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Major Religions of the World: Christianity
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Christianity is based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians believe God sent
Jesus to the world as the Savior. They believe that He was part God and part human.
Christianity teaches that people can only be saved through living the way Jesus showed people.
Jesus’ message was to live according to two rules: love other people as you love yourself & love
your God above all else.
The core beliefs of Christianity are that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, was resurrected, and
thereby offers salvation to all who will receive Him in faith. Unique among all other faiths,
Christianity is more about a relationship than religious practices. Instead of adhering to a list of
“do’s and don’ts,” the goal of a Christian is to live the life that Jesus showed people. That
relationship is made possible because of the work of Jesus Christ and the ministry of the Holy
Spirit.
Christians believe that mankind was created specifically to have a relationship with God, but sin
separates all men from God. Christianity teaches that Jesus Christ walked this earth, fully God,
and yet fully man. Christ died on the cross because some people of his time thought that he was
a misguided Jew, threatening the existence of Judaism. Christians believe that after His death,
Christ was buried. They say that He rose from the dead. Because no one else had ever been
resurrected before, this is the most important day for Christians and is celebrated on Easter
Sunday. Christianity proclaims that Jesus’ death on the cross was necessary to pay for the sin
debt owed by all men and this is what restores the broken relationship between God and man.
After Jesus' Crucifixion, a number of His followers spread His teachings. The Romans were
very strict and put to death any followers of Christ. Even so, Christianity continued to grow.
Eventually the Catholic empire covered most of Europe, the Middle East, and northern Africa.
In the early 300's, the Roman emperor Constantine the Great became a Christian and then made
Christianity the official religion of the Empire. By the late 300's, Christianity was widely
practiced throughout the empire.
During the Middle Ages, Christian missionaries converted many crude European tribes. This
made the Christian church a dominant influence on European life for centuries. For many years,
a split had been developing between Christians in Western Europe and those in Eastern Europe.
The split, called the Great Schism finally occurred in the early1000's. The churches in Greece,
Russia, and other parts of Eastern Europe became known as the Eastern Orthodox churches.
The church in Western Europe became known as the Roman Catholic Church.
As time went by there were other disagreements between Christians. In the early1500's, some
Northern Europeans disagreed with the Catholic Church’s teachings. They broke away and
protested the church. Because they protested the Catholic Church they were called Protestants.
They formed many new churches. The largest of these new churches included the Lutheran,
Baptist, Congregationalist, Episcopal, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches. Most southern
Europeans remained Roman Catholics. Beginning in the 1500's, Catholic missionaries
converted many people in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Protestant missionaries became
active in the 1600's and made converts in the Far East, Africa, and North America.
Beyond these core beliefs, there are other items that Christianity believes. They believe that the
Bible is the Word of God and not people. While some interpret the Bible very strictly and
literally, other Christians interpret the Bible as it applies to modern times. No matter how they
interpret it, all Christians believe that its teaching is the final authority in all matters of faith and
practice.
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