Christian Beliefs Of Christian Church

The subject of the book, author’s purpose and intended audience: The history of Christian thought in the modern era was a quest of today’s Christian. Faith in a multi-denominational society decreases a sense of belonging. Since the Enlightenment some

Today, about thirty-three percent of countries in our world do not have religious freedom. Approximately five and a half billion people are not free to choose their religious opinions . While many countries do not have religious freedom, it is beneficial to analyze the countries that do. The United States of America, Canada, and Latin America have the fewest laws restricting their citizen’s religious beliefs. These countries are often recognized as some of the most civil cultures in our world. This reason for that may be religious freedom. When citizens are able to experience religious freedoms, their minds will be stimulated, their will be less religious persecution, and it strengthens the principles of our world.

Over the centuries, Christianity has organised its beliefs into a systematic theology that draws from its sacred writing and tradition. While the main beliefs of Christianity are shared by all Christian variants, there are degrees of different in the interpretation of these beliefs and how they are lived out in everyday life. This can be seen in the important of sacred text, principle belief of the concept of salvation in John 3:16, principle belief of divine and humanity in ‘John 1:14’, principle belief of resurrection in ‘Mark 16:1-8’, principle belief of revelation in ‘1 corinthians14:6’, and beliefs through the Trinity in ‘2 Corinthians 13:14’. This essay will explain the important of the sacred text and the principal beliefs of Christianity.

A worldview is the way a person views and interprets the world around them. Life experiences and spiritual influences play a part in forming one’s worldview. A person’s worldview helps them to determine beliefs on creation, humanity, morals and what happens after death. According to Waddell, (2014) “Worldviews are also like lenses found in eyeglasses that serve as the means through which a person sees the world.” (para. 43) In this paper, the main components of the Christian worldview will be discussed, to include God, humanity, Jesus, restoration and analysis of Christian Faith as well as a reflection of my own beliefs.

Religion has had a severe influence on society and by looking at the diverse attitudes that Christians employed regarding their religion through time one is likely to observe that many individuals who interpret religion erroneously are likely to put across hostile behavior toward innocent individuals. History has seen several Christians who stood up to mainstream religious thinking and who lobbied in regard to alternative methods of being religious. The cases of Margery Kempe and Martin Luther are two of the most notable examples of Christians who dared to put across their personal beliefs during a time when the Church harshly criticized and oppressed individuals like them.

The author mentions several major incidents that served as catalyst to the uprising of activist who speak out against the aforementioned and the he challenges the church to step up and be the salt and light to the world. He highlights four biblical traits we as a church should display in the face of such circumstances.

Following Jesus in America seems to be a very touchy subject in today’s time. Freedom of religion is practiced in America, and Americans are encouraged to practice whatever they choose. John Fea and Stephen Prothero debate the topics of America being founded as a Christian Nation and the idea of Jesus being followed in America. America was and is Christian, still, but was not founded on Christianity. Fea does not answer the question regarding America being founded as a Christian nation (Fea 245). Prothero gives some opinion about Jesus in America, but says Jesus is viewed different in the eyes of many Americans (Prothero 9). As much as I want to think that America was founded as a Christian nation, I cannot agree with it. The people who created the constitution may have had some Christian principals, but the constitution has no evidence of God in it. In the sense of Jesus, Americans do not follow Him in a certain way. Jesus is made out to be the person that suits anyone’s identity at his or her discretion.

Christians have been persecuted around the world for their faith during varying periods of time since the birth of the religion. Even today there are stories of Christians being killed or beaten severely at the hands of Hindu extremists in India or in places like China and North Korea. Yet Christianity thrives as the world’s largest religion. Persecution of Christians was especially brutal and widespread during the fourth century in the Roman Empire. Christians were tortured until they denied Christ or killed if they refused, their possessions, houses and buildings were confiscated and they were forced to observe pagan sacrificial traditions. Constantine the Great’s rise to power brought about tremendous change in Roman attitudes and laws from absolutely destroying Christians to accepting, protecting and even supporting the furthering of Christianity.

“Under Caesar’ Sword,” a report funded by the Templeton Religion Trust, is the very first systematic global study of Christians’ response to persecution. For three years, 14 scholars studied religious persecution and the responses to abuse of religious freedom in more than 30 countries, the Catholic News Agency details.

Many people might not have known that oppression is present in regard to religion. There have been many times over the past decades were overt forms of oppression have been present when a dominant religious group takes over a subordinated group. In a reading this week, Christian Privilege is talked about. This type of privilege surprised me because I did not even know it existed. The reading talked about how dominant religious would punish individuals who went against their religion and tried to force others out so they would be on top. It is absurd to me that individuals would go to such great lengths to make sure that people were following their religion and not another. A topic that really enforced this type of oppression is the marginalization of the Catholic religion. I have never noticed that unless you are in a public school, one never has off for holidays unless it is a Catholic holiday. It is preposterous that some students need to be excused from school just to celebrate any over their religious holidays. I could not believe that so much of our school system is centered on a Christian denomination. This reading really helped open my eyes to the oppression that many religions have to face (Blumenfeld, 2010).

In this day and age there are many problems people face. Racism, discrimination, so on and so forth. One of those effects Catholics in particular which is religious freedom. Religious freedom is a right that is given to us in the first amendment. In that amendment it tells us that, “ Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof….” Even though that is in the Constitution there are rules and regulations that occasionally impede on the morals of Christian believers.

If someone told you that you must crash a plane into a towering building to prove your love for your God, would you? You would if that was your view of the world. According to James Sire’s (2004) definition as cited in (Cite Text book) worldview is “a commitment, a fundamental orientation of the heart, that can be expressed as a story or set of presuppositions (assumptions which may be true, partially true, or entirely false) which we hold (consciously or subconsciously, consistently or inconsistently) about the basic constitution of reality, and that provides the foundation on which we live and move and have our being (p122)”. A person’s worldview will decipher how he or she lives out their life; how they will make their decisions, the type of job they will have, and how they will treat others. There are three basic worldviews Atheism, Pantheism, and Theism. This paper will summarize and analyze the essential elements of Christian worldview, Theism, and reflect on my worldview implications.

Historically, theologians and philosophers have struggled to agree on the ideas of human freedom. This struggle seems to stem from the debate over faith vs. reason, or the internal and external sources that lead to human thought and understanding, through which free will is then interpreted and carried out by means of the will. A hidden and constant strive for spiritual enlightenment has always been embedded within humans since the beginning of the Fall. Through this natural drive of pursuing spiritual enlightenment comes the creation of the road to which it leads. Throughout most of time, religion has taken the reigns of showing humans the road to salvation, externally, by means of scripture, which requires faith. Yet in the past, there have been times when the powers of evil have inevitably hijacked religion, turning those who have witnessed or experienced this treachery against external values based on faith, but rather internally based values by means of philosophical thought and reasoning through God’s gift of grace.

About half a decade ago John F. Kennedy spoke these famous words: “tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others” (1930). Nowadays the issues of tolerance, oppression and persecution are still relevant, especially with regard to religion. Even though globally and nationally religious restrictions are increasing, without most Western people’s awareness, there is hope for an increase in religious freedom in the future.

Ever since the start of Christianity, the church has constantly been dividing into different sects, also known as denominations. Some churches for example let snakes loose while they take communion, while others have professional football on television during services. While these traditions may seem strange to some, they are simply the norm for others. The question we must then ask ourselves is “why?” Today, not only will we find out why there are so many denominations, why this matters, and what the Bible says about the different denominations.