1.
Christianity
–
Christianity is a Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, who serves as the focal point for the religion. It is the worlds largest religion, with over 2.4 billion followers, or 33% of the global population, Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the savior of humanity whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Old Testament. Christian theology is summarized in creeds such as the Apostles Creed and his incarnation, earthly ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection are often referred to as the gospel, meaning good news. The term gospel also refers to accounts of Jesuss life and teaching, four of which—Matthew, Mark, Luke. Christianity is an Abrahamic religion that began as a Second Temple Judaic sect in the mid-1st century, following the Age of Discovery, Christianity spread to the Americas, Australasia, sub-Saharan Africa, and the rest of the world through missionary work and colonization. Christianity has played a prominent role in the shaping of Western civilization, throughout its history, Christianity has weathered schisms and theological disputes that have resulted in many distinct churches and denominations. Worldwide, the three largest branches of Christianity are the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the denominations of Protestantism. There are many important differences of interpretation and opinion of the Bible, concise doctrinal statements or confessions of religious beliefs are known as creeds. They began as baptismal formulae and were expanded during the Christological controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries to become statements of faith. Many evangelical Protestants reject creeds as definitive statements of faith, even agreeing with some or all of the substance of the creeds. The Baptists have been non-creedal in that they have not sought to establish binding authoritative confessions of faith on one another. Also rejecting creeds are groups with roots in the Restoration Movement, such as the Christian Church, the Evangelical Christian Church in Canada, the Apostles Creed is the most widely accepted statement of the articles of Christian faith. It is also used by Presbyterians, Methodists, and Congregationalists and this particular creed was developed between the 2nd and 9th centuries. Its central doctrines are those of the Trinity and God the Creator, each of the doctrines found in this creed can be traced to statements current in the apostolic period. The creed was used as a summary of Christian doctrine for baptismal candidates in the churches of Rome. Most Christians accept the use of creeds, and subscribe to at least one of the mentioned above. The central tenet of Christianity is the belief in Jesus as the Son of God, Christians believe that Jesus, as the Messiah, was anointed by God as savior of humanity, and hold that Jesus coming was the fulfillment of messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. The Christian concept of the Messiah differs significantly from the contemporary Jewish concept, Jesus, having become fully human, suffered the pains and temptations of a mortal man, but did not sin
2.
Contemporary Christian music
–
Contemporary Christian music is a genre of modern popular music which is lyrically focused on matters concerned with the Christian faith. Today, the term is used to refer to pop, rock. Top-selling CCM artists will also appear on the Billboard 200, in the iTunes Store, the genre is represented as part of the Christian and gospel genre. The growing popularity in the styles of Rock n Roll music in the 1950s was initially dismissed by the church because it was believed to encourage sinfulness. Yet as evangelical churches adapted to appeal to people, the musical styles used in worship changed as well by adopting the sounds of this popular style. The genre became known as contemporary Christian music as a result of the Jesus movement revival in the latter 1960s and early 1970s, about that time, many young people from the sixties counterculture professed to believe in Jesus. Convinced of the bareness of a lifestyle based on drugs, free sex, however, there were people who felt that Jesus was another trip. It was during the 1970s Jesus movement that Christian music started to become an industry within itself, Jesus Music started by playing instruments and singing songs about love and peace, which then translated into love of God. Paul Wohlegemuth, who wrote the book Rethinking Church Music, said 1970s will see a marked acceptance of rock-influenced music in all levels of church music. The rock style will become familiar to all people, its rhythmic excesses will become refined. Larry Norman is often remembered as the father of Christian rock and he is remembered as the artist who first combined rock n roll with Christian lyrics in the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Unlike traditional or southern gospel music, this new Jesus music was birthed out of rock, pioneers of this movement also included Keith Green, 2nd Chapter of Acts, Barry McGuire, Andraé Crouch and the Disciples, Evie, Benny Hester, and The Imperials, among others. The small Jesus music culture had expanded into an industry by the 1980s. Many CCM artists such as Benny Hester, Amy Grant, DC Talk, Michael W. Smith, Stryper, the genre emerged and became prevalent in the 1970s and 1980s. Beginning in July 1978, CCM Magazine began covering Contemporary Christian Music artists and it has certain themes and messages behind the songs and their lyrics including Praise and worship, faith, encouragement, and prayer. These songs also focus on themes of devotion, inspiration, redemption, reconciliation, many people listen to contemporary Christian music for comfort through tough times. The lyrics and messages conveyed in CCM songs are aimed to evangelize, one of the earliest goals of CCM was to spread the news of Jesus to non-Christians. In addition, contemporary Christian music also strengthens the faith of believers, Contemporary Christian music has influences from folk, gospel, pop and rock music
3.
Prosperity theology
–
It is based on interpretations of the Bible that are traditional to Judaism, though less so in Christianity. Prosperity theology views the Bible as a contract between God and humans, if humans have faith in God, he will deliver security and prosperity, the doctrine emphasizes the importance of personal empowerment, proposing that it is Gods will for his people to be happy. The atonement is interpreted to include the alleviation of sickness and poverty and this is believed to be achieved through donations of money, visualization, and positive confession. The prosperity teaching later figured prominently in the Word of Faith movement, in the 1990s and 2000s, it was adopted by influential leaders in the Pentecostal Movement and Charismatic Movement in the United States and has spread throughout the world. This gospel of wealth, however, was an expression of Muscular Christianity, the New Thought movement, which emerged in the 1880s, was responsible for popularizing belief in the power of the mind to achieve prosperity. While initially focused on achieving mental and physical health, New Thought teachers such as Charles Fillmore made material success a major emphasis of the movement, by the 20th century, New Thought concepts had saturated American popular culture, being common features of both self-help literature and popular psychology. E. W. Kenyon, a Baptist minister and adherent of the Higher Life movement, is credited with introducing mind-power teachings into early Pentecostalism, in the 1890s, Kenyon attended Emerson College of Oratory where he was exposed to the New Thought movement. Kenyon later became connected with well-known Pentecostal leaders and wrote about supernatural revelation and his writing influenced leaders of the nascent prosperity movement during the post-war American healing revival. Kenyon and later leaders in the prosperity movement have denied that he was influenced by the New Thought movement, anthropologist Simon Coleman argues that there are obvious parallels between Kenyons teachings and New Thought. Kenyon taught that Christs substitutionary atonement secured for believers a right to divine healing, Prayer was understood to be a binding, legal act. Rather than asking, Kenyon taught believers to demand healing since they were legally entitled to receive it. Kenyons blend of religion and mind-power beliefs—what he termed overcoming faith—resonated with a small. Pentecostals had always been committed to healing, and the movement also possessed a strong belief in the power of speech. Kenyons ideas would be reflected in the teachings of Pentecostal evangelists F. F. Bosworth, in fact, early Pentecostals tended to view prosperity as a threat to a persons spiritual well-being. By the 1940s and 1950s, however, a form of the doctrine began to take shape within the Pentecostal movement through the teachings of deliverance. Combining prosperity teaching with revivalism and faith healing, these evangelists taught the laws of faith, Oral Roberts began teaching prosperity theology in 1947. He explained the laws of faith as a pact in which God would return donations seven fold. Roberts offered to return any donation that did not lead to an equivalent unexpected payment, in the 1970s, Roberts characterized his blessing pact teaching as the seed faith doctrine, donations were a form of seed which would grow in value and be returned to the donor
4.
Tithe
–
A tithe is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash, cheques, or stocks, whereas historically tithes were required and paid in kind, several European countries operate a formal process linked to the tax system allowing some churches to assess tithes. Traditional Jewish law and practice has included various forms of tithing since ancient times, orthodox Jews commonly practice maaser kesafim. In modern Israel, Jews continue to follow the laws of agricultural tithing, e. g. maaser rishon, terumat maaser, and maaser sheni. Instead, the New Testament scriptures are seen as teaching the concept of offerings as a means of supporting the church,1 Corinthians 16,2,2 Corinthians 9,7. Also, some of the earliest groups sold everything they had and held the proceeds in common to be used for the furtherance of the Gospel, Acts 2, 44-47, Acts 4, 34-35. Further, Acts 5, 1-20 contains the account of a man, tithes were mentioned at the Council of Tours in 567 and the Synod of Mâcon in 585. They were formally recognized under Pope Adrian I in 787, none of the extant laws of the Ancient Near East deal with tithing, although other secondary documents show that it was a widespread practice in the Ancient Near East. Who is in charge of the tithe, hebrew is a Semitic language, related to Akkadian, the lingua franca of that time. In Genesis 14, 18-20, Abraham, after rescuing Lot, after Melchizedeks blessing, Abraham gave him a tenth of everything he has obtained from battle, Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand. ”Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything. ”And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place. This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. ”So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first, and of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you. ”The tithe is specifically mentioned in the Books of Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The tithe system was organized in a cycle, corresponding to the Shemittah-cycle. These tithes were in reality more like taxes for the people of Israel and were mandatory and this tithe was distributed locally within thy gates to support the Levites and assist the poor. Every year, Bikkurim, Terumah, Maaser Rishon and Terumat Maaser were separated from the grain, wine, the first tithe is giving of one tenth of agricultural produce to the Levite. Historically, during the First Temple period, the first tithe was given to the Levites, approximately at the beginning of the Second Temple construction, Ezra and his Beth din implemented its giving to the kohanim
