All religions work like a product. Let me just say: a salesman came to your door and would try to convince you to buy his product: a vacuum cleaner. They would use various methods of selling, such as showing you pictures of how dirty your carpet is deep inside, telling you how fast dirt can accumulate in the house, or telling you how many times you would need to use your normal vacuum cleaner to get rid of dirt. In basic, the salesman works to convince you that you need his product. It first creates a problem (a dirty carpet), and then it gives you the solution (a vacuum cleaner). Such is with religion. Christianity: “You are a sinner and are going to hell (problem), but accept Jesus and get salvation (solution).” “Religion – or the profession of a body of faith or beliefs organised into doctrines and manifested in a collection of norms and rites – intended to guide particular behaviours or interpretation of particular events – performed a vital function.”(Lang, J. P.1989.Dictionary of the liturgy. New York.Catholic Book Publishing Co.) In earlier epochs, religion as present among our ancestors as they performed elaborates and mythical rites in anticipation of, or gratitude for, things like victory, rain or a good harvest. It helped to make unexpected or strange phenomena intelligible at a time of raw and unsophisticated knowledge. (E.g. Belief system of a pantheon of gods, spirits, creatures, and men that guarded the streams, fields tress, mountains, forests and houses.) Religions came from the east, from the ancient world. Today, some of them are exported from the west(Pentecostalism, New Age). Missionary movements follow different routes, not west to east nor north to south. There are cases where Christianity spread originally by western missionary movements has become itself missionary, sometimes to western countries. Do we need religion?

Why do we need a religion or a belief ? What do we need? More care for children, more peace of mind for their parents, better guidance for people entering or reentering the job market, for business leaders, for government officials, and for retirees - indicates what humanity not only needs but in many instances is desperately seeking. Materialism is not it. People want to feel secure.

They want to exercise good judgment, have moral courage, be healed and maintain their health, and express more spirituality.

What is the purpose of religion? We know all religions teach us to be good and these teaching can lead us to perfection, for it is set by a mighty being (if you belief in God). Our belief guides us how we live our life, and we and we have this tendency to be good. So does this mean we are not good enough? Yes. We are imperfect, and we need perfection from it; we have the tendency to be perfect, to think perfect, which also means we can be perfect, or we was perfect. If the world is all perfect, religion doesn't exist at all. Belief doesn't exist at all. But we are actually getting to be perfect and we know we going to be perfect.

Why does everyone has a belief ? Even if we don't believe or don't have a religion, we still feel that there maybe something outside, which is all mighty. Even if we don't believe in God, we still have a belief, to guide us through our life. In modern world religion is merely something we look to as standing by on-call to rescue us, something we turn to just in emergencies, religion is reduced to a kind of firefighting system. But, still, we couldn't take off our fear; we couldn't really say that God doesn't exist; when we are in trouble, we still pray for a divine nature; we still need help from them. Major Religions of the World:

Religion Number of adherents
1. Christianity 2 billion
2. Islam 1.3 billion
3. Hinduism 900 million
4. Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist 850 million
5. Buddhism 360 million
6. Chinese traditional religion 225 million
7. Primal-indigenous 150 million
8. African Traditional & Diasporic 95 million
9. Sikhism 23 million
10. Juche 19 million

11. Spiritism 14 million
12.

Judaism 14 million
13. Baha’i 6 million
14. Jainism 4 million
15. Shinto 4 million
16. Cao Dai 3 million
17. Tenrikyo 2.4 million
18. Neo-Paganism 1 million
19. Unitarian-Universalism 800 thousand
20. Rastafarianism 700 thousand
21. Scientology 600 thousand
22. Zoroastrianism 150 thousand

Groups not included in this list of world religions

The following groups are religions, but have not been included in this list of major religions primarily for one or more of the following reasons:

 They are not a distinct, independent religion, but branch of broader religion/category
 They lack appreciable communities of adherents outside their home country
 They are too small (even smaller than Zoroastrianism)

 Mandeans
 PL Kyodan
 Ch’ondogyo
 Wonbu’gyo
 Vodoun
 New Age

 Seicho-No-Ie
 Falun Dafa/Falum Gong
 Taoism
 Confucianism
 Roma
 Animal Rig

The origin of Christianity

Christianity comprises a group of religious traditions originating with Jesus Christ that generally assert that Jesus is the son of God and messiah – the sole saviour of all humanity. So a Christian is a believer and follower of Jesus Christ. Jesus saved mankind from physical death and redeemed mankind from their sins, reconciling mankind to God so that man can live eternally with God in a state of never – ending happiness. Christians are considered to be the “church” or “body” of Jesus Christ. Christianity, which is a very broad term used to define Christ’s followers, and divided into two main categories known as Catholics and Protestants. Main branches of Christianity today:

 Catholicism
 Greek Catholic
 Roman Catholic

 Protestantism
 Presbyterian Church
 Reformed Church
 Anglican Church
 Lutheran Church
 Baptist Church
 Methodist Church etc.

 Eastern Orthodoxy
 Russian Orthodox Church
 Non-Protestant,non-Catholic Christianity
 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter – day Saints
 Community of Christ
 Jehovah’s Witnesses
 Religious Society of friends (Quakers)
 Church of Christ, Scientist etc.

 Oriental Orthodoxy
 Coptic Church
 American Orthodox Church
 Greek Orthodox Church etc.

Christian doctrine derives from the Holy Bible. Originally authored in Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic, it has been translated in every major language over the centuries. It is considered to be the “greatest book ever written” because it was divinely inspired by God. The Bible gives the answers to life’s greatest questions from the creation of the universe to the afterlife and God’s truth from past to future. Bible provides not only His truth, but also hope for the future, comfort in time of need, and instructions on how to live a peaceful, happy life.

General Christian Beliefs

The Ten Commandments are considered to be the basis for Christian behaviour. They are considered to be unchangeable laws for Christians to adhere to in order to behave as faithful servants of the Lord and moral believers. Although Christian doctrine is widely varied among denominations. Most denominations believe in what’s called the “trinity”. There are other beliefs that pertain to specific denominations. As foretold in the Bible, Christians believe that Jesus Christ will return in the future to remove all believers from earth.

After this event takes place, the Lord will show the world He is “real” through the events foretold in the book of Revelation. Becoming part of the kingdom of God is what every believer looks forward to: the promise of God’s love forever.

Christians have made decisions of faith that signal a change of direction in their thinking about God and themselves, but they have not overcome their struggle with self-centrenness. Neither are they morally superior to non-Christians. The downward pull of desire remains as predictable as the law of gravity. When real Christians stop living under the influence of the Spirit and the Word of God, it becomes as natural for them to revert to self-interest as for a kite to drift slowly to earth when the wind stops blowing. The people of Christ have a spiritual enemy who is attempting to confuse them and neutralise their impact. This adversary is fighting a war of attrition. There are many casualties. One who is far more subtle and clever renders countless numbers of real Christians ineffective. While he can’t make Christians sin, he and his demons are constantly looking for weaknesses that give him an inroad into the lives of genuine believers.

Why people need a belief ? It's because we have a tendency of a needs to be good, we were good before, but now we have sin, thus we need a belief to make us good, or to make us feel good. It's a instinct inside us. For example, we think killing is bad etc. We cannot give away these rules inside us for God makes us. God did not mentioned about religion in the bible. Actually, when we say we are from which religion, we actually dividing, and not uniting. When we say where we are from, we actually stating we are divided. Actually, God's teachings is universal, and there is only one true belief from God. So, we need to be universal, not in a small group. This is the great thing of Christianity.

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