Belief Questions for Christians

[LucyJr]

Christianity has gone through many phases before finding its ways to this one. It started as a Jewish cult (circa the year 30-70) where the Jewish adherents believed that the world was coming to an end very soon. They sacrificed animals to Jesus, and mostly kept to their normal Jewish traditions otherwise.

Then Christianity found its ways to Greece and entered the Hellenistic-Roman Phase (circa 70-500). This is where the very mystical and Greek-inspired Gospel of John was written as the last major gospel. Greek and Roman mysticism, oriental magic and astral science found its way into Christianity, and animal sacrifices, circumcision and the Sabbath went out the window. The Greeks also changed the meaning of Jesus' resurrection to reflect the immortality of the soul, as the Greeks wished to be free of the body.

The third phase is known as the Barbarian phase (500-1100). Constantine eventually made Christianity the state religion of his empire, and sought to be catholicity (universality) to the church. This put the foundation of the Catholic church in place. In the Barbarian phase, Christianity grew to be a world empire, and became synonymous with high technology, intellectuals and sophisticated individuals. As the Roman empire broke down, the religion went back with the barbarians who had fought the empire, hence the Roman coined name "the barbarian phase". It was no longer the rich and intellectuals who held claim to be Christians, it became a religion of the poor and peasants.

Finally we arrive at the Western phase (circa 1100-1600). As the Turks occupied Constantinople (Istanbul) Christianity retreated into Europe and became a Western religion. It was here and alongside Christianity that the modern Western society was formed. It was during this period that much debate happened over the meaning and achievement of salvation through Christ. There was the infamous split between the Catholics, Protestants and the Anabaptists. Eventually this lead to many, many groups of Christian congregations being formed, and many of said small groups sought a place to govern themselves and others - hence America.

*deep breath*

My point being, there has been radical changes along the way. Very radical changes. Who's to say that the Barbarians didn't get it right, and the changes made after them go against what Jesus and God wanted? Or maybe the original Jewish cult had it right, maybe Jesus wanted animal sacrifices and strict adherence to the Torah?



I agree that a living religion is important and vital to an active relationship with the church! I can find very little in the current Christian pillars that I disagree with. Where I am curious is your belief and whether or not you hold doubt about your own personal relationship to Jesus and the Bible. Where does this belief that you are living correctly come from?

You kind of see Christianity as a religion concept in history, as a big religion and its history being 'tracked' by outside historians.
Its a good perspective, but is not a complete one. Also from this perspective, you could get the whole wrong ideas of Christian dogma.
So my question is this: Have you looked at Christianity from a Bible standpoint of view, meaning trying reading the Bible, uninfluenced by the outside criteria?

 

[j654dgj7]

You kind of see Christianity as a religion concept in history, as a big religion and its history being 'tracked' by outside historians.

I do. I believe that it is a big religion that has changed immensely from the people that started it, to what it is today. For better or worse.

Its a good perspective, but is not a complete one. Also from this perspective, you could get the whole wrong ideas of Christian dogma.

You're absolutely right. Especially in this thread I try to leave my own religious perspectives out of it, but I'll gladly share them now that you asked!

So my question is this: Have you looked at Christianity from a Bible standpoint of view, meaning trying reading the Bible, uninfluenced by the outside criteria?

I have actually read the whole Protestant edition of The Holy Bible multiple times. I've always really liked the message of The New Testament, and always thought that The New Testament should be considered the whole of the Christian Bible, especially considering that Jesus said that his words were the only law that could grant you access to Heaven. I feel like the only reason that Torah and Tanakh were in the Christian Bible were to align the new Christian faith with the Judaic tradition. Sorry, I digress.

It's very difficult to be opposed to what Jesus said. Be generous, do not judge others, don't fight each other, war is bad, rich people can't get into Heaven without giving away their money to those who deserve it - hurrah! It's good, man. It's also inspired by Socrates and Buddha, both fantastic philosophers in their own rights.

Baptized and gone through confirmation in the protestant church, so I can't claim to be an outsider asking insiders. However, I'm not a believer of Jesus of Nazareth being the son of God. Regardless of that, I still love and appreciate the message that he had and brought to the world. The same can be said to those who use the Jewish and Muslim religions for good in the world. Especially true for Buddhists, whom I believe believe in the most pure form of love and goodness in the world and in the universe. It's all a force of good, man. It's great. I'm not advocating for people to stop believing at all. I think belief is a beautiful thing. I just happen to not have any

 

[Barnabas]

Hey Christians and every one else reading this thread,

I am a great admirer of the philosophy and humanity of your religion. I believe that it is one of the most important fundamental parts of western civilization, and a very good building block for equality.
My question is about your faith itself, and how you can be a steadfast believer in Christianity as the only way to salvation.
Christianity as a religion has undergone hundreds of changes from its beginnings as a Jewish cult in the middle east, to a mystical religion of Greece and then morphed closer into what we believe that it is now.

1) Do you believe that previous ways of celebrating Jesus and his life were wrong?
2) Does it worry you that Christianity has changed so much from its starting point to where it is now?
3) What makes you think that the current way of celebrating Jesus as the son of God is the correct way in the eyes of God?

I don't have time to respond to this at the moment, but could you please either respond to this comment or up/down vote it so tat when I log back on later tonight I'll remember to give a proper response.

1) I'm not sure what you mean by previous ways of celebrating Jesus' life, I have a feeling that were talking about more then how Christmas has changed over the years. That being said I'm not the kind of person who has major problem with using another cultures imagery and adopting it to Christianity so long as we scrutinize the philosophy that come with it. Ultimately any celebration of God or Christ is acceptable and encouraged so long as it isn't sinful. It's ok to have winter festival dedicated to God, so long as drunken orgies with your family and neighbors aren't involved(as an example).

2) A little bit of yes and a little bit of no. A lot of stuff has happened since the conception of the church and some of it's been good and some of it's been bad. I wish the protestant and the catholic churches had reconciled rather then split, not to mention the corruption of both church officials and doctrine. But youth ministers and music ministers aren't a bad thing, neither are the local and global conventions that come together every year. So I guess the simplest way to answer the question about changes to the church over the years is to ask two questions about the changes.

Is it heretical? Does it advance the Gospel?

3) The Jews/Hebrews had several different festivals to celebrate God's involvement in their lives, and God found it good. However what he didn't advocate is the mindless repetition of holidays for holidays sake instead of celebration of God. Amos 5:21-24
So I guess the question of whether or not God approves of my holidays is whether or not I earnestly celebrate him or if I simply enjoy presents every year around December.


One of the most fantastic things about the Christian faith is that despite how followers manage fowl it up, there will always be a strong biblical core for believers to fall back on. The bible is the most circulated book in history, we have manuscripts of the letters of the new testament that hit closer lives of the original authors the any other books of antiquity and all of those manuscripts say the same thing, they all tell the same story. Despite language and translation barriers the Bible keeps it together.

If I want to be a good christian, if I want to follow Christ i don't have to worry about what other people say or do() because I already have the core of the faith in my hands.


Edit: thanks [MENTION=5601]vandyke[/MENTION] for tagging this