12 - Theme: Christianity
Jesus Christ
How many Christians, as the debate continues about the identity of the base ¬ shipment. How much is the historical figure of Jesus Christ? Jesus - name, fairly common among the ancient Jews. Christ - the Greek translation of the Hebrew word "Messiah," "Messiah," which means "anointed one." The ancient Jews considered the anointed king, who ascended the throne when anointed with the holy oil, by means of which, in view of the time, he was mysteriously communicated to the special power of God. After destruction of the Jewish state in the VI. BC there is the expectation of the coming of the Messiah who would save his people from slavery.
His coming was foretold. Hundreds of years before the birth of Christ in the Bible were written words of the great prophets of Israel predicting His coming. The Old Testament, written by many people, for the 1500-year period more than 300 prophetic predictions of His coming. All of them were filled as it was predicted, including: His miraculous birth, His sinless life, His many miracles. His death and His resurrection.
The life of Jesus, the miracles - They committed, words - They ska ¬ zannye. His death on the cross, His resurrection - all points to the fact that he was not just an ordinary person. He was more than a man. Jesus claimed, "I and the Father - one" (Jonah 10:30) "... He who has seen Me has seen the Father ..." (Ion 14:9) and "I am the way and the truth and the life: no man comes to the Father , but by me "(Jonah 14:6).
Stories about Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as well as in the epistles and Acts of God the Son, yavivshemsya to the world in the image of Sauveur ¬ shennogo person to take on the sins of the people and save them for eternal of life, raises many doubts. Ultimately, the debate about Jesus Christ led to the formation of two major schools - the mythological and historical.
Representatives of the mythological school believe that science does not have reliable data about Jesus as a historical figure. Gospel stories about him, written many years after the events described in them, contain no real historical basis. In addition, the historical sources I began to. nothing about such an extraordinary event as the resurrection, the miracles Christ accomplishments, his preaching. One of the main arguments in favor of their point of view considered mythological school vnepalestinskoe origins of Christianity, and the presence of analogies with tales of being born, dying and rising gods in other Eastern cultures, the presence of a large number of gospels contradictions, inconsistencies and inaccuracies.
The second school of history finds Jesus a real person, a preacher of a new religion, which made a number of fundamental ideas that laid the basis for Christian teaching prob ¬. The reality of Jesus confirmed the reality of a number of evangelical characters, such as John the Baptist, the Apostle Pa ¬ led, and other directly related to Christ Evangelical plot. Available science now has a number of sources, under ¬ confirmatory findings of the historical school. So, for a long time ¬ tion contained in "Antiquities" of Josephus (37 - after 100 years.) Fragment of Jesus Christ considered late inter ¬ extrapolation. However, found in 1971 in Egypt, the Arabic text of "antiquity", made the Egyptian Bishop Agapit in X., Gives every reason to believe that Flavius described one of his famous preacher named Jesus, but in the description of Flavia and no mention of Christ committed miracles, and his resurrection is described not as a fact, but as one of many stories on this subject.
According to Christian tradition about Jesus Christ, the history of its occurrence is the following. After destruction of the Jewish state in the VI. BC there is the expectation of the coming of the Messiah who would save his people from slavery. In this regard, the holy prophets sent down by God unto the children of Israel (so called themselves Hebrews), predicted the imminent coming of the Divine Savior, the Messiah. He must save mankind from all sins, and bring God the great atoning sacrifice. It is ¬ raet evil and unjust, will give people new laws to establish the kingdom of God, the kingdom of justice on earth. Grozny messiah became head of the chosen people of Israel and for all make it free from foreign invaders.
And then, finally, prophesied miracle happened ¬ elk. Poor girl was Mary and the angel Gabriel told her that she was chosen by God to be the mother of the expected Messiah. The Virgin Mary came down the holy spirit, and she, being chaste, virtuous, conceived of the Holy Child. Her husband, the pious old man Joseph, the angel Gabriel also warned of the virgin birth of the divine child of the Holy Spirit, took it all for granted. Soon the Holy Virgin Mary gave birth in a cave near the town of Bethlehem, the savior of the human race, received the name of Jesus.
Cruel ruler of Judea - Herod learned of the birth ¬ tion prophesied king of Israel, ordered his men to kill all the babies born in Bethlehem at the time. But the angel of the Lord had saved holy family and helped him to escape from the persecution of Herod to Egypt. In the years that Jesus does not show himself, and only after reaching the age of 30 Son of God, yet God himself Jesus Christ Priest ¬ drank to his preaching. He gathered a few faithful disciples, the apostles, and with them went to preach a new religion in the country.
At the same time, according to tradition, the prophet John (born, by the way, in the same miraculous way) became ¬ schat proclaim the imminent coming of the savior. After meeting with John, near the Jordan River, Jesus Christ and his disciples were baptized.
As recounted in Christ ¬ stianskih "sacred" CED ¬ gah, when John the Baptist made this ceremony were opened ¬ heaven and Jesus with the Holy Spirit, was in the form of ¬ lubya and a voice from heaven said, "This is My Beloved Son ¬ lenny, and which my blah ¬ govolenie "(Matt. III, 17).
Christ began to preach ¬ lead the new teaching. ¬ stvuya Travelling around the country, it is, according to the Gospels, made some fantastic chu-des: raise the dead, izle ¬ Chiva crippled, blind, chronic ¬ Mykh, cast out evil spirits from people obsessed demon (that is crazy), walking on the waves Teveriadskogo raging lake, etc. And everywhere he played with the negation of traditional ¬ tion, supported by priests Israelite religion. First of all, Christ demanded rejection of sacrifices to God, from the commission of complex rituals and priestly ritual. He preached that God does not need a huge set of strict prohibitions and requirements that the life of a man enmeshed Jewish religion, but sincere and heartfelt belief in him. Gospel of Christ draws epitome of gentleness, forgiveness, charity, humility. Son of God, made flesh in the form of a poor carpenter, clothing slave, despised and persecuted its nozzle exchanger, persecuted priests and priests and suffering with extraordinary patience all these there ¬ sheniya becomes now in the eyes of the faithful embodiment ¬ tion most pleasing to God integrity.
The main ideas attributed to Jesus Christ, with ¬ stand the following: the kingdom of God will come soon, it does not get everything, but only those who believe in the divinity of Jesus, who recognizes him to be the son of God, and all follow his instructions.
Preaching of Christ, according to the Gospels, lasted about three years. Embittered successes Christ Jerusalem priests and the priests decided to put him on trial. Betrayed by one of his students - the apostle Judas - and caught by enemies, Jesus was condemned to death. The inhabitants of Jerusalem, tell the gospel, without admitting it the Son of God and savior of the human race, threw stones at him, chased insulting cries. Accused of violating the laws and Oba ¬ teas of the country, Jesus was handed over to the Roman governor of Judea - Pontius Pilate. Together with the two robbers took Christ to Mount Calvary. Here, he was betrayed by a painful punishment. Nailed him alive to a huge wooden cross, which according to legend, he himself with humility and gentleness brought to the place of execution.
But the greatest miracle happened. Lord God, becoming his own son, and embodied in the image of the son of man, offered himself as a sacrifice for the sins of men. Great atoning sacrifice of Christ, made possible the salvation of every man, if he will believe in Jesus Christ. On the third day after the death of Jesus was resurrected for some time resided with her students, teaching them the truth and works wonders. After that, he in front of their followers living ascended to heaven. The remaining apostles went to the ends of the world about the wonderful tidings of the life and deeds of Christ. On them emerged and developed according to legend Christian Church, just as from a tiny mustard seed grows a mighty mustard tree.
So, what information in the existence of Christ do we have? The earliest non-Christian reference occurs in the "Jewish Antiquities". In the Talmud, there are references to Jesus of Nazareth. Of pagan literature highlighted letter of Pliny the Younger (about 110 AD), in which he asks Trajan's advice on how he should do with Christians. Five years later, the famous Roman historian Tacitus describes the persecution of Christians. This passage corresponds to the "Acts of the Apostles." In the middle of the I. Gentile Tull in a fragment, preserved by Julius Afrikantov, argued that the unusual darkness covered the land at the time of Christ's death was nothing more than a purely natural phenomenon and coincidence. As can be seen from this conclusion, Tall doubted the existence of Christ. Reliability of Christ did not reject even the most ardent heathens.
Christian sources, confirming the existence of Jesus, starting with the Apostle Paul (Romans). In the Gospels, there is a lot of controversy, a lot of dubious historical information, suspicious details about the life of Christ. Apparently, talks and speeches, mentioned in the Gospels, have been distorted by insecure memory, by correspondence. But these differences affect the particular, not the essence. In the main features of the Gospel agree very well, consistently drawing the portrait of Jesus. Despite the prejudices and theological orientation of the original, the evangelists record many episodes bypassed ordinary Fibber - competition among the apostles for high places in the Kingdom, their flight after the arrest of Jesus, Peter's denial, the failure of the chudotvorstvom in Galilee, the comments of some students about his madness, cry of despair on the cross, his early uncertainty in its mission. To many ordinary people could dream up such a powerful and attractive personality, so lofty ethics - all of this would bόlshim miracle than the miracles of the Gospel.
Today, most modern studies recognize the historicity of Jesus. Since the first half of the I. BC in Palestine, mainly in Galilee, wandering "teacher" by the name of Jesus, the way of life and social status which had much in common with the rabbis and the ascetics of the time, although he is in their circle not included. Environment from which Jesus came, took his first sermon. This poor Galilee, out of the midst of which I c. BC published many Libertarian and rebels.
Holidays and mystery of Christianity
Baptism symbolizes taking people to the fold of the Christian Church. According to Christian doctrine, in the sacrament of baptism, "the man of original sin is forgiven." The ritual is performed in the temple by immersion or perfusion.
To preserve the purity of soul, received in Baptism, to grow and mature in the spiritual life, need special help from God, which, as Christians believe, served in tainstvemiropomazaniya. Is a sacrament in that person's body smeared with special perfumed oil (chrism). Before anointing the priest recites prayers for the Holy Spirit to man, and then lubricate it crosswise forehead, eyes, nose, lips, ears, chest, arms and legs.
Sacrament of Holy Communion, or the Holy Eucharist (which means "thank-offering"), has an important place in Christian worship. This mystery is that the so-called believers partake of the sacrament, consisting of bread and wine, in the belief that they may taste the body and blood of Christ, and thus, as it approached the deity.
Orthodox and Catholics are obliged periodically to confess their sins to a priest, which is essential for the remission of sins, forgiveness guilty church the name of Jesus Christ. Ritual to practice and absolution is the basis of the sacrament of penance. Originally confession was made public. Believers who violated church regulations were to be presented before the court of their co-religionists and churchmen and publicly repent of sins. Later entered the seal of confession. Believer confesses his sins "confessor," one priest. In this case, the Church guarantees the secrecy of confession.
The seven sacraments of the Christian Church is the sacrament of marriage, during which time he be sent to the couple to live together in the name of Jesus Christ. Sanctifying union people, the Christian church as it takes on a new family under his wing. It teaches how to behave in the family, husband and wife, as they should raise their children, etc.
Sacrament of Holy Unction is performed over the sick man, and it is lubricated wooden maslomeleem. It is believed that the person goes to the extreme unction divine grace, healing him from physical and mental illnesses.
When ordained the sacrament of the priesthood, in which the bishop of the initiate passes miraculously special kind of grace, which from now on, the new priest budetobladat whole life.
Along with the worship of God, the Holy Trinity, the Virgin Mary in Christianity formed the cult of saints, the veneration of persons acceptable to God and marked them "a gift of miracles." Christians believe that the saints - is a mediator between God and men, the heavenly patrons of living on earth, and turned to them for help in mundane affairs.