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.

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

Though God is never explicitly mentioned in the Book of Esther, some Christians believe that his influence during the story is implied.

The Jewish people still await the Messiah's first coming, while Christians await his second coming, when they believe he will fulfill those parts of Messianic prophecy left unfulfilled in the first century AD.

Christians believe that Jesus is the Messiah prophesied in the Hebrew Bible, referred to as the " Old Testament " in Christianity.

Christians believe that Jesus, as the Messiah, was anointed by God as saviour of humanity, and hold that Jesus ' coming was the fulfillment of messianic prophecies of the Old Testament.

While there have been many theological disputes over the nature of Jesus over the earliest centuries of Christian history, Christians generally believe that Jesus is God incarnate and " true God and true man " ( or both fully divine and fully human ).

In contrast Catholics, Orthodox Christians and Arminian Protestants believe that the exercise of free will is necessary to have faith in Jesus.

Many, but not all, Christians believe:

Many of the debates among Christians have roots in questions about the sources of authority different Christians believe represent God's purest or most definitive message.

Many Christians believe that marriage is defined by the union of a man and a woman, and that any sexual act outside of the marriage relationship is inherently sinful.

Some Christians believe that the book of Leviticus contains prohibitions against male-male sexuality.

As an alternative to a school-sponsored Day of Silence opposing bullying of LGBT students, conservative Christians organized a Golden Rule Initiative, where they passed out cards saying " As a follower of Christ, I believe that all people are created in the image of God and therefore deserve love and respect.

Some Christians believe that marriage is the union of two people and that homosexual behavior is not inherently sinful.

Some Christians believe that Biblical passages have been mistranslated or that these passages do not refer to LGBT orientation as currently understood.

It is especially important in the Catholic Church, but is also used in Orthodox and Eastern Catholic, as well as Anglican, and Lutheran churches, ( though less often in other Protestant churches ), and it emphasizes Jesus ' sacrifice — his death by crucifixion, which Christians believe brought about the redemption of mankind.

Some Christians believe that gender equality is appropriate for Christian marriages and that the spouses share equal responsibility within the family.

Some Christians believe that husbands and wives have differing, complementary roles.

Christians believe that marriage is considered in its ideal according to the purpose of God.

Pastor and theologian Dr. Brian Abasciano claims " What Paul says about Jews, Gentiles, and Christians, whether of their place in God ’ s plan, or their election, or their salvation, or how they should think or behave, he says from a corporate perspective which views the group as primary and those he speaks about as embedded in the group.

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.

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.

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 ).

The first 39 chapters prophesy doom for a sinful Judah and for all the nations of the world that oppose God, while the last 27 prophesy the restoration of the nation of Israel and a new creation in God's glorious future kingdom ; this section includes the Songs of the Suffering Servant, four separate passages referring to the nation of Israel, interpreted by Christians as prefiguring the coming of Jesus Christ.

Billy approves them, Billy condones them, Billy recommends them .... I think that Dr. Graham is doing more harm in the cause of Jesus Christ than any living man ; that he is leading foolish and untaught Christians, simple people that do not know the Word of God, into disobedience to the Word of God.

In the apostle Peter, in what has become a famous proclamation of faith among Christians since the first century, said, " You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

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 ".

Christians differ in their views on the extent to which individuals ' salvation is pre-ordained by God.

Christian Science teaches that we are not Christians until we " go and do likewise ," until we in some degree " come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ ," as it says in the Scriptures ( Ephesians 4: 13 ).

In a historical or geopolitical sense the term usually refers collectively to Christian majority countries or countries in which Christianity dominates or was a territorial phenomenon .“ Christendom is originally a medieval concept steadily to have evolved since the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the gradual rise of the Papacy more in religio-temporal implication practically during and after the reign of Charlemagne ; and the concept let itself to be lulled in the minds of the staunch believers to the archetype of a holy religious space inhabited by Christians, blessed by God, the Heavenly Father, ruled by Christ through the Church and protected by the Spirit-body of Christ ; no wonder, this concept, as included the whole of Europe and then the expanding Christian territories on earth, strengthened the roots of Romance of the greatness of Christianity in the world .”

Others objected on the grounds that adopting the Episcopalian priesthood and hierarchical structure was contrary to the Lutheran concept of the priesthood of all believers, which holds that all Christians stand on equal footing before God.

Christians obtain individual salvation from original sin through repentance of sin and receiving Jesus Christ as their God and Savior through faith and grace.

God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, so Christians generally look to the Scriptures ( both Hebrew and Christian ) for an understanding of who God is.

Although Christians generally believe their religion to be very inclusive ( since not only Jews but all gentiles can be Christian ), Jews see Christianity as highly exclusive, because some denominations view non-Christians ( such as Jews and Pagans ) as having an incomplete or imperfect relationship with God, and therefore excluded from grace, salvation, heaven, or eternal life.

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.

Although I have emphasized the barriers which an aroused nationalism has raised against relations between Christians and non-Christians in Asia, the fact is that this development has also widened the gulf between certain Afro-Asian religions themselves.

Peter baptizes the centurion, and later has to justify this decision to the other Christians.

In the 20th century, there has been more contact between Protestants and Christians from Eastern traditions which claim apostolic succession for their ministry.

Widely accepted among Western Christians, including the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Lutheran Church and most liturgical Protestant denominations, the Athanasian Creed has been used in public worship less and less frequently.

The creed has never gained much acceptance in liturgy among Eastern Christians.

This discovery has shed much light on the differences between the two versions ; while it was previously maintained that the Greek Septuagint ( the version used by the earliest Christians ) was only a poor translation, professor Emanuel Tov, senior editor of the Dead Sea Scrolls ' publication, wrote that the Masoretic edition either represents a substantial rewriting of the original Hebrew, or there had previously been two different versions of the text.

BJU has taken the position that orthodox Christians of the late 19th and early 20th centuries ( including fundamentalists ) agreed that while the KJV was a substantially accurate translation, only the original manuscripts of the Bible written in Hebrew and Greek were infallible and inerrant.

For American Christians, The Oxford Handbook of Religion and American Politics notes: " The GSS ... has asked a born-again question on three occasions ... ' Would you say you have been ' born again ' or have had a ' born-again ' experience?

A more secular meaning can denote that the term Christendom refers to Christians considered as a group, the " Political Christian World ", as an informal cultural hegemony that Christianity has traditionally enjoyed in the West.

Following the lead of Yale scholar John Boswell, it has been argued that a number of Early Christians entered into homosexual relationships, and that certain Biblical figures had homosexual relationships, despite Biblical injunctions against sexual relationships between members of the same sex.

The book has generated controversy for depicting religious fanaticism and mob violence among early Christians in Roman Egypt.

This portrayal has angered many Christians.

Some Christians believe that the Law was " completed " by Jesus and has become irrelevant to " faith life ", for details see Biblical law in Christianity.

Therefore, just as Christianity does not accept that Mosaic Law has any authority over Christians, Judaism does not accept that the New Testament has any religious authority over Jews.

Orthodox Jews, unlike most Christians, still practice a restrictive diet that has many rules.

Christians believe that Judaism requires blood sacrifice to atone for sins, and believe that Judaism has abandoned this since the destruction of the Second Temple.

This position has been softened by some adherents, or completely rejected by other churches where Jews are recognized to have a special status due to their covenant with God through Abraham, so this continues to be an area of ongoing dispute among Christians.

The church has been a paramount – and for many Christians the most important – pilgrimage destination since at least the 4th century, as the purported site of the resurrection of Jesus.

Paul writes from Ephesus that " Christ our Pascha has been sacrificed for us ," although the Ephesian Christians were not the first to hear that Exodus 12 spoke about the death of Jesus.

God has given Christians " a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead ".