Mathew Simond asked:

Religion has played an important part in the history of our world. Religious knowledge has bent the lives of people since prehistoric times. Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism have been major powers in the creation of Western culture. They have also played a vital role in the expansion of Middle Eastern life. Asian civilizations have been affected by Buddhist teachings.

Religion has been a major basis of inspiration for the arts. Houses of worship are some of the world’s most beautiful buildings. Many paintings, sculptures, books, dances, and motion pictures have been created with religious themes.

The five religions listed in this essay have a joint membership of 3 1/2 to 4 billion people. This is about 80% of the world’s total populace.

JUDAISM is one of the oldest religions of the world. The Jews were the first to teach belief in only one God. Two other significant religions shaped from Judaism are: Christianity and Islam. Jews believe that God will send a Messiah (a deliverer) to bond them and lead them in His way. Christians believe that Jesus was the Messiah. The Jewish people do not agree; they anticipate His arrival in the future. Judaism educates that death is not the ending and that there is another world waiting. Exact details of the afterlife are not part of Jewish belief.

CHRISTIANITY is the basis of the life and learning of Jesus Christ. People following Christianity are known as “Christians.” They believe in one God who created the whole world. Their God sent his son Jesus (called the “Messiah”) into the world to save humanity from sin and to make eternal life possible for them. That son died to accomplish this purpose. This is the same God that followers of Judaism worship.

ISLAM is the name of the religion sermonized by the Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.). He was a Mecca born Arab, who had been sent by Allah to guide his people and be their messenger. People who follow the ideas of Prophet (P.B.U.H.) are known as Muslims. The word Islam means “submission” and Muslim means to “one who submits” (to God). There is only one religion which has more followers worldwide than Islam and that religion is Christianity.

HINDUISM is also one of the oldest religions of the world. It was referred for the Indus River in India. Over 2/3′s of the world’s Hindus live here; great numbers live in Africa too. Hindus believe in many gods. They make out one supreme character called Brahman. The objective of Hindus is to sooner or later join with Brahman. Until that union takes place, believers are in a continuous process of rebirth called “reincarnation.”

BUDDHISM was originated in India about 2,500 years ago by an educator named Prince Siddhartha Gautama. To his supporters he was the Buddha. At number of times in the history, it has been a leading religious, civilizing, and social force in most of Asia. Today, there are 300 million Buddhists in the world; most live in Sri Lanka, southern Asia, and Japan.

These five religions have countless noticeable differences, but they have certain components which are:

o faith in a rule beyond the human being

o acknowledged lessons of salvation (goal of a life after death)

o A code of conduct

o utilization of holy stories

o holy acts and ceremonies

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Ellen Bell asked:
When we talk about the history of Christmas trees, there are really several issues to address. First, there is the association of the evergreen tree with Christianity. When and where did this begin? Next, how did the evergreen tree come to be associated with the Christian holiday of Christmas? And last, how did this association manifest itself into our modern day tradition of a decorated tree at the holiday season? We will examine each of these questions one by one.

Evergreen trees and Christianity:

There is some debate about when and how the evergreen tree first became associated with Christianity. Some historians tell us that a monk named Boniface happened upon a group of pagans worshipping an oak tree in the woods (and possibly also performing animal and human sacrifices there). Boniface was angered by this, and he cut the oak tree down. As the legend goes, an evergreen tree sprang up where the oak had been. Boniface and the pagans believed this to be a sign of Christianity, and thus, the association of the evergreen tree with Christianity first begin. There is also some debate about where exactly this happened. Some historians claim it happened in Riga, Latvia. However, some others argue that this occurred in Germany, which might make more sense given that Boniface was a German monk.

Evergreen trees and Christmas:

Some other historians claim that the monk Boniface actually used the evergreen tree as a teaching tool to preach Christian beliefs to pagan populations. He took the triangular shape of the tree as a symbol of the Christian trinity: Father, Son and Holy Ghost. According to this legend, sometime around the 12th century A.D., Christian people brought evergreen trees indoors at Christmastime and hung them upside down from their ceilings as a symbol of the Christian faith.

Others claim that the earliest recorded reference to evergreen trees being used at Christmas celebrations was documented by 16th century German craft guilds. One such reference tells of a fir tree that was decorated and displayed in the guild’s main shop, and that the guildmen’s children were allowed to take the small gifts that decorated the tree for the holiday. Still other references suggest that perhaps the guild apprentices were charged with carrying the decorated evergreen through the streets in celebration.

Martin Luther is another individual credited with the early association between the evergreen tree and Christmas. As the story goes, Luther was out for a walk one winter evening, admiring the beauty of the twinkling stars in the clear night sky. He was thus inspired to cut down an evergreen tree, bring it indoors, and attempt to re-create the starlight effect by decorating the tree with candles.

Transition to the Modern Day Christmas Tree:

Traditionally, Germans decorated their Christmas trees with fruits, nuts, small gifts, and other trinkets. Glass ornaments also got their start in the famous glassblowing shops of Germany. For this reason, our modern day tradition of decorated Christmas trees is usually traced back to a German heritage.

There was a period of time when Christmas trees were shunned by conservative Christians as idolatry. In Puritan America, Christmas trees were not welcome in Christmas celebrations. In England, decorated trees and Christmas carols were banned completely. Fortunately, these days didn’t last for too long. In the mid-1800′s, Queen Victoria of England and her royal family were photographed in front of their decorated family Christmas tree and the picture appeared in the London News. From then on, decorated Christmas trees became widely popular in England and the United States.

The tradition of decorating evergreen trees at Christmastime has certainly evolved from the early historical accounts, but one thing remains the same. A beautifully decorated Christmas tree is still an inspiring sight enjoyed by all that puts us in the holiday spirit each year.

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Carlo Morelli asked:

The Shakers were a strict Christian sect, of prominence in the 18th and 19th centuries. Today, it is though that the branch of Christianity now only extends to four people, although it was particularly widespread in its day. Although the religious beliefs may not be as commonly held today as they were centuries ago, certain ideals including the simplistic way of life and hard work ethic still survive to this day as attractive propositions for many Americans.

Additionally, the famous furniture the Shakers produced, blending celebrated and unique design with high quality workmanship has become much sought after, and today, original items of Shaker furniture can fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars at auction. Shaker furniture history is long and detailed, and in this article, we will look at the influences on Shaker furniture, and why it is so popular even today.

The Shaker Way of Life

Shaker furniture history can be linked very much to the lifestyle practiced by the followers of the religious branch. The Shakers, so called because of a shaking ritual used to exorcise demons, are internationally renowned for creating highly purposive and now highly collectable furniture. They were extremely dedicated on the whole, and viewed their life as a service to God, living without modernisation, and free from the outside world.

Their simplistic approach to life and their dedication to God meant a wholly celibate life, and to keep their hands and minds free from sin, they practiced manual skills, like carpentry. This led to a high degree of craft and dexterity, which they exploited for their own use, and for sale to members of the public.

The Shaker way of life also included a simple, modern approach to design, which is evident in their output. Shaker furniture is renowned primarily for its quality, and given that every piece was hand made, they really are quite impressive works.

Shaker Influences

The Shakers have had an immense impact on modern design, and this can be seen through the works of contemporary designers like Charles Rennie Macintosh, and his peers. The simplistic style of Shaker furniture, and the wealth of Shaker furniture history make the style popular even in a modern context.

Although the furniture is now less common, and indeed with only four remaining Shakers, certainly dying out, it is a style that is very much in demand for its minimalist styling, and simple quality. This has given rise to an increasing number of manufacturers basing furniture around the Shaker designs, which are now mass produced and readily available.

Like the Shaker way of life, Shaker furniture history has been shaped by simplistic, minimalist living and by hard work and dedication. Additionally, it is heralded as design significantly ahead of its time, and has given rise to numerous copy-cat designers and manufacturers the world over. As far as Shaker original furniture goes, you aren’t likely to come across any unless you visit a museum, but the mass-produced furniture which takes inspiration from Shaker furniture history is founded on the same principles of design, and can allow an affordable alternative for modern design. Shaker furniture has a long and detailed history, and it is sure to live in on the memories of those who appreciate their furniture as essentially a work of art.

The History of Christianity

Sanjay Kali asked:

“Women in Christianity” is a vast and complex subject with multiple dimensions as Christianity is one of the largest religions in the world practiced in different societies and cultures around the world. When we deal with the subject of “Women in Christianity” we need to understand that Christianity as that exists today is a mix of different denominations with Catholics and Protestants being the principle denominations. Further it would be prudent to delve into the history of Christianity to understand the role of women in this religion. In early Christianity there was no separate roles prescribed for men and women and women were not distinguished separately from men. This was despite the fact that the society in West Asia at that time was highly patriarchal in nature.

Women in Christianity: The early Christian prophets

From West Asia, Christianity spread to ancient Greece and Rome which were purely patriarchal societies. In these societies women and children were thought of as assets or possessions held by the head of the family. Men and Women were distinguished separately in this kind of set up and women were generally considered inferior to men. During these times Christians believed that the world will end soon and Christ will come to earth for the second time. There were many women teachers and prophets in Christianity in those days who believed in this proposition and went their way in preaching this doctrine.

Women in Christianity: Development of the patriarchal thought

But the initial belief of the immediate “second coming” of the Christ did not happen. From hereon Christianity slowly started to evolve as a systemized religion with the churches enjoying enormous clout and power. This led to the development of the patriarchal thought in Christianity which abolished and discarded the earlier view that men and women should not be distinguished separately. The havoc of the power of churches continued for the next two thousand years during which women were not only treated as inferior to men but great atrocities were committed against independent women who were branded as witches and hunted down mercilessly.

Women in Christianity: Wave of change in twentieth century

Only in the twentieth century things started changing in Christianity. With the churches loosing much of their clout and power in the twentieth century, with democratic governments firmly established in many countries in Europe as well as in America and with religion getting separated from politics things started to change in a dramatic fashion in Christianity that was never thought about in the last two thousand years of the religion. It all started with the early feminist movements and peaked with the second wave of feminism from the period of 1960s. This period saw a profound change in the status of women in Christianity as a religion. Women’s rights came in the forefront.

Women in Christianity: Feminist Theology

Feminist theology was established as a branch of feminism to study the role of women especially in Christianity. The feminist theological movement influenced the development of the Wisdom literature that expressed God through a feminine image.

Women in Christianity: Women’s liberation movement

The period of 1960s and thereafter can be considered as the beginning of the “women’s liberation movement” in history which advocated social, cultural, political and religious equality of the gender. Though the women’s liberation movement went full throttle in this period the patriarchal set up did not vanish as such and the concept of sexual dualism still existed. This concept not only viewed the differences between men and women in mere biological terms but it also ranked and applied values to these differences. For instance, men were considered to be more idealistic, spiritual, and psychic than women. On the other hand, women were thought to be more emotional, instinctive, and physical than men. This was a senario of absolute “gender stereotyping” and it existed from last two thousand years. In fact this kind of sexual dualism originated from the Greek philosophers like Aristotle and Christianity had adopted it since then. It was only the women’s movement in 1960s that challenged these kind of thinking to some affect.

Women in Christianity: Marian devotion

The patriarchal Christianity surprisingly also witnessed another phenomenon that is the Marian devotion. Catholics were highly influenced by this whereas the Protestants rejected this phenomenon. Marian devotion even affected the feminist movement in both ways. One school of thought believed that the Marian devotion helped to offer the feminine view on God where as the other school of thought believed that the Marian devotion in fact harmed the feminist movement. They said that proclaiming Mary as Virgin Mary and worshiping her in fact in this form is damaging to the cause of women as “women and womanhood” are elevated to the “high pedestal of morality” and they are inhibited or discouraged to express or explore the more humane side of their nature. The sexual and cultural revolution of the 1970s and 80s precisely wanted to break free from this high pedestals of morality attached to women and womanhood.

Women in Christianity: The two parallel movements

After 1960s the emergence of two parallel movements took place in Christianity as a religion and the society in general. These two movements were the liberal and conservative movements. These two parallel movements exist till date. The more liberal feminist theological movement is influenced by the goddess worship, wisdom literature, Jesus’ movement and Marian devotion. On the other hand the religious right within Christianity works on the principal of sexual dualism. The religious right tries to find values only within an established tradition and they resist change of any kind to an established order. The religious right opposes the liberal reproductive rights of women especially the right to abortion, it rejects cloning technology, it rejects homosexuality and it seeks reestablishment of traditional family ideals based on the patriarchal system. Initially the religious right was only involved with the faith but after the 1970s they have increased their presence in the matters of politics so that they can influence mainstream culture and society in a more profound manner. This is especially true in America. It is natural that the religious right hates feminists. They fear that women will assert themselves, gradually obtain various rights, and ultimately threaten the position of men. For the religious right the advancement of women in society means that they will ultimately take over the jobs of men. Also, they feel that the differences in traditional gender roles are quite essential.

However, from the viewpoint of feminists, gender roles are never absolute or essential. They feel that these were formed within society, and that the concept of “gender” was established to analyze and distinguish the differences in the roles of men and women.

Women in Christianity: The religious right and the liberal feminist theological movement

It is quite natural that the Religious Right criticizes feminists, who challenge the superiority of men. They in fact resist everything about the feminist movement. For example they even dislike the liberal welfare policies for women because under such policies, single mothers who need to raise their children and the economically destitute are assisted financially. The Religious Right view such assistance as preventing the establishment of traditional families. They also reject the relativism of human existence and therefore they are intolerant to other views, cultures and religions. They believe in the absolutism and purity of Christian values and tradition. For the religious right “Patriarchal Christianity” is the central core of all existence. Anything outside this central core has to be resisted and absolutely rejected.

In relation to the role of “women in Christianity” we can see that now we have two parallel schools of thought that exits within the religion as well as in the society. These are the liberal feminist theological movement and the conservative religious right movement. Though this being the current scenario it is not a static situation and there is a continuous evolution that is taking place in regard to the “role of women in Christianity” as it had happened in the last two hundred years or so.

Further to understand the role of Women in Christianity we need to study the following topics in detail

1. Women and the genesis of Christianity
2. Women and Christianity- This includes subtopics like Women of faith surviving but not reporting abuse.
3. Sexuality and early Christianity.
4. How Christianity Changed the World-This includes subtopics like freedom and dignity for women.
5. The advent of the Religious right and the goals of the Religious right.
6. Feminist theology-This includes subtopics like Re-interpretation of the historical origins of Christianity, re-examination of the Bible from the viewpoint of Women, Biblical translation using “Inclusive Language”, formation of new understandings of God, networks of women from Different cultures, sharing methodology with sexual minorities and presenting new views on ecology.

The changes that happened in the Christian society in the last two hundred years have also affected other cultures and religions in a profound manner. The feminist movement owes its roots to the Christian society and thanks to it feminism has become a global phenomenon today which advocates gender based equality and ending of all types of discriminations and bias against women. In fact the study of the role of “women in Christianity” transcends the spectrum of “religion” and gives us a broad perspective of the struggle of women from the last 200 years for a right to a dignified and meaningful life.

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John Thomas Didymus asked:

But for the flagrant indiscretions of the insufferable Stephen, the simple faith of the sect of Nazarenes, along with the “vile superstition” of a resurrected god-man, might have died a natural death in its native Palestine, what with the proverbial stiff-neckedness of the Jews and the encumbering influence of the conservatives of the “circumcision party.”

The persecution of the “Nazarenes” after the martyrdom of Stephen, rather than the conversion of Constantine, was the chief accident of history which placed the resurrection story on a world conquering course. The martyrdom of Stephen and the persecution of the Nazarenes, which followed, forced the exportation of the message from its birthplace of Palestine to Antioch of Syria where in its naive simplicity it ran smack into the world of the Greek mind with its festering discontent with truth simply packaged and once delivered.

The invaluable record of the gentile physician, Luke, bears testimony to the fateful transition, early in the history of the movement, from the simple faith of the sect of Nazarenes to the all-conquering gentile religion of Christianity. Christianity, as we know it today, began with the founding of the first Greek-Gentile church in the great city of Antioch, capital of Syria, the third city of the Roman Empire, only after Alexandria and the city of Rome in importance.

It is not incidental, especially in the context of the politics of the Jerusalem Church, that the “gentilizing” progressives in the early Church would soon converge on Antioch under the leadership of the hellenized Cilician Jew, Paul, who may justifiably be described as the founder of the gentilized version of the religion of the Nazarenes whose adherents came, for the first time, to be known as “Christians” at Antioch of Syria.

And what became of the sect of the Nazarenes with the ascendancy of Christianity?

The initial evangelical offensive of the Nazarenes in Judea appears to have waned in vigor with the onset of the Stephenite persecution. The Jerusalem group was forced by the Antioch group to hand over the baton of Church history. And we witness the transition in the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Acts in which the preceding chapters appear to have deliberately delved on Peter’s evangelizing mission amongst proselytizing gentiles only as a means to preparing the reader for the Pauline mission which would follow.

The attitude of the core leadership of the Jerusalem sect of Nazarenes to the gentile mission could only have been ambivalent. The historic decision of the Jerusalem Council could only have been a cautious concession in the tradition of “Gamalielian” wisdom: “Lest we be found to fight against God.”

Quite apart from the failure of the Nazarenes to convert the Jewish nation to its viewpoint, one may see in the post-Pentecostal re-alignment of forces which brought James the “Lord’s brother” to prominence, the circumstances which bound the sect of Nazarenes to extinction. Why should the succession to leadership of the group have become hereditary? Tradition insists that a cousin of James took over leadership of the group after the martyrdom of James in 62 A.D. What qualified James for leadership of the church besides his blood relationship to the Messiah?

The circumstances which favored the takeover of leadership by James must have been very closely associated with the ascendancy of a conservative group made up, probably, of the Pharisee supporters of Jesus in his lifetime. The ascendancy of this group was to become a significant factor in the failure of the Nazarenes to seize the initiative in the context of the need for change forced by the circumstances of history. The evidence, from the decision of the Jerusalem Council, suggests that James was of a relatively moderate persuasion, even though his headship of the Jerusalem Church had been sponsored by the conservatives of the “circumcision party.”

One cannot but detect evidence of a potentially more effective leadership in the party of moderates led by Peter, and consisting mostly of the original twelve Apostles and their associates. And, indeed, one feels sympathy for the rightful heir to headship of the Nazarenes. Peter was thrust aside by a newly dominant conservative group (being merely an uneducated fisherman?) which sponsored James’ headship, probably only because James was the brother of the Messiah (there is no evidence that he was a better educated man than Peter). We find Peter wedged between two opposing forces in the early church, vacillating in deference to the influential “party of the circumcision” when it was obvious, from his actions, that he would have considered steering the ship of the group’s destiny into the uncharted waters of the gentile world.

The circumstances augured well for that bold and impetuous Cilician Jew, Paul. While Peter vacillated, he grabbed lustily at the opportunity:

“Am I not also an Apostle?”

“Oh, how I wish they’d not only cut off the foreskin, but that they would chop off the entire dammed thing in the process!”

It was left to Paul to assert the independence of the Gentile mission of the Jerusalem conservatives. The sympathies of the moderates gravitated in time to his side. The forces of history favored Paul of Tarsus. The destruction of Jerusalem in A.D.70 by Roman forces and Hadrian’s edict of A.D. 135, which excluded all Jews from Judea and converted Jerusalem into a Greek city (Aelia Capitolina)–complete with pagan theaters and temples–afforded Christianity the opportunity to march on unmindful of its Jewish Nazarene roots. Forsaken of Christianity; forsaken of Judaism, the Nazarenes could only have languished into obscurity and finally extinction. By A.D. 85, the sect of Nazarenes had been excommunicated by the Jewish religious authorities: May the Nazarenes be destroyed suddenly and their names removed from the book of life.

As late as the Fourth Century A.D., small groups of the sect would persist in Syria, looking up to James the “Lord’s brother” as spiritual mentor, even as the gentile church looked up to St. Paul. Christian commentators, forgetful of their roots, would class these groups amongst the heretical sects of Christianity, and there would never be lacking sincere souls in the gentile christian world who would regret that the Jewish nation, in rejecting the Messiah, missed the cart of national salvation.

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M. Daniel Walsh asked:

New Thought:?Ancient Wisdom

New Thought and Christianity mix together about as well as Christianity and everything else.? What’s important to realize is that the fundamental principles at back of the entire New Thought Movement predate Christianity, even the old testament by many thousands of years.?

Many scholars call these lessons The Hermetic Wisdom, but even that is misleading because Hermes is a western name attributed to an ancient Egyptian philosopher named Thoout. ? ‘New Thought’ is essentially the teachings of 5,000 year old Egyptian named ‘Thoout’ adapted for our modern palates.? Basically, the New Thought Movement is based on the notions of:

Divine Goodness Equality across race, gender, creed, and economic status The Human Creative Potential (we can create the lives we want) The agreement of like things (also called the ‘Law of Attraction’) The inclusive / pervasive nature of Divinity

Sounds pretty simple right?? Not really any different than the United States Declaration of Independence.? Would it surprise you to know that the 20 of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence were students of these ancient Hermetic teachings?

New Thought Meets Christianity

Amongst other things, Emma Curtis Hopkins (1849-1925) is often credited with coining the phrase; “The New Thought Movement.”? She was a tremendously confident, prolific, outspoken, and controversial figure in our world’s history who was always willing to stand up for precisely what she believed in; including being instrumental in securing womens’ right to vote in the United States.

As editor of, “The Christian Science Journal” she attempted to bring the Eastern lessons of Hinduism and Buddhism into the scope of Christianity.? It was her firm belief that seeds of truth rest within all world religions and must be understood from a viewpoint above any proprietorship.? In other words, she didn’t see Christianity as bound by strict dogmas or singular teachings, instead she saw the core concepts as being present in religions all over the world.

But Christian Science was a religion and wasn’t about to discard its strict teachings for sake of one woman’s views.? So she was dismissed as editor of the Christian Science Journal and very nearly excommunicated from their ranks.

If you can’t join them, beat them…

From her perspective the core teachings of Christianity insist that Divinity is Omnipresent.? How could Divinity simultaneously be all powerful and all pervasive yet owned by any one religious group?

It made no sense to her.? If God is all pervasive we must be able to see signs of God everywhere, end of story.? So she decided to start her own church.? This is where it gets interesting.? Emma Curtis Hopkins, Editor of the Christian Science Journal, gets fired from her position as editor and decides to found her own church naming it exactly the same as the one she just left!? If she couldn’t get the Church of Christian Science to see things her way, she was going to create her own Church of Christian Science and name it:? The Church of Christian Science.

How is that even possible?? Well, that sort of thing can’t really happen these days, but this was over 30 years before radio or widespread use of telephones and the Christian Science Movement was spreading quickly all over the United States.? People were interested in a new way of practicing their faith and Christian Science was rapidly filling that void popular across the then 37 US States.? People were interested the teachings, most people didn’t even realize that there were two completely unaffiliated organizations with the same name!

New Thought Christianity Proliferates

Emma Curtis Hopkins was a “Preach what I practice” sort of teacher.? If her students were going to follow in her footsteps they would need to create their own churches as well.? Some of her noteworthy students include:

Charles and Myrtle Fillmore who co-founded Unity Church Anna Rix Militz who founded The Home of Truth Ernest Holmes who founded The Church of Religious Science Malinda Cramer, Nona L. Brooks, and Fannie Brooks who co-founded The Church of Divine Science

There are many other New Thought Christian groups out there with over 800 Churches worldwide and close to 10 million practitioners spread around the world.? So diverse are they, that any effort to concisely describe them all here would be ridiculous.?

So are they all the same?? Do they all teach the same things?? Actually, each and every one of them teaches something different, but the Core Principle: “There is a all pervasive force of goodness underlying all things” is a root common to them all.

This is an epically important principle for the people all over the world.? To shed the idea that we are inherently bad and replace it with the idea that we are inherently good is a tremendously empowering way to think.? Literally hundreds of different Churches now offer their own versions of that same core truth with the world.? I for one think it’s a pretty entertaining way to get the message out.? After all, the idea of being ‘born good’ instead of being ‘born a sinner’ ought to be worth at least few dozen versions…

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Gregory Vanden Berge asked:

Christianity is now over 2000 years old and has seen its fair share of problems throughout history. Unless you study history or early Christianity, there’s a good chance that you wouldn’t know about most of the problems that this particular religion incurred.

Early Christians were persecuted by the Romans for about 300 years until the Roman Emperor Constantine accepted Christianity as the religion of choice for the Roman Empire. In other words, Christianity was a small fish in a big pond, until the Emperor made it a large fish.

If you’re a Christian reading this article, do you even know how or where the Bible originated from? Do you know what motivated the Emperor Constantine to make Christianity the unquestionable winner and why? I don’t really know if Christians even care about early Christian history, but it’s about time that they start taking a serious interest in it.

We have the Spanish Inquisition’s, the Christian Crusades and of course the contradictions within the Holy Bible, that make it almost impossible to accept Christianity as a religion created by a superior being instead of man.

Throughout history, people have made choices to go to war in the name of God or to ruthlessly slaughter non-believers. Other religions have done the same thing and I don’t want to single out Christianity is the only religion throughout the world that has performed these horrendous atrocities on mankind.

It’s hard to look back at history and think that the Christian faith wasn’t all about power. If you examine the history of the Roman Catholic Church, it’s hard to think of Christianity, without thinking about all of the control that it had on Europe and other continents.

I don’t know why most Christians don’t take the time to examine early Christianity or where the Bible came from or murder and persecution of nonbelievers and all of the other problems that Christianity had.

The more that I study early Christianity or the history of the Roman Catholic Church and other Christian denominations, I can’t see God anywhere and can see man everywhere within the choices that these organizations made.

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Nicole Roberts asked:

Incense has been around for literally thousands of years and was used in ancient times for healing and sacred purposes. The aromas of different incense can produce distinct feelings or relieve stress. In the history of Christianity, frankincense was a popular choice for ceremonies and was considered very valuable incense. Today, many households both religious and non-religious burn incense as a way to create a peaceful atmosphere and heighten the senses. One of the best ways to fully enjoy the aroma is with an incense burner box, which is normally used for Tibetan incense since the incense has no sticks in the middle, but can also be used with other types of incense as well.

There are several varieties of incense burners from small to very large. The incense burner box is normally made of wood and has carvings within the box. They are quite attractive and literally can accent any decor. Massage therapists often use incense in their practice, as a way to relax the client and bring them to a place that is stress-free. Most people that receive massages often enjoy the various incense spices, smells, and remark that it does in fact lower their stress level. The incense burner box is used for both home use and in businesses such as massage and some health food stores use them to create a specific environment.

Smells are very powerful and different spices bring about different feelings and can cause relaxation or other feelings. For example, sandalwood or lavender can help a person to sleep better at night simply from smelling the incense as it burns in an incense burner box. When there is high stress in the home, burning patchouli can lessen stress, anxiety, and brighten the mood. When you want to create a sense of family or are having a family gathering, the nag champa incense works very well because it has a spicy yet sweet aroma, this along with sandalwood can also bring about a sense of being grounded and whole.

Different incense smells bring about emotions and can help relax the mind and help the body sleep. In the same vein, you must have a very nice incense burner box or another kind of incense burners in order to burn the incense safely. The idea of the incense box is to simply light the incense, then place it along the small bars metal inside and then close the lid, the incense then seeps out of the carved holes in the wooden box.

Clearly, burning incense can create an atmosphere and good feelings and when it is burned in an incense burner box, it makes it safer and releases the incense aroma over the course of an hour or longer, depending on the type of incense you have in the box. Choose a variety of high quality incense varieties to create all sorts of moods and feelings in your own home. Incense is not particularly expensive and the incense sticks last a long time.

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Diana Diaz asked:

To ask the how and when of Christianity is a lot like looking back at a twisting tunnel. From within the tunnel, you would discover that there were too many sub-tunnels to state clearly just how the whole structure started.

Yet there have been some educated hypotheses over the past few years; one hypothesis stated that the very first Church was established in Jerusalem. The establishing of the Church in Jerusalem was more of self-preservation. Without any form of collectivity, a belief system (and also economic interests) was bound to be erased as history imperceptibly drives forward in empty, homogeneous time.

The first Church

It was believed that the first Church was first established in Jerusalem before 70 AD. Because by the time 70 AD arrived, the brutes of the Roman Empire crushed the small Church. But did the first crushing kill Christianity? Absolutely not. In fact, we can say that because the first Church was harassed by power, it paved the way for the spread of the belief system. After Jerusalem, Palestine was the next place that old Christianity established itself.

Through trade and traveling disciples mission to share the word about the new faith, Christianity crossed territorial borders and spread like wildfire throughout the continents. It was during the era of imperial conquest and domination that the religion was single-handily used to colonize many countries in what was believed to be the Far East. East was just China; the West was not America but Mother Europe with the strongest bulwarks; France, Germany, etc.

When did Christianity become accepted?

Christianity was by no means accepted immediately when it began. Like all other religions, it suffered rejection and even persecution in the hands of people who had other beliefs and faiths. But with perseverance, this small Judaic remnant of an ideology reached out from its humble beginnings in Jerusalem. By 600 AD, Christianity’s mission of bringing a message of peace to the land finally spread well into neighboring areas (except in areas that were already strongholds of the Islamic faith).

Near the Black Sear, Christianity was able to establish well in Constantinople, Edessa, Antioch and Damascus. Near the Mediterranean basin, Cyrene and Alexandria were also Christianized. In between the Mediterranean and the North Atlantic Ocean, Granada in Spain and Rome in Italy were Christianized as well. When Constantine the Great became a Christian leader, Christianity began showing signs of a lasting religious system. By winning both leaders and warriors, a religion assured itself of survival.

It was during this time that the ascetic and monastic began to emerge as an extreme expression of faith in Christianity. Such expression of faith was by no means peculiar to Christianity; we find similar practices in Hindu sects and sub-groups as well as in humanist belief systems such as Buddhism and Daoism. To an extent, the monastic life was perceived as a unitary means of achieving spiritual enlightenment.

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Roxanne Bridger asked:

With over 900 churches in Rome alone, it’s no surprise that the word Italy has such strong connotations of religion. It was thought that the Romans had a religion that was unique to them although it was thought that these did not come from a single source, but instead they were a mixture of the beliefs, traditions and superstitions of those in power and a number of other providers.

As the city grew and became more developed, the views that the leaders had, slowly became part of everyday beliefs. At the very beginning, Rome had no religious structures or places to worship the spirits/ gods they believed in. It was the Etruscan kings who first built such buildings around 500 BC.

When Christianity roughly began in the year AD 1, The leaders of Rome had priests who were in charge of the religious sites of Palestine but it took them a while to figure out how they were going to continue form here. It was a difficult decision to make because the new Christians would not participate in the worship of Caesar.

After some difficult times between the Romans, the Christians and the Jews, it wasn’t until 260 AD that Christianity became tolerated and then it wasn’t until 380 AD that Christianity became the official religion thanks to emperor Theodosius. This wasn’t the only religion that was available. As the empire the Romans were creating was to continue expanding, so would the many number of people that have been conquered and into the mixing pot went all their Gods and many religious beliefs.

The ideas that were set out by the Christians spread quickly around the city, and the common languages that were spoken (Empire, Latin and Greek) throughout the area, helped make this process a lot faster. The base for many Roman soldiers around this time was usually Britain so this helped the word of the Christians spread over seas. If it wasn’t for the Roman Empire, some say Christianity may not have spread so fast or even at all!

If you plan to take a trip to Italy to find out more information on the history of Christianity and the Roman Empire, make sure you find out first what hotels in Rome are close to the historic areas you would like to visit.

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