Understanding Christians And Christianity

When we begin to discuss Christians, it becomes extremely compelling to also include the doctrines of Christianity for a very simple reason - without Christianity, Christians would not exist. The term Christian comes from the name of the religion, meaning Christ-like. The first references to this term can be found the New Testament Acts 11:26. These days, anything associated to the religion of Christianity is termed as Christian. Looking in terms of popularity, almost 75 percent of the North American population is Christian. Throughout the world as well, Christianity remains as one of the most commonly recognized and identified religion, finding believers in almost every part of the earth.

According to a study conducted, several variations and differences between the Christians and their beliefs have been noticed. According to this survey, these beliefs and practices can be divided into five major segments. While for two segments, spiritual growth does not depend on attending churches every Sunday or in a regular manner, others are more precise in their practices. Mentioned below is the complete layout of the Christian population based on the practice and beliefs:

Only 19 percent population in North America can be termed as Active Christians. These people are regular in attending church, read bible, believe in Jesus Christ and accept leadership positions in church when asked. 20 percent population is of the belief that relationship with God and Jesus matter more than church. This segment of people is termed as Professing Christians. Another 16 percent of the population call themselves as Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran or Episcopalian. These believe in absolute power of church and church authorities and are extremely strict in visiting the church regularly. The next 24 percent of the population is considered as private Christians. These people don't usually read a bible, though they do believe in the power of bible and God. They believe in doing good deeds, though not out of fear of church. This one is the largest segment in terms of believers. Another 21 percent of the population believes themselves to be Christians though they do not believe in the religion or the theology itself. According to these people, Jesus is not quite essential in order to reach salvation.

In North America, owing to vast popularity of the religion, there are thousands of faith groups that serve Christianity. Some of the most famous such faith groups happen to be Roman Catholic church, Eastern Orthodox churches, Jehovah's Witnesses, Unification Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Christian Science and other conservative, mainline, liberal and progressive faith groups. Despite all of them professing the same religion, its ironic how these individual groups consider only their group members as being true Christians or following the religion in true sense.

Apart from all the sects mentioned above, a huge percentage of population is also such that they are not affiliated to any sector group, and yet they consider themselves to be Christian. Truly, Christianity is a diverse religion.