Introduction to Christianity Paper

Introduction

The religion of Christianity is wide, and people have a different understanding of morality in the Christian context. The bible requires that all humans should live according to the Ten Commandments. The first commandment requires that you not worship any other God apart from the God we believe in. On the contrary, the second commandment requires that you not bow down to any idols or worship them. The third commandment requires that you shall not call the name of the Lord carelessly. Conversely, the fourth commandment dictates that you shall respect the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Therefore, the first four commandments are central to respecting the Lord and doing everything that glorifies him. The purpose of this paper is to address the context of Christianity and integrate the historical analysis and differences among human understanding of Christianity.

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The commandments want humans to obey the Sabbath, have only one God, call unto God only when it is necessary, and never to make images that resemble God. The last six commandments dictate how humans ought to relate with one another and respect human life. With the commandments in mind, the scope of Christianity can now be addressed in length. There are beliefs, values, church practices, worship styles, and cultures. All these features define Christianity based on the denominations that one belongs to. There are several denominations, including Protestants, Catholics, and the Jews, among others. Despite various denominations, there are universal doctrines that determine the Christian context in every church.

All Humans are created and in God's Image

At least most Christians believe that they were created. The Holy Bible strengthens this belief following the creation stories in Genesis Chapter 1. The bible says in verse one that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He then realized that the earth was formless and void, and it was dark. God's spirit was moving through the waters. The following verse, father, discusses the first creation story in which the Lord commanded whatever he wanted to become manifested on earth. However, in Genesis 1; 26-31, the bible talks about G0od creating man.

While every other creature was created by word of mouth, God took his time to create man in his image and likeness. God took his time to create man in His image, and likeness is enough proof that human beings are created and special creatures with superiority. After creating man, God put him in the Garden of Eden to till it and keep it. His father created a woman as a companion for man instructed the two to have dominion over all other creatures. The power bestowed to man shows that human beings are special and superior beings in the sight of God as compared to other creatures.

Controversies on the Creation of Man

While Christians believe that they were created, other people believe that we evolved and were not created. Historians believe that human beings are products of an evolution process. They allude their beliefs on the fact that human beings hold similar features to those of animals. The ability to communicate and the intelligence that humans possess seems to be the only form of superiority that humans have over animals, according to such theorists. Moreover, they argue that humans evolved from chimpanzees through various stages of evolution. Such stages include the Old Stone Age, the middle stone age, and their late stone age (Gonzalez, 2010).

It is with such evolutionary beliefs that historians agree with scientists that there are other beings on earth apart from human beings. The scientists argue that aliens are real and that they exist on earth or other planets. According to scientists, the aliens are not as harmful as they are feared to be but co-exist with a man. Scientists even believe that while animals are inferior forms of humanity, the aliens are superior beings. They possess some sought of power that makes them better creatures. They are also believed to have superior features of intelligence. Despite the controversies surrounding the creation stories, Christians are left to hold their strong belief that human beings were created in the image and likeness of God.

Conflict theorists may argue that if indeed human beings have been created in the image and likeness of God, why are their cases where some people look ugly. The controversy over an image is a difficult one to explain. Light-colored beings are automatically thought to be beautiful or handsome. On the contrary, people of color are thought to be ugly (Gonzalez, 2010). If indeed humans are created in the image and likeness of God, why is there racism? Why must Americans cry day and night over the lives of black people lost in the hands of brutal white police? If all people could embrace that human beings are like God, could there be political clashes, poverty, corruption, genocides, or even slavery and wars? All these questions remain unanswered in the minds of some Christians and even non-Christians.

If it is true that human beings are created and are look-alikes of God, scientists will not come up with the issue of plastic surgery. People have to conduct surgeries just to be accepted in terms of their looks. Some even have to convert their sexualities (Gonzalez, 2010). On the contrary, while the bible teaches about man and woman procreating, scientists have gone further to invent artificial insemination. Therefore, there are so many controversies surrounding the theory of creation, and all cannot be answered satisfactorily.

God the Trinity

The Trinity implies God exists in threes; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Believers explain that they believe that God exists not alone but in threes (Gonzalez, 2010). For Instance, during the creation, Genesis 1:2 says that while the earth was dark, formless, and void, the spirit was moving in the waters. Moreover, in verse 26, when he decides to create man, he says, "Let us create man in our image and likeness'. The implication is that God was not alone from the very beginning. While God, the father, and the spirit are presented in the first chapter of Genesis, the prevalence of the son is more evident in the prophetic books and the New Testament. For Instance, the prophet Isaiah spoke about the messiah who would come to save the world. John the Baptist in the New Testament also prophetically describes Jesus.

Some denominations like the Oneness Pentecostals only believe in Jesus alone. According to them, they believe that the Trinity is a form of paganism. Some Christians believe that God manifests himself in Jesus through the Holy Spirit, giving rise to the Trinity (Gonzalez, 2010). On the contrary, other Christians believe that God only exists through the shared belief that Jesus is his son and has a connection with human beings. Since Christians cannot see the Holy Spirit and God, they only believe that there is God. According to most Christians, it is an issue of oneness and not the Trinity. Such Christians are the Oneness Pentecostals even though most of the other denominations share the belief in the Trinity.

Christianity in Education

The role of Christianity in education remains controversial to date. There are countries where theological studies are part of the curriculum. Hence students learn about Christianity in their primary and secondary education. They only get to choose a college education. Most state-supporting institutions have inculcated religion (Christianity, Islam, and any other) in their curriculum. The main role of religion in the curriculum is to ensure that t as Children grown, they have a religious affiliation. As such, Christians use this opportunity to make their beliefs known to the young generation. It is for such reasons that missionaries mad their works known to all.

In Britain and Scandinavia, the Protestant Church plaid a major role in the primary, secondary, and college education. The Protestant churches started the initial schools, and religion soon became part of the educational curriculum (Gonzalez, 2010). Similarly, the role of missionary churches in African countries is evident. Most of the early schools and colleges began as missionary schools for theological studies. Ad time went by, the political education and the academic affiliations grew from the initial churches.

Christianity plays a major role in the education system of a country. While Christians may want to associate this role with the shaping of morality and the career life of most countries, critics observe this from a different viewpoint (Gonzalez, 2010). Some people argue that Christianity should be blamed for the underlying lines of poverty, political schemes, and divisions (ethnicity and racism). It is believed that the same missionaries who brought bibles and started theological schools in impoverished countries in Africa, Asian, and India took back a bunch of slaves to their countries believers (Gonzalez, 2010). While the countries would appreciate efforts to shed light on education, they also cried with their enslaved men and women. The political schemes and divisions of most colonized countries began with Christian missionaries (Gonzalez, 2010). Therefore, missionaries are blamed for the political scourges that have ruled society for a long time.

The Call for Reformation

By 1500, it is believed that the church was already rotten (Gonzalez, 2010). The clergy who had been given souls to reform ended up misleading the church further. Members of the clergy were known for having concubines whom they took in openly. They were a bad example to the souls bestowed to them. If the justice system would try to intervene in the clergy's way of life, the latter would cause havoc and would arm themselves for war. As the decay in the church grew, the fifteenth century saw a period of immense reformation.

It was evident that there was a decline of the papacy in the church and many Christians yearned for reformation. The papacy had been in Avignon, France, where it served only its bearers (Gonzalez, 2010). The Great Schism weakened the papacy, leading t division among believers into three groups within Western Europe. By the end of the Great Schism, the papacy was led by various men who had self-interests of Renaissance. None of these men was interested in preaching the message of the cross.

While Christians would argue that Christianity created harmony in society, there is a strong belief that Christianity wreaked havoc in society. The souls of the men that held papacy positions were rotten. They disseminated the malice event the people they led. The political schemes and bribery started away before the 14th and 15th centuries (Gonzalez, 2010). The popes who ruled after the Great Schism was interested in out-ruling the leadership of ancient Rome. They made their governance out of bribery, licentiousness, and war. Hence, instead of believers reconciling their faith to the old Roman papacy, they found themselves divided in spirit. The current occupants of the papacy were a bad example to the falling believers.

The evidence of corruption was not only among the Roman leaders but also among those dispatched to end the schism in various parts of the continent believers (Gonzalez, 2010). They did manage to end schism but were not successful with the role of reformation. Like in previous times where the papacy was divided into two or three popes, the council was also divided. After ending schism, the council members were divided into two rival groups and would be warring. It is also believed that many of the bishops in such councils were the primary beneficiaries if such forms of corruption.