Christianity asserts that the Universe was made by a loving God who cares passionately about all aspects of creation, especially humanity. We believe we were created to be God's friends and associates in creation.
Christians also believe that Jesus of Nazareth, an Isreali man born over 2000 years ago, was God in a human form. We believe God presented himself in this way to show us how to live and to show humanity what God's character is like.
People of that time who met Jesus, who heard what he had to say and saw the sort of power and authority that he had, began to believe and trust in him. They started to live differently as a result of meeting Jesus. These were the original disciples. The Christian movement had begun, and it now has the largest number of believers in the world.
At the heart of Christianity is the invitation to have a close relationship with God, and to become fully alive through that.
All religions, including Christianity, recognise that people can behave badly, hurting others and hurting creation. Some religions believe in punishment for this behaviour. Christians believe we should accept responsibility for bad behaviour, and apologise for it with genuine remorse, both to God and to those who have been hurt. God will forgive us if we're truly sorry. People may find it harder to forgive, but it is a quality of Jesus's character that Christians are required to copy. It is often referred to as 'grace' and can be one of the most difficult aspects of being a Christian. It can also be one of the most freeing, to both victim and perpetrator.
The mistakes and messes we make in life are then not to hold us back. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus took care of those mistakes. We can understand more about that on the Christian journey.