Mark William Smith – OriginalChristianity

Science and Pseudoscience

Scriptural Translation And Interpretation / Mark William Smith

(This article started as a part of a previous post, Indoctrination, Brainwashing, and Deception in Everything from Santa Clause to Christianity Part 1.) Timothy, guard that which is committed to you, turning away from the empty chatter and oppositions of what is falsely called knowledge; (1Ti 6:20 WEB) The word “knowledge” in the above verse […]

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Paul wasn’t sure if he Baptized Any but Crispus and Gaius, Stephanas and his Household – Countering the Assumption of Water Baptism, Correctly Translating a Verse

I thank God that I baptized none of you, except Crispus and Gaius… (I also baptized the household of Stephanas; besides them, I don’t know whether I baptized any other.) (1Co 1:14,16 WEB) I have heard people explain this verse to mean that Paul just didn’t remember baptizing anybody but those few including Stephanas and

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T 1.5.1 Tradition in Original Christianity, The Apostles taught the Hope – The Return of Christ

Tradition / Mark William Smith

Everything that we read about in T 1.5 Tradition in Original Christianity, Part 5, The Apostles Taught Eternal Rewards (Heavenly Treasures) is part of the Christian’s great hope. having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what are the riches of the glory of

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Philosophy in Christianity – Welcome Addition or Intrusion of Worldly Reasoning? – The Trinity’s Philosophical Basis

Divisions, Philosophy, Trinity / Mark William Smith

This article discusses the controversy over philosophy in Christianity. Remember the point of this website is to see how different doctrines developed over time, and how they compare to original Christianity in order to understand how we got so many divisions and what we must do to restore the church. This article will primarily look

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Apostolic Succession – Scriptural or Not? No, It’s Another Example of Tradition Voiding the Word of God

Divisions / Mark William Smith

This post was originally titled, “Apostolic Succession – Biblical or Not?”. I am attaching this post to the front page because I have expanded on it and added the answer to the question of whether apostolic succession is scriptural or not. Go to the Conclusion of the article to read the bulk of the answer

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T 1.5 Tradition in Original Christianity, Part 5, The Apostles Taught Eternal Rewards (Heavenly Treasures)

Tradition / Mark William Smith

One of the effects of different believers and churches teaching different things is that they will be rewarded differently. If what we believe is true, then we will be rewarded accordingly. But if not, then all of our works will be for naught, or worse, work against us. And all of this is because of

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Autonomy of the Local Church – Expanded – An Example of A Priori Use in Scripture Interpretation

1 Comment / Divisions / Mark William Smith

This is a post first published in 2012. I have added more about the difference between the benefit of legally having an autonomous local church principle versus some of the errors in the scriptural basis taught about this concept. The autonomy of the local church is an aspect of the division in Christianity over which

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Original Christianity

This web is a look at primitive, original Christianity, how it developed over time into innumerable denominations and divisions and how original Christianity compares to current practices. It is a resource for looking systematically at the beliefs and practices in the original Christian church, numerous movements and churches since, the modern Christian church, with discussion about how all these changes happened and especially focusing on how well each of these compares to scripture.

Why?

"Jesus Christ is Lord" is the common belief of billions of Christians. But there are tens of thousands of denominations. While ancient denominations like the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox claim to be the original and consequently "true" church, innumerable churches and denominations have started citing error in these ancient bastions and/or the leading of the spirit to reform the church and restore the church.

There are numerous disputed issues. Cessation doctrine (prophecy and the gifts of the spirit ended with the apostles), infant baptism, the inerrancy of Scripture, the form of Church government, the role of women in the church, and currently, the acceptance of homosexuality are just some of the many disputed doctrines that cause the Christian body to be so divided.

The Reformation movement performed an invaluable service. But instead of simply reforming the church or simply working to create one more correct alternative church the Reformation movement worked to increase the number of disputes over scripture and consequently the number of splits has increased exponentially.

The problem with looking at all the denominations is that it can become confusing to just compare this church or denomination to that one. The complexity of looking at all the theological implications can become overwhelming. For many busy people that means just making the best, less than fully educated decision they can, and staying with the church of their heritage or finding a church where they feel they can grow. Just finding the information can be an overwhelming task. Putting it into some understandable framework is an even more complicated task.

This web site, rather than trying to just compare all the current positions on the differences goes back to the beginning (primitive, original Christianity) and evaluates Christianity starting at that point. This includes looking at the gospel accounts, but also includes looking at early church documents as well as other ancient documents, both secular and religious. (There is also a section on Philosophy because its profound impact on Christian theological development.) The articles have numerous references to works both in print and online.

Next the web site looks at the developments in Christianity from original Christianity forward to see how the church developed over time comparing each development with what we know about original Christianity. The goals are:

To trace the development of the church from start to now to see how the church at large wound up with all these competing churches/denominations today, and

To equip people with the knowledge of original Christianity to enable people to make an informed decision on what is the true faith and practice of the church Jesus Christ started.

For an overview of the articles by category, go to the Table of Contents Page.

This is a work in progress. My prayer is that sharing my journey is helpful to you and that together we can grow in the faith that Jesus Christ made available some two thousand years ago.

Also Please Pardon our Dust. There are hundreds of posts and some of them still have typos. If you find typos You can contact Mark at [email protected]. Please be so kind as to mention the name of the post as well as to copy and paste the section with errors. Thank you and God Bless You.

Author name: Mark William Smith

Science and Pseudoscience

Paul wasn’t sure if he Baptized Any but Crispus and Gaius, Stephanas and his Household – Countering the Assumption of Water Baptism, Correctly Translating a Verse

T 1.5.1 Tradition in Original Christianity, The Apostles taught the Hope – The Return of Christ

Philosophy in Christianity – Welcome Addition or Intrusion of Worldly Reasoning? – The Trinity’s Philosophical Basis

Apostolic Succession – Scriptural or Not? No, It’s Another Example of Tradition Voiding the Word of God

T 1.5 Tradition in Original Christianity, Part 5, The Apostles Taught Eternal Rewards (Heavenly Treasures)

Autonomy of the Local Church – Expanded – An Example of A Priori Use in Scripture Interpretation

Original Christianity

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