Christianity

This research seeks to explore Christianity as a topic. The research also explores aspects of Christianity in the 21^st century, and Christianity concepts and beliefs. This topic is essential for research as Christianity forms one of the significant religions of the world. In addition, Christianity has experienced several scandals, so by researching on the topic of Christianity in the 21^st century, we will get to know the vital developments in the religion. Individual researchers and institutions have carried out several researches on this topic. The scholars have more or less agreed about my topic, and my paper argues for a better interpretation.

This research utilizes the comparative case study methodology. This research inculcates the merits of using comparative case study in the topic of discussion, which is Christianity in the 21^st century and Christian’s concepts and beliefs. This research utilizes this method due to abundance of information related with the topic of discussion. Through comparison of previous researches and studies, this research asserts various facts reported. It also adds some new information to the topic of study, as it establishes how Christianity is fairing on currently.

Research Findings

Christianity is a monotheistic religion that relies on the teachings and life of Jesus Christ. This is according to the New Testament and canonical teachings. Christians is a term used in reference to those who subscribe to the faith. Research asserts that Christianity underwent a significant split up thus forming three main groups that include Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, and The Protestants. The origin of faith is traced back to mid-1^st century to the Jewish. It emerged as a Jewish sect before spreading all over the world. Christians have several concepts such as salvation, heaven and the gospels. Some of these concepts also form part of their beliefs, which include creeds, trinity, salvation, death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Firstly, Christians believe in Jesus Christ. They believe that Jesus is the son of God, and God sent him t come redeem the sins of humankind. They also believe that Jesus came in order to fulfill prophesies of the Old Testament. Secondly, Christians believe in the Creeds. These represent concise doctrinal statements comprising of religious beliefs. The creeds were utilized in the past as a formula for baptismal but became expanded during the Christological controversies (Eyre, 2001).

Research establishes that Christians also believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. According to Christians, the death and resurrection of Jesus forms the basis of their faith. Christians believe the New Testament teachings that reveal Jesus suffered crucifixion, died, and rose again on the third day (Roat-Abla & Derr, 2005). In addition, they believe that Jesus appeared on several occasions before ascending to heaven. The Bible forms another belief of the Christians. They believe in it because it represents the authoritative word of God. This belief corresponds to their belief in scriptures since the Bible has two parts namely, The Old and New Testament.

Salvation is another Christian’s belief. They believe that they can be redeemed from eternal damnation through proclaiming salvation (Roat-Abla & Derr, 2005). Jesus death and resurrection also assure them of salvation since he died to redeem their sins. Christians believe in the Trinity, which refers to one God under three different, forever co-existing persons. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit form the Trinity.

Christians believe in some symbols. Research establishes that The Cross existed from earlier times. It is the most known symbol in the world. Baptism, which forms a formal admission of a person into Christianity, is also a Christian belief. Other Christian beliefs include prayers, sacrament, and the worship of God (Eyre, 2001).

Christianity in the 21^st Century

Christianity has changed significantly in the 21^st century. Different information coming from different quotas has caused the change experienced in Christianity currently. In addition, some other factors such as the advancement in technology, the contextual nature of thinking, and the basic understanding of science away from the Enlightenment Thought have also resulted in changes, in Christianity (Brown, 2000).

Research asserts that the Enlightenment framework dominated Christianity theology for the past centuries. However, scientific explanations changed that Christian perspective, as science seemed able to explicate mysteries of life. This is due to the inherent and materialistic nature of science. Therefore, science resulted to the church teachings becoming ineffective thus resulting to secularization of the society.

In the 21^st century, most people do not know the basic Christian concepts because of the various thoughts advanced by science. Many people confess to have only a particular view of Christianity, which does not conform to the historic Christian faith. In addition, research establishes that although people long for spirituality, the churches cannot deliver because they become obsolete due to the rise of recent beliefs from other schools like science (Hanegraaff, 2009).

There is also infighting noticed among Christianity. This is because the different groups in Christianity claim to have the correct form of teachings and belief, but they do not understand the origin of their ideas and form of reasoning (Brown, 2000). Therefore, Christians argue that it is imperative for the church to clarify the basic of the faith through a thorough observation of the current knowledge of human nature, focusing on history of the world, and experiences, as well as history of religious communities.

Conclusions and Recommendations

In the past, Christianity did not experience a lot of infighting due to the stringent observation of the faith’s concepts and beliefs. However, with the coming of science and some other thoughts, some Christians shifted their beliefs and do not know the basic concepts and beliefs of Christianity. Among the recommendations provided for re-establishing the past beliefs and knowledge of Christianity involve the church providing clarification on the basics of the faith with a reflection in view of the current transformations in society.

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