The Transition Of Christianity And Christianity

Christianity began its succession into the most dominant worldwide religion after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. “We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands, and within three days build another made without hands.” Upon Jesus’ death and resurrection, he completed this task setting forth the development of Christianity. Since Jesus left no formal authoritative power, organization, or agreed upon scriptures, a wide variety of sects gained popularity in the development of Christianity. Most of these sects were later deemed as heretic, one of the most notable being Gnosticism. Gnosticism was a dualist religion believing the material world evil and the invisible spirit realm good. This belief obligated Gnosticism to follow Docetic interpretations. Docetism is the belief that Jesus was never truly man but rather a divine from the spirit world. All forms of Christianity, however, believe Jesus is son of God sent as humanity’s savior from damnation. Docetism, along with other aspects of Gnosticism, drove other Christians condemn Gnosticism as heresy. Gnosticism, however, is more comparable to Canonical Christians than realized. Specifically, the distinction between Docetism and strict Canonical belief is not only insignificant but also justifiable due to Canonical contradictions surrounding Jesus’ existence.

Throughout time, Christianity has changed constantly. In order to survive, Christianity has had to evolve and split. It has split into many denominations, some of which have become extinct over the centuries. The religion has changed and divided due to influential people and events in time.

Christianity was born and flourished in an empire where the common language was Latin and Greek. Two important people like Paul and Constantine further influenced and were a major part of the development of Christianity. The history of the Jews leading up to the time of Jesus had a major impact on the development of Christianity. “When Christianity was clearly identified as a distant religion, the new religion was considered by its members to be the fulfillment of Judaism rather than a new religion.” “Since Jesus was a Jew and preached to the Jews, Christianity was closely linked to Judaism.” The development of Christianity was due to several historical, political, and social circumstances.

All through Canterbury Tales, women are dealt with as objects in everyday life. In the “Miller’s Tale,” an old man marries a younger, attractive women for her looks. In the “Wife of Bath’s Tale,” a virgin woman has her virginity and innocence taken from her by what is suppose to be a noble and honorable knight and when his punishment is later to marry an older, less attractive women, all respect for his newly wife vanishes. A woman’s level of recognition in Canterbury Tales are through her class in society, whether she is young and beautiful, or old and disgusting, and her degree of experience in life. Women are not desired for their intelligence, wisdom and capabilities which might of kept a relationship deceitful-free. The “Wife of

Christianity and the Roman Empire shared an important bond. Christianity offered the Roman Empire joy, hope, a shift in their world view, and a monotheistic God. Rome offered Christianity a more efficient way of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Christianity had to evolve and adapt over the centuries in order to survive. Christianity had to merge with the cultures and traditions of other religions. It took four centuries for Christianity to become legal.

Factors Which Led to the Spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire Christianity was not born in a vacumn. There were many social, geographical, historical and religious issues prevailing at the time of Christ and all of which were favorable to the spread of Christianity. Geograpicly, Christianity came into being in the Meditation world, the largest of the various centers of civilization at that time. Israel stands almost central to the five continents, dividing the east and west.

In 2012, 73% of Americans identified themselves as Christians (““Nones””). In Christianity, prostitution is not only considered morally wrong, it is openly condemned. The Bible views a prostitute as a degraded human being who deserves severe punishment. Leviticus 21:9 declares, “If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she disgraces her father; she must be burned in the fire.” The Bible also states that the Lord refuses to accept any money earned through prostitution. Deuteronomy 23:18 states, “You must not bring the earnings of a female prostitute or of a male prostitute into the house of the LORD your God to pay any vow, because the LORD your God detests them both.” It can therefore be deduced why it might be rational for the government of a country where Christianity is the dominant religion, to criminalize prostitution.

Throughout history, Christianity always had a reputation, or a “name” following it. Different perspectives approached the reputation that was attached to Christianity in different manners. Justin Martyr and Porphyry had objectives when defining whether this “name” really defined Christianity and the past. They wondered whether the past really represented Christianity. Additionally they honed in on the question of was the past that people represented as Christianity really the roots of Christianity? All around Porphyry and Justin was perceptions of what Christianity rooted from and stood for.

When the word prostitute is uttered, people tend to have negative thoughts and endure negative connotations. Although some oppose and belief that a woman who lures others with her body has no respect for it and therefore, aren’t perceived as someone with power, good intention, and dignity. Shamhat, a harlot, opens a new perspective for a prostitute to be viewed from. Shamhat portrays how women who are involved in disgraceful activities for the sake of a good cause, is a woman who’s divine rather than a disgrace to the female society. Shamhat was given the title of a priestess

Distinctly, the goddesses designated in this chapter occur in the midst of the earliest pagan deities indicated in numerous ancient writings; particularly, the ones frequently linked to the land of Canaan. In fact, several of the goddesses that promoted idolatry and prostitution exist unequivocally in the King James Version of the Bible, such as Ashtoreth, Diana and Lilith. Although, the word ‘prostitute’ exists merely once (Lev 19:29), still, prostitution happens to become identified with various words; such as “whore(s), whoredom(s), harlot(s), pollute or polluted;” (which can mean prostitute) that encounters being referenced frequently. Intrinsically, the prophets of the Bible caution against whoring after the other gods and goddesses; whereby, the cult prostitutes developed among the numerous idols the Israelites lusted after.

The single most important aspect of European empires, beginning just prior to the fall of Rome, is the spread of Christianity to all areas of the continent in as little as a few hundred years. Many theologians state that Christianities spread is the indirect influence of God and the adoration of people to one true faith. Though it is true that Christianity has brought about people that even atheists could call saints, it is unquestionable that Christianity was so monumental because it united larger groups of people and its spread is contributed to adherence to local customs and its lack of new ideas in comparison to other religions of the day.

Prostitutes are again compared to dogs because of their societal shame except this time in the New Testament. This occurs in the book of Revelation. “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.” Revelation 22: 14-15. This verse alludes to the fact that prostitutes or “fornicators” are lowly and wicked since they are compared to dogs. Another noteworthy point is that they are also grouped together with other sinners including: sorcerers, murderers, and idolaters and it is even written that these people “love and practices falsehood”. These are truly wicked people as they literally “love” to practice their sins. These wicked people face damnation as they are locked outside of Heaven- but this point concerning damnation will be expanded upon later in the essay.

After St. Paul, one of the most prominent Christian early church leaders who had an impact on the way Christians view sex

One influential cult was based upon a mystical interpretation of Plato. Neo-Platonism was like a rational science that attempted to break down and describe every aspect of the divine essence and its relationship with the human soul. An Alexandrian Jew named Philo tried using Greek philosophy to interpret the Jewish scriptures. He wanted to unite the two traditions by suggesting that the Greek philosophers had been inspired by the same God who had revealed himself to the Jews.