Christianity in a Nutshell
Designer and Creator
The Bible starts with the words "In the beginning God created the universe" (Good News Bible). Science too describes the universe as having a beginning. Galaxies are observed to be moving away from us at velocities which can be measured so it is possible to calculate when this process started. The answer is that it began about 13.8 billion years ago. This is commonly referred to as the "Big Bang", though there wouldn't have been a bang.
In the beginning, when science tells us the "Big Bang" took place, the laws of science had already been precisely defined. If the laws of gravity, of nuclear physics, of relativity, of thermodynamics, of chemistry, and so on, had not been in place at that moment, the universe as we know it would not exist.
At the "Big Bang" too, the matter that would become stars, planets, and, ultimately, human beings was created. It was God's plan that human beings would evolve when the time was right.
When the Ancient Hebrew language of the Old Testament was first translated into Greek and Latin and later into modern languages occasionally the full meaning of the Hebrew wasn't fully appreciated. The most troublesome example of this, which has caused a huge amount of misunderstanding and unnecessary arguments over many years is the Hebrew word "yom" which occurs right at the beginning of the Bible.
The beginning of Genesis in Ancient Hebrew
Usually the word "yom" simply means "day" in the ordinary sense of the word. Just as in English, "day" can have more than one meaning. If I say "It was different in my day" I would be referring to a period of time. The same shade of meaning existed in Hebrew. "Yom" doesn't have to refer to 24 hours - it can also mean an undefined period of time. Once this is appreciated, the development of the universe and the earth in six stages doesn't conflict with science. The Bible says that matter and light were created at the beginning, before a world covered with waters came about, that barren dry land came before vegetation, which came before waters teeming with living creatures, which came before land animals and that mankind came last. Science agrees with this sequence. No problem.
We are part of God's Creation, part of nature, part of His masterplan. Because He created us, God is our Father. That is why the most important prayer in Christianity starts with the words "Our Father". By this definition, God is the Father of everyone on this planet, whether Muslims, Jews, Christians, Hindus, or people of any other faith. He is the Father of atheists, who cling to their belief that He doesn't exist.
The Lord's Prayer - Our Father
Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen
Because we are God's children, He loves us in the way you'd expect a perfect father to love his children. Just as a child is expected to respect their earthly father, so God likes us to respect Him. In return, He will answer our sincere prayers to Him. Like a loving father, He sometimes expects us to show a little patience. Above all, He wants us to trust Him. This is called Faith.
It is interesting to reflect that every Easter Sunday this prayer is prayed by two billion people world-wide.