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The first known usage of this term can be found in the New Testament of the Bible, in Acts 11:26: “the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.” The term was thus first used to denote those known or perceived to be disciples of Christ. Similarly, in the two other New Testament uses of the word (Acts 26:28 and 1 Peter 4:16), it refers to the public identity of those who follow Jesus.

As a noun, Christian (Gr. Χριστιανός and variant Χρηστιανός, Strong’s G5546) is an appellation deriving from the name “Christ” and is derived from the Greek noun Christos which means “anointed one,” itself a translation of the Hebrew word Moshiach or “Messiah”. Many people associate the word “Christ” exclusively with Jesus. However, as this identification is not accepted within Judaism, in Hebrew Christians are called “Nazarenes” (Notzri), because Jesus was from the province of Nazareth.

For many, “Christian” also means to be a member or adherent of one of the organized religious denominations of Christianity. As an adjective, the term may also describe anything associated with Christianity.

Usage among Christians

The term “Christian” is variously defined among different Christian groups. Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and many Protestants, believe that a Christian is one who is a member of the church, which one enters through the sacrament of baptism. In this way, infants who are baptized may also be considered Christians. Certain denominations, such as the Churches of Christ and Independent Christian Churches teach that adult baptism is the transition from non-Christian to Christian, and so define a Christian as one who has been baptized as a repenting adult. Others, including many born-again Christians, believe that a Christian is one who believes and follows Jesus and repents of their sins, though the proof of this is found in agreeing to the doctrines set forth in the Bible, and doing what it says.

Usage in the Muslim world

Among some in the Arab Muslim world, the term “Christian” is seen as being synonymous with Western culture.

“Christendom”

The term “Christendom” has been used to refer to the medieval and renaissance notion of the Christian world as a sort of social and political polity. In essence, the vision of Christendom is a vision of a Christian theocracy, a government devoted to the enforcement of Christian values, and whose institutions are suffused with Christian piety. In this vision, members of the Christian clergy wield significant secular and political power. Secular rulers are their subordinates and agents; and national or political divisions are subsumed under the unitary government of a unique and universal church institution. This tempting vision of an earthly crown was one of the greatest challenges to the institutional Christian church.

“Christian” as a derogatory word

In some cases, the term Christian is used in a derogatory sense. This arises from anti-Christian sentiment arising from affiliation with colonialism or, in the case of Muslims, reaching all the way back to the time of the faith’s foundation.

United States as a “Christian” nation

In the history of the United States, it has been common for some politicians to refer to United States as a “Christian” nation implying that the nation is founded on Christian principles and that the “Christian” nature of the nation does and should affect the way its citizens view the nature and mission of their country. The Barbary pirates once accused the United States of being a Christian nation and used that to justify their acts of piracy against the United States. This accusation is disputed by the Treaty of Tripoli.

It is important to note, however, that the United States is officially secular, with church and state being separated. Furthermore, the vast majority of the founding fathers followed a religion called Deism, with many of them critizing Orthodox Christianity

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Would you like to write an article or thought to be featured on our website? It’s just like writing a post on the forum, but with more advanced features. After you’ve submitted several published articles you may receive “Author” status with a front page link to your profile, where you can put the website URL of your choice. Subject to board rules, read below for details.
QUICK READ
Front page bottom sidebar click “Register” for authors. Login and write an article for our website. Yes, it’s that easy.
An article does not have to be a full essay, it can be a short thought.
Click Here to Register for a front page Author and Comments account

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HOW TO BECOME A CONTRIBUTOR (Submit Articles)

1) Go to the front of this website (not the forum) and scroll to the bottom left “Login for Authors and Comments”.

2) Click the “Register” link. NOTE: This registration is seperate from our forums, don’t click the Forum Register link.
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4) Sign in. Change your password to something you can remember.

5) Now logged in. Click the “Write” link on the top of the page.

6) Write Post - Fill in the Title and Write your article in the white box (This is your post content). On the right hand side you can select the category for your article to go into. If not sure, just select the “Uncategorized” box. NOTE: All you really have to do is write a title, write your post and click “SAVE”. The rest of this is for more advanced features.

ARTICLE POST FEATURES

7) Advanced Features - Below the post section you’ll notice a File Browse section so you can upload pictures. File size is limited on this upload, so only upload web-ready images like .jpg, .gif and .png formats (Regular old graphics or pictures on your computer). You will probably not be able to upload larger files like MP3 and PDF files. NOTE: When you put your graphic in a post you have the option of a thumbnail or full image.

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Links in Text - If you select text in your post you’ll see a chainlink icon highlighted, click that chainlink icon to add a link to your text. Here’s a finished example: Read Forum Rules (Write text first, then select desired link text, then click link icon on your control panel, enter URL link, then click “insert”. It’s easy once you do it a couple times).
9) HTML - You’ll also notice an HTML link on your post panel. Use this if you would like to format your post with advanced HTML design. Note the width restriction on our final layout size.
10) ARTICLE TIP - Articles are much more compelling if they contain a graphic at the top. Your article will also be more useful if it contains a link to your source, or a link for additional information. Wikipedia can be a source to use for linking to supporting documentation.
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12) Intent to Publish - Realize we are under no obligation to post your article. Because this feature is open to the public we receive a lot of spam, troll and flame entries. We also reserve the right to edit your article before publication. Most common edits would be to edit mispellings or content that conflicts with our board rules. It would be normal protocol to edit by omission (taking out sections, but not adding) and occassionaly to put asterisks as in *Link edited* if needed on a specific part.

13) What Content for Articles? - Write what you think would be of interest to our forum community. Write what moves you and what you are passionate about. Your thoughts, ideas, insights into current trends or news. All within the scope of the subject matter of this community. We our members to be engaged with new ideas and fresh ways of looking at things. Please do not attempt to use this feature as a way to slander, troll or flame specific board members. As always, we encourage talking about ideas. An article does not have to be a full essay, it can be a short thought.
14) Marketing, SEO and Driving Web Traffic - Do NOT write articles for the purpose of solicitation, online sales, SEO, of Pagerank. However, if you’re a saavy webreneur, here’s how you can work within our system. After you have submitted several articles of good content that are published on our website, your account will be upgraded to “AUTHOR”. Links to Authors appear on the sidebar of our website. In your personal Author profile you are welcome to put a website link to the URL of your choice even if it’s a commercial website (Sorry, no adult or hate sites, subject to board rules.). Now the end result is you are a respected contributing author on our site with a front page link to your profile that contains your web URL. This is a quality link that is valuable for your web business. Our way of thanking you for contributing to our community. Your Author link will remain in place as long as you submit a published article on a regular basis (Once every month or so depending on traffic). In time if you stop submitting articles, the Author status may be downgraded and link will disappear, but you will still have links to your profile from the article.

Thanks for taking part in our community. If for some reason your article isn’t published and you think it is within our board rules, please post it in our forums. Article reviews may take up to two weeks depending how swamped the Cybermonsters Crew is.

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Conrad