Background Events
There are three major Christian divisions: Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant. Within these divisions, especially the Protestant, there are a multitude of denominations that each interpret Christianity in different ways. In this presentation, only the basic theological beliefs will be presented that all denominations and divisions can accept.
Although Jesus Christ lived for thirty-three years, it is really the events and teachings of His last three years that define the Christian religion. Jesus picked twelve men to be His disciples, to follow Him in His life, so that they would continue spreading word of His teachings after His death. Additionally there was a prominent believer named Paul who impacted the growth of Christianity, especially outside Judea where Christ lived and died. Early followers of Christ were tortured or killed by government leaders as a result of their faith. Even though the teachings of Christianity are of love and peace, the faith was perceived in those times as a challenge to the political authority of the local governments. During the first three hundred years after Christ, the followers struggled to keep the movement alive. Despite much political adversity, the Christian faith spread throughout the Roman Empire, which dominated Europe, the MidEast, and western Asia at that time. In the early 300s, the Roman Emperor, Constantine, made Christianity the accepted religion, which was a major milestone on its growth path. The Christian church flourished and, today, there are more than one billion declared Christians.
By today's rigid standards of forensic class evidence, believing the accounts of Jesus requires faith. Jesus was on earth when little means existed for recording what He did and what He said. Communication among people then was primarily verbal since it was expensive to record anything on papyrus or parchment. Yet there were numerous accounts written, the most famous being the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and the letters of Paul. These comprise most of the New Testament. The Gospels were written relatively shortly after Jesus lived, within two generations, suggesting their reliability. Jesus performed many supernatural miracles, including walking on water, healing the ill, giving life to the dead, changing the weather, creating food, all getting the attention of thousands of observers. He foretold the future including details of the events of His own death. He died by crucification, nailed to a wooden cross that has become the religion's symbol. Three days after the body of Jesus was put to rest in a cave, it disappeared. Soon afterward, Jesus appeared alive again to many witnesses, an event called His Resurrection. This event is the focal point of the faith, not only due to its shockingly supernatural value that science cannot explain, but due to its symbolic meaning that integrates all of Christ's teachings. Studying the words and actions of Jesus in the New Testament reveals the intricate and improbable detail of His story and comforts the believer that it is unlike any other. It is difficult to conceive that one human or set of humans would be capable of fabricating such a set of events and ideas. Every believer is driven to seek to understand what is God's Will with us.
