In the United States, about 75% of Americans classify themselves as Christians. Christianity is considered the largest religion in the world. The next largest religions are Islam and Judaism. Their members represent only around two percent of the adult U.S. Population.

Yet, there are more than likely thousands of different definitions and interpretations of what it means to be a Christian. Nonetheless, the recognized concept of a Christian is one who seriously believes, and is devout and prayerful about his Christianity.

It would include members of the various Christian Sects, such as the Roman Catholics, Some of the Unitarian Universalists, Southern Baptists, Mormons, Progressive Christian, United Church Members, and the Jehova's Witnesses. It would also include all those Americans who classify themselves as Christian, but not with any one of the main Christian Groups.

There is much diversity in the beliefs of Christians. These two examples are offered up from a team of researchers associated with the Religious Tolerance Group. This group has done much work to better explain many of the world religions today.

Some Christians believe that the beliefs of the primitive Christian movement are closest to Jesus' actual teaching. This group, the Jewish Christians, was centered in Jerusalem under the leadership of James -- the brother, or cousin or friend -- of Jesus. This group was apparently founded by Jesus followers at about the time of his execution, circa 30 CE. Before the return of Paul to Judea circa 38 CE, it was the only Christian movement in the world. They had followed Jesus and his teachings were fresh in their mind.

Other Christians believe that the beliefs of their present-day faith group is closest to Jesus' actual teaching even though it reflects the tradition of their denomination and the many changes made since the first century CE.

One of the major problems that people of Christian beliefs have struggled with is the broad variation in the beliefs of the Christian religion. Some sects of Christianity compound this situation because they teach that their belief system is the only true belief system. As you can imagine, this can create a very problematic set of concerns for many Christians of varying Christian beliefs. Certainly, you will see that although a Southern Baptist and a Catholic are both Christian, they do not have very many aspects of their beliefs, traditions, and rituals in common. For many years, Mormons were frowned upon by other Christian sects for their beliefs, traditions, and rituals in practicing Christianity. This situation has been ongoing for Christians in one form or another since it first began.

The Cardinal Doctrines of Christianity

There are a set of beliefs which most Protestant denominations accept as forming the fundamental teachings of Christianity. Many Christian faith groups feel that all Christians should believe these cardinal beliefs. As discussed above, some groups classify a person as a non-Christian if they reject any one of the beliefs on their own list of Cardinal Doctrines.

There appears to be a general consensus by conservative and some mainline Protestant faith groups that a list of core beliefs might include:

• The Trinity,
  
• The deity of Jesus,
  
• Jesus' bodily resurrection,
  
• The atonement as a result of the life, and particularly the death, of Jesus,
  
• Personal salvation by grace,
  
• The inerrancy of the Bible (inerrancy = no mistakes)
  
• God's inspiration of the Bible's authors,
  
• The virgin birth, and
  
• The anticipated second coming of Jesus.
  

But there does not appear to be an agreed-upon single list that most Protestant faith groups accept as "cardinal doctrines."

The Cardinal Beliefs of the Non-Protestant Groups.

The Non-Protestant Groups are the Jewish Christians and the Roman Catholics. The Roman Catholics are expected to believe in a much larger list of cardinal beliefs than are listed above.

Additionally, it may come as a surprise that the earliest Christian movement was begun by the brother of Jesus, James- who was the first leader of the Jewish Christians. Under the leadership of James the "brother" of Jesus and in the period immediately after Jesus' execution before the arrival of Paul -- they might not be considered Christian by today's standards. That group apparently did not believe in the Trinity, the deity of Jesus, salvation by grace, or the virgin birth.

© TheosEra.com Spiritual Community 2008