Christianity is a monotheistic religion, as it believes in only one God. Christianity is practiced world wide today and with Islam is the most widespread religion. There are three major groups of Christian Churches, The Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Protestant Church.
Christianity was traditionally understood to have been founded by Jesus of Nazareth and began as a distinct religion soon after this death. Paul of Tarsus was influential in the creation and development of the Christian Church.
Christianity is founded on the worship of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The Christian faith is directly descended from the religion of the Jews as set out in the Old Testament.
They believe that Jesus is the Son of God, which sets Christianity apart from the other faiths.
The teaching of Jesus and his followers are set out in the New Testament. Christians believe in an eternal God, who was not born and will not die and who existed before the creation of the world and will continue to exist after the end of the world.
Christians believe that everything including the relationship between God and humanity was perfect at first.
God is seen as forgiving and Christians believe that the death of Jesus was a means of canceling our sins. Christians believe that God not only created and sustain the world but will also bring it to an end. Christian also believe that Jesus will return and when he does there will be a day of Judgment for all with Jesus being judge.
Christianity was traditionally understood to have been founded by Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified by the Romans and Jewish authorities because they thought he was a revolutionary.
Christianity started as a minority sect in the eastern Mediterranean. Missionaries eventually spread the faith to Rome. The early Christians were persecuted by the Romans until the fourth century.
Paul of Tarsus who had been converted by the vision of Christ on the road to Damascus wrote several New Testaments Epistles. Paul’s writing has influenced the Christian Church. Paul it is believed was beheaded in Rome by the orders of Emperor Nero.
In 312 AD, the Roman Emperor Constantine granted Christians in Rome the freedom to worship and declared himself a Christian. Emperor Theodosius I (347 – 395) made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire in the fourth century and Rome became its centre.
The Christian Church divided when the large Roman Empire started to fragment. A new Christian Empire, which lasted until 1453, was established in the Byzantine Empire in the East. The centre of the Eastern Christian church was the capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople.
The Eastern Church from the fifth century on had differed in various ways from the Western Church based in Rome and by 1054 the breach became permanent.
The cause of this spilt was the excommunication by the Roman Church of the Patriarch Of Constantinople, Michael Cerularios.
The Rome branch became the Roman Catholic Church and ultimately the Protestant churches and the Eastern Church, the Orthodox churches of Greece, Russia and Eastern Europe.
By the sixteenth century a general call for reform was sweeping through the Christian West and a German Augustinian monk, called Martin Luther, who felt that the Catholic Church was corrupt, started the reformation movement in 1517.A violent conflict subsequently broke out between the Catholics and reformers who were known as Protestants. The Protestants rejected the Catholic Church’s indulgences, of granting God’s forgiveness in return for money.
In 1534, Henry VIII King of England, broke away from Rome when the Pope (the head of the Roman Church) refused to grant him a divorce from his first wife. Henry therefore took over the Church in England himself and made himself its head.
By 1650 there were no fewer than 180 Protestant Sects. The modern church era of the nineteenth & twentieth centuries have seen the extension of the Church in a missionary enterprise, which has taken the faith around the world. The Christian Church has become strong in Africa, Asia, Middle East and Latin America.
It is believed that both the Apostle Paul and Peter who founded the Church in Rome are buried there. The Roman Catholic Church is the religious organisation of all those who acknowledge the Bishop of Rome (Pope) as head of the Christian Church and lawful successor of St Peter the Apostle of Jesus appointed to be head of the Church.
At the centre of Roman Catholicism is the MASS (the communion), penance, ordination, marriage and the anointing of the sick. Eighteen percent of the world populations are Catholics. It is particularly strong in Latin America where eighty seven percent of the population are Catholics. The Catholic Church has over a billion followers.
The Eastern Christian Church from the fifth century onwards had differed in various ways from the Roman Church and by 1054 this split had become permanent. The best-known members of the Orthodox Church are the Greek and Russian Churches. Each national church has its own Patriarch (head of Church.)
The Orthodox doctrine agrees with most of the other high liturgy (worship) as the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches. Three point one percent of the world’s population belongs to this faith with nearly 200,000,000 followers.
The name first given to those who followed Martin Luther and who protested against the Catholic Church corruptions. The name was given to all the churches which severed connections with Rome. They believe in the acceptance of individual responsibility of Christians directly to God and not to the Church.
The Christian sacred writings are found in the Bible. Jesus taught from the Torah and expanded its meanings with his own interpretation. Christians therefore consider not only the twenty-seven books of the New Testament but also the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament (Called the Torah by the Jews) as its sacred scriptures.
The New Testament tells about the life, teachings, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It falls into several divisions the first four books are called the Gospels – Mathew, Mark, Luke and John and are about Jesus’ life, his death and his resurrection. The Books of Acts records the sayings and actions of the young Christian Church led by the disciples and apostles (one of the twelve disciples chosen by Christ to preach the Gospel).
Refer Link:-
Was Jesus Fully Enlightened ?
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