Jesus also had 12 Disciples. They were all his most trustworthy followers, and they followed him everywhere. However, the Pharisees found him a threat to the mainstream Jewish Religion, and the Romans as a possible threat to their control. So one of Jesus’ Disciples, Judas, was bribed to betray Jesus so he told the Romans where Jesus was. So then Jesus was arrested, and sent for a trial. The Bible says that Pontius Pilate offered to release Jesus or a criminal, the Pharisees chose the criminal and so Pontius Pilate sentenced Jesus to death. So Jesus was put to death by crucifixion, which was a long, painful and humiliating execution.
Central to Christianity is the Belief that three days after the Crucifixion, Jesus was resurrected. Later that day Mary (Jesus’ Mother) and other women came to the tomb to bring spices and oils to anoint the body of Christ, but they noticed that the stone removed. It was said that then they saw an angel who told them, “Calm down, don’t be afraid. Jesus isn’t here, but he has come back from the dead! Now go and tell everyone else to come!” But they didn’t believe the angel, and they returned to the other Disciples. They got Peter and John to come and look. They both saw the angel too, but they searched the tomb, only to find that Jesus had gone. They had all gone off to spread the good news that Jesus had risen from the dead, but Mary Magdalene (one of Jesus’ close followers) stayed at the tomb, crying. Then someone she thought was a Gardener came to Mary, and she asked “If you have Jesus then please let us see him, and give him back to us.” But then the Gardener said, “Mary, I am Jesus.” At that point she then recognised him. It was Jesus! She then went back to tell everyone else that she had seen and spoken to Jesus. After this Jesus met with all of the Disciples (apart from Judas who it is believed to have committed suicide out of guilt). Jesus was with the disciples for about six weeks and He was then taken up into heaven. Before he left them He told, “I have to go, but you will all carry on spreading my teachings to people of all nationalities”. Until then they had all been spreading Christianity throughout only the Jewish community.
To spread Christianity, the Holy Ghost enabled the disciples to speak in any language they needed. So then the Disciples went around the Mediterranean and Middle East and spread the word of Jesus, but they were not always popular or welcome. The first person known to be murdered for their Christian beliefs was Stephen. He was stoned to death by an angry mob. He was regarded as a Martyr and proclaimed the first Saint.
Christianity was spreading quickly throughout the Roman Empire – too quickly for the Romans. At first the Romans weren’t bothered by the Christians, they regarded them as just another Sect among many others. However the followers of Christ were rapidly growing in number, and they refused to acknowledge the Roman Gods. So Rome saw them as a threat, and they began persecuting Christians on a large scale, and putting them to death. Watching mass executions of Christians became a common form of entertainment. But these extremely cruel measures didn’t prevent the further spread of Christianity. Peter, who was one of the original twelve Disciples was then considered the leader of the Church and became the first Bishop of Rome. This post retained its supreme position in the Catholic Church till the present day. Eventually Peter’s successors became the Popes.
Early in the 4th Century AD the Emperor Constantine, who’s Mother was thought to be a Christian, converted to Christianity and made it one of the official religions of Rome. Once a Roman Emperor became Christian, and the Religion was approved, it became unstoppable. All the other religions became obsolete. Rome then sent Missionaries all over the Empire to spread the word of God. And so Christianity spread throughout the world.
In the present day there are many types of Church. To understand why there are so many, we must go back in history. In the 3rd Century, the Emperor Diocletian split the Roman Empire into two halves – the East, with Constantinople as its capital, and the West, Rome being its capital. This split in administration had a crucial role in the further development of the Church. Eventually Constantinople gradually became a rival centre of Christendom with Rome. The growing differences and arguments over superiority eventually led to the Great Schism in 1054. After, there were two separate Churches, so Rome lost control over Constantinople and the Eastern Empire. The Church in the East is known as the Orthodox Church, and the Church in the West is known as the Roman Catholic Church.
During the medieval times there were many Critics (for example John Wycliffe and Jan Hus) of the Catholic Church because of its corruption, indulgence and malpractice. These ideas culminated in the work of Martin Luther (1483-1546), the initiator of the Protestant Reformation. This reform movement started in 1517, when Martin Luther nailed “Ninety-Five Theses” to the door of All Saints Church in Wittenberg, Saxony and formally finished in 1648 with the Peace of Westphalia. Protestantism became a well-established branch of Christianity in Western Europe. There are several reformist denominations in Protestantism, for example Anglicans, Lutherans, Baptists, Presbyterians and Methodists. They all separated from the Catholic Church in the 16th Century. The Protestants rejected Papal authority. They placed emphasis on the Priority of the Bible. In the Catholic Church only the Priest is allowed to drink the wine and bread in Holy Communion, while in Protestantism the laity also receives both bread and wine. Protestants reject the principle of celibacy, so the Protestant Priest can marry. Protestants have generally suspicious attitude towards Mary and the other Saints. Because they see their adoration as a potential source of idolatry.
From a humble beginning, Christianity reached mankind across the globe, and eventually became the largest religion in the world. The fact that its numbers are still growing, it only proves that Jesus’ teachings of love, forgiveness, and judging people without prejudice are at least as important as 2000 years ago.
Bibliography:
The Kingfisher Children’s Bible, by Trevor Barnes.
Christianity, an Introduction, by Alister E. McGrath.
