The Brief History, Core Teachings, Fundamental Beliefs, Practices, and Related Issues of Christianity
What does it mean to be Christian?
Christianity is a major world religion that stems from the life, teachings, and death of Jesus of Nazareth (the Christ, or the Anointed One of God). This religion has become the largest of the world’s religions.
Founder: Jesus Christ
In Christianity, Jesus of Nazareth (approx. c. 7 BC-30 A.D.) is the Christ, the promised ‘Messiah,’ and thus its central figure. Actually a title for Jesus, the name ‘Christ’ comes from the Greek word ‘Christos,’ meaning ‘the Anointed One,’ or ‘Messiah’ in Hebrew.
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To be a Christian is to follow all of Christ’s commands written in the Bible.
Sacred Texts: Bible (Old Testament and New Testament)
The Christian Biblecomprises the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox versions of the Old Testament are nonetheless a little larger because of their acceptance of certain books and parts of books considered by Protestants as ‘apocryphal,’ that is, of unknown authorship, or of doubtful authenticity.
The Old Testament is based principally upon the Hebrew Bible, a collection of religious writings by ancient Israelites believed by most Christians (and observant Jews) to be the sacred Word of God. Because of the insertion of the apocryphal books, the Old Testament canon varies among churches. Protestants have a version with 39 books, Catholics have a version with 46 books, and both the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches select the Old Testament version with 49 books.
Some Doctrines
Although considered as central dogma in many so-called Christian religions, Trinity is rejected by some as unscriptural. They teach that Jesus Christ Himself, whom the Trinitarians consider as “God the Son,” declared that that there is only one God, the Father: “Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: ‘Father, … this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God …” (John 17:1, 3). The Father, who is likewise taught by the apostles as the “only one God” (I Cor. 8:6) and is the Lord from everlasting to everlasting (Ps. 90:1-2), knows no other God besides Himself: “I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me” (Isa. 46:9).
The teaching that the Holy Spirit is God was formulated in the Catholic Church’s Council of Constantinople in 381 A.D. after formulating the “Christ is God” doctrine at the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. (Crock, 1938, p. 206). The complete formulation of the Trinity doctrine was declared at the 11th Synod of Toledo in 675 A.D., more than 500 years after the Bible had been written (Ott, 1952, p. 53). The very term ‘Trinity,’ as famous Bible scholar Augustus Hopkins Strong affirms, “is not found in Scripture…The invention of the term is ascribed to Tertullian.” (1907, p. 30).
Monotheism
‘Monotheism’is the “belief in single God: the belief that there is only one God” (“Monotheism,” 2009). The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church defines it as the “belief in one personal and transcendent God.” Within theism, monotheism is opposed to polytheism and pantheism (the belief that God is everything).
The term ‘monotheism’ comes from the Greek ‘μόνος’ (monos) meaning “single” and ‘θεός’ (theos) meaning “god.” It characterizes the traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—religions that had grown up in opposition to polytheistic paganism. (Read: All religions: Just various roads all leading to God?)
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