Christianity believes in one God, while the central figure in Christianity is Jesus (or Christ), a Jew who came into this world by immaculate conception to a virgin named Mary.
His birth is celebrated at Christmas with hymns and gift giving. It's believed that Jesus was not only man, but also the son of God and lived his life without sin.
Christianity is a religion based on the life, teachings, death by crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth as described in the New Testament. Although Christians are monotheistic, the one God is thought, by most Christians, to exist in three divine persons, called the Trinity.
Most Christians believe that Jesus is the son of God and the Messiah of the Jews as prophesied in the Old Testament (or Hebrew Bible). According to other traditions, however, Jesus is thought to be a human Messiah that instructs his followers to worship God alone. With well over two billion followers throughout the world, Christianity is an Abrahamic religion centered on God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. One of the big issues surrounding Christianity is that some people question the existence of the Trinity. Other points of debate are the Christian beliefs in Immaculate Conception, the original sin, the existence of the Devil, and the coming of the apocalypse. Learn more about Christianity and find out how it became the world's largest religion with holidays that are known worldwide.
THINGS TO DOEven if you do not sense this, it is important nevertheless to develop a regular schedule for reading the Bible.
Your new life is not about feelings but trusting in God and learning more about Him. Reading the Bible each day gives food to your spirit, in the same way that mealtimes satisfy your natural daily hunger for food.
A regular intake of spiritual food in this way will strengthen you as a Christian and enable you to understand more of God's kingdom and His ways.Try to set aside time for Bible reading each day till death, preferably before you begin your day.
Pray before you start and expect to hear God speak to you from His word.
It involves water: depending upon the group, it may be anything from a symbolic sprinkling to complete immersion. The water symbolizes being cleansed from sin. More specifically, it symbolizes dying with Christ and being raised with him. This symbolism is clearest when immersion is used: being lowered into the water reminds us of Christ's death, and being raised from the water, of his resurrection. This understanding is used even among those who don't literally immerse the candidates. Thus the process of baptism is very simple. You begin by standing, sitting, or kneeling in some water. Another Christian then lowers you under the water and then brings you back up out of the water. You could also literally call this "immersion."
When he instituted communion, Jesus said of the bread "This is my body". While some Protestants understand this as purely metaphorical, most Christians believe that Jesus is in some way present in communion. Many Christian traditions believe that in some sense the bread and wine used in communion become Jesus' body and blood. This is referred to as Christ's "Real Presence". Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans, and reformed all hold some variant of this concept. For Catholics this involves an actual metaphysical change in the bread and wine. While the physical properties of read and wine remain, the metaphysical identity is changed to Christ's body and blood. Lutherans and Reformed do not accept this metaphysical change. For Reformed theology, Christ's body remains physically in heaven. In communion we truly eat his body and drink his blood, but this is a spiritual matter mediated by the Holy Spirit. Lutherans believe that there is an actual identification of bread and wine with Christ's body and blood. Other Protestants take a more metaphorical approach.
It was the tradition for Christians to wash before entering the church for worship. This usage is also legislated in the Rule of St. Benedict, as a result of which, many medieval monasteries were built with communal lavers for the monks or nuns to wash up before the Daily Office. Traditionally, Christianity adhered to the biblical regulation requiring the purification of women after childbirth; this practice, was adapted into a special ritual known as the churching of women, for which there exists liturgy in the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer, but its use is now rare in Western Christianity. The churching of women is still performed in a number of Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches. Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox and High church Anglicans are also traditionally required to regularly attend confession, as a form of ritual purification from sin, especially as preparation before receiving the Eucharist. Though this is only required once a year or if a mortal sin has been committed but it is a must to get purified before death.
God sent his one and only son to be persecuted so humans could one day live in Heaven with him. "For god so loved the world that he sent his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Jesus Christ died on the cross to forgive all sins of those who believe so that we can have a personal relationship with God without the hindrance of our sins. Christianity was spread by the word of mouth by Disciples, Jesus' followers who were people who spread the gospel. The structure of the Roman Empire also aided the spread of Christianity by the Roman roads which were good for travel throughout the Empire for people like Paul of Tarsus who reached out to Jews and gentiles to tell the word. Non-Christians like Diocletian tried to persecute Christianity but the religion proved to be too powerful to be blotted out by force and a true Christian is said to propagate the good things in his religion before his lifetime finishes. It only forced Christians to become more organized. The poor were drawn to Christianity because it was one of the only religions that they could afford.
Rituals before Marriage Christian marriages can begin either with wedding directly or with the engagement or betrothal. The betrothal ordinances are brief. They comprise of making the sign of the cross three times on both the engaged couple and the marriage rings. The engagement ring is a promise for marriage. In the Roman period, a man had to barter for his future bride. The assembled guests, friends and relatives continue with prayers.
A communion service takes place after this. It is time for the couple to sign the register and leave for a happy married life arm in arm. Marriage is perhaps the most joyous occasion for celebration for the mankind. And every marriage all over the world is deemed to be incomplete without the wedding feast. Christian wedding is no exception where a small reception takes place where the couple cut the traditional wedding cake. The Christians' wedding cake is one big affair which originated primarily with lots of little wheat cakes. These little cakes were broken over the bride's head to bring good luck and fertility.
Thus Christianity was founded in the early 1st century AD, with the teaching, miracles, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Today it is the largest religion in the world, with around 2 billion followers.
Especially dominant in the western world, today's Christianity has a wide variety of forms, beliefs and practices but all center around faith in Jesus Christ. There are a multitude of forms of Christianity which have developed either because of disagreements on dogma, adaptation to different cultures, or simply personal taste.
For this reason there can be a great difference between the various forms of Christianity they may seem like different religions to some people. Thus according to the religion of Christianity the above mentioned duties are to be followed by the members of the religion before death.
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