The most important historical fact of Christianity is the life of Jesus, the prophet that the faith of Christians is centered around. The historical Jesus grew up in Nazareth where John the Baptist baptized him, thus beginning his career as a teacher and healer of God. Little is known about where Jesus came from or what he looks like, only his personality through actions and words. Like most prophets, Jesus looked to the spiritual world to find answers to remove the suffering; John was the prophet to open Jesus’ eyes to heaven, leading him into a state solitude until he became empowered by the Spirit. The actions that speak for his personality are of power to heal sickness, cast away evil, and perform miracles, all that the prophets gave credit to Jesus, but this what not the focus of his ministry. What drew people into Jesus was his hope to heal humanity, not just people; he urged peace and loving of the enemies, which created ties with the Pharisees. However, the Pharisees did not see God as compassion, so they created categories of clean and unclean people. Christianity is originally created for the undesirables, so Jesus felt that the boundaries were not exemplifying His compassion, thus he set out to change the system. This did not sit well with the Pharisees, so Jesus began to compiled enemies of Rome, which would lead to his crucifixion. It was the death of Jesus that began the Christianity faith, but his words and deeds that empowered the people. Jesus had no new teachings that were different from those before him, but he had a weight of meaning to his words. Christ’s teachings were mostly in the forms of stories where lessons of the heart lay behind the message. Not only did he speak with authority, but he spoke out ag...
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...onsequences. The next notion is creation of world from the hands of Allah. The Koran points out that He purposefully created the universe with specific intentions, thus the world is real. The second aspect pointed out is that Allah is moral, so a world created by a justly God must also be good in nature. Just as the world is one of God’s creations and good in nature, so is mankind. The concept of man is that he has free will and is responsible his or her own behavior, however, people forget their divine origin is good. For Muslims, living comes with duties to fulfill Allah’s demands, which are simply to be thankful for all of the things in life and to surrender. By surrendering the self to God, one is taken away from the suffering of the world, yet some view this surrendering as losing freedom; the Koran is clearly implies that surrendering is an option not a law.
The Mbuti believe in a creator of all things, but not in a westernized view. It does not play a large part within their society, but more in the male ritual, of coming of age. The Mbuti God was viewed as the creator of the forest or simply the forest (the forest would protect him pg. 72). The Mbuti’s relationship between the forest and the tribe is very personal and sacred, achieved though song, music, fire and smoke. While the Mbuti God is the protector of the tribe, the men will do the physical protection of their women and family. The Mbuti look at the Forest as the mother and father, whom provide everything that they need (pg. 92). Food, water, shelter, love… all is available in the forest. If tragedy hit, then the forest is sleeping. The
In conclusion, Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire despite the barriers of Judaism, the Empire itself, and problems within the church. Ironically, the Jews rejection of Jesus as Messiah was the catalyst for the leaders of the church to take the message to the Gentiles. This growing movement threatened the foundation of the Roman Empire. Although controversial, the Bible is used as a primary source document to understand the beliefs and customs of Judaism and Christianity. For the majority of Christians, the Bible is seen as historically accurate and is fundamental to their faith. The difficulties that the early church faced such as racism, tradition, and immorality are the same struggles we face today. For many throughout the world, the Bible is used as a “how to guide” for human behavior, has stood the test of time, and continues to be relevant.
A glaring difference between Christianity and the religion of Jesus is that Jesus had a higher opinion of humanity than Paul did or other theologians of his day. Jesus regarded righteousness and purity as something within the grasp of human ability (Matt. 25:31). Jesus did not feel supernatural power was needed to do that which was right.
Religion is worldwide and virtually understood by everyone. Not everyone believes in the same thing, of course; however, everyone knows about religion in the sense of the big picture. A polytheistic religion is the worship of or belief in multiple deities usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, as opposed to a monotheistic religion which is the belief in one God. Four well-known polytheistic religions include: Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, and Taoism/Daoism. These are four of the most of influential world religions in the world. Each of these four religions is unique in its own way, in regards to its belief system and basic teaching. Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, and Taoism/Daoism each have impacted the people that practice these religions.
Islam is a religion that is based on the submission oneself to the will of God, who is called Allah. Muslims are the people believe in that, regardless of their culture, background or ethnicity. It is believed that God’s prophets brought a message for the people to worship one God without intermediaries and that prophet Muhammad was the end of G...
Jewish and Greco-Roman culture caused a great impact and conflict with Christianity. Greece at the time went through a time of “Hellenization”. A time of the Jews being influenced by Greek culture brought to the jews by Alexander the Great. Once the Romans came and conquered the Jews were influenced by the Greco-Roman culture. Majority of the Jews were forced to follow the state religion of having a polytheism belief. However, the ones who disagreed branched out to follow, “mystery religions” that believed in one God and created Judaism. When Christ came he was followed throughout the Greco-Roman world and help lead to the term we use today, Christianity.
Christianity is one of the world’s major religions. It’s built on the idea that Jesus Christ is the Son of God whom God sent to save mankind. Christians believe in Jesus as a leader and savior, and follow his teachings. According to Christianity, Jesus is a divine being whom a virgin mother conceived of. God made this occurrence possible. Jesus however grew and lived among humans on earth over 2000 years ago. Jesus was a Jew, he lived and died in Israel and spent his life in ministry with his disciples, teaching and spreading the word of God and the message of God’s love. Jesus is the central figure of Christianity. His contemporaries recognized the fact that he was leader. Jesus as a Christian leader had 5 basic roles: he was regarded as the messenger of God, he was to serve as a mouthpiece of God, he was to pass his message to the people whom he was sent to, he was to prepare the people on earth for the coming of the kingdom of God, and lastly to proclaim the kingdom of God and the consequences for not preparing for it.
Throughout the Roman rule, the help spread Christianity in so many different ways. One of the Roman emperors, Constantine, let freedom of conscience for the people, made Christianity on a full legal equality with any religion in Rome, and later it was the official religion of the empire; so it spread so much faster. Around this time Rome slowly started to die out which made Christianity even bigger because they would accept the poor. St. Paul was also a big contribution to the rise of Christianity. His contributions in the epistles still are deeply rooted in worship, theology, and pastoral life. One of the main peoples he had made was “Jesus was sent by God to redeem humanity from sins, all humans are sinful because of Adam and Eve, by dying on the cross, Jesus made it possible for humans to be saved, anyone could be saved through faith in God.”
Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one God. There are three of the most influential monotheistic religions in world history today known as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These three religions share both vast similarities and differences. One significant similarity they share is the belief in one deity. The belief of one God gave many people guidance and purpose in their lives. For this reason, these three religions gained many followers and believers who had faith in God. Through faithfulness in God, many were promised eternal paradise. In the following paragraphs, I will explain the similarities and differences between the rituals, holy scripts, and salvation that these religions shared.
The Baptist faith believes in the precepts of Trinity, Heaven, and Hell. Surprisingly Mary does not have a special place in the Baptist religion. They don’t teach the assumption of Mary because Mary is seen as just Jesus’ mother. As for the belief in Saints, they really don’t designate saints because they believe that we all have been saved and we are all God’s messengers. Unlike Christianity, Baptists don’t have bishops or Cardinals. The Baptist religion has a much more loose structure than the Catholic faith.
All three of these religions are categorized as, monotheistic religions. Which are based on faith in God. Judaism believes that there is one God and that god can’t be divided into separate parts. Because to attempt to divide God's oneness is seen offensive to many gods. Islam on the other hand embraces a spiritual, invisible God, one to be feared in his divinity.
Today, Christianity is a diverse, extensive religion spanning dozens of countries and billions of people. However, its roots are quite humble. In fact, the earliest Christians didn’t even call themselves such; the first followers of Jesus Christ were Jews, and it would take hundreds of years for this sect of Judaism to become its own religion. During this time, many Christians living in the Roman Empire incurred the wrath of Roman officials by refusing to conduct Pagan sacrificial rites. Until the third century, Christians were ruthlessly persecuted for their perceived refusal to acknowledge authority.
The earliest recorded text teaching Christianity has its roots buried deep within Judaism. The birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as the Messiah, created a new ideology of worship. The Messiah is the savior for all people and of all sins. Paul carried the message of the Messiah to the Gentiles. His missionary journeys and establishment of churches enabled the spreading of the message throughout the Roman Empire. Christianity grew in acceptance; those that believed in the Messiah separated and began to worship on their own. This marked the beginning of the split of Judaism and Christianity.
Jesus of Nazareth (ca. 6 B.C.E-ca. 29 C.E.) was the Jewish preacher responsible for the establishment of Christianity. With much respect to the Jewish scriptures, Jesus preached his own opinions on religious matters such as Sabbath observance, food laws, and ritual purity. Ultimately, the spread of these opinions was the impetus for his arrest and crucifixion upon his arrival in Jerusalem. Although deemed as an agitator by many, many Jews believed that Jesus was indeed the Messiah mentioned in the Old Testament. Jesus emphasized the importance of loving God and fellow human beings so that his followers could prepare for the “coming” of the kingdom of God. Christianity, now the world’s most practiced religion, originated from the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth and will continue to have a significant impact on the modern world.
Christianity is the religion based on the life, death and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, also known as the Christ or Messiah. Jesus was a Jewish teacher and prophet who lived in Palestine in the first century CE. He revealed himself to be the Son of God in fulfillment of Hebrew scripture, and taught that the Kingdom of God was imminent, bringing with it forgiveness and new life for all who believed. His claim to be the Messiah roused opposition from religious and political authorities and he was imprisoned and crucified. His followers believe that after his death, Jesus was resurrected before being taken up to heaven.