Religion is an impulse to explain. A natural impulse that everyone has and everyone one grapples with. It's an impulse that, sadly and ironically, has been exploited to convince people to take actions that defy and demean that impulse. These exploiters are the ruling elite of nearly every society, in every era. It's not hard to understand the false sense of security and comfort of faith that religion provides. Religious faith, which is a set of rules, is a tool used by the people in power to keep other people powerless, and to compel them into serving the interests of the powerful. It is controversial who founded Christianity. Jesus of Nazareth - he led a movement that seems to have tried to reform Judaism. His death led to a spread of his worRAB by his twelve closest followers. Simon Peter - seemingly designated by Jesus to lead after his death. Paul - it was his efforts that expanded Christianity into a religion distinct from Judaism. Each one of these men could be considered to have founded the Christian religion. The Christian religion began with the ministry of Jesus Christ. He proclaimed himself to be the Messiah. Messiah is an Aramaic word which means "anointed king or deliverer." The name Christ is the Greek equivalent of Messiah. Jesus called Peter, James, John, and other disciples to assist him with his ministry. He taught his disciples that he was sent by God to do the work of the Father. The disciples testified that Jesus was the Christ. On one occasion, Peter replied to Jesus, "And we believe and are sure that thou art Christ, the Son of the living God." (John 6:69) Jesus performed many miracles among the people of Jerusalem and the surrounding communities. He healed the sick, restored the sight of the blind, and raised the dead. Pharisees, priests, and other Jewish leaders became exceedingly jealous and angry. Eventually, they convinced the Roman leaders of Jerusalem to crucify Jesus. After the crucifixion, Jesus appeared as a resurrected being to his disciples and frienRAB. His disciples then carried on the work of spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, both to the Jews and Gentiles. New disciples then joined the original disciples, particularly by Paul. Paul traveled throughout Greece and Rome establishing Christian churches. Eventually, most of the early disciples were imprisoned and executed. Paul suffered martyrdom in Rome, probably in AD. 65. Peter was likewise executed in Rome at about this time. John was banished to the island of Patios. When Christianity started out, they did believe that they were Jewish. It is one of the early controversies spelled out in the New Testament. Nonetheless, when something (person or community) transforms, that is changes its form, it can survive quite well around the circumstances or agent of change. What did remain consistent is the belief in the same God. It was this same God - the one who "brought Israel out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery"- who was the changing agent in the person of Jesus of Nazareth whom was known to his followers as the Christ. The movement was solidified though both social conditions and through its own ongoing experience of Jesus and God through the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. (See Acts 2) In Christian belief and experience, the experience of Jesus is ongoing. It didn't stop at either his execution, or resurrection, nor ascension, or at the Pentecost event. Christians see Christianity as the fulfillment of Judaism. Jews seek a Messiah; Christians say the Messiah is Jesus. The basis of Christianity can be found in the New Testament book of Matthew, The Sermon on the Mount. In each of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) a different viewpoint of the person of Jesus is presented. Christians honor and read the Old Testament, but find new interpretations of old laws in the New Testament. One of the religions Christianity took from was Muslim. The Koran says that God sent Moses and Jesus to the Israelites. The Koran also say that Abraham and all the prophets were Muslims (of course not in the meaning of the Islam practiced after Muhammad came but rather in that there is only one God and that God is the only creator of this universe). The Koran mentions many prophets and messengers starting with Adam whom God created from clay, and mentions Abraham and Isaac and Jacob (Jacob) and Ismail and Joseph and Moses and Jesus and of course the last prophet Muhammad. A Muslim has to believe in all these prophets in order for his/her faith to be complete. The Koran talks in details about Mary and answers those who claim that Jesus is the son of God by saying that the same way Adam was created God created Jesus. Muhammad is the last prophet as the Koran says. The Koran also calls for the people of the book (Christians and Jews) to inquire and read about the message that Muhammad received from God. From 33 AD to 300 Christianity was considered a cult to be stamped out and destroyed. The violent nature of this act encouraged the growth of the Church as more and more people saw the true nature of the Roman Style of justice. After 333 AD. Constantine became a Christian and it became a State Religion. This really hurt Christianity for a while as it went from persecuted to persecutor and attempted through man to wipe out non - Christian faiths or beliefs. It did however help to hold the empire together for the next 170 years in the West and almost 1000 in the East. Western Europe and the Byzantine Empire during the middle ages. At the beginning of the tenth century Charlemagne's empire was splintered into 3 kingdoms the areas which make up modern day France, Germany, and part of Italy. The Frankish rulers were divided and weak against Viking attack. The King of France offered the Viking Rollo the French providence of Normandy to leave the rest of France in peace. Thus, Rollo's descendants were known as Normans. Their next land to conquer was to be England. William the Conqueror brought the Norman way of life to England and changed the English language and culture. Under William, the Normans established a strong centralized government and the Great Council was formed later to be known as Parliament. As war and death was going on in Western Europe, the Byzantine Empire was developing a personality of its own -- a blend of Roman, Greek, and Oriental influences. And further east, Islam was transforming the Arab world. Soon after the death of Mohammed, the leaders of Islam had declared "jihad," or holy war, to conquer the world for the glory of their faith. Thus, did the Islamic nations set their sights on the Byzantine Empire. Soon the armies of Islam had snatched Palestine and Syria out of the grasps of the Byzantine. Asia Minor, Egypt and N. Africa converted to Islam, and Jerusalem, a holy city for Christians and Moslems alike, fell to the conquerors. The Islamic Empire was then larger than the Roman Empire had ever been. Unlike the West, the Arab world had not suffered through a Dark Age. While Rome crurabled and Western Europe descended into chaos, the nomaRAB of the Sinai had simply kept herding their sheep, goats and camels across the endless desert. Always on the move, they had adapted less to Roman ways, so they did not lose their footing when left on their own--they did not have to create a new culture, they already had one. Islam had incredibly wealthy traders, and scientists making huge advances in astronomy, medicine, and mathematics. Arab dignity lived more comfortably than medieval kings and lorRAB. Their palaces were made of white plaster, which reflected the sun's strong rays and kept the lavishly furnished interiors cool. The splendid work of Arab artisans was displayed everywhere, on carpets and tiles and columns. The palace grounRAB were beautifully designed with lush gardens and gushing fountains. For four hundred years of relatively tolerant Islamic rule, Muslims and Christians shared the holy city in peaceful coexistence, and Islamic leaders respected the rights of Christian pilgrims to visit sacred sites. But in 1071 another Moslem group, the Seljuk Turks, overran the Arab Islamic Empire and took control of Palestine. They were less hospitable to the Christians in Jerusalem, and soon stories of attacks on Christians and the destruction of Christian churches reached Western Europe. The Seljuk Turks also directly threatened the entire eastern Byzantine Empire. In 1095 the Byzantine Emperor appealed to Pope Urban II for help in stemming the tide of Turk conquest. The pope responded by issuing a call to arms to Europe's faithful -- thus waging the Holy Wars to drive the Moslems out of Christian lanRAB and recapture Jerusalem for the glory of God. So began the Crusades, a period of war between Christians and Moslems that lasted for 200 years. Then as the Westerners came through, took back with them the ideas and influences that would lead the way to the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery.
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