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 almost all denominations and divisions can accept.
Although Jesus Christ lived for about thirty-three years, it is really the events and teachings of His last three years (according to the Gospel of John) that define the Christian religion. THe Gospels tell of Jesus picking twelve men to be His apostles, 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. 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 Christianity had become a major part of the Roman Empire's social fabric to the extent that the Roman Emperor, Constantine, made Christianity the accepted religion. The Christian church flourished from that time and today there are more than one billion declared Christians.
By today's rigid standards of forensic level 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 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 Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John (chronologically written in that order), and the letters of Paul. Scholars believe that Paul's letters were written before the first Gospel of Mark. Paul had met Peter (an apostle) and James (brother of Jesus). These writings comprise most of the New Testament. The Gospels were written within two generations after Jesus lived. 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. Many of the events in the life of Jesus match with predictions made by prophets in the Old Testmaent. He died by crucifixion, 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 because it is shockingly supernatural, but also because of its symbolic meaning that integrates all of Christ's teachings. Studying the words and actions of Jesus in the New Testament reveals the intricate 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 God wants from us.
