Religions - Christianity
Religion: Christianity
“I am a Christian” / “They are Christians”
“Christian’s believe that…”
What do Christians believe?
This page gives the beliefs which are held by most churches but there will always be an exception.
Who is God?
Christians believe in One God but they also believe that God exists in three forms known as the Trinity. The three sides of God are the Father or Creator God (who created the world and cares for it as a Father), the Son / Jesus (God became human flesh and came to live alongside his people and bring them back to Him) and the Holy Spirit (The presence of God in our lives, who is with us to give us strength and help us live a good life). An analogy, which though limited, may be to compare how people have different roles in their lives, you may be a parent, a child, a co-worker, a friend – you have different relationships depending on which role you are in. Equally God has three different roles but is still one God.
Many Christians may say that ‘God is love’ to emphasise their belief that God loves and wants a relationship with everyone.
What do followers have to do?
Jesus talks about the importance that Christians show love to other people. The most important Commandment for Christians is to love others. Jesus reiterated this many times, claiming that the two most important commandments in the Old Testament were to Love God and Love your neighbour as yourself.
For Jesus a neighbour wasn’t just your group of friends but was everyone, including enemies. He frequently chose to spend time with people who were considered unimportant or even undesirable in society such as “greedy” tax collectors, women, children, sick people, adulterers and people from other religious or cultural backgrounds who were often considered unimportant. Jesus told the parable (story) of the Good Samaritan to define a neighbour as being someone who shows kindness regardless of who they are.
The Bible also talks about God’s love for his creation illustrated by a parable (story) of Jesus The Prodigal Son which compares the love of God to that of a father and a long lost son.
Prayer and Worship
Christians pray in many ways, some will sings songs, hymns or chants of praise and worship, some will use liturgical (written) prayers, some will pray during times of silence while others will pray outloud. Some Christians may “speak in tongues” in a language which is believed to be the language of God. Some may use a stimuli for prayer such as lighting a candle, using prayer beads or holding a stone to help them focus on their prayer. Christians may pray in any posture including kneeling down, sitting down, and standing up. Some may reach their hands out as if to touch God while they pray, if praying for someone else they may place a hand on or near to the person usually on the head or shoulder.
The Bible teaches Christians to use The Lords Prayer and many do use this although the exact wording may change. This prayer starts by praising God and affirming that “Your will be done”, it then requests that God provide for the needs of the individual 'give us this day our daily bread”, and asks for forgiveness as they forgive the sins of others. It goes on to request guidance so the person will not be tempted to sin again. The prayer usually ends by affirming the greatness and eternity of God. Some Christians will use this prayer structure even if they do not say the exact words.
Where and when do Christians Worship?
Most Christians worship God in a church or Cathedral on a Sunday. Many may also go to house groups or bible study groups during the week to explore their Christian faith further with a group of friends.
Many churches are used as community venued during the week and may be hired by other groups or used to run youth groups, drop in cnetres and many other activities.
Anyone can go into a church and most churches do not have any strict rules regarding clothing. Some churches have an area for quiet prayer while others may put more of a focus on welcoming and forming friendships. If in doubt about how to act, what to say or what to do just ask someone.
Holy Book(s): The Bible. The Bible includes the Jewish Scriptures “The Tenakh” which is referred to as the Old Testament, and The New Testament which details the life of Jesus and the early Church.
Most of the Bible is written as a narrative, following important characters such as Abraham, Joseph, David, Ruth, Jesus and many others. There are also sections on poetry, sections on genealogy and sections on laws among other things. The Bible (which means library) is divided into different “books” such as ‘Genesis’ which details the beginning of the world, the ‘Psalms‘ (poetry), ‘Matthew’ one account of Jesus’ life, ‘Revelation’ (prophesy of the apocalypse). Each book is then divided into numbered chapters and each chapter is further divided into verses which are approximately a sentence in length. E.g. John 13:34 is the book of John, chapter 13, verse 34. Most protestant Churches use a version of the Bible which has 66 books, Catholic churches add 7 books to the Old Testament and some other denominations will also add books to either the Old or New Testament. The Ethiopian Orthodox Bible has 81 books.
The Bible was written in Hebrew (Old Testament), Greek (New Testament) and Aramaic (some sections). It has now been translated into over 350 languages worldwide. There are many different versions of the Bible in English, including The King James version which was authorised by King James in 1604 is written in a style similar to a Shakespeare passage:
King James Version: John 15:12-13: 12”This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. 13Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
Other versions attempt to translate the Bible into modern language such as the New International Version (NIV).
NIV Version: John 15:12-13: 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends.
Other versions attempt to interoperate the Bible for contemporary life such as The Message Bible or the Street Bible.
Message Version: John 15:12-13: 12 “This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. 13This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends.”
Street Bible Version: John 15:12-13: 12 “My rule reads, ‘Love each other like I’ve loved you. 13There is no love that tops this, the love where someone gives up his life for his mates.”
Still other versions emphasise certain passages such as The Green Bible which writes everything to do with the care of the earth in green text or some versions will write all the words of Jesus in red. There are also versions such as the Dramatised Bible which write the dialogue as if it were a play.
Some churches may prefer certain versions but others may use a variety depending on the occasion. Many different versions can be read online, please see www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2015:%2011-12;&version=9;31;65;28; or do a search for other versions of the Bible online.
There are many other books Christians might use such as a hymn book, a song book, a prayer book, or a Bible Study book. While these may be very important to the reader they are not considered Holy Books or Scriptures.
History of Christianity:
There is much debate about the exact dates of Jesus’ life. This page gives only a general overview and all the dates are approximations, for a more in-depth look into the exact dates please see other sources.
7BC - 2BC: Birth of Jesus- the western calendar counts from the birth of Jesus, e.g. 1BC (Before Christ) is one year before the birth of Jesus. 1AD (Anno Domini -Latin for "in the year of our Lord") is one year after Christ’s birth. Evidence suggests there may have been a mistake when calculating the year of Jesus’ birth which is probably somewhere between 7BC - 2BC
7AD: Jesus visits the temple and talks to the rabbis
23AD – 28AD: Jesus was baptised when he was about 30years old.
26AD – 29AD: Jesus chooses 12 disciples (apprentices) to follow and learn from him, begins his teaching using sermons and parables, performing miracles, healing the sick, forgiving people of their sins. “Jesus was clearly well known as a healer from the beginning of his public activity. The Gospels [four books in the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all giving accounts of Jesus’ life] record his curing many different types of illness and deformity, usually by a simple word and a touch” (The New Lion Handbook The World Religions, Christopher Partridge, 2005, page 319). Jesus had about 3 years of public ministry.
30AD – 34AD: Death of Jesus and resurrection of Jesus on the third day (2 days later – usually stated that he died on the Friday and rose from the dead on the Sunday. After this the disciples were sent God’s spirit on the day of Pentecost (a Jewish festival) and asked to tell other people about Jesus.
The birth of Jesus is the most common date for the founding of Christianity but many argue that it wasn’t until after his death that Christianity really split from Judaism.
“Christianity was not given official recognition as a ‘legitimate religion’ by the Roman state until 313. From this point onwards, Christianity became not merely a recognised faith, but the official religion of the Roman Empire” (The New Lion Handbook The World Religions, Christopher Partridge, 2005, page 311)
What is the difference between Catholic and Protestant?
The Catholic and Protestant divide is a central focus of the History curiculum on all English school with the lessons focusing on Henry 8th leaving the Catholic church and establishing the Church of England to enable him to divorce his first wife and remarry. The following years in history involved several switches between the two denominations and even now there are some areas of tension particualrly in Ireland and Scotland but also locally on a smaller scale.
The main difference is that Catholics see the Pope as a key religious figure looking back to Jesus's promise to Peter that "on this rock (Peter is the rock) I will build my church". Catholics see the Pope as a continuation of this promise and a figure head for their faith.
Protestants see the Pope as just another Chirstian and put more emphesis on local religious leaders or individuals doing what they see as right.
How Would Someone Become a Christian?
Anyone can convert to Christianity if they accept Jesus as their Lord. Some churches may require or ask new members to go through special classes or courses or to go through a rite of passage or initation ceremony such as a Believers Baptism, Confirmation, Afirmation, First Communion or Commital. New converts may become Church Members but this is not compulsory. Some churches run special enquirers courses for people to find out more about Christianity and ask questions, the Alpha Course is an example of this. If you are interested in finding out more about Christianity why not visit a local church and speak to the minister.