Estimated to have about 2.25 billion followers, Christianity is the largest ethical system in
the world with its followers dominating the influential and wealthy countries around the
world, many of them successfully trying to be recognized as democratic countries.
About Christianity
Christianity shares a number of beliefs and practices with other religions, particularly Judaism and Islam. With Judaism and Islam, Christians believe in one God, who created the universe and all that is in it. All believe that this God is active in history, guiding and teaching his people. All three religions, including Christianity, have been called "ethical monotheism". This term emphasizes the belief in one God, and the fact that following this God commits us to a number of specific ethical rules or principles [1].
Christianity originally developed as a part of Judaism. Jesus was a Jew who lived from about 3 BC to 30 AD. He lived and taught in Palestine, primarily (although not exclusively) among fellow Jews. Christianity separated from the main body of Judaism for two major reasons [1]:
Christianity came to regard Jesus as in some sense God's presence in human form. This was unacceptable to most Jews.
Judaism is defined by a covenant made between God and the Jewish people. Part of this covenant is the Law, a set of religious and ethical rules and principles. Most Christians came to regard both this covenant and Law as in some sense superseded by Jesus' teaching and the community that he established.
Human beings are created in the image of God [1].
The motivating force behind the Christian life is love [1].
The central belief of Christianity is that by faith in the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus, individuals are saved from death - both spiritual and physical - by redemption from their sins (i.e., faults, misdeeds, disobedience, rebellion against God). Through God's grace, by faith and repentance, men and women are reconciled to God through forgiveness and by sanctification or theosis to return to their place with God in Heaven [2].
Jesus is regarded to be both fully God and fully human, two "natures" in one person [2]. The way Christians think about Jesus shares much but differs in some cases and for some groups and has been a matter of controversy. For example, Arianism was a Christological view held by followers of Arius in the early Christian Church, claiming that Jesus Christ and God the Father were not always contemporary, seeing the Son as a divine being, created by the Father (and consequently inferior to Him) at some point in time, before which he did not exist [3]. Arianism was declared heretical, however it gained some reputation among people such as Isaac Newton who was born Anglican, but converted to Arianism [4].
Some Christians, particularly in the West, refer to the Bible as the "Word of God." Other Christians, particularly in the East, believe that Jesus alone is the Word of God, and see Scripture as an authoritative book, inspired by God but written by men [2].
The Holy Spirit is the bond that unites us with God [1]
Christians live in community. Jesus described himself as a vine, with us as the branches. It is not possible to be united with him without also being united with other Christians [1].
The Holy Spirit is the bond that unites us with God [1]
Christianity, like Islam and Judaism, sees the body as an intrinsic part of a human being. Christians do not believe that the soul will exist in the long run independent of something like a body. (Some Christians do believe in an "intermediate state" between death and the final judgement. During this period, souls may temporarily exist without a body.) [1].
The vast majority of Christian religions (generally including Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, and most forms of Protestantism, but not Restorationism) derive their beliefs from the conclusions reached by the Council of Nicea in 325 C.E., known as the Nicene Creed [2].
Christianity has also been believed widely in other ways, as for example conveyed in the Gospel of Barnabas:
The Gospel of Barnabas, which shares more belief with Islam than the more famous Gospels, including monotheism and prediction of another prophet after Jesus, was accepted as a Canonical Gospel in the Churches of Alexandria till 325 C.E. In 325 C.E., the Nicene Council was held, where it was ordered that all original Gospels in Hebrew script should be destroyed. An Edict was issued that any one in possession of these Gospels will be put to death. The article, How the Gospel Survived, gives a brief narrative on the text's survival [4].
More about Barnabas: http://www.barnabas.net/lifebarnabas.htm
[1] http://geneva.rutgers.edu/src/christianity/major.html
[2] http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Christianity
[3] http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/List_of_Christian_scientists