Terrywoodenpic
Oldest Heretic
How to become a Christian.
Many people ask, on these forums, what they need to do to become an Anglican, Catholic Orthodox or become member of some other church.
The usual things that come up are the various forms of baptism, the belief or not in the Trinity, the need for confirmation, the need to accept various beliefs surrounding the Eucharist.
The impossibility or otherwise of women priests and bishops. Sexuality and all its ramifications in the life of the churches. The perpetual virginity of Mary, Divorce and remarriage.
These things become a threshold or hurdle that you must jump, to be accepted into that particular church, or to enter the ranks of its priest hood.
Many churches have built up a mass of dogma that members are required to accept with out question.
Those early Christians that lived during the later years of Jesus mission and the few generations that followed knew none of these things. By the standard requirements of today's churches they would not be seen as Christian at all.
We know exactly how the new Judo-Christian sects taught many new gentile converts from about AD50 onward.
At that time most of the apostles were still alive and working. As was Paul, though it seems the books of the new testament were were not yet written or available as scripture. However there were numerous prophets, both false and true, as well as even more people, still living, who had heard Jesus speak and who were working amongst that population.
An oral form of Christian apprenticeship was quickly established and used to train the new comers in to the way of life. It required new members to be baptised in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, and in the name of the holy spirit. But it was not Trinitarian as the concept of the three in one Trinity was yet a couple of hundred years in the future. It also required members to attend the weekly Eucharist.
This Eucharist was reserved to those members of the community who had been baptised in flowing water (or what ever water was available).
This Eucharist was first offered as a cup of wine
we give you thanks, our Father,
for the holy vine of your servant David
which you revealed to us through your servant Jesus
To you (is) the glory for ever.
And concerning the broken (loaf)
We give you thanks our Father
for the life and knowledge
which you revealed to us through your servant Jesus
To you is the glory forever.
Just as this broken (loaf) was scattered
over the hills (as grain)
and, having been gathered together, become one;
in like fashion, may your church be gathered together
from the ends of the earth into your kingdom
Because yours is the glory and the power
through Jesus Christ forever. ( from the original Greek of the Didache)
This reveals that the concept of the body and blood of Christ and the redemption of sin was not yet associated with the Eucharist.
Even their Bishops were to be elected from within their own community, which does not gell with the later concept of the apostolic succession.
All this, if nothing else, shows how many of the concepts that we now hold fundamental to Christianity had not yet been formulated and certainly not essential to Christian belief.
These can include the Trinity, virgin Birth, Marianism, the Bible as the word of God, salvation through the death and resurrection of Christ, and large parts of the dogma of the various churches encapsulated in the creeds.
This may trouble some Christians. But the beauty and simplicity of the faith of these first Christian societies shines through with their love of God.
Many people ask, on these forums, what they need to do to become an Anglican, Catholic Orthodox or become member of some other church.
The usual things that come up are the various forms of baptism, the belief or not in the Trinity, the need for confirmation, the need to accept various beliefs surrounding the Eucharist.
The impossibility or otherwise of women priests and bishops. Sexuality and all its ramifications in the life of the churches. The perpetual virginity of Mary, Divorce and remarriage.
These things become a threshold or hurdle that you must jump, to be accepted into that particular church, or to enter the ranks of its priest hood.
Many churches have built up a mass of dogma that members are required to accept with out question.
Those early Christians that lived during the later years of Jesus mission and the few generations that followed knew none of these things. By the standard requirements of today's churches they would not be seen as Christian at all.
We know exactly how the new Judo-Christian sects taught many new gentile converts from about AD50 onward.
At that time most of the apostles were still alive and working. As was Paul, though it seems the books of the new testament were were not yet written or available as scripture. However there were numerous prophets, both false and true, as well as even more people, still living, who had heard Jesus speak and who were working amongst that population.
An oral form of Christian apprenticeship was quickly established and used to train the new comers in to the way of life. It required new members to be baptised in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, and in the name of the holy spirit. But it was not Trinitarian as the concept of the three in one Trinity was yet a couple of hundred years in the future. It also required members to attend the weekly Eucharist.
This Eucharist was reserved to those members of the community who had been baptised in flowing water (or what ever water was available).
This Eucharist was first offered as a cup of wine
we give you thanks, our Father,
for the holy vine of your servant David
which you revealed to us through your servant Jesus
To you (is) the glory for ever.
And concerning the broken (loaf)
We give you thanks our Father
for the life and knowledge
which you revealed to us through your servant Jesus
To you is the glory forever.
Just as this broken (loaf) was scattered
over the hills (as grain)
and, having been gathered together, become one;
in like fashion, may your church be gathered together
from the ends of the earth into your kingdom
Because yours is the glory and the power
through Jesus Christ forever. ( from the original Greek of the Didache)
This reveals that the concept of the body and blood of Christ and the redemption of sin was not yet associated with the Eucharist.
Even their Bishops were to be elected from within their own community, which does not gell with the later concept of the apostolic succession.
All this, if nothing else, shows how many of the concepts that we now hold fundamental to Christianity had not yet been formulated and certainly not essential to Christian belief.
These can include the Trinity, virgin Birth, Marianism, the Bible as the word of God, salvation through the death and resurrection of Christ, and large parts of the dogma of the various churches encapsulated in the creeds.
This may trouble some Christians. But the beauty and simplicity of the faith of these first Christian societies shines through with their love of God.
