Christianity in Rome

What do Christians believe?

Background:

Christianity was founded by a man from Nazareth named Jesus. Christians believe God sent his only son (Jesus) down to earth to later be crucified to save us from death and so that our sins would be redeemed. Jesus taught us that everyone should love their enemies because there is no point in hatred when heaven will be coming soon.

Beliefs:

Christians believe in one God which includes three aspects: God the Father, God the son, and God the Holy Spirit. God the Father is God in Heaven, God the son is Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit is the God in our heart and conscience telling us right from wrong (This is called The Holy Trinity).
We knew Jesus was God's son because he rose up to heaven after being crucified for our sins. He also preached with love and forgiveness of sins, he performed many miracles such as walking on water, feeding 5000 men with 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread and 12 baskets left over, and raised the dead.

Holy Trinity

How they Practice their Beliefs

Worships:

Believers of God go to churches to learn more about how our relationship with God is important. People start off by singing songs to praise the Lord and then the preacher reads the scriptures that come from the Bible because God wants us to know more about him. God told Jesus' disciples to write the writings he wanted them to write about; therefore, we know the Bible says true things. Churches also sometimes have communion services together in churches to represent the last supper Jesus had with his disciples. People eat a piece of bread and drink wine in remembrance of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. The bread represents his body, and the wine represents his blood that was shed for our sins.

A Church

The Last Supper

The Spread of Christianity

Jesus told his disciples to spread the word of God across the Roman empire. Peter one of the 12 disciples of Jesus, was given a vision from God to visit a city full of gentiles and preach to them. At that time there were two different kinds of people, Jews who believed in God and Gentiles who were not Jews. Peter tried to preach to them and find the holy spirit within them. At the end many Gentiles and soldiers became Christians. The apostle Paul made 3 long journeys to help spread Christianity.

Peter and Paul

Constantine's Influence:

There were also many emperors that helped spread Christianity. Unlike emperor Diocletian who hunted and executed Christians, emperor Constantine promoted Christianity and granted religious freedom to all Romans. This changed the Christian population greatly and affected how the future Roman emperors ruled.

Emperor Constantine

Paul's Story

Paul was not always a Christian before Paul became a Christian he crucified Christians. Acts 9:3–6 and 9:17-19 talks about how he became a Christian:

9 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
While on his three long journeys he preached his story to the citizens because he could relate to them about not being a Christian before he became one, and this was Paul's advantage about spreading the word of God.

A True Story:

God loves all and always forgives if you ask him to. People pray to him to help them get through tough times and to forgive their sins. He is with all, listens to all, and helps all. Christianity later spread to the other half of the world by immigrants going to America. There is a true story about a girl named Annabel Beam who lived in Texas, U.S.A and had an incurable disease, she prayed that God would heal her. One day while playing outside, she fell from a tree 30ft in the air, falling headfirst into the hollow part of the tree. While inside the trunk, her family prayed that she would be all right and she would live. No one knew that while this was happening, she/her soul went to heaven and talked to God. God said that she had to go back down to earth and when on earth she would be healed. God kept his word, and if this were to anyone who talks to him, he wouldn't break his promise either.

Before Miracle

After Miracle

The Influence of Christianity and Why Emperors Used it to Help Them Govern

Constantine's Vision

Constantine was the first emperor of Rome to govern with Christianity as stated before many emperors persecuted Christians because they did not worship the Roman gods. Initially, Roman citizens were told that they were allowed to believe in any religion they desired as long as they served the Roman gods. When people started to become Christians, they no longer followed the Roman gods and written in accounts it was said that families were being split up because of different beliefs. Constantine was a Jew that fought in the military; however, when he saw a vision of a cross on the sun, he told the soldiers to paint a cross on their shields so that Christ would be with them as they fought. They later won, and Constantine became emperor. He ruled with Christianity because he saw how it had affected how he and his army fought while in war. In citizens daily lives from his perspective he realized It made people nicer because they had something to look forward to when they died. Christianity not only changed Rome but the people living in the world. Today, Christianity is the most practiced religion in the world because of how emperors ruled emperor and how people spread this religion.

Bibliography

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