Understand+about+'Humanity'

**__Sacred Text: __** The most important sacred text for Christians is the Bible. Christians believe this book is the word of God. The Bible, then, is written authority to which Christians turn as the basis for what to believe and how to live. The Bible consists of two sections: The Old Testament and the New Testament. Other texts that Christians revere are the ancient creeds. These are summaries of Christian doctrime from the early centuries of the church. The origin of the so-called "Apostle's Creed" remains a mystery, but the legend that it was written by the Apostles was current by the fourth century. The Nicene Creed, as we have seen, was issued after the Council of Nicea in 325 CE.
 * The Old Testament, written originally in Hebrew and Aramaic, relates the activities of the God of Israel, Yahweh, with human beings from the creation of the world to about the fifth century BCE.
 * The New Testament written originally in Greek, covers the period from the birth of Jesus to the establishment of the Christian church in about 65 CE.

**__Beliefs:__**

Spiritual Beings: <span style="display: block; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Christians believe that there is only one God, but that this God has three persons, or faces. The belief about three persons in one God is known as doctrime of the Trinity. As the Father, God is the creator of the world. As the Son, God is the saviour of human beings and came to earth as a human being in the person of Jesus. As the Holy Spirit, God imparts faith and the impulse to live a pleasing life <span style="display: block; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Central to the faith of Christians is this belief that **God became incarnate**. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Christians believe that Jesus gained salvation for all by **healing the rift between God and human beings** caused by past human sin. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Another belief is that God created spritual beings commonly known as angels, which means 'messengers'. <span style="display: block; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Human Nature // <span style="display: block; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Christian beliefs about the human person are based on Jewish beliefs: God created the first human beings as part of the original world, and they were **created in the image of God**. <span style="display: block; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Salvation // <span style="display: block; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Christians believe that when Jesus died on the cross his death was not an ordinary death, but that it was accepted by God as a substitute for the death of all humans who sinned against him. Just as the Jewish people had earlier believed that God accepted the animal sacrifices they made to atone for their sins, so Christians believe that God accepted Jesus as a 'one for all' sacrifice for the sins of all humans. <span style="display: block; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="background-color: #00ffa4; lineheight: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; marginbottom: 10pt; marginleft: 0cm; marginright: 0cm; margintop: 0cm;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; lineheight: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; marginbottom: 10pt; marginleft: 0cm; marginright: 0cm; margintop: 0cm;"> __**<span style="background-color: #ffffff; lineheight: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; marginbottom: 10pt; marginleft: 0cm; marginright: 0cm; margintop: 0cm;">Sacred Symbols **__ <span style="background-color: #ffffff; lineheight: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; marginbottom: 10pt; marginleft: 0cm; marginright: 0cm; margintop: 0cm;">The central symbol of the Christian faith is the cross on which Jesus Christ died at the hands of the Romans. The symbol, which was a mark of the disgrace under the Romans, represents the great mystery of salvation for the Christians they believe through the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross he gained them salvation from sins, death and internals domination. The symbol is therefore a paradox it stands for death, yet means life and hope for the christians.Some groups display prominently a crucifix that is a symbol represents cross with the body of Jesus hanging on it. Orthodox Christians, however, only have icons, pictures of Jesus and the saints which are flat, not three-dimensional images. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; lineheight: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; marginbottom: 10pt; marginleft: 0cm; marginright: 0cm; margintop: 0cm;">Other important symbols for Christians are the empty tomb from which Jesus rose after his death and the chalice that holds the wine which represents the blood of Jesus Christ and is shared by the Christians in the Eucharist. The dove, as a symbol, stands for the peace and the Holy Spirit whom god sent to his believers just as he sent to his son Jesus at the baptism. The ship, like the ark of Noah, is sometimes used as a symbol of the church. __**<span style="background-color: #ffffff; lineheight: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; marginbottom: 10pt; marginleft: 0cm; marginright: 0cm; margintop: 0cm;">Legends **__ <span style="background-color: #ffffff; lineheight: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; marginbottom: 10pt; marginleft: 0cm; marginright: 0cm; margintop: 0cm;">The Christians scriptures have numerous legends about patriarchs, kings, prophets, heroines, wisemen and disciples of jesus.The most important stories, however, are those which are told about Jesus. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; lineheight: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; marginbottom: 10pt; marginleft: 0cm; marginright: 0cm; margintop: 0cm;">The miraculous powers of Jesus became legendary in his own time. On one occasion, for example, he went out in to the countryside healing sick people and preaching to the crowds. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; lineheight: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; marginbottom: 10pt; marginleft: 0cm; marginright: 0cm; margintop: 0cm;">As evening approached the crowd grew Hungry, but no food was available so far from the city, a boy however had, five loaves of bread and a few fishes. Jesus blessed and broke up the foods and ordered his disciples to share it with the crowd. Five thousand people were fed with this food and twelve basket of leftover were collected after the meal. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; lineheight: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; marginbottom: 10pt; marginleft: 0cm; marginright: 0cm; margintop: 0cm;">Another typical story is that Jesus healing ten lepers. __**<span style="background-color: #ffffff; lineheight: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; marginbottom: 10pt; marginleft: 0cm; marginright: 0cm; margintop: 0cm;">Religious Ritual **__ <span style="background-color: #ffffff; lineheight: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; marginbottom: 10pt; marginleft: 0cm; marginright: 0cm; margintop: 0cm;">Baptism is the rite of passage whereby people become members of the Christian church. This may take place when a person is an infant, as in the Catholic Orthodox churches, or when the person is an adult, as in some protestant churches. Such protestant groups believe that a person must take conscious, informed decisions to follow Jesus Christ before receiving Baptism, whereas churches who baptise infants believe that god works through the rituals and the community of believers to produce faith and the community of believers to produce faith in the child. __**<span style="background-color: #ffffff; lineheight: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; marginbottom: 10pt; marginleft: 0cm; marginright: 0cm; margintop: 0cm;">Religious ethics **__ <span style="background-color: #ffffff; lineheight: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; marginbottom: 10pt; marginleft: 0cm; marginright: 0cm; margintop: 0cm;">Jesus did not set down a strict code of behaviour that his disciples are required to follow as a mark of their faithfulness. Rather, he promoted, in his life and teachings, certain principles which were to govern Christian’s ethics and behaviour. Christians have turned to various places in the Bible to find just how this general principle might be changed into a code of what is right. And what is wrong, to be guide to Christian life. The ten commandments, given originally by god to the people of Israel at Mount Sinai, are generally considered to be a key expression of how god expect people to behave. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus reinterprets these and similar commandments from the Old Testament, and given examples of the kinds of behaviour that are appropriate for his disciples. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; lineheight: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; marginbottom: 10pt; marginleft: 0cm; marginright: 0cm; margintop: 0cm;">Another source to which Christians turn to find a guide to the **quality of life is found in the** **so called Beatitudes** which Jesus spoke in the sermon on the mount.

This version of the Beatitudes come from the gospel of Luke; a longer and slightly different version is found in Matthew's gospel (5:3-12). In the history of christianity,many codes of behaviour have arisen as different groups ahve sought to relate teh principle of Jesus lifeand teaching to paticular situations, and many great debates ahve taken place as a result. One such debate concerns the questions is it inconsistent with the principles laid down by Jesus for new converts in Africa to keep the two or more wives they had before tehy became Christians?

Differences of opinions continue today as christians confront issues like abortions ,sterillisation