Christianity as a Religion-What it is and its Core
The History of the Christian Church
When you ask people that identify as Christian to spell out what the doctrine is you get all types of different answers. In many instances you get what it means to them in some spiritual personal way but they are not able to describe it in a way that makes sense as the religion that it is. A religion that is over 2000 years old with a history of blood, sweat, persecution and then the reverse by persecuting and making others pay with their blood and tears. This is a religion that is gone from the followers being persecuted and hiding out in catacombs fasting to death with having times reverse themselves and seeing them in the crusades and the spanish inquisition as the ones doing the persecuting and the killing for those who wont convert or the ones suspected of sins which only death could wipe them clean before god. I am sure that it most seem so strange to current members that have joined the religion by a raising of hands at church or visit by a Minister or Priest in a house and they would just have to say yes and confess that they are a sinner but they are not being done in with a sword on their heads even though it is being done with a certain level of a promise to burn in hell if they don’t do it at least the promise is spiritual now a days in the western world not physical like it was before.
After the world progressed enough to not kill people that would not convert still it shunned people as low down sinners referring to those that refused Christianity or a branch of it as pagans.
The Christian church went through a kind of civil war when one of their most respected members a german Priest and teacher in Canterbury had an encounter with passages of the bible as he translated it as for the first time as it was being printed by a machine invented by another german by the name of Gutenberg. Now the bible instead of being talked about in broken passages in Latin by the priest and their bishops, now the compiled book made up from many books was put on a single documents with different chapters with the name of the king that ordered for its translation on it. As a result people who had never seen these books but only heard of them and of the head of the church said you most do this because it says so in the good book, then you had no way to go and see if it was true.
Now a very religious man name Luther was having a hard time getting together what some priests were doing like selling pardons from purgatory as something biblical when the bible did not authorized such a thing and it was clear this and other similar fund raising schemes were not just in the good book but were anti biblical altogether.
He (Luther) gathered all these abuses as he called them and nailed them to the german church for all to see. People that read these either believed and were outraged or simply were outraged at Luther. One day he was arrested, taken to Rome and excommunicated by the pope and put in jail.
As a result of this disagreement between the church in Rome headed by the Pope and which listed to what the Pope said as the word of god and now the Lutherans were against Rome and the Pople saying that the Pope was the one living in sin. and was a Pagan himself. This was the split of Christianity which has lasted until present day. As a matter of fact the Protestant Christian church has not finished splitting up into hundreds if not thousand of different denominations having only in common the name of Jesus Christ.
Below I will give you the main belief of the church which includes both the Roman Catholic and the German Protestant. Protestant is the name given to Luther’s followers since they protested to the church in Rome with the objections that Luther nailed to the Church in Germany.
Most people have no idea where the Protestant came from and how is it that you have two major wings of a religion that do things so different yet they follow the same three gods or deity as it is called.
Below is the part I have picked directly from catholic and protestant websites and have given it a layman’s term so everyone can understand. There is no criticism just explanations of what these two religions differ only in the highways it followed to be what they are.
After the world progressed enough to not kill people that would not convert still it shunned people as low down sinners referring to those that refused Christianity or a branch of it as pagans.
The Christian church went through a kind of civil war when one of their most respected members a german Priest and teacher in Canterbury had an encounter with passages of the bible as he translated it as for the first time as it was being printed by a machine invented by another german by the name of Gutenberg. Now the bible instead of being talked about in broken passages in Latin by the priest and their bishops, now the compiled book made up from many books was put on a single documents with different chapters with the name of the king that ordered for its translation on it. As a result people who had never seen these books but only heard of them and of the head of the church said you most do this because it says so in the good book, then you had no way to go and see if it was true.
Now a very religious man name Luther was having a hard time getting together what some priests were doing like selling pardons from purgatory as something biblical when the bible did not authorized such a thing and it was clear this and other similar fund raising schemes were not just in the good book but were anti biblical altogether.
He (Luther) gathered all these abuses as he called them and nailed them to the german church for all to see. People that read these either believed and were outraged or simply were outraged at Luther. One day he was arrested, taken to Rome and excommunicated by the pope and put in jail.
As a result of this disagreement between the church in Rome headed by the Pope and which listed to what the Pope said as the word of god and now the Lutherans were against Rome and the Pople saying that the Pope was the one living in sin. and was a Pagan himself. This was the split of Christianity which has lasted until present day. As a matter of fact the Protestant Christian church has not finished splitting up into hundreds if not thousand of different denominations having only in common the name of Jesus Christ.
Below I will give you the main belief of the church which includes both the Roman Catholic and the German Protestant. Protestant is the name given to Luther’s followers since they protested to the church in Rome with the objections that Luther nailed to the Church in Germany.
Most people have no idea where the Protestant came from and how is it that you have two major wings of a religion that do things so different yet they follow the same three gods or deity as it is called.
Below is the part I have picked directly from catholic and protestant websites and have given it a layman’s term so everyone can understand. There is no criticism just explanations of what these two religions differ only in the highways it followed to be what they are.
Christianity: It’s beginnings and it’s maturity today.
*Like most religions, Christianity is defined differently by different people. Here are some of the ways it has been defined traditionally, and some of the modern alternatives.
*Most agree that Christianity developed in the context of first-century Judaism. The faith of Christians is centered on Jesus, a Jewish rabbi who, after three years of teaching, died in c. 33 C.E. at the hands of the Romans, but what happens next?
*Over the centuries, most Christians agreed that the four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—were the authoritative accounts of Jesus' life, death, and, most importantly for Christians, what happened after his death. What did Christians conclude about the Jesus story?
*In the early centuries, most Christian leaders agreed on a handful of central documents that expressed the core of their faith. These are called creeds, and they include most importantly the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed.
*The creeds declared that Jesus was the Son of God who, being born of a virgin, lived a human life that culminated in a short ministry of teaching, miraculous healings, and finally crucifixion. The story doesn't end there though...
*Jesus' followers insisted that God raised Jesus from the dead and that his death-resurrection had decisively changed the nature of human relationships with God.
*The creeds, the books of scripture (including ancient Jewish texts, the Gospels, and the early church writings by the apostles), and key leaders/writers/thinkers shaped Christian communities called the Church.
*In thinking about who Jesus was and how he talked about his relationship with God, Christians began to teach that the One God had three persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They called this the Trinity.
*Traditional Christians believe that humanity has a fundamental problem, called sin, that shatters relationships with God and with one another.
*Traditional Christians teach that God offers both forgiveness and a remedy for this sin-problem through faith in Jesus Christ.
*Over the past five centuries, many of these Christian teachings have been disputed. The rise of modern science and the influence of Enlightenment thought, along with various other social and cultural developments, have redefined Christianity for many people.
*Some Christians today do not believe in the miraculous stories of the Gospels, including the virgin birth or the resurrection.
*For some, being a Christian means following the teachings of Jesus, which should lead to social justice, but not necessarily believing certain things about him.
*Some Christians today argue that the creeds and teachings of the Church have misled people about the nature of God and the meaning of Jesus.
*Some Christians dispute the gravity of sin, the need for divine forgiveness, and the possibilities of judgment.
*Some Christians believe the Bible is more of a human perspective than a divine revelation.
*Others—like Mormons, Christian Scientists, and Jehovah's Witnesses—say they too are Christian though they have some very different doctrines than traditional Christianity.
*If you are a Christian, where do you fit?
adamfoxie*blog International, Adam Gonzalez, (Publisher, Protestant Theology graduate and History Student)
One of the main sources: Patheos.com
One of the main sources: Patheos.com
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