of these rituals that these religions do are not godly. Because if you should tell me that you would need to kill in order for God to be happy, that would not be of God. Many of these people are very happy the death of Christ occurred in a sense where they glorify it. They glorify good people dying. In the case of Christ, even he tried to hide before he was killed. He hid and his friends betrayed him and this is in reality if you don’t try to deny the truth. It took several pieces of silver to find him. There is no way someone could come to do something and would hide and feel betrayed or call it betrayed by-

PART ll NEXT MONDAY WHEN NATURE EXPLAINS MORE ABOUT JESUS CHRIST AND TELLS US ABOUT HIS PERSONAL LIFE…STAY CHOONED!