Early Christianity was the main religion of Western civilization. The Bible is the primary source historians have available to follow the life of Jesus Christ, the leader of the Christians. He taught his followers, was crucified, and supposedly rose from the dead. Jesus’ life is recorded in the last half of the Bible called the New Testament. Sections one and two of chapter six in the text discuss certain excerpts taken from the Gospels of Saint Mark, Saint Matthew, and Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. These excerpts record the teachings of Jesus while he was on earth, before and after his resurrection. However, Jesus himself never contributed to these writings. They are reminiscences of his disciples, passed down verbally until recorded in written form thirty to seventy years after Jesus’ death.
Saint Mark relays the ethical teachings of Jesus summed up with the most important commandments, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength,” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus believes these two commands to be the basic doctrine of his belief. That is why it is stressed in the Gospel of Mark to follow these instructions. Individuals will be closer to the kingdom of God by doing so, and in turn closer to Jesus. In short, it sums up in two sentences the way Christians should properly live out their lives.
The fact that Jesus wanted full devotion and commitment from his followers put fear in the heart of the Roman government. They assumed that if Jesus formed his own group of people that they would revolt against the rule of the Romans. Though this fear proved to be false, and Jesus merely directed his followers in living godly lives, he was still beaten and killed. However, if the Roman authorities held the power to execute Jesus, why did they see him as such a threat in the first place?
The Essay on Jesus Life
Both historians and people connected to the subject by religious beliefs have been trying for ages to find out more about the life of Jesus. Did he really exist? Is it true what has been written in the Bible? Was he really able to cure people just by a simple touch? Was he the true ?Son of God?? All those questions would remain open without a confirmed and certain answer. If he was a real person ...
Saint Matthew presents the gospel as a guide to having right attitudes, acceptable to God. These attitudes are compiled into a list called the Beatitudes. Jesus believes that having true religion is more than following a set of rules or written law. The life of a Christian should be a complete conversion, not just a list of duties to check off one by one. Jesus looks for a sincerity of the heart, rather than the outward performance that desires man’s applause. The Jews seemed so willing to do whatever he wanted; yet there was no validity in his identity. For all they knew, Jesus was just anybody off the streets, proclaiming whatever he wished to proclaim. The faith of the Jews in Jesus caused many to ask questions. Fear of the unknown or uncertainty left many doing nothing but ridicule and persecution.
The Jews held Jesus in the highest esteem, thinking he was the Messiah, and would take any measures to follow him the way he desired. Jesus calls the Christians to live moral lives, and the Athenian philosopher, Athenagoras records his thoughts about how he views Christians’ concepts of sex and family values. Like the ideas Saint Matthew shared about purity and having purity not only in the heart, but outward actions as well, Athenagoras explains how his perception of Christian values differs with the views of the non-Christians. The non-Christians overlook the idea of being content in one marriage only, whereas the Christians see a second marriage as some form of adultery. Since sexual intercourse was basically looked upon as only a means of reproducing and carrying on the lineage of family, it should be kept between two people only. For this opposition of the norm of society, not only with marriage beliefs, but other factors as well, Christians became alienated during the Roman times and many were persecuted for their beliefs.
Athenagoras’ teachings do still hold value in certain parts of modern society. However, as time goes on, the morals once held by large groups of Christians back in the days of Jesus are not as strong and influential as they once were. The frequency of teen pregnancy and pregnancy outside of marriage shows the lack of emphasis put on abstinence. Ironically enough, even though Christians held this strong belief, many kings and noblemen had women, aside from their wives, called concubines, who fulfilled their desires. What made that more acceptable than marrying multiple times? How was it different?
The Essay on Christian And Muslim View On Marriage
Marriage What are the Christian teachings on remarriage? Christians look to the bible for advice. I found a passage about divorce. In the bible it says: Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery. (St Mark 10: 11-12) This means that remarriage isn't allowed in the eyes of the ...
Much of the early forms and practices of Christianity hold true to modern-day Christianity. The same beliefs that Saint Matthew and Mark, and Athenagoras held concerning Christian practices are the beliefs that many Christians support and act on in this day and time. Persecution of Christians in the United States is not as visible today as in other countries or during Bible times, where freedom of religion is/was not extended to its people. However the parallels of comparison between Christianity at its beginning and Christianity today run side by side, if not overlapping.
