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Christianity is the single most widespread religion in the world today. About one-third of the world's population regard themselves as some form of Christian. About 75% of Americans identify themselves as Christian.
Origins of Christianity
Christians follow the teachings of Yeshua of Nazareth, commonly referred to as Jesus Christ. (Jesus is the Greek form of Yeshua; Christ is Greek for "Messiah"). Yeshua was a Jewish teacher who lived in Palestine and who was executed by the Roman authorities in the year 30 CE. After centuries of persecution, the Roman Empire recognized Christianity as the official religion of the Empire and it spread across Europe. In 1054 CE a great split occurred between the Roman (western) and the Orthodox (eastern) churches. In the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation led to a series of further splits and Christianity fragmented into thousands of individual denominations. Among these are Anglicans, Baptists, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Mormons, Mennonites, and many others.
Christian Sacred Texts
Along with Muslims and Jews, Christians are considered to be "People of the Book", and they revere the Old Testament, a series of writings from the Near East and dating as far back as 2,000 BCE. Christians also hold sacred the New Testament, which covers the life of Jesus to perhaps the mid 2nd century. Conservative Christians believe that the original writings of the Bible were without error while liberal Christians tend to view the Bible as a collection of writings describing a gradual evolution of religious thought.
Christian Beliefs
The fundamental Christian belief is that Jesus was the son of
God. Most
Christians also believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, was resurrected three
days after his execution, and later ascended to Heaven.
Christian beliefs vary greatly about life after death. Many Protestants believe that people will end up being eternally punished in Hell unless they are saved by accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior. Roman Catholics believe that salvation is channeled through church sacraments to sinful but repentant persons. Some Christians interpret hell symbolically, not as an actual place. Christians who accept the Bible literally hold that God created the universe and the first couple, Adam and Eve. Other Christians interpret the beginnings of the Book of Genesis as mythical rather than as precise description of real events.
Almost all Christians agree that everyone has eternal life. However, many
Christians believe that the destiny of most people is to go to Hell because of
their sins, without any hope of an end to their suffering -- only a small
minority who have achieved salvation before death will live forever in heaven.
Whether one has been saved is thus a topic of great importance -- more important
to a traditional Christian than any other factor in life.
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