Christianity

Name: Nicole Class: Block G Topic: Christianity

=__Christianity__=

Christianity is a religion from the teachings of Jesus Christ. Jesus’s followers were Christians and they believed that Jesus was the son of God. The first Christians were the Jews. They originated from Israel where Jesus Christ was born. Some of Christ gospels and priests came to Rome to spread the word of God. That is how Christianity came about in Rome. The religion was only taken seriously in 400 A.D (estimated). Romans were usually Catholics and therefore only catholic churches existed then.

The emperors of Rome were against the newfound religion because Romans were meant to worship the emperors and not Jesus Christ. The Christians were perceived as enemies because they wanted to spread Christianity. In Rome, Christians refused to abide the Roman law. They thought it was cruel and a disgrace to their God. However, the Christians in the West of Rome followed the Roman law because they were scared of being killed. There were conflicts, criticisms and destructions in the Roman Empire. Soon the emperor, Augustine, ordered a massacre of all Christians in Rome. Christianity was banned from their religion and was punished by feeding Christians to lions as entertainment, eaten by dogs, nailed to the cross and burned alive as torches. There were a few Christians that survived and they were imprisoned. After the massacre, the emperor Augustine died. The imperial guards of Rome decided to let the Christians out of prison because the prison was overcrowded. In A.D 313, Rome elected a new emperor, Constantine. He made Christianity legal and granted the Christians freedom because Constantine himself was a Christian. He re-built the many churches that were destroyed and tore down monuments of other Roman emperors.

Jesus Christ was born in Palestine about 2000 years ago. He was a Jewish carpenter who later became a famous preacher. People learnt and listened to his teachings of God. The Romans disliked Christ and his teachings and sentenced him to death. Jesus Christ was crucified on a cross. All the Christians in Rome and Israel were devastated. Christ said that he would return to earth in thirty days to prove his holiness in God and the people of Rome and Israel. This important festival is “ Easter”, which celebrates Christ’s death and rebirth. After Christ’s death, only 10% of the Roman Empire was Christians. Gospels and priests were extremely worried because people were losing faith in Christ. After thirty days of Christ’s death, he returned to earth. Everyone cheered and celebrated his resurrection. Since then, the sign of the cross has symbolized holiness, peace and a new life to Christians all around the world. Christians kept on emphasizing God’s love for humanity and his faith in all humans. It made the Christian population increase. Still, there were many Romans that disliked the religion and wanted war. They teamed up with the Jew society and went to war. The Christians won the Punic war. It was believed that the faith they had in God helped them win the war. The Christian population grew and grew.

The word of God soon spread all around the world. Then different types of Christianity were formed. The new groups were the Orthodox, Protestants, Presbyterians and the Methodists, but the Catholic society continued to exist until today. Baptism did not exist during the Roman Empire but these days, in it is not compulsory if you were a Christian. The modern groups of Christianity brought difficulties to the people who wanted to define Christianity.

The ways and beliefs of Christianity are taken from the Bible. There were four Jew gospels who wrote the Bible, Matthew, Luke, John and Mark. The Bible is a book that holds teaching and scriptures of Jesus Christ. The gospels divided the book into two, the New and Old Testament.

The world is moving at a fast pace in today’s life. Religion has become another item that we can buy and use whenever it pleases us. Church attendance has declined. Churches are now used for ceremonial events such as weddings and funerals.

This is Jesus Christ on the cross. This is Jesus Christ holding a lamb


 * Citations**

__Images__ [|www.ackland.org/.../ image-christianity.jpgk] [|www.utilitarianism.com/ jesus-christ.jpg] __websites__ http://britannicaschool.eb.com/all/elementaryarticle?articled-400288 http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-67411

__Books__

Bunson, Matthew. __A dictionary of the Roman empire__. New york: Oxford Univerity press, 1994.

Nardo, Don. __The Roman Empire__. United stated of america: Library of congress cataloging, 1974.