Christianity in a nutshell

19 December, 2012

Christianity is the most followed religion of the world. It represents about a third of the world's population and is the state religion of several countries.

ACCORDING TO an estimate, at the advent of 21st century, Christianity had approximately 2.2 billion followers all over the world. Its least numbers of followers are in Oceania and the Middle East. It is held that Christianity has played a prominent role in the shaping of sub-Saharan African and Western civilizations.

As per my understanding of this religion, I have tried to describe it in the form of an acrostic on CHRISTIANITY.

C: Canonical gospels-based monotheistic religion that believes in the

H: Holy Spirit and Son of God that

R: Refer to Jesus as Christ or Messiah and

I: Incarnation of God who

S: Suffered, died, was buried, and was resurrected from the dead to

T: Trust Him for the remission of humanity’s sins or salvation with

I: Instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath observance as per

A: Abrahamic religion of

N: New Testament and live a life according to the ethical

I: Instructions of

T: Ten Commandments

Y: Year after year and ever.

Despite many important differences of interpretation and opinion of the Bible on which Christianity is based, Christians share a set of common beliefs that they hold as essential to their faith as a monotheistic religion.

According to the synoptic gospels, there are two underlying principles of Christianity. The first is that ‘the Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with your entire mind, and with all your strength’, while the second is ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’.