[Collies R Us]

I'm Christian.

Basically it branched off from Judaism when Jesus, a Jewish carpenter with some rather radical ideas of love and God, started His three year ministry. He walked around Israel, healing people and teaching.

He knew He was God's Son, or the Messiah or the Christ; this savior had been promised to the people in the Old Testament (Torah and the Prophets) and some people saw that Jesus was the Messiah. Some people, such as the Pharisees, called Him blasphemous, and they paid Judas, one of Jesus' followers, to betray Him. So Judas betrayed Jesus and they hauled Jesus off, and in the end crucified Him, as was the Roman Empire's punishment for criminals.

He rose after three days and visited His followers, later named Christians. Then He rose into heaven and sent down the Holy Spirit to guide them. So this Messiah saved them, but not in the way they expected it. He as God's Son was pure, sinless, so when He died (and He knew He was going to die; He told His 12 disciples) He paid the price of blood for all mankind, past and present and future (the Jewish laws require an atonement of blood for forgiveness of sins; animals that are without blemish, pure and usually the firstborn). He paid for the sins of everyone, and these sins kept us apart from God, so He made Himself as the bridge between man and God. Here's the kicker: to get this gift of salvation, you have to accept it. It is a gift.

The Jewish people still await their Messiah, because they don't believe it was Jesus. And that's where Christianity came from. I summarized A LOT. There is so much more detail here, but that's the gist of it. Hopefully I explained some weird Christian things; some of these weird Christian things are ritualistic tradition however. Be sure you can tell the difference. Relationship vs. Religion.
- Collies R Us