Despite the overwhelming emphasis on the importance of the deity of Christ and the Trinity by most Christian groups since the Council of Nicaea, neither of these concepts was promoted or even taught by original, primitive Christianity. While Trinitarians have argued that verses like “I and my father are one”, and “Who, being in the […]
The Odes of Solomon are relatively recently found works dating from somewhere in the second to maybe the third century. They may have been Syrian in origin, one copy is found in a monastery of Syrians outside of Cairo. They are beautiful verses that speak of the spirit of the Lord as well as his
The Orthodoxy in the Odes of Solomon Read More »
Jesus wasn’t just a nice guy who did all kinds of incredible things for people. He wasn’t just a good teacher whose words you should consider before you decide for yourself what is right. He wasn’t just a prophet. Of course, he is the nicest guy, the greatest teacher, and the greatest prophet of all
Being a Christian Means Following Christ Read More »
In the June 21, 2007 Chicago Sun-Times was an article on Barack Obama: “Presidential hopeful Barack Obama belongs to the United Church of Christ, one of the country’s most racially diverse and liberal Protestant denominations — the first to ordain an openly gay minister and to call for equal marriage rights for all people, regardless
Visiting a United Church of Christ Church Read More »
Today we have lots of creeds to refer to in Christianity. The Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed are ones that are popularly known. But there are many creeds. For example, the Athanasian creed affirms the trinity. In fact creeds, confessions, affirmations, and statements of faith have proliferated over the ages. Almost every church now
No Creeds in Original Christianity Read More »
The Quaker movement sprang out of the Puritan landscape of 17th century England. George Fox, an ardent Christian, believed he received insight from Christ that: The church had become much too institutionalized and regimented. People need not meet in churches as God doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands. People don’t need priests as all
My Quaker Experience: Intense Silence, Warm Friendship, and Vague Answers Read More »
I changed hosting plans and wound up moving the site this weekend. It went okay but some things didn’t transfer over. The categories didn’t work so the posts needed reclassified and some of the posts are missing. The plugin’s are not working yet and the widgets aren’t installed yet. The table of contents page will
I moved the site and there may be some inconsistencies Read More »
The question of evolution is a complex one. There are believers of different faiths who state unequivocally that evolution of species is absolutely false because God created our world, “as is” in six literal days as stated in Genesis chapter one. Others state that proponents of a young earth are misreading the text, saying it
The Roman Catholic Church recognizes only certain people as saints, and as a rule, only after they are dead. Eastern Orthodox recognize anyone in heaven as a saint, whether recognized on earth or not. Anglicans recognize a similar belief to the Eastern Orthodox, but most protestant denominations recognize anyone who is truly a Christian as
Saints: Who Are They? Read More »
In Christianity, the belief in the necessity of the sacraments to attain salvation and God’s grace is called sacramentalism. A sacrament is a ritual that bestows God’s grace. The sacraments developed over hundreds of years starting with baptism and holy communion. Eventually seven sacraments were declared to include confirmation, confession, marriage, ordination, extreme unction. The
Sacraments, Conveyers of Grace or Not Read More »
While most pastors counsel in the form of pastoral counseling, some pastors reject psychology calling it “psychobabble,” even if done by Christian psychoanalysts. Traditionally the difference between traditional counseling and pastoral counseling is that pastoral counseling has been called clinical theology in the sense that the focus has been to address problems by instruction in
Psychology: the Acceptability of Christian Counseling Read More »
This article is a discussion of the different contemporary viewpoints on the roles of the Old Testament and New Testament Prophets. It is not a declaration of the viewpoint in the time of original Christianity. The names of the prophets in the Old Testament bring incredible visions of power to mind: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Samuel.
Prophecy Appears Different in NT than in OT Read More »
I recently read an interesting report about predestination, “President Wayland, in ‘Notes on the Principles and Practices of the Baptists,’ says that in the early part of his ministry he was settled in an intelligent community in the goodly commonwealth of Massachusetts. In his church was a gentleman reputed to be intelligent in the doctrines
This is an article primarily about what the Bible says about homosexuality, not about culture, or individual people and relationships. But because culture and individual people and relationships are involved I am going to say that in the United States and a lot of the western world a cultural shift has been going on where
H1 Homosexuality Revisited Read More »
Christian gospel writing was not limited to the four Gospels we know as Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. There are many known accounts of the life and times of Jesus. These include the Protevangelium of James, the Infancy Story of Thomas, the Arabic Infancy Gospel, the Armenian Gospel of the Infancy, the History of Joseph
In the Christian Churches of early Christianity there simply wasn’t an Old Testament, New Testament, or Bible when Christ arose, or even later when Paul died. These books, these collections of sacred writings developed over centuries. The Law and the Prophets were scrolls that were widely read in these times. There were epistles, mainly by
Eternal Security is the teaching that “once saved, always saved”. There are two extremes relating to this doctrine. Catholics teach that if you die with mortal sin you can go to hell for eternity. Pentecostals, Assemblies of God, Methodists and Lutherans also teach that salvation can be lost. Anglicans, Baptists and Presbyterians as well as
Original Christianity was not the huge international religion people know today. It was considered by most to be a sect of Judaism, initially called the Nazarenes, later the group became identified as “Christians” at Antioch. The teaching of this early Christianity was distinct, and identifiable in tracing its Jewish roots.i This only makes sense as
Original Christianity was in a Jewish Culture with Jewish Thinking Read More »
Original Christianity was much simpler. In contrast, the scope of modern theology is mind-boggling. Studying Christianity today in depth requires learning and comparing numerous “ologies” and “isms”. There is Soteriology (salvation), Christology (Christ), Eschatology (end times), Angelology (angels), Ecclesiology (church), Hamartiology (sin), Bibliology (bible), Pneumatology (spirit) besides Theology (God). There is covenentism, dispensationalism, ecumenicism, sacerdotalism,
Many Christians today rely on the Gospels and Epistles as the only authority for faith and practice of the New Covenant. Some justify this by saying that the books of the New Testament were always accepted as the Word of God. We have already looked at how Papias in the late first century did not
Gospels were Called Memoirs in the Second Century Read More »
MATURE CONTENT WARNING: Parents may want to keep their children, especially younger ones, from viewing this material. The sexual revolution did not start in the 60s. Sexual practices have varied over human history. When Christianity was starting people practiced all kinds of sexual behavior besides marriage. Pederasty was very common. (Pederasty is men having sexual
Sexual Purity Revolution Read More »
These are they who are hidden rocks in your love-feasts when they feast with you Jude 1:12 While there is just a little information on what this term “love-feast” means there is enough to get a sense of what it was, and know that its practice was very early on because of its mention in
Love Feasts – Fellowship So Sweet Read More »
There was an incredible sense of community and sharing in original Christianity. This was seen at the beginning of the Book of Acts, from the day of Pentecost on. And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and they sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all, according as any
Incredible Community and Sharing Read More »
Joyfully most Christians agree on a lot of things concerning what is going to happen in the end times. Most agree that Jesus will reappear suddenly in the clouds and that is something that we should all eagerly anticipate. The reappearing will be at an unexpected time as opposed to some prophesied time and date.
End Times (Eschatology) Read More »
I recently went to a Greek food Festival at a Greek Orthodox Church. This annual festival is a popular event around where I live. Besides some great gyros and lamb dinners, one of the stations in the festival is a bar where you can buy alcoholic beverages. That denomination not only allows drinking alcoholic beverages,