To consider that the world religion Christianity is on a par with Islam and Buddhism, allow the scale of its spread and influence on the course of history. If we talk about the rest of the currents, then they absolutely do not consider what kind of power drives the development of mankind. Thus, it turns out that history completely falls out of their sphere of attention. But Christianity as a world religion, perhaps the only one, considers it as a non-repeating process, directed in one direction and controlled by God from the beginning (from the moment of creation) to the end, that is, to the final judgment.
Its essence lies in the drama of a man who committed the fall and fell away from God, but who has the opportunity, by His mercy, to find redemption through the Savior and the church. So, Christianity as a world religion almost from the first minutes of its existence was associated with the most important moments of history, which subsequently influenced the fate of mankind as a whole.
At the end of the 20th century, Oxford University published interesting data. According to them, at that time almost half a billion people on the Earth called themselves Christians, that is, a third of its population. For comparison: 720 million professed Islam at that time, and 270 million people practiced Buddhism.
Today, Christianity as a world religion is a collective term, which includes three areas: Protestantism, Orthodoxy and Catholicism. Within their framework over the course of more than two thousand years of history, many religious associations have arisen. All followers of this direction believe in Jesus Christ. For them, he is both a man and God at the same time. They fully accept his teachings and try by their behavior to correspond to him in life.
As in any other religion, this one also has its own cult book - the Christian Bible. It consists of two Testaments: the Old, which is considered sacred and among the followers of Judaism, and the New, written after the death of Jesus and narrating about his life and teachings. The latter consists of four Gospels left by the followers of Christ, the Epistles of the apostles to the existing communities in the world, the Acts of the Apostles and the Apocalypse, or Revelation. All these parts are recognized as sacred, since they were written by people not from themselves, but according to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Christians believe that Jesus, through his resurrection, defeated death itself and gave all people hope for a new, eternal life. In this way, the reconciliation of the human race with the Lord God takes place.
Christianity arose when the Roman Empire, a civilization based on slavery, was already on the verge of decline. In the end, in the lower classes the condemnation of the rich and the ruling ripened, a desire for the transformation of life appeared. Under such conditions, Christianity, with its convictions, came in handy. The first followers of Jesus no doubt believed that God would very soon and personally intervene in the affairs of the earth, destroy the existing world, and establish his own. Christianity was also attracted by the promise of salvation. Moreover, hope appeared among all the afflicted, including the poor.
At that time, there were several communities at once, within which several sects and heresies stood out. Each of them was headed by a presbyter, and new posts appeared: deacon, bishop.
At the end of the 4th century, the Roman Empire, after centuries of enmity on the basis of religious and political differences, split into eastern and western parts. Along with this, a separation of churches occurred. At the head of the east became the patriarchs, and the west - the Roman bishop (pope). Since then, Christianity has forgotten about the period of persecution and, conversely, has become the state religion. And even a complete gap (in the middle of the 11th century) between the two branches did not contribute to its destruction. It’s just that in Southeastern and Eastern Europe, Orthodoxy originating from Byzantium was primarily established, and Catholicism in Western Europe.
Today, Christianity as a world religion has become even larger, its position is stronger than ever. Now the number of his followers exceeds 2 billion people. The largest in the world, this religion and geographical distribution. After all, there is practically no country in which there would be at least one Christian church.