GodsVoice
Active Member
Hi,
The Christian Scriptures record Jesus as asking "Who do you say that I am?" and I am interested in answers to that question and the basis for the answer. The Christian Scriptures indicate that the answer is that faith in Him is a gift from God.
I respect and love much of the wisdom found in both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, however, I think that the Christian Scriptures may be pragmatic in many ways and contain external influences. Some go as far as to propose that Jesus is a fictional figure. Do some think that Christianity is possibly a fable by the Roman Empire to have one state religion? I don't go that far but I do see that Christianity seems to incorporate elements from so many religions/beliefs in the Roman Empire at that time. Here is a list of Christian replacements of or commonality with former religions:
Jewish sacrifices -- new Sacrifice
Passover meal -- Christian "breaking of the bread" (Communion)
patron gods in Roman religion -- saints in Roman Church
Jupiter (sky father) in Roman religion -- God the Father
God as Father in Judaism -- God the Father
Jupiter (sky father) -- Jesus ascended into the sky
father-son gods in Roman religion -- Father and Son
Holy Spirit in Judaism -- Unity of the Trinity (Father-Son)
gods who impregnated women in Greek/Roman/pagan religion -- virgin birth
The human soul in Greek philosophy -- The belief in the soul
God breathes life into man in Judaism (Holy Spirit) -- Jesus is man by the Holy Spirit
Also one may wonder if it is coincidental that the Jewish Temple was destroyed by the Romans and Jewish sacrifices ceased. Some of the miracles of Jesus have close parallels in the Hebrew Scriptures. It is interesting that some responded to Jesus that some say He is Elijah. Also, one may wonder if some of the portrayal of Jewish leaders in Christian Scriptures accepted by the Roman Church was not based on Roman opposition to Judaism. At the same time, other Scripture passages seem to appeal to other Jews to accept this new religion (e.g. to form unity in the Empire). If the Roman government had an interest in turning Jewish people against their own leaders and have them accept a new state religion, wouldn't that be a clever way to do it? This raises the question of whether the Romans modified and leveraged Christianity (including Scripture) for their own purposes.
Daniel had to write about those Beast minded pagans who started the Roman Catholic Church and eventually the Protestant Denominational Christian groups that don't get along with the Catholics here in this prophecy;
Daniel 2:
36: "This was the dream; now we will tell the king its interpretation.
37: You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory,
38: and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the sons of men, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the air, making you rule over them all -- you are the head of gold.
39: After you shall arise another kingdom inferior to you, and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth.
40: And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things; and like iron which crushes, it shall break and crush all these.
41: And as you saw the feet and toes partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom; but some of the firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the miry clay.
42: And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle.
43: As you saw the iron mixed with miry clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.
44: And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall its sovereignty be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand for ever;
45: just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be hereafter. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure."
The Roman Catholic Church and Vatican is represented as the "feet of iron". The reason for iron is because it began in the days of the Roman Empire ( fourth kingdom ) who had discovered iron ore to build false gods with such as weapons, tools, sculptures, altars and even forks, knives and spoons. The main reason it's called "iron" because it's hard to break, meaning it's strong and will last a long time.
The Protestant Churches are represented as the "feet of clay" because clay is easily broken up into many tiny pieces which represents the nearly 40,000 Christian denominations today.