ONLY FOR MICHAEL SMITH

Christianity

Origin of all things

It is important to note that Christianity is rooted in Judaism and are in many aspects very similar.

Nature of God

Believe in one sovereign God. They believe in the triune nature of God. That is God the father, the son and the holy spirit. God is all knowing and all powerful. They believe in the omnipresence of God. They believe that God is a spirit as evidenced in Genesis.

View of Human Nature

Christians believe that humans were created good. They believe that they were created in the image of God. That human just like their creator have a triune nature; mind, body, and soul.

View of Good and evil

The man was given the power of free will. Though created good the origin of sin and evil is traced back to the garden of Eden. The serpent is a representation of the evil that corrupted the good.

They believe that every human is born sinful.

View of salvation

Nonetheless, Christianity and Judaism differ in the belief of the person of Christ. Christians recognize Jesus as the promised Messiah who through him humanity gets its salvation. The Jews believe that Jesus was a good teacher and probably even a prophet. They are ascribed to the teachings that the messianic age is yet to come. They differ in the role and the works of Jesus Christ.

View of afterlife

Christians believe in life after death. They ascribe that after death our spirits will go one of two places. Either heaven for the ones that accepted salvation or hell for eternal damnation for the ones that rejected the Messiah. They believe that there will be resurrection after death. They believe in the coming judgment (Irvin, 2008).

Practices and rituals

The practices vary according to the different denominations. They, however, have fundamental guidelines in worship, baptism, holy communions partake, prayers. All these have an origin in the old testament practices and rituals (Bebbington, 2005).

Celebrations and festivals

Many festivals and celebrations in Christianity centre around the life of Jesus, for example, Easter is celebrated to mark his resurrection from the dead, Christmas marks the birth of Christ, Good Friday is celebrated to mark his crucifixion