Human development (Christianity)

The main and essential feature of Christianity is the belief that Christ is THE incarnate word. Christians are those who perceive the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the revelation of God and as the means of salvation to all who believe in Him. Despite an insistence on separateness, with God the creator of but not identical with the creation, many Christian mystics speak of mystical union with God and of an inherent unity. In this sense, man's separation from God is because of original sin, the determination of the ego to be separate; surrender to God then brings union.

The Christian way of life is basically that of a shared community of which Jesus Christ is head and the Church is the "body" of many members, with their own necessary and specific functions, the whole directed by God. From the first there was emphasis on morality, on worship and on close and caring relationships with others. This has lead to movements aimed at redressing social injustice and stressing the responsibility of Christians to the whole of society. Since Christ was incarnate, so must be his Church. Part of its mission is support for the world's poor and oppressed, and for social and economic reform to realize their revolutionary hopes. Christian society is marked by giving and established means of assisting the poor and the sick.

The Western Church is based on three confessions: (1) The Catholic Church, with its emphasis on the apostolic succession whose combined knowledge is the catholic or universal truth; and on the seven sacraments (baptism, marriage, confirmation, Eucharist, penance, anointing of the dying, ordination). (2) The Protestant Church which has three central affirmations: that salvation is by grace on divine initiative and not from mechanical following of particular rules; salvation is though faith and not through merit, although many preach, with St John, that faith without good deeds is meaningless; knowledge is from scripture only. (3) The Anabaptist reformers who historically emphasized personal faith, free from established links with the state, with the corollary of freedom of conscience. Protestant and Anabaptist Churches are closely linked with much overlap. The Eastern Church (Orthodox Churches), places more emphasis on asceticism and mysticism, although mystic and contemplative traditions have also been accepted or tolerated by other branches of the Church. The mystical tradition teaches inner stillness and total renunciation when the self is lost in contemplation of a light so light it is darkness, approachable only by unknowing; whereas more activist traditions emphasize good works with dependence on Christ as intercessor. The XXth Century has seen rapid expansion of the Church in the Southern continents, particularly Africa, where local religious traditions have been assimilated, with dreams and mythology playing an important part, as do spirit mediumship and spirit healing.

Entry to a Church, whether as a child or as an active profession of faith by an adolescent or adult, is through baptism, symbolizing cleansing from sin, repentance and transformation to a new life; baptism with the Holy Spirit (in some Churches through a separate service of confirmation when the person indicates commitment, having previously been baptized as a baby) signifies God's initiative in salvation. Many would point to the difference between "official" baptism and confirmation, as symbols, and the actual "baptism in the Holy Spirit" which may or may not occur at the same time and which comes from total commitment to and acceptance of Jesus as Lord, causing the individual to truly repent (i.e., change direction, "about turn"). This baptism in the Holy Spirit, being "born again", is very much part of XXth century pentecostal and charismatic movements and may be associated with charismatic gifts, notably glossolalia, speaking in tongues.

Although many Christians are seeking dialogue with other religions – and there are many links, official and informal, for discussion between different branches of Christianity with other religions as well as with each other – Christianity is nonetheless an exclusive religion. Although most Christians would agree that many or most religions have a partial, if distorted, view of the truth, Christianity holds that, as stated above, salvation is through Christ alone, incarnate God as well as man, the only person who ever lived a totally sinless life and who, by becoming sin, taking the weight of all sin, dying and then overcoming sin in resurrection from the dead, opens the way to the kingdom of heaven to all who repent and accept his grace (God's Riches At Christ's Expense). However moral and apparently blameless a person's life, he is bound through his human condition to have sinned. There is some disagreement as to whether this means annihilation (or even eternal hell) for the apparently good person who has not accepted Christ, whether or not he or she has been presented with the gospel. Those with less extreme views quote Christ's words "other sheep I have that are not of this fold", "in my father's house are many mansions"; and the words of St Paul that Christians are "a kind of first-fruits of them that have died". Most Christians, with their belief in God as a loving and merciful father, would say that the only utter hell was separation from God and that this can only occur if it has been deliberately chosen by the individual through consciously preferring evil to good. Otherwise, through the redeeming love of Christ, all may eventually be saved.