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WORLD
WIDE LINKS TO RELIGION
IN VARIOUS LANGUAGES
Did you know that Santa
Claus (or St. Nicholas, was born and lived in Turkey? Born in Patara near
the close of the third century A.D., Nicholas secretly began giving gifts to
the children and the poor. After moving to Demre (Myra) Nicholas continued
his secret gift giving
Did you know that Mary
(the mother of Jesus) is believed by many to have died in Turkey, near Efes
(formerly Ephesus, a well-known place to those who've read the New
Testament)? John is said to have brought Mary to this location after the
crucifixion of Christ
The Seven Churches of the
Revelation of John are located in Turkey
Mt. Ararat, where
Noah is said to have stepped off the Ark after the Deluge, is in Turkey.
The Church of the Holy Wisdom, the Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Built by
the Emperor Justinian and inaugurated in 537 it remained the single most
important Christian church until the building of St. Peter’s Basillica in
Rome
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Christianity
Christianity
comprises a group of
religious traditions originating with
Jesus Christ that assert that Jesus is Lord, Saviour, God, the son of
God and
messiah--the sole savior of all humanity. It consists of three main
branches,
Catholicism,
Eastern Orthodoxy, and the various
religious denominations and
sects of
Protestantism. Other branches of Christianity have arisen which claim a
separate historical lineage, such as
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
According to a 1993
estimate, Christianity was the most populous
religion, at 2.1
billion followers (1 billion
Catholics, 500 million
Protestants, 240 million
Orthodox and 275 million others), before
Islam at 1.1 billion and
Hinduism at 1.05 billion.
Christianity emerged from
Judaism in the
first century of the
Common Era. Christians brought from Judaism its scriptures, fundamental
doctrines such as
monotheism, the belief in a
messiah (or
Christ, which means "anointed one"), form of worship, including a
priesthood, concepts of sacred space and sacred time, the idea that worship
here on Earth is patterned after worship in
Heaven, and the use of the
Psalms in community prayer. The book of
Acts says that Christ's followers were first called Christians by
non-believers in the city of
Antioch, where they had fled and settled after early persecutions in
Palestine, probably just a few years after Jesus' death, (and
ascension).
Christianity holds two
central
philosophies, claiming that:
-
Jesus saved mankind from
spiritual
death by
redeeming[?] them from their
sins (i.e. faults, misdeeds, disobedience, rebellion against God)
through
faith, obedience and
repentance.
-
Jesus saved mankind from death of the
physical body through spiritual and physical "resurrection";
reconciling mankind to
God through sanctification so that man can return to his rightful
place with God in
paradise.
The Jewish conception of the
messiah ("mosiach" in Hebrew) is significantly different from that held
by Christians. According to
Jews, the
Hebrew Bible contains a small number of prophecies concerning a future
descendant of King
David, who will be anointed (Hebrew: moshiach) as the Jewish people's
new leader. In the Jewish view, this fully human and mortal leader will
rebuild the land of
Israel and restore the Davidic Kingdom. This subject is covered in the
section on
Jewish eschatology. Christian understandings of the term "messiah" are
based on Jesus' statements about himself in the New Testament, namely: (a)
that he was the fulfillment of many
Old Testament prophecies, most significantly the "Servant Songs" in
Isaiah, (b)that he came to establish the
Kingdom of God[?] (or Kingdom of Heaven), which was not to be an earthly
kingdom, (c) that when asked whether he was the expected messiah, he pointed
at the miracles he performed, as well as referring to himself by titles that
Jews would recognize as belonging properly to God alone such as "I AM" and
(d) that by demonstratively washing the disciples's feet he pictured himself
to be a 'servant-king'. (See
Judeo-Christian tradition and
Comparing and Contrasting Judaism and Christianity)
The most crucial points in
Christian teaching are Jesus'
incarnation,
atonement,
crucifixion,
death and miraculous
resurrection to redeem mankind from
sin and
death. These events are believed by Christians to be the basis of God's
work to reconcile humanity with himself.
The most uniform and broadly
agreed upon tradition of doctrine, with the longest continuous
representation, repeatedly reaffirmed by official Catholic, Orthodox, and
Protestant definitions (although not without dissent, as noted below)
asserts that specific beliefs are essential to Christianity, including:
-
God is a
Trinity, a single eternal being existing in three persons: Father,
Son and
Holy Spirit.
-
Mary, the mother of Jesus, bore in her womb and gave birth to the
Son of God, who although eternally existent was formed in her womb by
the Spirit of God. From her humanity he received in his person, a human
intellect and will, and all else that a child would naturally receive
from its mother. She is thus called the Bearer of God, or the Mother of
God, the
Theotokos, the vessel through whom God came among mankind to
bring salvation, she who gave birth to the salvation of Man.
-
Jesus is both fully God
and fully Man, two "natures" in one person.
-
Jesus was innocent of
any sin. Through the death of Jesus, believers are forgiven of sins and
reconciled to God. Believers are baptized into the death of Christ.
Through faith, they live by the promise of resurrection from death to
everlasting life through Christ. The Holy Spirit is given to them, to
bring hope and lead the Church into true knowledge of God and His
purposes, and help them grow in holiness.
-
Jesus is the Messiah
hoped for by the Jews, the heir to the throne of David. He reigns at the
right hand of God with all authority and power. He is the hope of all
mankind, their
advocate and judge. Until he returns at the end of the age, the
Church has the authority and obligation to preach the
Gospel and to gather new disciples.
-
Jesus will return to
receive the faithful to himself, so they will live eternally in the
intimate presence of God.
-
Christians believe that
the
Bible is the word of
God.
Even creedal Christians
disagree to some extent about how accurate the Bible is and how it should be
interpreted, especially if relied upon for scientific or precise historical
information. Nevertheless, the Bible is the most widely regarded source of
information about Jesus and God. The New Testament maintains that Jesus is
the
messiah which the
Jews have long awaited; thus Christianity is considered by Christians to
be the continuation or fulfillment of the
Jewish faith. Christians and Jews both consider the
Old Testament (what Jews call the
Tanakh) to be the word of God. Some Christians include
additional books, but most agree on which books comprise the Old
Testament (see
biblical canon). The
New Testament is the second part of the Christian Bible, containing
accounts of the life of Jesus, the earliest church, and a number of epistles
(letters) written by some of the
Apostles to various audiences.
However, many self-described
Christians throughout history have had varying ideas about the basic tenets
of the Christian faith, from ancient sects such as
Arians and
Gnosticism, to modern groups such as
Jehovah's Witnesses,
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the
Unification Church. The above groups, for example, differ from one
another concerning what Jesus represented himself to be, although all
believe him to be the Christ, and with different ideas believe him to have
cosmic importance, some calling him a god or God. Some of these groups
number themselves among the Christian churches, or believe themselves to be
the only Christian church. Also, modern day
liberal Protestant Christians do not define Christianity as necessarily
including belief in the deity of Jesus, the
virgin birth, the
Trinity,
miracles, the resurrection, the ascension of Christ, or the personality
or deity of the
Holy Spirit. Liberals may recommend belief in such things, or not, but
differentiate themselves by defining as included within genuine Christianity
anyone who explains their views or teachings principally by appeal to Jesus.
The greatest division in
Christianity is between the eastern and western branches. The Western branch
developed in the Western
Roman Empire, while the Eastern branch developed in the Eastern Roman
Empire. The Western branch is divided principally into
Catholicism and
Protestantism, while the two main divisions of the Eastern branch are
Eastern Orthodoxy and
Oriental Orthodoxy. See the
Great Schism for the history and circumstances of this division.
Catholicism and
Protestantism are the two major divisions of Christianity in the Western
world. For example, the
Baptist,
Methodist, and
Lutheran churches are generally considered to be Protestant faiths,
although strictly speaking, of these three the Lutheran denomination is the
only one of these founded as a "protest" against Catholicism. The
Anglican (Church
of England) is generally classified as Protestant, but since the
"Tractarian" or
Oxford Movement[?] of the 19th century, led by
John Henry Newman, Anglican writers sometimes characterize the church as
more properly understood as its own tradition — a via media
("middle way"), both Protestant and Catholic.
One central tenet of
Catholicism is its literal adherence to
apostolic succession. "Apostle"
means "one who is sent out." Jesus commissioned the first twelve apostles
(see
Biblical Figures[?] for the list of the Twelve), and they, in turn laid
hands on subsequent church leaders to ordain (commission) them for ministry.
In this manner, Catholics trace their ordained ministers all the way back to
the original Twelve. Roman Catholics are distinct in their belief that the
Pope has authority which can be traced directly to the apostle
Peter. Other Catholic groupings include the
Old Catholic Church which rejected the definition of
papal infallibility at the
First Vatican Council, and
Anglo-Catholics,
Anglicans who believe that Anglicanism is a continuation of historical
Catholicism and who incorporate many Catholic beliefs and practices.
Protestant faiths trace their roots to the work of
Martin Luther and
John Calvin, who believed that the Catholic church had deviated too far
from the practices and beliefs of the original churches described in the
New Testament. They attempted to reform the Catholic Church but failed.
The
protestant reformation resulted instead. Protestantism as a whole has
never been led by a pope or other institution having such an over-all
authority. Each Protestant movement has developed freely, and many have
split over theological issues. That is how over the centuries it has
developed into a great number of independent denominations. A number of
movements that grew out of spiritual revivals, like
Methodism and
Pentecostalism, also consider themselves Protestant. The
Anabaptist tradition, made up of the
Amish and
Mennonites, is another significant branch of
Protestantism that rejected the Catholic and Lutheran doctrines of
infant baptism; this tradition is also noted for its belief in
pacifism. The measure of mutual acceptance between the denominations and
movements varies, but is growing. Protestant
theology for each
denomination is usually guarded by church councils.
Some denominations which
arose alongside the Western Christian tradition consider themselves
Christian, but neither Catholic nor wholly Protestant, namely The
Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, and
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Quakerism began as a
mystical and evangelical Christian movement in 17th century
England, eschewing priests and all formal Anglican or Catholic
sacraments in their worship, including many of those practices that remained
among the stridently Protestant
Puritans such as baptism with water. Like the Mennonites, Quakers
traditionally refrain from participation in war. The
Latter-day Saints claim that
apostolic succession was broken during the
Great Apostasy and that authority was restored to an American prophet,
Joseph Smith, Jr. in the 19th century in a personal visitation by
resurrected apostles and prophets.
In the Eastern world
(Eastern Europe, Asia) the primary representative of Christianity is
Eastern Orthodoxy. The
Eastern Orthodox Church also believes it is the continuation of the
original Christian church established by Christ. Originally there were five
main centers of Christianity in the ancient world:
Rome,
Constantinople,
Alexandria,
Antioch, and
Jerusalem. According to the Eastern Churches' understanding of Papal
primacy, the
bishop of Rome was first in honor among the bishops, but possessed no
direct authority over
dioceses other than his own. In the
Great Schism, conventionally dated to
1054, the Eastern Churches severed
communion with Rome over a number of issues centered around the
differing understanding of Papal primacy. The four other Churches remained
in communion with each other and still exist today along with less
prestigious, but often more populous, self-governing or "autocephalous"
Churches organized more or less along national lines. The largest of these,
and the largest Orthodox Church overall, is the
Russian Orthodox Church. Many of these groups are represented as
independent ecclesiastical bodies in America. There exist significant
theological differences between the Orthodox Church and Western
Christianity.
The Eastern Orthodox
Churches accepted the
Chalcedonian
dogma on the nature of Christ, which was also accepted by the Western
branch of the church; while the
Oriental Orthodox rejected it. The
Oriental Orthodox comprise chiefly the
Monophysites (e.g. the
Coptic church, the
Armenian Apostolic Church, the
Syrian
Jacobites, the
Ethiopian Orthodox Church[?]), the
Nestorians (e.g. the
Assyrian[?] Church), and several others.
Several other faiths, which
also believe in Jesus Christ, claim not to be descended from any of these
groups directly.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for instance, is often
grouped with the Protestant churches, but does not characterize itself as
Protestant. Its origination during the
Second Great Awakening parallels the founding of numerous other
indigenous American religions, especially in the
Burned-over district of western
New York state, and in the western territories of the
United States, including the
Adventist movement and the
Restoration Movement[?] (sometimes called "Campbellites" or
"Stone-Campbell churches", which include the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the
Church of Christ[?]). Each of these groups, founded within fifty years
of one another, originally claimed to be an unprecedented, latter-day
restoration of the primitive Christian church.
Christianity, even in its
infancy as a Jewish sect, rejected ethnic definition. It was conceived and
grew as an international religion with global ambitions, spreading rapidly
from
Judea to nations and people all over the world. Doctrines, rather than
ethnicity, define essential Christianity - even where ethnic groups have
been Christian for generations. The multiplicity of faith communities may be
partly accounted for by the definition of Christianity according to specific
points of indispensable doctrine, the denial of which sets the
heretic outside of the "Church", where perhaps he is accepted by another
"Church" holding doctrines compatible with his own.
Points of distinctive
doctrine may be a very small number of simple propositions, or very numerous
and difficult to explain, depending on the group. Some groups are defined
relatively statically, and others have changed their definitions
dramatically over time. As an example, before the Enlightenment, Christian
teachers who denied the doctrine of the
Holy Trinity (a widely held doctrine about the nature of God the Father,
Jesus Christ, and the
Holy Spirit determined in A.D.
325), would be cast out of their churches, and at times exiled or
otherwise deprived of the protection of law - so universally was the
doctrine held essential to Christianity; and Protestantism was founded
solely on the inspiration and infallibility of the Scriptures. In later
times, the doctrine of the Trinity is heresy according to groups such as
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the
Jehovah's Witnesses (representing tens of millions of believers); and
the doctrine of infallible, inspired Scripture is derisively labelled as
fundamentalism by many of the most highly respected scholars and clergy
especially of Protestant churches. Some find it also indefensible to exclude
groups from Christianity that follow another
messiah in addition to Jesus, such as the
Unification Church.
Others, such as
Unitarian-Universalists, consider themselves as borderline
Christians, since Jesus Christ is not pivotal to their belief system.
Quakerism, which does not consider itself to belong to any of the above
groupings, began as a Christian movement, and many branches within this
denomination remain strongly Christian, while others branches have become
borderline Christian and may even include people who do not consider
themselves Christian. In addition, Christianity has partly inspired other
religions, like early
Islam and later
Bahais, whose adherents do not consider themselves Christians but do
consider Jesus to be a prophet.
Considering this diversity,
it may be impossible to define what Christianity is without either rejecting
all definitions, or adopting a particular definition as authoritative and
thus excluding others. In terms of the modern aim of scientific and
objective definition, both options are considered problematic.
The spread of Christianity
has been international, in some cases entirely displacing the religions and
altering the customs encountered among those people to whom it has come.
This centuries-long process has been met with violent opposition at times,
and likewise the spread of Christianity has in some cases been carried out
with martial force. The relationship of Christianity to other faiths is
encumbered to some extent by this history, with modern Christians,
particularly in the West, expressing embarassment over the violence in
Christianity's past. While military conquest for the spread of Christianity
per se has been diavowed by nearly all sects of Christianity in
modern times, there is not nearly the same consensus regarding the morality
of the work to make new converts from out of other religions, even without
martial force. When Christians seek converts, and when Christians react to
the proselytizing efforts or the displacing effects of the spread of other
religions, it is an inherently controversial situation.
Many Christian sects
continue to believe that they have a duty to make converts among every
people, even if it results in the extinction of another religion or
folk-culture. However, in recent years, the
religious_pluralism movement has been endorsed by many official
representatives of the Christian churches and
ecumenical organizations, as a way of effecting reconciliation between
Christian people and people of other faiths. In some cases, this endorsement
is accompanied by a complete disavowal of all proselytizing efforts.
(Relations with Hinduism,
Islam, atheism / humanism & freethought, and other faiths should be written
about here.)
The following
ASCII art diagram shows the historical development of traditional
Christian groups:
Protestantism
Reformation--> /
(16th c.) /
---( Roman Catholicism (Western Rites)
/ ( Roman Catholicism (Eastern Rites)
Early Western Church /
Christianity .....................<-- Great Schism (11th c.)
\ Eastern Church \
\ \
\ --- Eastern Orthodoxy
Chalcedonian -->\
Controversies \--Nestorians ) Oriental
(5th c.) \---Monophysites ) Orthodox
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