CHRISTIANITY

CHRISTIANITY

Christianity is one of the most popular religions through the western world. It is an Abrahamic religion. Members of the religion are called Christians (Greek Χριστιανός). It is a monotheistic religion, meaning it has only one God. It is the largest religion in the world and is based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.

In the eyes of the world Jesus was a preacher, teacher, healer, and prophet from ancient Judea. However, his disciples knew him to be much more than that - they knew that Jesus was God's one and only son. His nominal father (Joseph) was a carpenter. Jesus was executed by being nailed to a cross (or crucified) under Pontius Pilate, the local Roman governor at the time. His life and followers are written about in the New Testament, part of the Bible. Christians consider the Bible, both the Old Testament and New Testament, as sacred. The Gospels or "The Good News" are the first four books of the New Testament and are about the life of Jesus, his death, and him rising from the dead.

Christians needed to come up with an explanation why the Bible mentions God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and yet there should only be one god. This idea, called Trinity, was started at the First Council of Nicaea, in 325, and developed during several church meetings or councils. Today, many Christian groups agree with it. Some that do not are the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the biggest of which is the Coptic Orthodox Church. The Oriental Orthodox Churches agree with the ideas in the First Council of Nicaea, but they disagree with other councils. There are also smaller groups who do not believe in the Trinity at all.

God created the world. Jesus is the name of God the Son. Christians believe Him to be the Son of God. They believe that He was the human son of the Virgin Mary and the divine Son of God. They believe He suffered and died to free humans from their sinand was later raised from the dead. He then went up into Heaven. At the end of time, Jesus will come back to Earth to judge all mankind, both alive and dead, giving everlasting life to those who believe in him. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of God on the Earth that spoke through prophets.

The prophets foretold in the Old Testament of Jesus as the Savior. Christians think of Jesus Christ as a teacher, a role model, and someone who revealed who the Christian God was.

Just like Judaism and Islam, Christianity is an Abrahamic religion. Christianity started out as a Jewish sectin the eastern Mediterranean. It quickly grew in number of believers and influence over a few decades, and by the 4th Century it had become the dominant religion in the Roman Empire. The Kingdom of Aksum became the first empire to adopt Christianity. During the Middle Ages, the rest of Europe mostly was Christianized. At that time, Christians were mostly a religious minority in the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of India. Following the Age of Discovery, through missionary work and colonization, Christianity spread to Africa, the Americas, and the rest of the world.

Christianity has been an important part of the shaping of the world. As of the early 21st century, Christianity has approximately 2.2 billion followers,