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Categories |Christianity is the world's most widely practiced religion[1] and although it has many denominations and great diversity, all Christians are united in Jesus Christ. At the heart of Christianity is a loving creator God who is also our redeemer.
The name "Christianity" comes from the Greek word Christos, meaning "annointed", a reference to Jesus.
Christianity is about God reaching out his hand in friendship to mankind. Christians believe that the whole world and everything in it was created by God. God is a personal being, and by mystery that we cannot understand, he is Trinity, or three yet one: God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. He created people in his image, to love and worship him. Yet every person has rebelled against God. But instead of turning his back on us, God became a man, Jesus, who was born about 4 BC and lived among us. He taught a message of love throughout Palestine but public opinion turned against him and he was executed as a young man. He died because of us - the death that we should have died. He was crucified on a cross, but he rose from the dead, and now calls us to trust him, to love him and to repent from our rebellion. If we do this, then our relationship with God becomes restored and we will rise to live again and eternally after death.
Many non-Christians may think that being a Christian is about belonging to a particular church or following a certain set of rule. Most Christians however would agree that at its root, being a Christian means to be in a living relationship with Jesus Christ.
The Bible is the collection of documents acknowledged by Christians to be inspired by God. It contains 66 books and is divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament. It tells of the story of the creation of the universe and of man by God, the rebellion of man against God and his rescue plan for humanity through his Son, Jesus Christ. It recounts the history of the nation of Israel leading up to the time of Jesus, and then the formation of the early church following Jesus. Not only does it record history, it also contains stories and parables, poetry, proverbs and prophecy.
A church building is a building used in Christian worship whereas The church refers to the whole Christian community of believers. Although there is only one church, there are tens of thousands of Christian denominations or churches. These denominations have formed and divided since the time of Christ because Christians have had differences in beliefs and practices. One of the most notable debates in the Christian church has been the debate about salvation (being saved) by faith in Jesus alone as opposed to salvation through faith and good works (belief in Jesus and performing good deeds). This debate was the key issue in the Reformation of the sixteenth century and lead to the split of the Roman Catholic Church with the formation of Protestant churches such as the Lutheran Church. Some of the main denominations today include Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism and Pentecostalism.
The world population is nearing 7 billion people. There are 237 independent states and 66 of these have significant restrictions on religious belief. Approximately 30% of the world's population call themselves Christian, 20% call themselves Muslim, 15% are non-religious and 15% call themselves Hindu.[1]
Although Europe is rapidly becoming secular and non-religious, the majority of Christians live in areas where European settlement or missionary work has been significant. Asia is the least evangelised continent. Of Christians, there are about 1 billion Roman Catholic, 700 million Protestant and 550 million Eastern Orthodox Christians.
Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first — rock and roll or Christianity - John Lennon, 1966
I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else - C.S. Lewis