Modern Christianity Beliefs

Rituals and ceremonies are the practical aspects of Christianity, which involve customary acts of special, deliberate and repeatable patterns of behaviour through the use of words, actions and symbols (Coleman, 2006). Rituals and ceremonies solidify the relationship between Christians and God as they present a practical, symbolic and comprehensible expression of their underlying beliefs (Morrissey, 2010). Baptism is the ritual of initiation into Christianity, which in essence, is initiation into a life of positive living modelled on Christ. Baptism is held within a congregation of the body of Christ where they vow to spiritually nurture the child or adult being baptised (RCA, 2012). The symbology of the water in baptism encompasses the cleansing of an individual, and it is a practical element of the ritual, which underpins a broader idea of initiating a living adherent into the religion. Another ritual present in all Christian denominations is prayer, which the baptised

In the Anglican Church baptism starts off by gathering hymns, pslam or anthem depending on the priest. After that is done the priest greets the community as respect. The Collect of the day is prayed and other prayers as well. After this the priest talks about the lesson from the scriptures which most often are from the bible , then they will be a presentation and examination of the candidate then the baptismal covenant is prayed to bless the baby towards the end they also pray prayers of thanksgiving and the priest will bless the baby over the water. When the baby is washed with the water the prayers of consecration over oils is prayed after this the

Ultimately, when an individual responds to their baptismal call, a community of Christian believers are united under the goal of guiding the initiated. Thus, this attained unity allows the faith to prosper like a living religion. Furthermore, re-birth from sin is intrinsically connected to the death and resurrection of Jesus. This is a fundamental belief throughout Christianity, though it is practiced differently. “Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word.” (CCC, 1213). Regardless of the denomination, all baptism rituals symbolise beliefs in the Christian faith, all involves water. Some denominations, like Lutheran practice the sprinkling of water over the head of an initiate, while Pentecostals, practice immersing the head of the initiate in the water. Thus a reminder that, “Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.”, for individuals who have been initiated that they made a commitment to the teachings, practices and life of of the community. The baptised should live a life of faith as modelled on the example of Jesus, who forgave their sin. The last belief derived from Baptism, is the believed in the Trinity. Through the guidance and support of the Holy Spirit, an individual's is able to carry out God’s word, and evangelise and spread the message of Jesus. “One will come more powerful that I, and he

Baptism serves a vital role in the development of Christianity as a living religious traditions in most denominations. It is the ritual used in the

Religion is the belief and worship of a higher power which is in control of the universe. The most popular religions in the world today are Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. All four of these religions teach peace. However, followers do not always get along with each other peacefully. All of these religions have a moral code to live by and encourage devotion and prayer.

All Christians know about the Great Commission, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20, English Standard Version). In that command, Jesus tells us to baptize in the name of the Trinity. What does the word “baptism” mean? Baptimsa and sometimes baptismos, the Greek word origin of “baptism”, can translate to “immersion” or “bathing” without any religious implications (McGowan, 2014). Nearly every Christian church practices baptism with a religious implication; however, they do not agree on God’s activity in, the qualifications for admitting a person to, and methods of administering baptism. For instance, many churches do not baptize people until they become adults and make a profession of faith, while others encourage baptizing an infant soon after they are born. The practices and philosophy for baptism changed throughout its use in the New Testament, the Early Church, and the Medieval era.

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.

Christianity is the world’s largest religion, with an estimated 2.2 billion believers, nearly a third (31percent) of all 6.9 billion people on Earth (Pew Research Center, 2015). In many Western Christian churches, those deriving from Rome after the East-West Schism, a young person celebrates his/her coming-of-age with the Sacrament of Confirmation (Harrill, 2002). In Eastern Orthodoxy the baptizing Priest gives Confirmation to infants, directly after baptism. This is usually done by the Bishop laying his hands upon the forehead of the young person, usually between the ages of 12 to 15 years, and marking them with the seal of the Holy Spirit. In some denominations during this sacrament the child, now considered an adult in the eyes of God, adopts a confirmation name which is added onto their Christian name.

Infant Baptism is a manmade tradition, within a misrepresentation of justification and sanctification, where water can purify one’s soul for eternity without the admission or acceptance of Christ Jesus as God. Even Spurgeon “quoted from the Catechism of the Church of England, proving that the church teaches that it is through infant baptism the infant is made a member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. He quoted from the liturgy of the ceremony itself to further prove that the church did indeed teach that children are regenerated though baptism.” “Spurgeon also pointed out that no outward ceremony can save anyone. This can be easily proven by the facts: thousands who were baptized as infants have lived wanton, godless lives, proving that they were never children of God. Nor does the Bible teach that someone else can have faith for another; parents cannot

Baptism, the Christian rite of initiation which means the action of admitting someone into a secret or obscure society or froup, typically with a ritual, is a ritual cleansing with water. the early Christians integrated the ancient Jewish practice of ritual bathing into Christian practice (e.g., Leviticus 14:8). Baptism was also used to initiate converts to Judaism, and the Essenes, contemporaries of Jesus, practiced a daily ritual of bathing. According to accounts in the Gospels, John the Baptizer, who baptized his followers as a sign of repentance, baptized Jesus as well. Jesus later instructed his followers to baptize others. For early Christians, baptism was a sign of moral purification, the beginning of new and eternal life, and an indication

Christianity is the most widely practiced religion in the world, with more than 2 billion followers. The Christian faith centers on beliefs regarding the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. According to the text, Jesus was born to a young Jewish virgin named Mary in the town of Bethlehem, south of Jerusalem in modern day Palestine. (Ancient History Encyclopedia) Christians believe his birth was a supernatural event, with God impregnating Mary through the Holy Spirit.

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.

In western cultures which predominately practices Christian religion, churches, prayers, bible studies and baptism as an infant or an adult are some of the essential beliefs and practice of most Christians. Attending church for service, prayer meetings and confessions are rituals that have become very entrenched in western culture as part of the Christian religion. However these rituals are only a very small part of the vast diversity of practices that Christians from around the world are involved in.

Belief systems is in some way apart of one's religion form or other has been an essential element in the life and culture of humankind throughout the ages, going back far beyond the threshold of history. As a Christian I have always expressed a need to understand natural phenomenon regarding the way of life and what happens once we die. These needs resulted in the development of a variety of religions and philosophies that can be found throughout the world today.. However, Christianity which evolved from Judaism, there are certain concepts that these two religions share. For example, both Jews and Christians subscribe to the Ten Commandments found in the Book of Exodus. In addition, prophecies of Jewish prophets contained in several books of the Old Testament stated that God would send a savior, or messiah, to the people of Israel. While Judaism clearly states that

The first topic I have wrestled with is adult baptism versus infant baptism. I grew up in the reformed church, so I was baptized as an infant. When I was in fourth grade my family began attending a Wesleyan church, where they practice adult baptisms. Baptism involves identification with Christ in His death and resurrection. It is a public display of one’s decision to follow Christ. As a child I did not understand this. I had not yet made this decision to follow Christ. My parents have told me that I should get re-baptized now that I am an adult. Is it wrong for me to choose not to? Is there a right or wrong way of baptism? I agree believers should be baptized, but does the form fall outside of orthodoxy? I have had other people ask me similar things. They ask if they should get re-baptized since they were baptized as an infant.