There is virtually no nation on earth that is without some community
of Christian believers.
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An acceptance of Jesus as Messiah, the Son of God, is central to
Christian faith, and is Christianity's "basic
doctrine".
Many divergent traditions
and structures that have emerged over the centuries as the result of
disagreements over doctrine and practice; in part, because the role
and teachings of Jesus himself remain, after two millennia, a fundamental
mystery. At first, the Church was in disagreement between
the Roman/Latin and Greek members. This conflict created
the Greek Orthodox or Eastern Orthodox Church and the Western or
Catholic Church. The
Eastern Orthodox Church concentrated in the Middle East and
Russia and is now often refered to as the Ukranian Church.
The Catholic Church grew
and spread much more rapidly through Europe and became a large world
power. There came calls for change as a result of some abuses of
this power, and there became the
Protestant Reformation
Other Facts:
Easter is the most important Christian holiday.
As of this writing, Easter (or Pascha) is celebrated according to one calendar
tradition among believers in the West, and another among Orthodox believers.
Along with Easter, other important Christian observances include Christmas,
Epiphany, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Pentecost, and the Feast of the Assumption.
In addition to the major holidays discussed here, Christianity is enriched
by many variant traditions within the manifold expressions of the faith.
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The Types of Christianity
Catholicism Roman
Catholics believe that Jesus was the son of God. There
are sacraments: baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist (shring the
body and blood of Christ during Holy Communion),
penance/confession, the anointing of the sick, marriage, and
holy orders for those living the clergy life. The
Church is of divine revelation. The Pope is the spiritual
authority and the bishops of the Church have been assigned
earthly domination over the spiritual matters of the
church. The Human Soul is immortal.
God is objective and exists in trinity: The Father, The Son, and
the Holy Ghost. The Virgin Mary, mother of
Jesus, is the mother and saviour of all humankind who is above
sin. More information? Try
Catholic Answers Home Page
and The
Catholic Encyclopedia. The
Orthodox Church The differences
between the Catholic and Orthodox churches are more in the way
they practice than in what they practice. For example,
Orthodox churches use leavened (yeast) bread in communion, while
the Catholic church uses unleavened bread (like matzoah or
cracker) for communion. Orthodox priests may marry before they
are ordained. The Orthodox church operates much more
independently between parishes than the Catholic church does,
and there is not as much emphasis on the hierarchy of
clergy.
The Episcopalian Faith
The Episcopal Church is the American branch of the Anglican
Communion. The Anglican Communion is an inheritor of 2000 years of
catholic and apostolic tradition dating from Christ himself,
rooted in the Church of England. When the Church of England spread
throughout the British Empire, sister churches sprang up. These
churches, while autonomous in their governance, are bound together
by tradition, Scripture, and the inheritance they have received
from the Church of England. They together make up the Anglican
Communion, a body headed spiritually by the Archbishop of
Canterbury and having some 80 million members, making it the
second largest Christian body in the world.
The Episcopal Church came into existence as an independent
denomination after the American Revolution. Today it has between
two and three million members in the United States, Mexico, and
Central America, all of which are under jurisdiction of the
Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Edmond Browning.
Bishops in the American Episcopal Church are elected by
individual dioceses and are consecrated into the Apostolic
Succession, considered to witness to an unbroken line of Church
leadership beginning with the Apostles themselves. For more than
two decades the American Episcopal Church has ordained women to
the priesthood. In 1988 the Diocese of Massachusetts elected the
first Anglican woman bishop, Barbara Harris. ~ excerpt from the
Rev Scott I Paradise from
The Episcopal Church
Protestantism
From a single point of origin, the European religious revolutions, the
religions
designated as "Protestant" form the most diverse strand of the three great
divisions within Christianity. The variety can be more than a little
intimidating, because the collection of Protestant views presents a rich
profusion of Bible-based traditions. The authors respect and honor the validity
and devotion of the many Protestant traditions, not all of which can be
identified here.
"Protestantism" is an umbrella term for a set of traditions that came into
existence after the Reformations. If there is a single common thread among
the traditions in this group, It is probably rooted in ideas of group autonomy
and respect for individual experience. It has been said, for example, that
Catholics come to Christ through the church, while Protestants come to the
church through Christ.
This is not to say that most early Protestants believed in religious toleration
and pluralism. (In the 16th and 17th centuries, such ideas were reserved
for the radical fringe.)
The guiding accents in the Protestant experience have been the formation
of communities and the power of direct experience. Protestants claim "the
priesthood of all believers by which they assert that lay believers have
the same access to God as clergy-that all have a religious vocation, whether
farmers, factory workers, parents, or ministers.
Two other fundamental doctrinal points set Protestant Christians apart from
believers in the Roman Catholic tradition. The Bible is regarded as the only
source of infallible, received truth, and the believer is justified by God's
grace, obtained through his or her faith in Christ not by good deeds or the
mediation of any religious institution.
In practice, the vast majority of Protestant denomination have also rejected
the notion of clerical celibacy. A few, including the shakers; advocated
celibacy among all believers, relying on the recruitment of outsiders to
perpetuate the faith.
Baptists:
Baptists cherish and defend religious liberty,
and deny the right of any secular or religious authority to impose a
confession of faith upon a church or body of churches. We honor the
principles of soul competency and the priesthood of believers, affirming
together both our liberty in Christ and our accountability to each other
under the Word of God.
Methodist:
With Christians of other communions we confess
belief in the triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This
confession embraces the biblical witness to God’s activity in
creation, encompasses God’s gracious self-involvement in the
dramas of history, and anticipates the consummation of God’s
reign.
The created order is designed for the well-being
of all creatures and as the place of human dwelling in covenant
with God. As sinful creatures, however, we have broken that
covenant, become estranged from God, wounded ourselves and one
another, and wreaked havoc throughout the natural order. We stand
in need of redemption.~ from the UMC website
Faith, Not Works
Martin Luther, the first and one of the foremost Protestant reformers,
interpreted certain passages of the New Testament to mean that God's grace
alone, and not the good works of individuals, served as source of salvation
through faith. Luther's doctrine won an immediate following among academics,
clergy, and laity. From his doctrines arose
Lutheranism
John Calvin was another reformer of significant influence. An exiled French
theologian of the generation after Luther, Calvin devoted his life to the
ideal of building a truly Christian society based on charity, humility, and
faith. For Calvin, theology was important, but it was the starting place,
not the goal. His vision of a church governed by elders (in Greek, presbyteros)
led to the founding of, for example, the
Presbyterian Church. "Reformed"
churches in Holland, Germany, and France look back to Calvinist roots.
"Distinctive" Protestant Movements
Pentecostalism is a global movement emphasizing an ecstatic experience of
God, often resulting in glossolalia (speaking in tongues). Major Pentecostalist
denominations include the Church of God in Christ and the Assemblies of
God.
The Quakers (or Friends) reject the necessity of ordained ministers and external
sacra-ments, viewing all aspects of life itself as sacred. This pacifist
tradition holds that every believer is gifted with "inner light." Friends
gather in weekly Meetings to pray silently together and to share revelation
as the Spirit dictates. More information? See the
Religious Society of Friends
Extraordinary piety and a commitment to live as simply as possible mark the
practices of active
Mennonites, who refuse, on religious grounds, to hold
public office or serve in any military capacity. The Mennonite tradition
traces its roots to the radical fringe of the early Reformation, the Anabaptists.
Another such group are the Amish, who reject many modern technological advances
and severely limit contact with the outside world.
The Unitarian Universalist Association, which includes both Christian and
non-Christian members, is among the most open and tolerant of Protestant
religious traditions. Unitarian
Universalists reject the doctrine of the Trinity, seeing Christ as a
great teacher, not a divine incarnation. They tend to avoid dogma as restrictive
and even presumptuous,
choosing to emphasize inclusiveness and understanding rather than a specific
religious creed.
The Christian Science movement, founded by Mary Baker Eddy, holds that the
spiritual world is the true reality, compared to which the material world
is an illusion. Christian Scientists believe that sin and illness can be
overcome by spiritual powers. For this reason they tend to avoid medicines
and medical procedures in favor of divine healing.
Seventh-Day Adventists celebrate the Sabbath on Saturday (rather than Sunday) and anticipate the imminent Second
Coming of Christ.
Jehovah's Witnesses accept the Bible as factually true in every detail and
anticipate the coming of God's kingdom after the battle of Armageddon, which
is considered imminent and which is expected to be followed by a thousand-year
reign of Christ on earth. Their beliefs stem from the Bible's statement:
Jehovah God had witnesses on earth during the thousands of
years before Jesus was born. After Hebrews chapter 11 lists some
of those men of faith, Hebrews 12:1 says: "So, then, because we
have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also put
off every weight and the sin that easily entangles us, and let us
run with endurance the race that is set before us." Jesus said
before Pontius Pilate: "For this I have been born, and for this I
have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the
truth." He is called "the faithful and true witness." (John 18:37;
Revelation 3:14) Jesus told his disciples: "You will receive power
when the holy spirit arrives upon you, and you will be witnesses
of me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the
most distant part of the earth."—Acts 1:8.
Mormons
Download the entire Book
of Mormon, courtesy of Project Guttenburg, here.
Also visit http://www.mormon.org/
for more information. The Mormons are also called members of the Church of
Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints
Amish
The Amish are usually known for their plain lifestyle and
appearance. They are Christians and their lifestyle is based on Christian
values. They have business and personal associates that have created
a website for them. Visit there at
http://www.holycrosslivonia.org/amish/amishfaq.htm
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