Everyone has questions about life: where do we come from, where are we going, why do people die, where do we go when we die, why do we live, what happens to you when you die? Everyone thinks about their life. Religions play a major role in this. Religions have rules that tell people what is right and what is wrong. They influence the people who believe in them in their daily lives.
Christianity
Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew who lived about 2,000 years ago during the time when Palestine was occupied by the Romans. He hung out with some of the students he was teaching. He had deliberately chosen these students by choosing people who were suffering in society. He gave them back their self-esteem. He had one goal in mind: to expand the rule of God.
T he Christians believe in one god who created everything. He sent his son Jesus Christ to the people to deliver them from evil and to teach them to live well (in love and peace side by side). He traveled around with his disciples, healing and helping different people all around him.
They believe that Jesus was killed on the cross and then rose from the dead to prove that God drove out good.
The most important symbol for Christians is the cross on which Jesus died. They believe that God has shown himself in society in three different ways. As himself (as father), as his own son and as his own spirit. This is also called the Holy Trinity.
There are three main directions within Christianity:
- orthodox believers
- Protestants
- Roman Catholics
The history
There was a quarrel within the Christian church sometime in 1054. This was because both the Pope of the Church in Rome and the head of Constantinople in Turkey wanted to be in charge of the churches. Eventually they wanted nothing to do with each other anymore, which caused a rift. Thus the Orthodox faith was born. These were the people who always went to church in Greece. The Christians in Western Europe followed the Pope of Rome and were therefore called Roman Catholics.
Later, some Christians started to oppose the church in Rome again. They felt that this church was not concerned enough with seeking followers of Jesus. One of these Christians was a monk who thought that the Roman Church was too concerned with its wealth. This monk believed that only trust in God, loving closeness to God and faith in the Bible were important for a good Christian. This was called the group of Protestants.