One of the ironies of the present crusade for Christian unity is that there are not, relatively speaking, many real Christians to unite.

The people hardest hit by this suspicion are, of course, Christians on the mainland of China.

Again, India has imposed formidable barriers against the entrance of additional missionaries, and fanatical Hindu parties are expected to seek further action against Christians once the influence making for tolerance due to Nehru and his followers is gone.

I do not mean to imply that Christians have adopted the liberal assumption, so prevalent in Hinduism, that all religions are merely different paths to the same summit.

about 30 per cent call themselves Christians in order to keep up appearances and be considered respectable, and only the last 10 per cent are genuine Christians and believers in democracy.

In the Methodist Church, saints refer to all Christians and therefore, on All Saint's Day, the Church Universal, as well as the deceased members of a local congregation are honoured and remembered.

Supporters of this view believe that “ to a hypothetical outside reader, presents Christianity as enlightened, harmless, even beneficent .” Some believe that through this work, Luke intended to show the Roman Empire that the root of Christianity is within Judaism so that the Christians “ may receive the same freedom to practice their faith that the Roman Empire afforded the Jews .” Those who support the view of Luke ’ s work as political apology generally draw evidence from the facts that Christians are found innocent of committing any political crime ( Acts 25: 25 ; 19: 37 ; 19: 40 ) and that Roman officials ’ views towards Christians are generally positive.

By painting the Roman-Christian relations in this light, Luke hopes to persuade Rome that Christians are not enemies of the government and should not be looked upon with suspicion or even fear.

Many who side with this view disagree that Luke portrays Christianity or the Roman Empire as harmless and thus reject the apologetic view because “ Acts does not present Christians as politically harmless or law abiding for there are a large number of public controversies concerning Christianity, particularly featuring Paul .” For example, to support this view Cassidy references how Paul is accused of going against the Emperor because he is “ saying that there is another king named Jesus .” ( Acts 17: 7 ) Furthermore, there are multiple examples of Paul ’ s preaching causing uprisings in various cities ( Acts 14: 2 ; 14: 19 ; 16: 19-23 ; 17: 5 ; 17: 13-14 ; 19: 28-40 ; 21: 27 ).

In Acts, attention is given to the religious persecution of the early Christians, as in the case of Stephen's martyrdom and the numerous examples are Paul's persecution for his preaching of Christianity.

Thus far the only people who have been attested with a high level of genetic, historical, linguistic and cultural research to be the descendants of the ancient Mesopotamians are the Assyrian Christians of Iraq and its surrounding areas in north west Iran, north east Syria and south eastern Turkey.

All Christians who have a genuine relationship with God through and in Christ are part of the " true Church ", according to exemplary statements of evangelical Protestant theology, notwithstanding condemnation of the Catholic Church by some Protestants.

The New Testament verses typically referenced are Matthew 26: 30 ; Acts 16: 25 ; Romans 15: 9 ; 1 Corinthians 14: 15 ; Ephesians 5: 19 ; Colossians 3: 16 ; Hebrews 2: 12, 13: 15 ; James 5: 13, which reveal a command for all Christians to sing.

Unlike the Israelite worship assembly, which was only able to look on during Temple worship as the Levitical Priest sang, played, and offered animal sacrifices, in the New Testament, all Christians are commanded to sing praises to God.

* Modern Christians typically believe it is acceptable to play instruments or to attend weddings, funerals, banquets, etc., where instruments are heard.

Of special historical interest is the observation of Abbahu in regard to the benediction " Baruk Shem Kebod Malkuto " ( Blessed be the Name of His glorious Kingdom ) after the " Shema ' Yisrael ," that in Palestine, where the Christians look for points of controversy, the words should be recited aloud ( lest the Jews be accused of tampering with the unity of God proclaimed in the Shema '), whereas in the Babylonian city of Nehardea, where there are no Christians, the words are recited with a low voice ( Pesahim 56a ).

Most Christians deny that entry into Heaven can be properly earned, rather it is a gift that is solely God's to give through his unmerited grace.

The God who raised Jesus from the dead would also give new life to the " mortal bodies " of Gentile Christians, who had become with Israel the " children of God " and were therefore no longer " in the flesh ".

His review of the literature on gay Christians suggests that these organizations not only represent the interests of Christians who attend their churches, but ( like gay-friendly and gay-affirming churches ) also give these members useful responses to homophobic and heterosexist rhetoric.

Christians accept the Written Torah and other books of the Hebrew Bible as Scripture, although they generally give readings from the Koine Greek Septuagint translation instead of the Biblical Hebrew / Biblical Aramaic Masoretic Text.

Many of these churches reject the idea that anyone other than the authors of Scripture can directly lead other Christians by original divine authority ; after the New Testament, they assert, the doors of revelation were closed and councils can only give advice or guidance, but have no authority.

To those who give aid to the Christians in the Orient is granted the remission of sins, and their families and possessions are taken under the protection of the Roman Church.

For effectively crushing the tyranny of the infidels, we grant to those who go to Jerusalem and also to those who give aid toward the defense of the Christians, the remission of their sins and we take under the protection of St. Peter and the Roman Church their homes, their families, and all their belongings, as was already ordained by Pope Urban II.

The Holy Spirit is seen by mainstream Christians as one Person of the Triune God, who revealed His Holy Name YHWH to his people Israel, sent His Eternally Begotten Son Jesus to save them from God's wrath, and sent the Holy Spirit to sanctify and give life to his Church.

However, as Kwanzaa gained mainstream adherents, Karenga altered his position so that practicing Christians would not be alienated, then stating in the 1997 Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community, and Culture, " Kwanzaa was not created to give people an alternative to their own religion or religious holiday.

For persons to enter this Kingdom and experience peace, Christians believe that one must develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, who stated: " Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.

Christians believe that the Holy Spirit leads people to faith in Jesus and gives them the ability to lead a Christian life and to give gifts ( i. e. abilities ) to Christians.

Many Christians support a secular state, and may acknowledge that the conception has support in Biblical teachings, particularly the statement of Jesus in the Book of Luke: " Then give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's .".

Concerns grew that missionaries and Chinese Christians could use this decline to their advantage, appropriating lands and property of unwilling Chinese peasants to give to the church.

China was forced to concede more trading rights, allow freedom of navigation of the Yangtze, give full civil rights and freedom of religion to Christians, and give France and Britain a huge indemnity.

would give the answer, a word used by Christians to praise God, but not what first springs to mind on reading the clue.

Christians in general use the term " testify " or " to give one's testimony " to mean " the story of how one became a Christian "; less commonly it may refer to a specific event in a Christian's life in which they believe God has done something deemed particularly worth sharing.

Christians often give their testimony at their own baptism or at evangelistic events.

' Whereas Christians ( who have learned that their eternal life consists in knowing the only true God, who is over all, and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent ; and who have learned also that all the gods of the heathen are greedy demons, which flit around sacrifices and blood, and other sacrificial accompaniments, in order to deceive those who have not taken refuge with the God who is over all, but that the divine and holy angels of God are of a different nature and will from all the demons on earth, and that they are known to those exceedingly few persons who have carefully and intelligently investigated these matters ) will not endure a comparison to be made between them and Apollo or Zeus, or any being worshipped with odour and blood and sacrifices ; some of them, so acting from their extreme simplicity, not being able to give a reason for their conduct, but sincerely observing the precepts which they have received ; others, again, for reasons not to be lightly regarded, nay, even of a profound description, and ( as a Greek would say ) drawn from the inner nature of things ; and amongst the latter of these God is a frequent subject of conversation, and those who are honoured by God, through His only-begotten Word, with participation in His divinity, and therefore also in His name.

The poem was subjected to two lines of criticism: it was held by Oriental scholars to give a false impression of Buddhist doctrine ; while, on the other, the suggested analogy between Sakyamuni and Jesus offended the taste of some devout Christians.

Watts proposed that the metrical translations of the Psalms as sung by Protestant Christians should give them a specifically Christian perspective:

Director Leigh Rowney accepted that it would offend some Christians and said: " I wanted this play in the hands of a Christian person like myself to give it dignity but still open it up to answering questions about Christianity as a faith system.

WEA is a network of churches in 128 nations that have each formed an Evangelical alliance and over 100 international organizations joining together to give a worldwide identity, voice and platform to more than 600 million evangelical Christians.

At least 70 new members entered the latter, with 20 seats going to Fatah representatives from the Gaza Strip, 11 seats filled by women ( the highest number of votes went to one woman who spent years in Israeli jails for her role in the resistance ), four seats went to Christians, and one was filled by a Jewish-born convert to Islam, Uri Davis, the first Jewish-born person to be elected to the Revolutionary Council since its founding in 1958.

He praised the unmarried state as the highest ( De monogamia, xvii ; Ad uxorem, i. 3 ), called upon Christians not to allow themselves to be excelled in the virtue of celibacy by Vestal Virgins and Egyptian priests, and he pronounced second marriage a species of adultery ( De exhortations castitatis, ix ).

80 % of the population are Christians, the next highest religious minority were Muslims making up 0. 4 %.

In China, Nanjing is regarded as the area with the country's highest number of Christians since 1949.

In Saint Thomas Christians, 17. 4 % of the adult population are self-employed, highest among all the communities in the state of Kerala.

But, the population growth of Saint Thomas Christians came down drastically after 1960s, with the lowest birth rate, highest age at marriage, highest family planning user rate, and lowest fertility rate compared to other communities in Kerala.

In general the percentage of Christians in Karak City is among the highest in Jordan.

As one prominent journal has noted, al-Ḥākim has attracted the interest of modern historians more than any other member of the Fatimid dynasty because of ... " His eccentric character, the inconsistencies and radical shifts in his conduct and policies, the extreme austerity of his personal life, the vindictive and sanguinary ruthlessness of his dealing with the highest officials of his government coupled with an obsession to suppress all signs of corruption and immorality in public life, his attempted annihilation of Christians and call for the systematic destruction of all Christian holy places in the middle east culminating in the destruction of the most holy Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem, his deification by a group of extremist Isma ' li missionaries who became the forerunners and founders of the Druze religion, all combine to contrast his reign sharply with that of any of his predecessors and successors and indeed of any Muslim ruler ....

As a town, Radlett has the third-lowest proportion of Christians in England and Wales, ( 51. 9 per cent ), and has an official Jewish population of 24. 1 per cent, the highest proportion in England and Wales.

The solitude, austerity, and sacrifice of the desert was seen by Anthony as an alternative to martyrdom, which was formerly seen by many Christians as the highest form of sacrifice.

For example, Bauer has written that, according to the 1931 German census, about 50, 000 German Jews were living in mixed marriages with Christians, giving Germany one of the highest rates of mixed marriages in the world at the time.

Among the Eastern Christians ( Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholics ) the monastic hood developed into the koukoulion worn by monks of the Great Schema, the highest degree of monasticism in the Eastern Church.

When the emperor asked, why the Hungarians are so cruel against the Christians, they replied, " We are the revenge of the highest God, sent to you as a scourge.

His appointment as Bishop of Oslo by the second cabinet Bondevik was criticized by non-Christians and liberal Christians because he is loyal to the decision of the highest body of the Church of Norway not to allow practicing homosexuals as priests.

By 1597 the last metropolitan bishop of the Saint Thomas Christians, Abraham, had died, and Menezes was able to secure the submission of Archdeacon George, the highest remaining representative of the native church hierarchy.

Laos has one of the highest levels of persecution of Christians in the world.

Within the highest ranks of the imperial administration, however, there were men who were ideologically opposed to the toleration of Christians, like the philosopher Porphyry of Tyre, and Sossianus Hierocles, governor of Bithynia.