Defending Christianity

Defending Christianity

Introduction:

Christianity just like Islam Judaism and Buddhism are all religions. All these religions have their own sets of beliefs that they use to guide them in their day to day lives. They might either belief in a supreme being above human understanding or even in earthly idols that they revere and worship as their overall caretaker not only for preserving their lives but also to guide them in their daily work as well as bless them with earthly riches as well as eternal life.

Christianity is the worlds’ largest monotheistic religion. It is based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ of Nazareth the believed son of god as presented in the new testament of the bible (Christianity’s holy book). It had an estimated 2.1 adherents in 2001. It started as an offshoot of Judaism and it is the predominant religion in Europe the Americas, southern Africa, Oceania, and the Philippine islands.

On the other hand Islam is also a monotheistic religion that originated from the teachings of Muhammad. Islam’s adherents are called Muslims. Islam is the second largest religion from Christianity. Muslims believe that Judaism and Christianity distorted the teachings of the prophets either through interpretation, text or both.

Buddhism on the other hand is a dharmic, non-theistic religion and it is also a philosophy. Buddhism is also known as Buddha Dharma or Dhamma, which means the "teachings of the Awakened One".

Judaism on the other hand is a religion that has also been described as a way of life. This is

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because Judaism guides its adherents not only in practice but also in belief. This issue has made it difficult to differentiate between Judaism Jewish nationality and Jewish culture.

HISTORY AND ORIGIN:

In the mid first century A.D Christianity began to spread beyond its Jewish origins especially under the leadership of the apostles peter and Paul. Within this period Christianity spread east to Asia and throughout the Roman Empire. It later spread to other nations to adopt Christianity among them Ethiopia which was one of the worlds first Christian states.

With time Christianity spread into many areas of the world especially through the work of missionaries. As it expanded Christian teachings changed slightly especially on the field of interpretation. There is a diversity of doctrines and practices among groups calling themselves Christian. These groups are sometimes classified under denominations, though for theological reasons many groups reject this classification system. [1] Christianity may be broadly represented as being divided into three main groupings:

[2]

–  Roman Catholicism: The Roman Catholic Church, the largest single body, includes the

–  Eastern Christianity: Eastern Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox Churches, the

100,000 member Assyrian Church of the East, [4] and others with a combined membership of more than 300 million baptized members.

[5]

– Anglicanism: The Anglican Communion is a group of Anglican and Episcopal Churches that are descended from the Church of England. Most Anglicans don’t consider themselves Protestant or Catholic but believe that the Church of England always existed and wasn’t formed during the Reformation but rather broke away from the Church of Rome.

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– Protestantism: Groups such as Lutherans, Reformed/Presbyterians, Congregational/United Church of Christ, Evangelical, Charismatic, Baptists, Methodists, Nazarenes, Anabaptists, Seventh-day Adventists and Pentecostals. The oldest of these separated from the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century Protestant Reformation, followed in many cases by further divisions. Estimates of the total number of Protestants are very uncertain, partly because of the difficulty in determining which denominations should be placed in this category, but it seems to be unquestionable that Protestantism is the second

SIMILARITY AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER RELIGIONS:

Christian’s belief in Jesus Christ and that through his death and resurrection mankind is reconciled to god and thus mankind receives salvation by grace and through this he receives eternal life.

Islam believes in god his revelations, his angels, his messengers and in the Day of Judgment.

Buddhism on its part belief in a persons awakening, from a sleep of ignorance into a world of reality. A person who awakens by himself without being taught is called a Buddha.

Every religion has its rules and regulations or accepted practices. In the case of Christians this is guided by the Ten Commandments listed below.

I am the Lord your God

Thou shall have no other gods before me

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Thou shall not make for yourself an idol

Thou shall not make wrongful use of the name of your God

Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy

Honor Thy Mother and Father

Thou shall not murder

Thou shall not commit adultery

Thou shall not steal

Thou shall not bear false witness

Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s house

Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s wife.

Islam on the other hand is guided by the five pillars of Islam which are

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1. Sawm or fasting during the month of Ramadan. Muslims must not eat or drink (among other things) from dawn to dusk during this month, and must be mindful of other sins.

2. The Hajj, which is the pilgrimage during the Islamic month of Dhu al-Hijjah in the city of Mecca. Every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it must make the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in his or her lifetime.

3. Zakat or alms-giving. This is the practice of giving based on accumulated wealth, and is obligatory for all Muslims who can afford it.

4. Salah, or ritual prayer, which must be performed five times a day.

5. The fifth is the shahadah, which is the basic creed or tenet of Islam.

Beyond these five pillars Muslims are also guided by sharia or Islamic law.

Buddhism on its part is guided by the eight precepts of Buddhism listed below

1. To refrain from taking life. (I.e. non-violence towards sentient life Forms)

2. To refrain from taking that which is not given (i.e. not committing theft)

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3. To refrain from sensual misconduct (abstinence from immoral sexual Behavior)

4. To refrain from lying. (I.e. speaking truth always)

5. To refrain from intoxicants which lead to loss of mindfulness (refrain from Using drugs or alcohol)

6. To refrain from eating at the wrong time (only eat from sunrise to noon)

7. To refrain from dancing, using jewelry, going to shows, etc.

8. To refrain from using a high, luxurious bed. [7]

Judaism on its part its religion is just like a way of life. It has no single authority with responsibility for religious doctrine. Instead, a variety of secular and religious institutions at the local, national, and international levels lead various parts of the Jewish community on a variety of issues. [8] Beyond these Judaism is also guided by the Ten Commandments.

DEFENDING CHRISTIANITY:

Defending Christianity is not about rejecting other religions but it is all about believing in it and holding its teachings to be of truth not to a person or a group of persons but to be universally

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true. By defending Christianity we don’t mean taking a shield and amour and go to the battle ground but instead it is staying strong in your faith in all times. Among the ways one can defend Christianity include the following means discussed below.

DEFEND THE DEITY OF JESUS CHRIST AS GOD AND MESSIAH:

Christians should let the people know about the truth of Jesus Christ as the true son of God. They should let the people know of the trinity (God the father the son and the Holy Spirit). Using the prophesies both in the Christian’ old testament of the holy bible or Judaism’s’ tanakh they should let it be known that Jesus is the messiah who had been prophesied would come and die for the sins of mankind so that all mankind could inherit the kingdom of heaven.

Christians should let the people of the world know that Jesus as God or the true son of God defied earthly beliefs and as had been prophesied he defeated death and rose to life again. According to the Bible, God raised him from the dead, (acts of apostles: chapter2, verse24) and after he was resurrected he ascended to heaven, to the right hand side of God, (romans: chapter8, verse34) and will return again to fulfill the rest of the prophesies of both the old and new testament such as the Resurrection of the dead, the Last Judgment and establishment of the Kingdom of God (acts of apostles; 1:9-11)

REFUTING EVOLUTION AND PROVING CREATION

Some scientists have in deed refuted the theory of evolution since the evidence gathered from excavated fossils of the early man e.g. those found at ol duvai George in Tanzania have not shown any correlation between the early man and the official age of the universe. This disparity thus leaves us to conclude that man in deed did not evolve. Based on Christian teachings we can thus conclude that since biblically man was created on the sixth day of Gods creation. Since no one knows the exact length of a day by Gods standards we may conclude that the sixth day could have been after six hundred or even six thousand years after the beginning of creation and that is why the approximated age of the universe is not correlated with the approximate age of the early man.

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In addition the existence and progression in technology has brought in new avenues for analyzing data through processes like: Intelligent Design Theory, Radiometric Dating, Carbon 14 Dating, Radioisotope Dating and DNA testing all refute evolution and prove creation.

BELIEF IN THE SCRIPTURES:

Christianity regards the Bible, a collection of canonical books in two parts, the Old Testament and the New Testament, as authoritative: written by human authors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and therefore inerrant [9] . Thus to improve on faith Christians should belief in what is written in the bible and hold it as the whole truth.

DEFENDING THE GOSPEL:

Another avenue through which Christians can defend their faith is by defending their gospel. By this Christians should practice the teachings of the gospel. Christians believe that God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day, that Jesus appeared to his apostles and other disciples, commissioned his disciples to "make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son (Jesus) and of the Holy Spirit.(Mathew 28:19) [10] .

Thus by defending the gospel Christians should openly go out into the world and in every corner of the world they should let the people hear of the gospel so that the peoples of all nations should repent and get saved.

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Before spreading the gospel Christians should belief in the gospel first. Thus Christians should first belief that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.

They should also belief that through the life, the teachings, the miracles, the persecution and the ultimate death of Jesus, mankind is forgiven of all his sins and that through the grace of God he can get saved and inherit the kingdom of heaven only if he repent and accept Jesus as his personal savior.

OVERCOMING OBJECTIONS TO THE GOSPEL:

Christians should always be ready to stand firm and defend their religion from objections to the gospel. Early Christians among them most of the disciples including Jesus himself defended the religion so vehemently such that most of them of them died as martyrs defending their religion.

Note that Christians have frequently suffered from persecution. Starting with Jesus, the early Christian church was persecuted by state and religious establishments from its earliest beginnings. Notable early Christians such as Stephen, eleven of the Apostles as well as Paul died as martyrs according to tradition. Systematic Roman persecution of Christians culminated in the Great Persecution of Diocletian and ended with the Edict of Milan. [11] Persecution of Christians persisted or even intensified in other places, such as in Sassanid Persia.

[12]

Later Christians living in Islamic countries were subjected to various legal restrictions, which included taxation and a ban on building or repairing churches. Christians at times also suffered violent persecution or confiscation of their property [13] . Thus just as early Christians did modern day Christians should not be afraid but instead they should go out and preach the good of the gospel to the peoples of all nations and let people hear the gospel.

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START A BIBLE CLUB AND A PRAYER GROUP:

In order to grow stronger in the Christian faith and be able to defend Christianity more strongly Christians should take an extra step of faith and start bible study groups and prayer groups so that collectively they can be able to strengthen one another in faith. In these prayer groups they will be able to learn more about Christianity and in the process they will acquire the skills needed to stand firm and defend their religion more strongly.

CRITICISMS OF CHRISTIANITY:

Although historians generally agree that Jesus existed, a few writers propose that Jesus is a myth, [14] and have aimed at reconstructing the historical Jesus. Some such writers depict Jesus as a metaphor for spiritual awakening or a fictional figure based on Egyptian religion.

Some writers consider Paul to be the founding figure of Christianity, pointing to the extent of his writings and the scope of his missionary work. [15]

Members of the Jesus Seminar, and other Biblical scholars, have argued that the historical Jesus never claimed to be divine. They also reject the historicity of the empty tomb and thus a bodily resurrection and several other events narrated in the gospels. They assert that Gospel accounts describing these things are probably literary fabrications. [16]

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Adherents of Judaism generally believe that followers of Christianity misinterpret passages from the Old Testament, or Tanakh.

Muslims believe that the Christian doctrine of the Trinity is incompatible with monotheism, and they reject the Christian teaching that Jesus is the Son of God, though they affirm the virgin birth and view him as a prophet preceding Muhammad. [17]

Muslims also dispute the historical occurrence of the crucifixion of Jesus (believing that while a crucifixion occurred, it was not of Jesus). [18] Muslims also believe that while Islam’s holy book, the Quran, is the word of God, today’s Bible has been corrupted because it has gone through a

Conclusion:

Christianity is a religion. It is founded and built on beliefs and so just like many other religions in the world. In this case many of its teachings are not things that can be mathematically or scientifically analyzed. As thus Christians need to have faith and belief in things that they do and believe that it is what God has instructed them to do.

REFERENCE:

Gary Miller, A concise reply to Christianity. available at: http://thetruereligion.org/modules/wfse ction/article.php

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http://answering-christianity.com/contra.htm

What does the Holy Qur’an say about Jesus (peace be upon him).available at:

http://www.answering-christianity.com/crucified.htm

Donald Nash, Why the Churches of Christ are not a Denomination

http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article-9360716

http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html

www.wikipedia.org/christianity

[1] Donald Nash, Why the Churches of Christ are not a Denomination http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article-9360716

http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html

[4] Nichols, Rome and the Eastern Churches, pp. 27-52 http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html

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http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html

[7] www.wikipedia.org/precepts_of_buddhism.htm

[8] Schiffman, Lawrence H. (1991). From Text to Tradition: A History of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism. Ktav Publishing House.

[9] http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p1s1c2a3.htm

[10] http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2028:19 ;

[11] ChristianityToday.com 313 the Edict of Milan. available at: http://ctlibrary.com/3744

[12] Macro History, the Sassanids to 500 CE. available at: http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch22c.htm

[13] Lewis, Bernard (1987). The Jews of Islam. Princeton University Press.

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[14] Kenneth Latourette, Christianity p. 394; E. A. Wallis Budge, Egyptian Religion. Cited from www.wikipedia.org/christianity

[15] David Wenham, Paul: Follower of Jesus or Founder of Christianity? Cited from www.wikip edia.org/christianity

[16] "The empty tomb is a fiction – Jesus did not raise (sic) bodily from the dead." front flap of

Acts of Jesus. ?. Cited from             www.wikipedia.org/christianity

[17] Gary Miller, A concise reply to Christianity. available at: http://thetruereligion.org/modules/ wfsection/article.php

[18] What does the Holy Qur’an say about Jesus (peace be upon him).available at: http://www.answering-christianity.com/crucified.htm

[19] http://answering-christianity.com/contra.htm

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