Nothing is as easy to understand as is General or Generic Christianity.  Even children and people with little or no education can grasp the basic concept repeated thoughout Scripture.

Authentic Christianity is based on the belief, plain and simple, that a Jewish man named Jesus was resurrected from the dead. 

The living hope spoken of in this Bible verse is based on the faith that Christians have that the God of Christ resurrected that one from the dead. 

How are we to understand this?

Namely, that God first saved Jesus (through the resurrection) to serve as a guarantee that others could be saved (through a future resurrection).  Without the resurrection hope, there is no salvation.

This is Christianity in its most simplified definition.  Through this basic concept you can come to understand:
1) Who is God, 2) Who is Christ, and 3) What is the real hope for dying humanity.

Why do you think the death and resurrection of Jesus was "to the nations foolishness" (Colossians 1:22-23)?   It was because in the past, in Jesus' day and thousands of years even before that, people mistakenly believed that everyone has an automatic afterlife.  This view is universal even to this day. Therefore, Jesus' resurrection was nothing special; in effect, it was foolishness to them!

If you unquestionably believe in an automatic afterlife upon death, through the belief in an immortal soul or spirit, Why would the resurrection of a man some 2,000 years ago hold any significance to you?  Understandably, it too, would be foolishness to you, just as it was "to the nations" during Christianity's early formation.

The Bible, however, clearly teaches that we do not keep on living in another form after we die. We have no conscious existence or afterlife when we expire.  We simply die as would any other animal. 

Now, if that be the case, the resurrection of a man would be something very special, would it not?  That resurrection would, in fact, serve as a guarantee for a future hope; that someday others, could and would be "returned to life" or resurrected. 

When? Where? and for What purpose?  As Paul stated above:

Who are the one's to be judged on the inhabited earth?  Well, it would be all those who have died and who deserve a second chance, for the apostle Paul explained:

One of these unrighteous ones, who deserved a second chance, was the man who died alongside of Christ, who made the request:

And Jesus supplied him that future guarantee:

After he spoke those words to that dying man, Jesus, too, expired and lay completely non-existent in death during three days.  Then, the greatest mircle in human recorded history occurred.  Jesus became "the firstborn from the dead" as clearly stated at Colossians 1:18 and Revelation 1:5.

The apostle Peter explains:

Basically that means that Jesus was re-created with an immortal spirit body, for his fleshly body remained in non-existence for the Scriptures state it was "given" as a perfect sacrifice.

Some 30 years ago a man exclaimed: 

"Jesus could not have been God!  Because now I understand that he truly died and did not exist for three days until his God resurrected him from the dead!"

That is Christianity-General in a nutshell! In my 40 years of teaching the Bible, I have yet to hear a more direct and heartfelt exclamation of what both Christianity is, and is not.  Could Jesus have been the same God that resurrected him from the dead? What do you personally think? 

It is the resurrection of Jesus that has opened the door for salvation, affording an opportunity to everyone, both the living now and the billions who are dead but who exist (figuratively) in God's memory. 

This is basic, Christianity-General, that should form the foundation of our faith in Christ.  Understanding it gives us the common sense to reject popular beliefs people have attached to God and notions about death and an afterlife.

Just as the Scriptures show that Jesus is "the firstborn from the dead" at Colossians 1:18 and Revelation 1:5; it also tells us that Jesus is "the firstborn of God's creation" at Colossians 1:15 and Revelation 3:14.  Therefore, even though the Scriptures speak of Jesus' prehuman existence in heaven, he still, nevertheless, had a beginning, as Proverbs 8:22 indicates. 

Doesn't the death of Jesus make a little more sense now, knowing that he was not God in the flesh, as most religions claiming to be Christian teach and would have us believe?  Doesn't the resurrection give us a real hope, knowing now that we do not possess an immortal soul that survives our physical death and immediately goes to the spirit realm above or place of eternal torment below?

Many people choose not to accept Christianity according to this definition, and that is their right.  However, a far more serious mistake would be to wrongly teach that Jesus is God and that he created a place called hell in order to torment "non-believers" eternally. Not only do such teachings lack any divine sense of justice, but How, then, could Paul's words about Christianity be true? 

Yes, God overlooks the sins of those who die in ignornace.  He does not torment these individuals eternally in a place called hell. That is why there will be a resurrection of both righteous and unrighteous individuals on a paradise earth.  The evildoer who died next to Jesus knew he was paying the full wages of his sins with his execution when he rebuked the other man who was mocking Jesus recorded at Luke 23:41. 

Also Scripture says:

However, after repeating this obvious truth again in Romans 6:23 with the words "the wages sin pays is death" [not eternal life in torment], it says "but the gift God gives is everlasting life by Christ Jesus our Lord."

No, there is no need to fear everlasting life in a place called hell, for such as we have seen, from a Scriptural viewpoint, is an impossibility.  The hope the Bible conveys to us all is that of everlasting life; either in heaven as a spirit-being as a co-ruler with Christ or as a human-being on a paradise earth for those of us [whether we be righteous or not] who are yet to be judged:

When you think of Christianity, please think of the resurrection.  Just how important is the resurrection to a Christian?  Let´s let the apostle Paul answer that question for us:

How do we know from the Bible that the dead are to be raised up and judged on this earth and not in heaven?  Why not study the Bible and find out?

Common sense Christianity is supported by common sense interpretation of Scripture: That means letting Scripture explain Scripture.

This common sense interpretation of Scripture is also supported by historical records:

• The kingdom gospel is a real government that will put an end to human rule on earth. (Daniel 2:44)

• All disciples of Christ must teach others. (Matthew 28:19)

• Disciples of Christ will be known by their loving international brotherhood. (John 13:34, 35)

• Salvation is conditional. (Matthew 24:13)