Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good news of a great joy...for to you is born in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you ; you will find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in Manger.

Why is religion an important part of culture?

What are the teachings of the religion known as Christianity?

THE LAND OF PALESTINE

According to the Bible, during the rule of Ceasar Augustus the leaders of the Roman Empire wanted to know its total population. They made it law for everyone to be counted.

Now it came to pass in those days that s decree [law] went forth from Augustus that all the people of the world were to be counted.

Obeying the decree, people journeyed to large towns in the empire where Roman officials could count them. In Palestine a Jewish couple named Mary and Joseph traveled to the city of Bethlehem. Palestine was the land of the ancient Hebrews. You may recall that in earlier times it waa known as Canaan. Now, however, it was called Palestine and was ruled by Rome. Most of the people who lived in Palestine were Jews. Like other Jews, Mary and Joseph had to be counted.

The Jewish people were very different from their Roman conquerers, they were monotheists, believing in one God. The Romans, on the other hand, were like the ancient Greeks and believed in many Gods.

JESUS OF NAZARETH

While visiting Bethlehem, Mary's son, Jesus, was born. Through the exact year of his birth is not known, historians think it was about 6 B.C

Much of our knowledge of Jesus's life comes to us from the New Testament of the Bible. The New Testament tells the story of early Christianity. Christianity is the religion based on Jesus and his teachings.

According to the New Testament, Jesus grew up in the Palestinian town called Nazareth and was raised under the laws of Judaism. As a boy he studied Judaism's sacred writing and loved to talk with his teachers about its laws. According to the New Testament :

Jesus's parents went to Jerusalem every year at the. . . Passover [Jewish feast remembering the escape of the Jews from Egypt ]. And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem as warls their custom. After three days they found Jesus in the temple, sitting among the teachers, both listening to them, and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

When Jesus was about 30 years old, he began a period of teaching that lasted approximately three years. He traveled from village to village in Palestine, telling people his ideas. Huge crowds of both men and women gathered to hear him speak. Jesus's closest followers were a group of 12 men called the apostles, who went everywhere with him.Many of the apostles would help organize the Christian Church after Jesus's death.

THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS

Jesus's teachings were rooted in Judaism. Like other Jewish teachers, he taught that there was one GOD. Jesus urged people to obey the commandments handed down from Moses. According to the New Testament, a learned man asked Jesus, "Master, which is the greatest commandment in the Law [the Ten Commandments]?" Jesus replied :

Thou shalt love and the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul and with thy whole mind. And the second is like it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self.

In his teachings, Jesus stressed love dor God and love for other people. According to the New Testament, Jesus gave an important sermon, or speech, to a crowd that had gathered one day on a hillside. Jesus teachings from this occasion are known as the Sermon on the Mount.

This is the part of what Jesus told the crowd :

SERMON ON THE MOUNT

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. . . But I say to you. . . . to him who strikes you on the right cheek, offer the other also, and from him who takes away your coat, let him have your cloak also. Give to him that asks of you. . . as you wish that men would do to you, do so to them. . . .

The teachings of Jesus won him many followers. But his teachinhs brought him enemies, too. The large crowds Jesus attracted worried both Roman and Jewish officials. The Roman government in Palestine was afraid that Jesus organizing a revolt against Rome. Some people thought Jesus wanted to be king because his teaching described the coming of God's Kingdom.

In about A. D 30, Jesus was arrested and taken to the Roman governor. On the day of his arrest, Jesus was condemned to die. He was executed according to Raman custom by crucifixion, or being nailed to a cross. The followers of Jesus believe that he rose from the dead on the next Sunday.

THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY

After these events, the followers of Jesus set out the spread his teachings. They spread out across the Roman Empire and formed small groups of Christians. Together, the apostles set up the first Christian Churches.

A person who was very successful at spreading the teachings of Jesus, however, was Paul. Paul had never known Jesus but felt strongly about his teachings. Paul traveled far and wide in order to share what he called "the good news".

On his long journeys, Paul wrote letters that make up part of the New Testament. In them, he declared that Christianity was open to all people including Jews, Greeks, and Romans. He also welcomed women and people from all social classes, including slaves.

Both Paul and the apostle Peter eventually brought the message of Christianity to the very center of the Roman Empire -the city of Rome. Paul and Peter won many new converts, or new believers, to Christianity in Rome. There, Peter became the first bishop of that new church. A bishop is a church official who leads a large group of Christians.

Eventually, every major city in the empire would have its own bishop. The bishop in Rome, however, became the most important of theses officials Later, Christians would give the bishop of Rome the title of pope. The word pope comes from the Latin word papa, meaning "father".

THE CHRISTIAN EMPEROR

If the Tiber overflows, if there is drought, famine, or disease, at once the cry goes up- the Christians to the lions!

This frightful words are a record of how the Roman officials came to deal with early Christians. Just as they killed Jesus, Rome would not tolerate the new religion nor its followers. Moreover, the Christians refused to worship the emperors or any other Roman gods. Thus, before cheering crowds in the Colosseum, Christians were forced to go out on the field. There, lions were let loose to attack them. Great numbers of Christians who lived in ancient Rome were killed in this manner.

In A. D 312, however, an unknown general named Constantine became the emperor of Rome. A Christian bishop wrote that Constantine favored Christianity. The bishop wrote about an event that he claimed had happened to Constantine. He wrote that one night Jesus appeared to Constantine in a dream. Jesus told him to make cross and carry it into battle.

The next morning, Constantine ordered artisans to build a cross, the symbol of Christianity, and to paint a cross on his soldiers shields. As a result, the bishop wrote, Constantine's army won a mighty victory and Constantine was made emperor of Rome.

As a result of these victories, an important event occurred in A. D 313. The recently crowned emperor Constantine gratefully announced the end to the killing of Christians in the empire. Constantine also gave "both to the Christians and to all people freedom to follow the religion they choose." As for. himself, Constantine became a Christian. This was an important turning point for the history of Christianity. In A. D. 395, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Today, Christianity is one of the world's major religions. These young people are preparing to become adult members of their church.

THE FALL OF ROME

Christianity continued to flourish after the death of Constantine, but the Roman Empire gradually lost its lands and wealth. Invaders from the north began to conquer the empire. These warlike people from central Europe used mountain passes through the Alps and even Roman roads to invade Italian peninsula. Finally, un A. D. 476, the city of Rome fell to invaders.

But the glory of Rome was not forgotten. The history of ancient Rome is the story of how a small republic grew into a vast empire. Stretching across parts of three continents it gained the riches and legacies of earlier civilizations.

Life would be very different without the unifying power of the Roman Empire. But civilization in Europe would continue to grow in exciting new directions.