History+and+Origins



"Whether or not Christianity was created by God, as Christians believe, the early stages of the religion focused on cleansing the Jewish religion of stiff rituals and haughty leaders."



Christianity origniates from Judaism, and broke off from it roughly 2,000 years ago in Judea which is now present day Israel. It all began with the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, a Jewish prophet, who came to believe he was the Son of God as he became older. He began to preach to the people of Israel during the rule of Augustus. He taught of a moral code based on love, charity, and humility, he asked the people to abadon their previous concerns and follow his teachings. While doing this, Jesus gained many poor followers and raised suspicion in the higher classes and Jewish leaders. Those who were against his practice urged the leader of the Roman Government, who was already uneased at the agitation Jesus had caused, to put him to his death. Jesus was killed around 30 A.D, crucified like he were a criminal. Three days later, followers believed that Jesus was resurrected, further proving the point that he was the Son of God. Because of this, the belief began to spread throughout the Middle East and other Jewish communities. Jesus' disciples realized that he wasn't immediatley returning to earth to set up the Kingdom of God, so they decided to spread out and further spread the word that Jesus was preaching. Someone who was a big contributer to the spread, was a man named Paul. Paul was originally a Jew who persecuted Christians, but one day converted to the faith claiming that he expierenced a vision of the risen Jesus. He went through many missionary journeys through the Roman Empire, spreading the word. He started chruches, and wrote back to them to offer encouragement, later these letters were published in what is now known as the New Testament, the second part of the Holy Bible. A major turning point in Christianity happened in the early fourth century, when Constantine, the Roman Emperor at the time, became a Christian himself. He made it a legal religion, which stopped persecution, and made it convenient for his people to convert. The emperor was hoping that this religion would unite his empire, so he was distraught to hear that there were a dispute over Arianism, which believed that Jesus was more than a man, but not God. In 325 A.D, Constantine hoped to solve the conflict by holding the Council of Nicea, so the bishops could work out their issues. In the end, they condemned Arianism and declared Jesus "to be of one substance" with God. They then had issues with Christ's divine and human natures, which were eventually solved at the Council of Chalcedon (451 AD). Meanwhile, there started to be larger conflicts within the religion, including when Easter should be celebrated, the use of symbols, and the Holy Spirit in itself. Eventually, the west and the east split into two different denominations. The West being Roman Cathloic, which stuck with the original beliefs. The East being Greek Orthodox, which condemned the pope and the hierarchy of Roman Cathlocism in general. As time passed, the world industralized, other denominations formed, other religions formed, and the teachings of Christinaity became more widespread. Today, it is the largest religion in the world, and continues to still grow. There are churches in just about every nation in the world. Also, there are thousands of denominations, but they all centrally believe in the same thing. Recently, there has been movement within the denominations to work together for the good of the world. So, in 1948 the World Council of Churches was founded.

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