What is christianity?

Well, no-one else has replied, so I may as well.

What is christianity? Oh, like most organised religions, generally a bad idea. :p

Hi Richard
Organised christianity is not Christianiy, but an idea highjacked and misused in the extreme.
Every idea when organised is abused by vultures in sheep clothing, and Christian Science the highest idea is also being destroyed by the organizers for the last 90 years. All great ideas have always been destroyed on the inside, never from without. Therefore Christianity is at the moment unknown.
Regards Meta

If you go back to the origins of Christianity, you need to look at the decisions made at the Council of Nicea in 315AD under the aegis of of the Emperor Constantine. All bishops and religious leaders were summoned from throughout the Roman Empire.

The prime motive was to unify a failing empire under one religion which they called Christianity (Christ was a Mithraic idea) and for Constantine to hedge his bets for the hereafter. They voted to make Jesus God in the manner of Roman Emperors. There are elements of Mithraism, the worship of Sol Invictus and a few other bits from elsewhere added to the Essene and Judaic basic ideas of the followers of Jesus.

Once the decisions were made, they then tried to obliterate all other ideas that would vie with this new doctrine and put it together in what we now call the Bible. Consequently a vast part of the ancient library at Alexandria was burned - with that we lost most of the knowledge from the ancients (all manuscripts that passed through Alexandria port were confiscated and copied for the library). The moslems burned the rest in the 7th century. This was disastrous for civilisation and we had to wait for the Renaissance to rediscover much of what was known in the past, and wait for trade with the Moors to acquire knowledge of science and medicine from the Persians.

The basic tenet of Christianity has been interpreted and reinterpreted over the years giving rise to many branches and revised ideas - and that includes the Bible. One should look at the Nag Hammadi tractates for ideas that were current with Jesus. Once one realises this, it is possible to understand that Christianity is a man-made religion.

I know a lot of wonderful people have led exemplary lives under the aethos of Christianity, and many people believe implicitly what has been taught. There is also an awful lot that has been wrong about the behaviour of those who profess these beliefs - not least of which what was done the the indigenous peoples of the Americas, and the Cathars for a start, and the wars perpetrated by those who disagree with other.

Religion is the stuff of wars. I personally find it hard to understand why some so-called intellectuals can be so taken in.

Having said that, I now have my own very deeply held ideas about What Is.

Hi Caroline
Thanx for your reply, and am aware of this history, but again it has nothing to do with Christianity, exept what it is not.

Regards Meta

What do you consider Christianity to be Meta?

Christianity has got to be following the direct teachings of Jesus as in the gospells.
Not confusing the bible with the teachings of Jesus, as the god of the old
testament is of a much lower vibration than the god that jesus teached of....
Love, understanding, non judgment, forgivness and being from the heart rather from head.

Also the idea of freeing the person from the control of organised religion, and being self resposible is seen in his teachings.

Although his teachings do not cover many pages, so what!
Those pages are very inspirational.

The teachings of Jesus, (being from the heart) are above religion,
so that anyone of any religion or non beleivers can be christians.

This from my diary..

I’m not what one would class as a Christian, that is not to say that I do not believe in God or Jesus (the Christ), but I do not feel that the current organisers (the Churches) are acceptable as the leaders of what should be a special group – so I don’t belong, and I don’t feel like I want to belong.
You see I think the many churches have lost their way – they have become controlling, and in their rush to control have forgotten much that Jesus said and taught, and the need to control has split them, making enemies of those who should be family.

Firstly Jesus was a healer, wherever he went people turned up to be healed, in their thousands, passed to him once through the roof of a building because there were so many in the crowds, this was his job.
He passed on this power to heal to the disciples, we know this from Matthew 10, and we know that they went about healing afterwards, Jesus told them to.
We also know that they passed the power to heal on from Acts 6 where Stephen and others were given the power to do miracles and heal.
We also know that priests and clergy have this passed to them, they are told to heal what is wounded and restore what is lost, they are to minister to the sick and prepare the dying for their death.
So the directions were clear, heal the sick and pass it on so others can.
Where then are the healers in the churches, how many have the laying on of hands (as opposed to praying for the sick), one of the main functions of the church lost and I struggle to see why.

Next – he said (this was the honest, humble part of him) don’t broaden your phylacteries, enlarge the borders of your garments, love the uppermost rooms and chief seat, being greeted as ‘the main man’, he said beware of the scribes who love to go in long clothing and love salutations in the marketplace. He attacked the moneylenders, he said don’t give your alms (donations) in public, he said pray in private, don’t repeat and repeat prayers hoping they will be heard more clearly, he spoke out against segregation and he spoke in a way that the ‘common man’ would understand .
So what do the churches do – they garb themselves in the finest, biggest robes, with huge hats, and golden staffs, they stand out in the open praying, they pretty much only open the church when a bowl for money is being publically passed round, they intone in latin the equivalent of spells that no one can understand, they build higher and bigger, grander and more flashy, they give sermons that no one can quite follow as if the mere saying of them is ok, no passion or involvement, missing all the important messages that were about love and compassion, they pray for victory in war, in the hope that ‘the right’ people will be killed – dear oh dear how long can I keep this up…..but they don’t heal, they don’t connect and it is as if they have forgotten how amidst all the rules of control – they have forgotten where it all started and what made it all great. They have lost sight of what Christianity is really about.

So I am one of the many who believe but are not ‘in’ the church, I find my own quiet path through it all, and in a small way tries to bring back some rightness into this world. What this makes me in your eyes is up to you, I do not necessarily feel the need to apply a label to my path.

added today - oregon, your observation about the energy of the old testament vs the new is spot on.

love
chris

Today Christianity has been taken over bible worshipers, people who think that the bible is
God!
Why they dont pursue the direct teachings of Jesus (which come from the highest
spiritual vibration) is because that is what have been told, and dont question.

The old testament god is not the same god that Jesus talks about, he is from a much
lower vibration, akin to the roman, Greek, viking gods in character accept being a single
deity. A child can see this!

When searching the teachings of Jesus, you have to take into account that from an
early age, he realized that he could not directly say anything against the current religious laws because of the strict blasphemy laws....they would have killed him!

Also the teachings come through a third party, from people who he told "you dont understand".

From his teachings, it can be seen that he would not support current power structure of
todays religions or the bible. (has the book of revalations anything to do with the teachings of Jesus)? Yet people spend years of there life studying the bible and call themselves
Christians.( the people who originated the Bilble are the same power crazed people who tortured, burned to death anyone non compliant, in the name of Christ).

Open yourself to parable of the good samaritan.

Jesus teachings are simply about having a good heart, love, understanding and forgiveness.

The old testament god is not the same god that Jesus talks about, he is from a much lower vibration, akin to the roman, Greek, viking gods in character accept being a single deity. A child can see this!.

This isn't fact, it is opinion. I appreciate that this is the Christianity forum and therefore the posts are likely to come from that direction, but you surely don’t have to defend your beliefs by insulting those of others?

To me as a Christian, the God of the Old Testament is the same God that Jesus talks about in the New Testament, simply because there is and can be only one infinite, all-powerful God. What changes throughout the Bible, however, is the concept that the various writers had of God. The Bible, and especially the Old Testament, is a very diverse collection of writings by many different authors (sometimes more than one within the one book), spanning several thousand years. Reading it with this in mind, one can see that the concepts of God gradually evolve from a very tribal, anthropomorphic, warlike deity to how Jesus' closest disciple eventually summed it up: "God is Love" (1 John).

Now this doesn't mean that the nature of God ever changed in all this time. Just that human understanding of the Divine has been evolving throughout the ages (and that's true in all religions and cultures). The Bible can be seen as a record of this, culminating in the teachings of Jesus and his revelation of our true nature as Godlike (rather than of God as humanlike!).

By the way, the Book of Revelation does have a lot to do with the teachings of Jesus. But it's all written in heavily symbolic language, and there have been many, many differing interpretations of what it's all meant to mean. I could go into this in more detail if anyone's interested, but I certainly don't claim to have the final word on it.

Oregon, I wasn't at all offended by your post. I thought you were spot on in your remark about "Bible worshippers" - sadly, you can find a lot of this on the internet, and even more sadly, it tends to be what gets public attention, leaving people thinking that this is what Christianity is all about. It isn't, at all.

I'm not sure if you've seen it, but there's an earlier thread on this forum by another practising Christian that I think sums up much better what Christianity is about, and what a deeper understanding of Jesus and his teachings can do for people's lives. If you've got time, I really recommend reading through it:

Love to all,

Charis :nature-smiley-008:

Sorry Crowan, did not mean to offend, it was a bit of a soap box rant moment.
And of course Charis I totally see your point and respect it. I took a look at the thread
that you suggested and found it very interesting, thank you.
Peace to all.

Sorry Crowan, did not mean to offend, it was a bit of a soap box rant moment.
And of course Charis I totally see your point and respect it. I took a look at the thread
that you suggested and found it very interesting, thank you.
Peace to all.

I wasn't offended. But there seemed to be an assumption in your writing (and in Charis's) that the 'Greek and Viking' gods, along with the god of the Old Testament, are no longer believed in. It's worth noting that - in addition to the beliefs of many Pagans and Shamanists around - the 'Viking Gods' include Odin. Odinism, along with Christianity, is an officially recognised religion in Iceland. And many Christians (and, of course, Jews) believe in the Old Testament god.
And - speaking as a shamanist - if a god is believed in then that god exists.

I wasn't offended. But there seemed to be an assumption in your writing (and in Charis's) that the 'Greek and Viking' gods, along with the god of the Old Testament, are no longer believed in.

Hi Crowan,

Not wanting to get into any kind of debate - I'm just wondering where the above assumption came through in my writing. I didn't say anything about the 'Greek and Viking' gods; I'm aware that there are modern religions that include worship of these and other deities. I was responding specifically to the idea that the god of the Old Testament is not the same god that Jesus talked about.

Jesus was a Jew, and according to the records we have, he and his followers constantly referred to the Jewish scriptures (i.e. the Old Testament) to explain who he was and what his mission was. There is no record that he ever claimed to have a different god from the one his people had followed for thousands of years, or that his earliest followers (who were also Jewish) saw themselves as giving up their old god for a new one.

In the first century of Christianity, there was a huge debate among the growing and increasingly diverse body of Christians over whether non-Jews who wanted to follow Jesus (virtually all of whom would have come from polytheistic religions) should be required to become Jews first and comply with the religious laws of Judaism - circumcision, kosher food, and so on. This was precisely because by becoming Christians, they had chosen to worship the same god that the Jews worshipped.

Eventually, Christianity did become a separate religion from Judaism. However, Judaism and Christianity and Islam, which all share a common origin, have always been built on the idea that there is only one god, the same god in all three religions. They differ (and sadly, have often fought) over who the ultimate prophet or representative of that god is. But according to the scriptures of all three religions, it is and has been the same god all along.

So 'the god of the Old Testament' IS still believed in and worshipped by Jews, Christians, and Muslims worldwide. As I was saying before, the human concept of that god has changed over time. But to monotheists, that doesn't make it a different god. That's all.

Love to all,

Charis

Not wanting to get into any kind of debate - I'm just wondering where the above assumption came through in my writing. I didn't say anything about the 'Greek and Viking' gods;

Sorry I didn't make this more clear. I was responding to both you and to Oregon. Oregon mentioned the other gods.

Sorry I didn't make this more clear. I was responding to both you and to Oregon. Oregon mentioned the other gods.

That's OK - I realised that. Just wanted to clarify that I also wasn't meaning to imply that the god of the Old Testament is no longer believed in.

Like your signature quote, by the way 😉