How People All Over the World Worship God the Issue of Christianity - Essay Example

Christianity is a major world religion that has its origins in the lands bordering the Eastern Mediterranean sea. The religion is approximately two thousand years old. It follows the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, a man of Jewish descent that lived during the Roman occupation of Palestine. People that claim Christianity as their religion are known as Christians. Jesus of Nazareth was remarkable in many ways. He was raised in an obscure part of Palestine. Little or nothing is known of his early life. Actually, very little historical record exists that tells us anything outside of the Bible, which is the holy book of Christianity. In the Bible, it is claimed that Jesus was born of a woman that was a virgin. Her name was Mary. After this, nothing is recorded concerning Jesus until he began to minister to people. He became famous for his ability to heal the sick, especially those afflicted with blindness and leprosy. During his lifetime, Jesus of Nazareth made some amazing claims. He told people that he was the Son of God. He said that he was the Messiah, or Savior that the Jewish people had long been waiting for. Jesus said that he brought to the people a new way of worshiping God and a new means of salvation. He said that the rituals established by Moses did not need to be done anymore, but that people should now follow his teachings. He taught that people should love everyone, even their enemies. He taught that baptism was necessary for salvation and that people needed to be fair and just in their dealings with others. Many people followed Jesus. They began to call him Christ, which is derived from the Greek word for Messiah. For this reason, Christians often refer to Jesus as Jesus Christ down to this day. The Roman authorities began to notice that Jesus was getting a following, but didnt seem to be concerned. The people that hated him most were the established rulers in the existing Jewish theocracy. They thought Jesus was guilty of blasphemy for claiming to be the Son of God. They also were upset because Jesus was teaching the people to question the authority of these rulers. Eventually, these Jews were successful in getting a trial in the Roman court. The judge in that trial washed his hands of Jesus. He did not accuse nor defend him. The Jewish court found him guilty and Jesus was crucified. According to Christian teaching, Jesus lay in a tomb for three days and then on the third day, he arose from the dead. This is known as the Resurrection and this even is celebrated each year during a holiday called Easter. It is the most sacred holiday for Christians. Easter is viewed by many Christians as even more important than Christmas, which is a celebration of Jesus birth. After Jesus was resurrected, he told his followers to go out and spread his teachings all over the world. That is exactly what happened. Christianity spread through all of the Roman Empire. Disagreements between powerful church leaders resulted in Christianity first splitting into Eastern and Western churches. Later, this Western church became known as the Catholic Church. During the Middle Ages in Europe, this Catholic Church started to split into many different faiths as well. These churches became known as Protestant churches. Today, Christianity is the largest world religion. More people call themselves Christians than any other faith. There are many different types of Christians, but they all agree on a few of the same teachings. They all believe that Jesus is divine, that he is the Son of God. They also all believe that a person needs to follow the teachings of Jesus and have faith that he is real if you want to live in Paradise with God. These churches disagree on many things. They perform different types of rituals such as baptism. Some churches sprinkle children with water while others immerse individuals in water entirely. They even differ about which translation of the Bible is correct. Despite these differences, Christians are uniform in recognizing that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. I chose as my location to study a church called Otterbein Fellowship Church. This is a Protestant church that is known as a nondenominational church. What this means is they operate on a local level. They are not a part of any type of international or national organization. This type of Christian church is also referred to as an independent Bible church. The church was once a part of the Brethren in Christ denomination, but the members of the congregation voted to form an independent church several decades ago. The Brethren in Christ denomination is very common in the Mid-Atlantic states of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and New York. They are also common in some Mid-Western states such as Indiana and Illinois. Interviewing a member of this church was an enlightening experience. I was able to come away with a more personal view of this religion than I could have gotten by just reading in books. I started by asking the interviewee what Christianity was. This took her aback, because she hadnt ever met someone that didnt have a good understanding of this. The area where she lived was almost 100% Christian, so she never really had to explain what Christianity was to someone else. Finally, she responded that Christianity to her was following the teachings of Jesus. She said that good Christians read about the life of Jesus and tried to follow his way of life. She made it clear that she knew she couldnt be perfect like Jesus was, so thats why he died on the cross for her sins. She explained that Jesus sacrificed himself so that people could be free from the sins they made in their everyday lives. Thats why he was the Savior of the world. She concluded that Christianity was all about following Jesus and accepting his sacrifice for sin. I then asked why she had chosen to follow Christianity as a religion. She laughed and said that she really didnt ever remember making a choice. She explained that from a small child, she had attended church with her parents, and that she could feel Jesus love for her from a very young age. She never remembered not believing that Jesus was her Savior. The interviewee said that she supposed she could have chosen not to believe in Jesus and his teachings, and that there were times when her faith had been tested and she was tempted to leave the church. But she concluded that even if she stopped going to church, she couldnt imagine that she would convert to a different religion. We next discussed the fact that Christianity has many different forms of religion and why she thought that was. She said that she felt that there were two reasons for the many Christian churches. The first deals with the history of Christianity. She said that if you study the history and what happened after Jesus lived, you would find that some of the people that came to lead the church werent really Christian men. They were using the church for their political ambitions. She stated that any time this happens, and then people that are true believers in Christ will be granted a way to escape the control of these evil men. They will be able to break away and re-establish the true faith. So, some of the reason that there are so many different Christian churches is due to the fact that wickedness creeps into the church from time to time. Another reason for so many Christian churches is the fact that all you need to be a Christian; according to the interviewee is faith in Christ and a determination to follow him. She feels that different churches have different styles, some play loud music while others play soft music. Even if they pray differently, it doesnt matter because all that is important for the Christian is believing and following Christ. She said that it doesn’t really matter the style of worship you choose. In short, there are many different churches because people like to worship Jesus in different ways. I asked about whether she thought Christianity would become a minority religion. She said she thought that this would never happen. She did note that more people today do not seem to believe in any God, but added that she didnt think that Christians would ever be a minority, at least not where she lived. The Crusades was the next topic we discussed. She laughed at the thought of them still being important. She said that as far as she was concerned, they happened a very long time ago and were not important at all. She said that everyone who thinks Jerusalem is holy should be allowed to visit the sacred places, so in a way, if the Christians had to fight to earn that right, then maybe the Crusades were justified. But in the end, she said they are not important to her and that she never even thinks about them. We then discussed her concept of God. She said that she believes in a loving God that loves everyone. The have been times in the Bible, for instance when God commanded the Israelites to kill many people. She said that these were special circumstances and that in general, God wants us to solve differences with peace, not war. On a personal level, she believed that God would love her no matter what she did. She did feel that he was disappointed when she would sin, but that through his love she would be saved. When asked about Christianity adopting other religions, she was adamant that this had not happened. She recognized that Christianity and Judaism were similar in many ways, but that the Jews did not believe Jesus was the Messiah, so that made them different in the end. She said that Christianity had not adopted any aspects of Hinduism, Buddhism or Islam. She identified the normal practices of Christianity as attending weekly worship services on the Sabbath day. In this instance, the Sabbath day is Sunday. Each week they listen to a lecture from the minister and then attend various classes for religious instruction. Special holiday practices include services on Easter Sunday and Good Friday, which is the day Jesus was crucified. Christmas has become an almost secular holiday according to the interviewee. She said that so much of Christmas has nothing to do with Jesus so she feels the holiday is waning in importance with true Christians. Other common practices are giving service to those in need, contributing to the financial welfare of the church through tithes and offerings and attending a mid-week Bible study. I then asked if Christianity would stand the test of time. She replied with a laugh that she was sure the church would be on earth when Jesus returns to turn the earth into a paradise. She said that this is prophesied in the Bible and will surely happen. I asked her how she could be sure she was reading the correct Bible, because there are so many different versions. She said that she used something called the NIV Bible, and that it was popular because it was easy to read and understand. She said that she didnt really care about all of the different versions of the Bible because they all said the same thing, but in different ways. She did not seem concerned about the various translations of the Bible in antiquity. Finally, I asked her how she felt about my peoples ideas and beliefs about a "Great Spirit". I asked if she thought that God and the Great Spirit are the same, but just called by different names. This really caused the interviewee to think. After some contemplation, she said that she felt that perhaps they were one in the same. The only difference is that in my culture we had a different way of expressing our belief in God. She was adamant that there was only one God, so they might be one in the same. The more I learned about Christianity, the more I realized that it has much in common with Islam. This may be surprising, because Christians and Muslims have often been enemies in the past, and still are in some parts of the world today. I would say that on the whole, these two religions have more in common than they do things that make them different. The first obvious similarity is they are both monotheistic religions, with a paternal figure recognized as the supreme ruler and creator of the universe. Jesus lived about 600 years before the prophet Mohammad, so the fact that this is a similarity should not be surprising. Mohammads reason for going into the cave to contemplate before his vision that revealed the Koran centered on questions of idolatry and the nature of God. Both of these religions have a similar view of what God is and what He is like. Another similarity is the focus on practices such as weekly worship, studying of sacred texts and giving of alms to the poor. These customs seem to unify members of the respective religions. But they really set Islam and Christianity (as well as Judaism) apart from followers of the Buddha or Hinduism, where festival days seem to dominate worship. The studying of the Koran in Islam and the Bible in Christianity are also parallel. Spiritual leaders as well as members of the congregation are encouraged to learn formally and informally about the sacred texts of their religion. While Muslims have many rules about how the Koran is to be physically handled, for the most part, Christians and Muslims view their sacred texts the same way; with respect and reverence. Major differences between Islam and Christianity are also there. The core of the Christian theology includes a savior that needed to die for the sins of the world. This savior is Jesus Christ for the Christian. Muslims believe that God (Allah) is merciful. He would never require his own son to be sacrificed for any reason. For the Muslim, the mercy of God is large enough to provide salvation to anyone that will do the will of God. In conclusion, I would like to say that this has been a rich learning experience for me. I learned much from interviewing a person that is a Christian. The best way to learn about any culture is to go and experience that culture and accept it on its own terms. I always appreciate others that thoughtfully ask questions about my culture because they really want to know. I am grateful for my interviewee sharing her beliefs with me so I can have a better understanding of how people all over the world worship God. Bibliography Gascoigne, B. (1986). Christianity: A History. New York: Caroll and Graf Publishers. Hourani, A. H. (1992). A History the Arab People. New York: Faber and Faber. Schowalter, D. (1998). Churches in Context. In M. Coogan, The Oxford History of the Biblical World (pp. 517-559). New York: Oxford University Press. Read More