Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life, crucifixtion, resurection and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament writings of his early followers. It is the world's largest religion, with an estimated 2.1 billion adherents, or about one-third of the total world population. It shares with Judaism the Hebrew Bible (historically called by Christians the Old Testament), and for this reason is sometimes called an Abrahamic religion along with Judaism and Islam.

Doctrine

Christians have often viewed Christianity as the fulfillment and successor of Judaism, and Christianity carried forward much of the doctrine and many of the practices from the Hebrew faith, including monotheism, the belief in a Messiah (or Christ from the Greek Christós, which means "anointed one") spoken of in prophecies, certain forms of worship (such as prayer, and reading from religious texts), a priesthood (although most Protestants assert the "priesthood of all believers" is the only valid priesthood today), and the idea that worship on Earth is modeled on worship in Heaven.

Related Topics:
Hebrew - Monotheism - Messiah - Prophecies - Prayer - Priesthood - Heaven

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The central belief of Christianity is that by faith in the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus alone, individuals are saved from spiritual death 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.

Related Topics:
Resurrection of Jesus - Spiritual - Death - Redemption - Sin - Grace - Faith - Repentance - Sanctification - Theosis - Heaven

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Crucial beliefs in Christian teaching are Jesus' incarnation, atonement, crucifixion, and resurrection from the dead to redeem humankind from sin and death; and the belief that the New Testament is a part of the Bible. Many Christians today (and traditionally even more) also hold to supersessionism, the belief that Christianity is the fulfillment of Biblical Judaism.

Related Topics:
Incarnation - Atonement - Crucifixion - Resurrection - New Testament - Bible - Supersessionism

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The emphasis on God the Father giving his son, or the Son (who is God) becoming incarnate for the sake of humanity, is an essential difference between Christianity and most other religions, where the emphasis is instead placed solely on humans working for salvation.

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The most uniform and broadly accepted tradition of doctrine, with the longest continuous representation, repeatedly reaffirmed by official Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant definitions (although not without dissent, as noted below) asserts that specific beliefs are essential to Christianity, including but not limited to:

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• God is a Trinity, a single eternal being that exists as three persons: Father, Son (Divine Logos, incarnated as Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit.
• Jesus Christ is both fully God and fully human, two "natures" in one person.
• Salvation from spiritual death, a separation from God due to mankind's sin, is available to individual believers only through the person and work of Jesus Christ and by the grace of God. Most generally maintain that personal faith in Jesus Christ is necessary for salvation, and many view faith without associated "good works" as a "dead" (illegitimate) faith.
• Jesus fulfilled Bible prophecy in regards to Messianic prophecy.
• Mary, the virgin mother of Jesus, bore in her womb and gave birth to the Son of God, who although eternally existent as God was humanly formed in her womb by the Spirit of God. From her humanity he received in his person a human intellect and will, and all else that a child would naturally receive from its mother.
• Jesus is the Messiah hoped for by the Jews, the heir to the throne of David. He reigns at the right hand of the Father with all authority and power forevermore. He is the hope of all mankind, their advocate and judge. Until he returns at the end of the world, the Church has the authority and obligation to preach the Gospel and to gather new disciples.
• Jesus was innocent of any sin. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, believers are forgiven of sins and reconciled to God. Although virtually all Christians agree on this, there are a variety of views on the significance of Jesus' resurrection. Christians are baptized into the death, resurrection and new life of Christ. Through faith, they live by the promise of resurrection from death to everlasting life through Christ. The Holy Spirit is sent to them by Christ to bring hope, to lead mankind into true knowledge of God and His purposes, and to help them grow in holiness.
• Jesus will return personally, and bodily, to judge all mankind and receive the faithful to himself, so they will live forever in the intimate presence of God.
• The Bible is an authoritative text, inspired by God but written by men. Some, particularly in the West, refer to the Bible as the "word of God." Other Christians, particularly in the East, reserve to Jesus alone the title, Word of God. Christians disagree in various ways about the authority of the Bible (especially in relation to the authority of tradition) and how the Scriptures are best interpreted.

These beliefs are stated in a number of creeds, of which the most important and widely used are probably the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, commonly known as the Nicene Creed. These statements of belief were written in the first few centuries after Christ to reject certain heresies. Although there are arguments about specific parts of these creeds, they are still used by mainstream Christians to state their basic beliefs. (See also: Athanasian Creed)

Related Topics:
Creed - Apostles' Creed - Nicene Creed - Heresies - Athanasian Creed

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Christian Love is basic to many forms of Christianity, based in part on Christ's answer to the question, "Which is the greatest commandment?" To which he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Matt. 22:36–39 NASB).

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Many persons and groups throughout history have had varying ideas about the basic tenets of the Christian faith, from ancient sects such as Arians and Gnostics to modern groups who have different understandings of fundamental Christian ideas. Some of these groups are the Jehovah's Witnesses, who have a different theological understanding of Jesus, God and the Bible; the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who believe that in 1829 God restored the apostolic priesthood to their leader Joseph Smith, Jr., making possible continuing revelation (including additional teachings and scripture); and the Unification Church. While various groups may differ in their approach to the specifics of Christ's role, ministry, and nature (some calling him a god or Gods, and others a man), Christ is generally assumed to be of cosmic importance. Some of these groups number themselves among the Christian churches, or believe themselves to be the only true Christian church. Furthermore, many present-day liberal Christians do not define essential Christian belief necessarily including belief in the deity of Jesus, the virgin birth, the Trinity, miracles, the resurrection, the ascension of Christ, or the personality or deity of the Holy Spirit. Liberals may or may not recommend belief in such things, but differentiate themselves from conservative Christians by defining as included within genuine Christianity anyone who explains their views or teachings principally by appeal to Jesus; for example, . It is common for those who hold the more traditional tenets of faith described in the paragraph above to assert that some or all of these groups are not true Christians, principally because they feel that by denying fundamental teachings about the nature, actions and teachings of Jesus, such persons are following a different religion. Conversely, liberals are often feel that "traditional" Christians have been misled by political organizations spanning thousands of years, and follow dogma designed to assign power to certain institutions.

Related Topics:
Arians - Gnostics - Jehovah's Witnesses - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - Joseph Smith, Jr. - Unification Church - Virgin birth - Trinity - Miracle

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See also Apostasy, Heresy, Heterodoxy, Orthodoxy.

Related Topics:
Apostasy - Heresy - Heterodoxy - Orthodoxy

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