"YHWH" ("Yehovah"/"Yahweh") is the most sacred name of God in Hebrew, and is not pronounced by most Jews. No one knows where the name came from, or what exactly it means. It looks like the Hebrew word "hayah," which is the verb "to be." (According to Hebrew scripture, when Moses asked God who God was, God told Moses "I am that I am/I am who I am.") Jews believe that the name YHWH shows that God is endless. Instead of trying to say it, most Jews say ""haShem"", which means "The Name." Some people pronounce this name as "Yahweh", or "Jehovah". Scholars of religion sometimes refer to "YHWH" as "the Tetragrammaton", from Greek wo.
Christianity
Christianity is the largest world religion by number of followers (around 2.4 billion). Members of the religion are called Christians. Christians generally believe Jesus to be the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity. It is a monotheistic religion, meaning it has only one God. It is based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.
To most of the people of his time Jesus was a preacher, teacher, healer, and prophet from ancient Judea. However, his disciples believed him to be much more than that: they believed that Jesus was God's one and only son who was sent down to earth to die on a cross for their sins. The man said to be his father, Joseph, was a carpenter. Jesus was executed by being nailed to a cross (or crucified) under Pontius Pilate, the local Roman governor at the time. His life and followers are written about in the New Testament, part of the Bible. Christians consider the Bible, both the Old Testament and New Testament, as sacred. The Gospels or "The Good News" are the first four books of the New Testament and are about the life of Jesus, his death, and him rising from the dead.
God created the world. Jesus is the name of God the Son. Christians believe Him to be the Son of God. They believe that He was the human son of the Virgin Mary and the divine Son of God. They believe he suffered and died to free humans from their sin and was later raised from the dead. He then went up into Heaven. At the end of time, Jesus will come back to Earth to judge all mankind, both alive and dead, giving everlasting life to those who believe in him. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of God on the Earth that spoke through prophets.
The prophets foretold in the Old Testament of Jesus as the Savior. Christians think of Jesus Christ as a teacher, a role model, and someone who revealed who the Christian God was.
Just like Judaism and Islam, Christianity is an Abrahamic religion. Christianity started out as a Jewish sect in the eastern Mediterranean. It quickly grew in number of believers and influence over a few decades, and by the 4th Century it had become the dominant religion in the Roman Empire. Armenia was the First Nation in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion, under the rule of King Tiridates III of the Arsacid dynasty in the early 4th century. The Kingdom of Aksum became the first empire to adopt Christianity. During the Middle Ages, the rest of Europe mostly was Christianized. At that time, Christians were mostly a religious minority in the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of India. Following the Age of Discovery, through missionary work and colonization, Christianity spread to Africa, the Americas, and the rest of the world.
Christianity has been an important part of the shaping of the world. As of the early 21st century, Christianity has approximately 2.2 billion followers.
The most basic part of Christianity is the belief in Jesus as the Son of God and Messiah (Christ). The title "Messiah" comes from the Hebrew word ("māšiáħ") meaning "anointed one". The Greek translation "Χριστός" ("Christos") is the source of the English word "Christ". Jesus is English for the Hebrew word Yeshua.
Christians believe that, as the Messiah, Jesus was anointed by God as ruler and savior of all people. Christians also believe that Jesus' coming was the fulfillment of prophecies of the Old Testament. The Christian belief of the Messiah is much different than the contemporary Jewish concept. The main Christian belief is that, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, sinful humans can be reconciled to God. Through this, they believe they are given salvation and eternal life.
There have been many theological disagreements over the nature of Jesus over the first centuries of Christian history. But Christians generally believe that Jesus is God incarnate and "true God and true man." Jesus, having become fully human, suffered the pain and temptations of a mortal man, but he did not sin. As fully God, he defeated death and came back to life again. According to the Bible, "God raised him from the dead," he ascended to heaven, is "seated at the right hand of the Father" and will return again to fulfill the rest of Messianic prophecy such as the Resurrection of the Dead, the Last Judgment, and the final creation of the Kingdom of God.
The Gospels of Matthew and Luke say that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born from the Virgin Mary. Only a little of Jesus' childhood is written in the canonical gospels, but infancy gospels were popular in antiquity. However, the time of Jesus' adulthood the week before his death is written much about in the gospels. Some of the Biblical writings of Jesus' ministry are: his baptism, miracles, preaching, teaching, and deeds.
Christians believe the resurrection of Jesus to be the main part of their faith (see 1 Corinthians 15) and the most important event in human history because it would show that Jesus has power over death and has the authority to give people eternal life.
Among Christian beliefs, the death and resurrection of Jesus are two main events of Christian doctrine and theology. From what the New Testament says, Jesus was crucified, died a physical death, was buried in a tomb, and rose from the dead on the third day afterwards. Most Christians place his death on a Friday each year, which is the first day of his death. Saturday is the second day, and Sunday is the third day. The New Testament writes that after rising from the dead Jesus appeared many times before his Twelve Apostles and disciples. Once He appeared before "more than five hundred brethren at once". This was before Jesus' Ascension to heaven. Jesus' death and resurrection are remembered by Christians in their worship services, and most commonly during Holy Week, which has Good Friday and Easter Sunday in the week.
Protestantism teaches that eternal salvation is a gift that is given to a person by God's grace. It is sometimes called "unmerited favor." This would mean that Salvation is God bringing humans into a right relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. It is the belief that one can be saved (rescued) from sin and the eternal death of hell. Many Protestants believe in the "assurance of salvation"—that God can put confidence in a believer that he has truly received salvation from Jesus Christ.
Catholicism teaches that although in most cases someone must be baptized a Catholic to be saved, it is sometimes possible for people to be saved who have not fully joined the Catholic Church. Catholics normally believe in the importance of "faith working through love" and sacraments in receiving salvation. The Catholic Church teaches that good works and piety, such as obedience to commands, taking the sacraments, going to church, doing penance giving alms, saying prayers, and other things, are important in becoming holy, but strongly emphasize that salvation is through God's grace alone, and all we can do is receive it.