Christianity is one of the popular religion worldwide, having over 2 billion people who follow it according to Jeff Van Beaver. The Christian faith is founded on the beliefs concerning Jesus’ birth, life as well as the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Although it began with only a few adherents Many historians consider the spread and acceptance of Christianity across the globe to be one of the greatest spiritual missionaries throughout human history.
Christianity Beliefs
A few fundamental Christian concepts are:
Christians believe in monotheism, i.e., they believe in a single God who made the heavens as well as the earth. The divine Godhead is comprised of three components of the Father (God himself) as well as his son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit.
The core of Christianity is based on the death, life and Christian belief in the resurrection and resurrection Jesus. Christians believe that God has sent his son Jesus who is the Messiah in order to redeem the entire world. They believe that Jesus died on a cross in order to provide forgiveness for sins. He was resurrected three days following his death, before ascending into heaven.
Christians believe that Jesus will come back to earth during what is called”the Second Coming.
The Holy Bible includes important scriptures that provide Jesus’s doctrines as well as the lives and lessons of the major prophets and followers and provide guidelines for how Christians must conduct themselves.
Both Christians as well as Jews adhere to their own version of the Old Testament of the Bible The Old Testament is the Bible, however, Christians are also a part of both the New Testament.
The cross is a symbol for Christianity.
The most significant Christian celebrations are Christmas (which commemorates Jesus’ birth Jesus) as well as Easter (which is the day to commemorate Jesus’ resurrection. Jesus).
Who Was Jesus?
The majority of historians believe Jesus was an actual person who was born sometime between 2 B.C. to 7 B.C. The majority of what scholars have learned about Jesus originates directly from his writings in the New Testament of the Christian Bible.
According to the Bible, Jesus was born to the young Jewish virgin known as Mary within the city located in Bethlehem located in Bethlehem on the West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Christians believe that the conception was an event of the supernatural and that it was the result of God impregnating Mary through God’s Holy Spirit.
It is not known much about Jesus’s growing up. According to the Bible, Jesus was born in Nazareth He as well as his entire family fled the persecution by King Herod and relocated to Egypt as well as his “earthly” father, Joseph worked as a carpenter.
Jesus was born Jewish according to the majority of researchers, he was seeking to improve Judaism, but not to establish an entirely new religion.
In the 30th year of his life, when he was thirty years of age, Jesus started his public ministry after being baptized into the Jordan River by the prophet named John The Baptist.
In the span of the span of three years Jesus went on a journey with his 12 chosen disciples (also called the 12 apostles) and was able to teach large numbers of people and performing what some people called miracles. The most famous miracles were the raising of the dead man Lazarus from death walking on water, and curing blindness.
Jesus’s Teachings
Jesus utilized parables, short stories that contained hidden messages in his sermons.
The main ideas of the teachings Jesus taught, that Christians later adopted included:
Love God.
Be kind to your neighbor as you would you love.
Forgive those who have committed wrong to you.
Love your enemies.
For forgiveness, ask God to forgive you of your mistakes.
Jesus Christ is Messiah, and He was given the power to give forgiveness to others.
Reconciliation of sins is crucial.
Don’t be a hypocrite.
Don’t judge other people.
The kingdom of God is coming. It’s not the wealthy and powerful, but the poor and weak who will inherit this kingdom.
One of his most well-known speeches, later referred to by the name of the Sermon of the Mount Jesus gave a summary of many of his moral edicts for his followers.
Jesus’s Death and Resurrection
A lot of experts are of the opinion that Jesus believed that Jesus died in the period between A.D. and 33 A.D. However, the exact date of his death is disputed among theologians.
In the time following Jesus’s death, a few people claimed to have seen and even had encounters with Jesus. The authors of the Bible declare that Jesus was resurrected. Jesus was taken to Heaven.
The Christian Bible
provide a narrative of Jesus’s life and death. Jesus.
The letters written in the early days of Christian leaders, also called “epistles,” make up an important portion of New Testament. The letters contain instructions on the way the church is to operate.
The Acts of the Apostles is a book of the New Testament that gives an account of the apostles’ work after the death of Jesus. Author of Acts can be regarded as the identical writer as the Gospels. It is actually “part two” to the Gospels which describes what transpired following Jesus’s resurrection and death.
History of Christianity
The early Christians believed that it was their duty to spread and preach the gospel. Some of the more influential missionaries was apostle Paul and a former scourge of Christians.
Paul’s transformation to Christianity following a spiritual encounter Jesus is recorded by the author of Acts of the Apostles. Paul was a preacher of the gospel and started churches across Europe, the Roman Empire, Europe and Africa.
Many historians believe that Christianity would not be as popular without the influence of Paul.
Persecution of Christians
Early Christians were vilified for their beliefs by both Jewish as well as Roman leaders.
The year the year 64 A.D., Emperor Nero accused Christians for the outbreak of a fire in Rome.
Beginning in the year 303 A.D., Christians faced the most brutal persecutions to in the history of Co-emperors Diocletian as well as Galerius. The result was dubbed”the Great Persecution.
Constantine Embraces Christianity
The time that Roman Emperor Constantine switched to Christianity his religious beliefs, the tolerance of religion changed within the Roman Empire.
In this period there were various groups of Christians who had different opinions on what to do with scripture and the function that the church played.
The year the year 313 A.D., Constantine lifted the prohibition on Christianity by imposing his Edict of Milan. Constantine later attempted to unite Christianity and solve the disagreements within the church through the creation of the Nicene Creed.
Many scholars believe that Constantine’s conversion to Christianity was a pivotal moment for Christian history.
The Catholic Church
In the year 380 A.D., Emperor Theodosius I made Catholicism the official faith in The Roman Empire. The Pope, also known as the Bishop of Rome was an official head for The Roman Catholic Church.
Catholics have expressed their deep love to Mary, the Virgin Mary and praised the seven sacraments, as well as revered sacred sites and relics.
After collapsed the Roman Empire collapsed in 476 A.D., differences emerged between Eastern Christians and Western Christians.
Ten years ago, in the year 1054 A.D., the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox church split into two distinct groups.
The Crusades
Between the years 1095 A.D. and 1230 A.D. Between 1095 A.D. and 1230 A.D., the Crusades was an escalating series of holy battles, occurred. In these conflicts, Christians fought against Islamic rulers and their Muslim soldiers to take back holy ground in Jerusalem. Jerusalem.
The Christians were successful in their attempt to take over Jerusalem during the Crusades but ended up losing.
The Reformation
In 1517 In 1517, the 1517 German monk called Martin Luther published 95 Theses,a document that condemned some of the actions by the Pope and criticized certain methods and practices in the Roman Catholic church.
Then, Luther publicly said that the Bible did not grant to the Pope the sole power to study and interpret the Bible.
Luther’s ideas led to the Reformation, which was a movement that sought to change his Catholic church. This led to Protestantism was born and various religions of Christianity eventually started to develop.
Types of Christianity
there is no central body of governance similar with the Pope.
There are a variety of religious groups that are part of Protestant Christianity, many of that differ in their beliefs about the Bible and their understanding of the church.
A few of the numerous religious denominations that fall into the umbrella of Protestant Christianity include:
Baptist
Episcopalian
Evangelist
Methodist
Presbyterian
Pentecostal/Charismatic
Lutheran
Anglican
Evangelical
Assemblies of God
Christian Reform/Dutch Reform
Church of the Nazarene
Disciples of Christ
United Church of Christ
Mennonite
Christian Science
Quaker
Seventh-Day Adventist
The various different sects of Christianity have differing opinions adhere to different practices and worship in different ways, according to Jeff Van Beaver the fundamental of their faith revolves around Jesus’s life and teachings. Jesus.
