you mean there are more than one version of Protestant Bible? i red Bible once when i was younger. i don't know which one was that. but reading Bible is not what i am expecting from this thread. i just want to learn slowly by asking questions and hearing answers. i am not willing to debate either. i hope i find what i want..
Greek, Orthodox, Protestant and Catholic. there are four major paths? is the Greek the oldest one?
The Protestant and Catholic bibles are very similar - the Catholic bible however has seven more books (called the Deuterocanonical books). These are all in the Old Testament, which predates Christianity. Catholics base the inclusion of these books on the fact that the bible being used by most Jews in Jesus' time was the Septuagint, which included these 7 books. Jesus quotes from these books extensively in the NT. These books were not removed from most protestant bibles till well into the 19th century - in fact, they are still included in some protestant bibles, in a separate section.
But don't get bogged down in all that - those 7 books don't make much, if any, difference in the application of the Chrsitian faith, though they are pretty interesting to read. They're not the MEAT of the faith.
You can get a good parallel bible and read four (or more) versions of bibles simultaneously. I really encourage this if you are studying a passage in depth. You may be amazed to find, not how DIFFERENT the varying versions are, but actually, how close to each other they are.
If you want to truly understand Christianity, you will need to refer to the bible a lot. I wouldn't trust just what I read on this site, that's for sure - not for real answers to your real questions anyway.
All four major "threads" of Christianity started from the same root. Their teachings are more similar than they are different. The gyst of the faith would be the same, I would think.
To me, Christianity in a nutshell (the beliefs, not the applications) is captured in the Apostle's Creed - a document from the early Church (first written example is from the 4th century, but it was an oral tradition before that). Here it is:
1. I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
2. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
3. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. 4. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. 5. He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again. 6. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. 7. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. 8. I believe in the Holy Spirit, 9. the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, 10. the forgiveness of sins, 11. the resurrection of the body, 12. and the life everlasting. Amen. This creed is an integral part of the Catholic and many Protestant churches (Anglican, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Methodist, and many Baptist for example). It is considered a synopsis of the Christian faith.
I don't mean at all for this to be a comprehensive answer to your questions. If you like, we can take each point one at a time, and discuss.
But the bottom line is this: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." Couple that with "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," and you've got a good start on understanding the Christian faith.
