What was Christianity originally about?

The ancient gnostics were closer to the truth than the worldly form of Christianity that went on to dominate the world. The Christianity that we have had for 1600 years has been about heirarchy and domination and belonging to a large group. The original Christianity was about becoming who you were before you came into the world. Resurrection is about resurrecting the soul, and it applies to everyone. Those are the teachings that this other form of Christianity had,

www.orderofmelchizedek.com...

Originally posted by MayorOfCydonia
The ancient gnostics were closer to the truth than the worldly form of Christianity that went on to dominate the world. The Christianity that we have had for 1600 years has been about heirarchy and domination and belonging to a large group. The original Christianity was about becoming who you were before you came into the world. Resurrection is about resurrecting the soul, and it applies to everyone. Those are the teachings that this other form of Christianity had,

www.orderofmelchizedek.com...

original christianity is/was "different" compared WITH today's christianity religion. Even WAY-BEFORE the christianity and religion was about... even life for people were ALOT different still. christianity and religionist people have screwed the world.

reply to post by MayorOfCydonia


Thank you, MayorOfCydonia, for bringing this information to light. The modern Gnostics I know feel the same way. Me included.

HA!!!!

I used to be a regular "westernized Christian" and then after getting re-baptized ....a whole bunch of mystical experiences started happening to me.

When I shared these things with my fellow Christians they looked at me like I was nuts, they dis-owned me. Now I know what Jesus felt when Peter disowned him.

ANyway, some-one told me to call a monastery for answers ...they told me about certain books and all the answers came from Christian Mystics, monks, gnostics, and surprisingly alot of it has commonalities with Mystic hinduism (advaita vedanta), and Buddhism ......Go Figure!!!!!

Originally posted by MayorOfCydonia
The ancient gnostics were closer to the truth than the worldly form of Christianity that went on to dominate the world. The Christianity that we have had for 1600 years has been about heirarchy and domination and belonging to a large group. The original Christianity was about becoming who you were before you came into the world. Resurrection is about resurrecting the soul, and it applies to everyone. Those are the teachings that this other form of Christianity had,

www.orderofmelchizedek.com...

Christianity was originally about the physical death and transphysical resurrection of Jesus...
...that was firmly rooted in a Hebrew theological mindset.

The gnostic spin came later and reflected a more hellenized belief first devised by Homer and later developed by Plato that the material world was flawed and only the spiritual world perfect and preferred...
...that death was to leave the material world behind...
..,some notions of this still breath within Chritian theology...
...like the belief in an eternal hell and a disembodied post-mortem future.

Gnostic ideas found there way into the story as the early Christian community became less Hebrew and increasingly Gentile (non-Hebrew).

The physical death and resurrection of Jesus really made no sense to Greek sensibilities.

This is the background of Paul's words...

1 Corinthians 1:22-23 "For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: 23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;"

Just as now early Christianity was full of many different points of view and interpretations , hence one of the reasons much of the new testament is of books taken from letters from the apostle to the early churches explaining doctrine .

Just to mention a few of the many different points of view at the time ,,, Some believed Jesus was not a man but simply a spirit that looked like a man well others believed that he was a real man . Others thought that the God of the old testament was a different God , different than the one spoke of by Jesus .

As long as its been left to man to try and understand and interpret there have been different takes on it , just as it is now .



[edit on 28-6-2010 by Max_TO]

Originally posted by troubleshooter

1 Corinthians 1:22-23 "For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: 23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;"

I'm wondering if Athiesm originated with the Greeks while Theism originated with the Jews.

The term atheism originated from the Greek ἄθεος (atheos), meaning "without gods", which was applied with a negative connotation to those thought to reject the gods worshipped by the larger society. With the spread of freethought, skeptical inquiry, and subsequent increase in criticism of religion, application of the term narrowed in scope.

en.wikipedia.org...

[edit on 28-6-2010 by In nothing we trust]

reply to post by MayorOfCydonia


It was about,
Control.
Third line.

When I saw this headline the first thought in my head was,
The same as any other religeon, peace, understanding, tolerance, humility and humanity.
But unfortunately most major religeons have been degraded to suit individual needs and the original message has been usurped for gain for the person singular rather than the whole of humanity.

Originally posted by In nothing we trust

Originally posted by troubleshooter

1 Corinthians 1:22-23 "For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: 23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;"

I'm wondering if Athiesm originated with the Greeks while Theism originated with the Jews.

The Hebrews believed in One God....
...the Greeks believed in multiple 'gods'...
...they had a god for everything...
...they even acknowledged 'the unknown god' in case they missed one.

The Greek pantheon of 'gods' had similar roots to the Nephiyl in Hebrew history...
...the Greek 'gods' were usually god/human hybrids...
...super-humans of popular mythology.

Atheism as such is a relatively recent phenomena...
...originally it was a word which meant 'godless'...
...used as a term of censure 'ungodly' or 'impious'.

So no the Greeks did not originate atheism.

Originally posted by troubleshooter

Originally posted by In nothing we trust

Originally posted by troubleshooter

1 Corinthians 1:22-23 "For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: 23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;"

I'm wondering if Athiesm originated with the Greeks while Theism originated with the Jews.

The Hebrews believed in One God....
...the Greeks believed in multiple 'gods'...
...they had a god for everything...
...they even acknowledged 'the unknown god' in case they missed one.

The Greek pantheon of 'gods' had similar roots to the Nephiyl in Hebrew history...
...the Greek 'gods' were usually god/human hybrids...
...super-humans of popular mythology.

Atheism as such is a relatively recent phenomena...
...originally it was a word which meant 'godless'...
...used as a term of censure 'ungodly' or 'impious'.

So no the Greeks did not originate atheism.

What's interesting is that the early christians and Greeks appeared to accuse eachother of being athiests. Which only makes sense since belief in one pretty much nullified the others belief.

In the 5th century BCE, the word began to indicate more-intentional, active godlessness in the sense of "severing relations with the gods" or "denying the gods", instead of the earlier meaning of "impious".

The term ἀσεβής (asebēs) then came to be applied against those who impiously denied or disrespected the local gods, even if they believed in other gods. Modern translations of classical texts sometimes render atheos as "atheistic".

As an abstract noun, there was also ἀθεότης (atheotēs), "atheism". Cicero transliterated the Greek word into the Latin atheos.

The term found frequent use in the debate between early Christians and Hellenists, with each side attributing it, in the pejorative sense, to the other.

en.wikipedia.org...
Addional source: figmentalism.com...

Early Christianity is commonly defined as the Christianity of, roughly, the three centuries (1st, 2nd, 3rd, early 4th) between the Crucifixion of Jesus (c. 30) and the First Council of Nicaea (325).

en.wikipedia.org...

Hellenists

Greek religion encompasses the collection of beliefs and rituals practiced in ancient Greece in the form of both popular public religion and cult practices.

en.wikipedia.org...

[edit on 28-6-2010 by In nothing we trust]

Originally posted by troubleshooter

Originally posted by MayorOfCydonia
The ancient gnostics were closer to the truth than the worldly form of Christianity that went on to dominate the world. The Christianity that we have had for 1600 years has been about heirarchy and domination and belonging to a large group. The original Christianity was about becoming who you were before you came into the world. Resurrection is about resurrecting the soul, and it applies to everyone. Those are the teachings that this other form of Christianity had,

www.orderofmelchizedek.com...

Christianity was originally about the physical death and transphysical resurrection of Jesus...
...that was firmly rooted in a Hebrew theological mindset.

The gnostic spin came later and reflected a more hellenized belief first devised by Homer and later developed by Plato that the material world was flawed and only the spiritual world perfect and preferred...
...that death was to leave the material world behind...
..,some notions of this still breath within Chritian theology...
...like the belief in an eternal hell and a disembodied post-mortem future.

Gnostic ideas found there way into the story as the early Christian community became less Hebrew and increasingly Gentile (non-Hebrew).

The physical death and resurrection of Jesus really made no sense to Greek sensibilities.

This is the background of Paul's words...

1 Corinthians 1:22-23 "For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: 23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;"

Yep. Troubleshooter hit the nail on the head. The Gospel of Thomas is not considered canon for a very good reason. It's all made up.

To understand what true Christianity is, you need to understand the mindset of the Hebrew people and the relationship they had with their God. You need to understand what the Covenant was the people had with God and how this Covenant wasn't working.. not because it was faulty, but because the people would not follow it.

Enter Jesus and the New Covenant ( Testament)

That is what the terms testament from the Old and New Testament means.. the word testament mean Covenant.

Unless you really study this relationship the Hebrews had with God, you can never really understand what Christianity is really about. Unfortunately this is not taught in most churches. Christianity is in fact an extension of Judaism in that it replaces the first Hebrew Covenant for God's Chosen people, and also only extended to the Gentiles.

Paul speaks about becoming a Spiritual Jew.. an having the mind of a Jew.. He tells this to the Christian gentiles.. in effect.. all Christians are to become like Jews, because then they would understand this idea of the covenant the Jews lived with for so long and how it applies to them.

Gnosticism does not support this Covenant relationship. It seeks to take the meaning of true Christianity and turn it into something worldly that is far removed from Hebrew origins. Therefore it cannot have anything to do with true Christianity.

You may depending on who you listen to believe that Gnosticism was older than Christianity but that is just some sects. Many Gnostics believe that Gnosticism came around after Christianity was on the scene. I think it is very untrue to call Gnosticism the first type of Christianity. You may say it was an early Religion, but not Christianity.



[edit on 28-6-2010 by JohnPhoenix]

Originally posted by gordonwest
christianity and religionist people have screwed the world.

Yes just like its the guns that kill people, not the person operating it right? Use your brain, it's PEOPLE that screwed the world, and ignorance like blaming it on something else like what you just did.

reply to post by MayorOfCydonia


The original Christianity was about following the teachings of Jesus Christ.

He taught peace, love, forgiveness, compassion and joy.

Then along came humans and twisted Christianity, as humans twist everything.

I don't know why He bothered.

Originally posted by catwhoknows
reply to post by MayorOfCydonia

 

The original Christianity was about following the teachings of Jesus Christ.

He taught peace, love, forgiveness, compassion and joy.

Then along came humans and twisted Christianity, as humans twist everything.

I don't know why He bothered.

You are incorrect.

Original Christianity was NOT a Belief-system.

Western society, steeped in Aristotelian rationalism, always seeks a formulated and systematized ideology to adhere to.

Christianity is not a belief-system...
...it is the historical reality of resurrection of Jesus...
...and the relationship dynamic of the person and life of Jesus Christ by the Spirit.

reply to post by troubleshooter


Or maybe...YOU are incorrect!

Christianity was founded upon the existence of Jesus - that is His name, after all, having been here on this earth in order to save people.

Then everyone else stepped in and wrecked the name of Christianity forever.

I just got back to the roots.

You got to after that.

I think that original religious stuff was about things not understood by us... like our star system being binary and the ideas of dimensions outside of the one we can preserve with our 5 senses.