Christians believe that Jesus Christ
was the son of God, and that he was
the Messiah promised in the Old Testament.
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As an adult, Jesus lived and
preached in Judea, which was a
Roman province in what is now Israel.
When Jesus was a small child he
lived in Egypt with his parents, as
Herod had ordered his army to kill all Jewish boys under the age of 2.
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In Jesus' time, the custom for Jewish
people was to only have one name.
Therefore they often added the
name of the place they came from. In the Bible, Jesus is sometimes
called "Jesus of Nazareth".
Jesus lived in the Holy Land
about 2,000 years ago. It is
believed that he was
crucified when he was 33 years old.
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The Bible (the holy book of
Christianity) is in two parts;
the Old Testament and the
New Testament. Parts of the Old Testament are also
sacred in the religions of Judaism and Islam.
Christians are the largest
religious group in the world.
In 2015, 2.3 billion people were Christians.
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The two main Christian
festivals are Christmas,
which celebrates the birth of
Christ, and Easter, which commemorates his death
and resurrection.
Churches and cathedrals
are usually laid out in the
form of a cross. Christians
also worship in chapels, halls and basilicas.
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The cross is an important symbol in
Christianity, reminding Christians
that Jesus died on the cross so everyone's sins could be forgiven.
Christians believe in one
God who created the
Universe (including heaven and earth).
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Christians believe that
three days after he was
crucified, Jesus rose from the dead. This is known
as his resurrection.
There are many different forms of
Christianity, which are known as
denominations. Different
denominations have different ways of worshipping God and of
organising themselves.
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Depending on their
denomination, Christian
spiritual leaders may be known as priests, vicars,
pastors or ministers.
Jesus himself was Jewish and
Christianity started within the Jewish religion.
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There are three main
branches of Christianity;
Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant.
The Romans persecuted Christians
in the early days of the religion, but
in 312 CE, the emperor Constantine converted to Christianity.
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Baptism is an important rite
of passage in Christianity. In
some denominations babies
are baptised and in others people are baptised when
they are older.
Very holy people in the Christian
tradition are sometimes recognised
as saints. Saints have special feast
days; for example St Andrew's Day is on the 30th of November.
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Jesus is known by different
names, including Lamb of God,
The Good Shepherd, Messiah, Light of the World and King of
Kings.
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