Adam5 Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Hi All I was reading from Acts the other day. The writer of acts of the apostles reveals that Christians were first called Christians in Antioch after Barnabas and Saul (renamed Paul) had been teaching "great numbers" of people for a year. "25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch." I guess most people here already know this, and I have heard the theory before that Paul started Christianity However I think this passage illustrates how Christianity started. We are so used to thinking of a guy called Jesus starting Christianity. But during the ministry of Jesus and a number of years following, there was no Christianity. The "Christians" were simply Torah observant Jews and followed a sect within Judaism. These facts are devastating to the Christian version of events as not many Christians like the Torah and generally ignore the unpleasantness of the Old Testament. Your thoughts? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mymistake Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 I would take that with a grain of salt. Acts might have been written a hundred years after Paul died. Large sections of it might be made up. The author of Acts probably also wrote the Gospel of Luke. He might not have been named Luke. We have no idea what his real name was but he made some serious blunders with historical events and dates. That means he was looking it up using bad sources. The reason people often attribute Christianity to Paul is because there is no surviving source that mentions Jesus Christ before Paul's letters. Now it is possible that Paul plagiarized his religion from a similar Jesus cult. However those sects must have been exterminated and their writings didn't survive. The closest we have is a few late gnostic writings that were buried instead of burned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deidre Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Going with the story, it seemed that Jesus was against organized religion, so guess it makes sense that Paul "started" Christianity by promoting Jesus Christ as the pinnacle of the faith. Not all Christians believe in the triune god though, so not sure how to take it. When I followed the faith, I believed in the Trinity, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orbit Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 I'm currently reading a scholarly book called "Who Wrote the New Testament" and it's pretty clear on the point that early Jesus cults had nothing to do with Paul, the inventor of Christianity. Paul's version won. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deidre Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Going with the story, it seemed that Jesus was against organized religion, so guess it makes sense that Paul "started" Christianity by promoting Jesus Christ as the pinnacle of the faith. Not all Christians believe in the triune god though, so not sure how to take it. When I followed the faith, I believed in the Trinity, Trinitarian Christianity is the version that won out, because it's the version approved, enforced, and promoted by Roman Emperor Constantine and his syndicate of Roman bishops. ah ha! I wondered where it got its roots...thank you for this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blood Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 Hi All I was reading from Acts the other day. The writer of acts of the apostles reveals that Christians were first called Christians in Antioch after Barnabas and Saul (renamed Paul) had been teaching "great numbers" of people for a year. "25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch." I guess most people here already know this, and I have heard the theory before that Paul started Christianity However I think this passage illustrates how Christianity started. We are so used to thinking of a guy called Jesus starting Christianity. But during the ministry of Jesus and a number of years following, there was no Christianity. The "Christians" were simply Torah observant Jews and followed a sect within Judaism. These facts are devastating to the Christian version of events as not many Christians like the Torah and generally ignore the unpleasantness of the Old Testament. Your thoughts? The passage only illustrates what Luke wishes how "Christianity" had started. It's just a myth like the rest of the NT. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jds22 Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 I'm currently reading a scholarly book called "Who Wrote the New Testament" and it's pretty clear on the point that early Jesus cults had nothing to do with Paul, the inventor of Christianity. Paul's version won. Is the author of this book Burton Mack? I just want to be sure I'm looking at the same book. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gall Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 Hi All I was reading from Acts the other day. The writer of acts of the apostles reveals that Christians were first called Christians in Antioch after Barnabas and Saul (renamed Paul) had been teaching "great numbers" of people for a year. "25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch." I guess most people here already know this, and I have heard the theory before that Paul started Christianity However I think this passage illustrates how Christianity started. We are so used to thinking of a guy called Jesus starting Christianity. But during the ministry of Jesus and a number of years following, there was no Christianity. The "Christians" were simply Torah observant Jews and followed a sect within Judaism. These facts are devastating to the Christian version of events as not many Christians like the Torah and generally ignore the unpleasantness of the Old Testament. Your thoughts? doesn't christ himself indicate that after he is gone he expected peter and the others to go out and start a formal church? I could care less for the bible but that is the way I always saw it. he was just the founder and his VP's needed to go out and actually sell the idea to the planet. From where I sit today watching 80-90% of the worlds population believe in ancient and primative ideas like this I would say they did a fine job growing their "brand" to bad they were selling poison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neverlandrut Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 Modern versions of Christianity are so adulterated with altered pagan theological and supernatural concepts; who can say how "Christianity" really got started and what the first believers really thought and believed? We have vague clues, but not much else. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miekko Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 Modern versions of Christianity are so adulterated with altered pagan theological and supernatural concepts; who can say how "Christianity" really got started and what the first believers really thought and believed? We have vague clues, but not much else. I wonder if there's any good reason to think this hasn't been the case from the very beginning of christianity, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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