Christianity is one of the most spread out religions in the world. Some people argue that Christianity evolved from the mosaic laws that were found by Moses. However, this argument does not hold as the word Christianity originates from the word Christ. Christianity is, thus, traced back to the arrival of Jesus Christ in the 1st century. Christianity was not formed until the arrival of Jesus to the world. The first followers of Jesus were the ones who formed Christianity. They went further to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to all parts of the world. Today, Christianity is spread in all regions all over the world and is arguably the largest religion in the world.
The topic of religion is one of the most sensitive topics in the society. It has served as the cause of many wars in the world and widespread persecution of many people who do not adhere to the religious specifications and rulers. However, civilization has made it possible for people of various religions to co-exist in the modern world. Still, there is a lot of ignorance in the majority of the population concerning the different religious groups. This paper addresses the Christianity religion from the time it came into existence to the present day. The choice of this topic was motivated by the lack of literal materials addressing this phenomenon as most of the materials are written to justify the beliefs of various religions.
The Trinity Doctrine
The foundation of Christianity is mainly based on the trinity doctrine which forms the backbone of their beliefs. However, the adoption of this doctrine is established to have taken effect way after the death of Jesus. The adoption of this doctrine faced numerous challenges as it involved heated debates from various groups in the early stages of Christianity. The doctrine is traced back to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ back in the first century (Balmforth 63). Most of the people involved in the heated debates and arguments surrounding the adoption of the doctrine into Christianity were early theologians as well as the early philosophers. The main group that is accredited to the adoption of the doctrine is the early disciples of Jesus. They took the notion from the direct teachings of Jesus as they had direct contact with Jesus and their teachings were fundamental in the definition of the doctrine. These disciples were regarded as the custodians of the Christian doctrines and they are the ones who contributed greatly to the spread of Christianity through both, the teaching as well as the writing of the Bible. They are the people who went ahead to form the instructions that were left by Jesus (Balmforth 63).
The Original Followers of Christ
The development of the Christian religion can be attributed to the efforts taken by the first disciples as well as the followers of Christ. There were 12 people who became the first followers of Jesus and they are the ones who spearheaded the spread the doctrines of Christianity, based on the teachings of Jesus. The initial problem that the early Christians faced was the decision of whether to adopt the laws that were formed during the time of Moses or not. Most of the followers of Christianity were recruits of James and Paul. Even though these two followers of Jesus had conflicting opinions, as far as the spread of the gospel is concerned, the underlying driving force was the same. James primarily focused on building the church in Jerusalem. Among the followers of James were the poor and the meek (Johnson 103). These people viewed Christ as the messiah. As for Paul, he mainly concentrated on the spread of Christianity to the gentiles. The Pauline philosophies built on salvation were solely based on it. The Pauline Gospel was the basis for the formation of the western church. The western church was based on the beliefs of Jesus as the son of God, while the Jerusalem church refuted these claims. As a result there were a lot of animosity between the followers of Paul and those of James. James’ followers strongly adhered to the mosaic laws while Paul’s followers mainly practiced the beliefs of Jesus (Johnson 103). The followers of James also adhered to the notion of the mortal messiah while the teachings according to Paul were that the messiah had resurrected and ascended to heaven.
The Role Played by Paul in Formation of Early Christianity
The spread of Christianity to the vast of the pagan world is mainly credited to Saint Paul. He was one of the early followers of Jesus who had direct contact with him. The success of his missions all over the gentile world is accredited to his knowledge of various languages as well as cultures. Most critics of Saint Paul argue that he was not influential in the transformation of the pagan world into Christianity, but rather in changing some of the names of the pagan gods to the Christian names. However, his strategies worked well as they led to the conversion of many gentiles into Christianity. Even though most of the followers of James were opposed to the Gospel of Paul which led to a low number of followers in the Jewish region, most of the western world adopted his teachings (O’Brien 26). Saint Paul is said to have gone into the process of converting the gentiles and pagans by introducing the perception that there was no major difference between Christianity and other religions. He is also accused of borrowing some of the pagan myths and incorporating them into Christianity. This has led to a war between the genuine Christian values and paganism.
The Reality of Christ
According to the study based on the Unitarianism in relation to Christianity, it is clear that the actual unity of God remains to be the formal Christian doctrine of the true church in relation to the immaculate purity. Therefore, it is a job that Christian leaders in the church pride in as they try reverting all the misguided fiction to the actual and authentic Christian facts that are not only beautiful but also realistic to the Christian faith. Over the years, the Christian faith has been held together and survived all challenges due to the nature of the teachings of Jesus and the authenticity of the nature of Jesus. The define conduct of Jesus Christ has been, for over the years, the foundation as well as the stronghold of the Christian faith. The greatness of Jesus lies on the fact that he transcended as well as conquered all dark forces of evil. The Muslims, hold the point of view that Jesus is the noblest descendant of Adam, as he taught by the example of valuing perseverance in times of pain and sufferings. The emphasis on the greatness of Christ is also manifested in the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made for humanity in the course of his life on earth (O’Brien 26).
Religion Continuity
The aspect of continuity as well as universality of all religions is one that has been well accepted in the modern world. The Muslim holds the belief of the universal nature of the prophet hood institution that prophet hood has to be either rejected or accepted completely. The continuity in religion is based on the progressive nature of the religious massage that advances in steps to cover all the spheres of human related activities. The ancient religion was basically characterized with small audience with common background with the religious massages were relevant to the specific audience demonstrated in the children of Israel case as well as Judaic based teachings.
The historical religion background development is well summarized in two parts, one of them being the progressive nature of the elaborations as well as the perfect nature of the teachings, and second, the progressive change from smaller denominations to larger and diverse denominations (O’Brien 26). Continuity, on the other hand, does not show up in any case that the same ancient religion of Adam underwent progressive change and, therefore, continues to address mankind, but rather the actual process that leads to the widening of religious fields to accommodate wider range of instructions. The continuity of religion took place in the same generation where all the religions of the world in the different specific civilizations flourished through divine type of revelations and gave forth religions that corresponded to the social development needs of man in all frontier of the world.
Conclusion
The evolution of Christianity is a subject that can be regarded from different points of view. However, from the era of the earliest followers of Christ who were actually taught on the Christian faith by Jesus himself, to the modern Christians who are greatly affected by the existing complexities as well as the Christian based dogmas such as the inherited sin, Christian faith has evolved in a number of ways and yet still survive the challenges of time. The St. Paul contribution to the Christian faith as well as the reality of Christ, have over the years formed a strong basis for Christianity in ensuring the survival of the Christian faith despite all complications and challenges.
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