Are Christianity And Islam Really That

Much Different From Each Other?

Home Introduction Definitions Basic History    Christianity      Islam Common Beliefs Common Differences Conclusion Full Paper Bibliography Annotated Suggested Readings Essential Questions & Hypothesis Reflections Exhibition Fair Power Point Presentations Riverdale High School Website

In Israel, 2,000 years ago, a child was born to a Jewish couple.  Jesus grew to be a captivating preacher, gathering disciples as he went.  The Son of God performed miracles, they said, raising the dead, calming the waters of Galilee.  Jerusalem’s authorities, perceiving a threat, had Jesus executed.  His followers, taking up the cross, built the world’s largest religion in his name (Life 38-41).  Christianity is the first religion derived from Jesus Christ, based on the Bible as sacred scripture, and professed by Eastern, Roman Catholic, and Protestant bodies.  It has nearly two billion followers (Levinson 38, Life 17), and is based on the life and the teachings of Jesus Christ.  It encompasses hundreds of denominations, but has three major branches—Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox.  Each denomination has slightly different beliefs on Jesus and His teachings, but all consider Jesus the focus of their entire religion (Christianity 523).  All Christians celebrate the important events in Jesus’ life—His birth, His death, the crucifixion, and the resurrection (Levinson 38).  The belief of Christians is that God sent Jesus into the world as the Savior and that Christianity teaches humanity that they can achieve that salvation through Jesus Christ (Salvation – A: Deliverance from the power or penalty of sin; redemption B: The agent or means that brings about such deliverance) (Christianity 523).  The Old Testament of the Christian Bible is often said to the Old Testament equate with the entirety of the Hebrew Bible, but this is not true.  The Bible is the sacred scripture of Christians comprising the Old Testament and the New Testament.  When the early Christians first assembled their book, they accepted the Jewish view of history as truth—with reservations.  Working from a Greek translation of the Jewish Bible rather than the Hebrew text, they incorporated changes that would prove critical.  The twenty-seven chapters of the New Testament that were added changed the entire message of the Jewish version (Life 125).  Christianity has been a considerably large part of Western Civilization for the past two thousand years; it has influenced philosophy, government, the arts, and society (Levinson 38).

Email me with any comments about my website!