Showing posts with label 17th Century. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 17th Century. Show all posts

Sunday, March 14, 2021

Amish


We just learned about the Salem Witch Trials.

Another part of early Christianity is the Amish.

In the late 1600s in Switzerland, a man named Jakob Amman thought that people were not living the right way to do what God wanted.

He felt that people were doing bad things, and thought people should live simpler lives where they did not get drunk, lie or cheat.

Amman also thought that if someone was a good hearted person it did not mean that they would go to heaven.
They would have to be re-baptized and accept Jesus or they would not be saved.

When he died, there were other people that wanted to follow the way he lived, and so the other churches called them "Amish" meaning they were living like Jakob Amman.

Later on some of the Amish people moved to the America and lived in small towns where they would just be simple farmers and not want to have a lot of money or anything exciting.


(from: wikipedia - amish)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Christianization of Poland

Sunday, March 7, 2021

Salem Witch Trials


We just learned about the Pilgrims.

Another part of early Christianity is the Salem Witch Trials.

During the years before 1700, people all over the world became very afraid of witchcraft.
They believed that there were women who were working with the devil and doing evil things.

Because people were so afraid, they would say that innocent people were witches, and they would have a witch trial.
The witch trials were very unfair, people would lie about what happened, and the innocent person would be called a witch and killed.

One of the most famous places for witch trials was in Salem Massachusetts where there were some girls who pretended that they were being attacked by another woman who used witchcraft.

The people believed the girls, and they killed many innocent people who were not witches.

At the time people thought they were being good Christians and fighting against the devil, but later on people realised that people were lying and that innocent people were being killed in the name of God.


(from: wikipedia - salem witch trials)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Neume

Sunday, February 28, 2021

Pilgrims


We just learned about the Thirty Years' War.

Another part of early Christianity is the Pilgrims.

We learned before about the Puritans who wanted to worship God in a different way than the English church.
Some people decided to get away from England so they could worship in the way they thought was right.

A group of about 100 people got on a boat called the Mayflower, and landed in the area now known as Massachusetts.
These people were the ones who told the story of the first Thanksgiving, and also how they landed on Plymouth Rock.


(from: wikipedia - pilgrims (plymouth colony))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cyrillic Script

Sunday, February 21, 2021

Thirty Years' War


We just learned about Puritanism.

Another part of early Christianity was the Thirty Years' War.

We've learned that some people started becoming Protestants and worshipping God in different churches like Lutheran or Anglican instead of Catholic churches.

Sometimes leaders of countries like kings or queens would disagree with this.
The Thirty Years War was from 1618 AD to 1648 AD, where some countries in Europe went to war over whether people should be Protestants or Catholics.
Even though they all believed in God, they fought for 30 years and over 8 million people died in this war.


(from: wikipedia - thirty years' war)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Christianity in Bulgaria

Sunday, February 14, 2021

Puritanism


We just learned about the King James Version of the Bible.

Another part of early Christianity is Puritanism.

During the Protestant Reformation time when people were protesting to be able to worship God the way they wanted, there was a group of people in England and America who called themselves Puritans.
The word Puritan meant they wanted to have a pure church because they thought the Catholic church and Anglican church were both bad.

They were a very powerful group in Great Britain and the American colonies and they had very strict rules on what people could do.
Men and women were not allowed to dance together, people were not allowed to go to the theater, and they did not even let people play musical instruments in their church services.

They also did not like Christmas, and for a few years even made it illegal to celebrate Christmas because they thought people were just having crazy parties, and not worshipping God.


(from: wikipedia - puritans)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Glagolitic Script

Sunday, February 7, 2021

King James Version


We just learned about Heliocentrism.

Another part of early Christianity is the King James Version of the Bible.

Through the years, the Bible was translated into English a few different times.

Some people thought that some of these translations were not very good, so King James of England hired some people to make a new one.
He had 47 Bible experts that worked in different groups to translate the Bible into English.
Then they took all of the translations people did and compared them to make sure they got it right.
Almost like having 47 people do the same homework problems, and then comparing to make sure everyone got the right answers!

With the King's support, they printed many of these Bibles and sent them all over Great Britain and any place where people spoke English.
Today the King James Version of the Bible is still being printed, and there have been over one billion copies of the book printed since it first came out.


(from: wikipedia - king james version)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Saint Ansgar

Sunday, January 31, 2021

Heliocentrism


We just learned about the Believer's Baptism.

Another part of early Christianity is Heliocentrism.

Long ago people in the world saw the sun come up one side of the sky and then go down in the other.
People thought that the world was flat, and the sun was up in the sky going around the earth.
Later on people changed and agreed that the world was not flat but that it was a globe, but they still believed that the sun went around the earth.

Through the years a few scientists tried to tell people that the earth actually went around the sun, but people did not believe them.
The idea that the earth is at the middle of the universe is called geocentrism.
The idea that the earth actually orbits around the sun is called heliocentrism.

In 1610 AD the astronomer Galileo wrote a paper called "Sidereus Nuncius" which means Starry Messenger, telling people about how he beleived the earth orbited around the sun.

The church was very upset because they believed that if the earth was not the center of the universe, then that would mean it was not special or that it went against something that was in the Bible.

Galileo was put on trial and was found guilty, and told he was not allowed to teach people that because they thought it was not true.
The astronomer Copernicus had said the same thing many years earlier, but people did not believe him either.

Galileo's and Copernicus' books were banned for their whole lives, and the church did not allow them to be printed until about 200 years later.


(from: wikipedia - heliocentrism)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Vikings and Christians