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| Christianity--What Is It? |
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Some say Christianity is a religion. But when you read the life of Jesus Christ, you notice that the religious people were the ones who were most offended by His teaching and by His lifestyle. Religious people were the ones who wanted Jesus killed.
 Russian writer Fydor Dostoevsky tells a story in the book, "The Grand Inquisitor" about Jesus coming again as a poor man to the Russian world of the 1800's. Once again, the religious people are offended with Jesus and have Him killed. Something tells me that Jesus didn't intend to start another religion.
Some say that Christianity is a teaching or a belief system. But as you read the New Testament, you see that the emphasis is on doing the word, not on hearing it, learning it, debating it, or merely studying it. Christianity has to be much more than doctrines or a creed.
Some say that Christianity is a tradition or a human culture. However, that reduces Christianity to a person's upbringing -- to nothing more than a religious heirloom that is passed down from generation to generation.
Some say that Christianity is a religious organization consisting of leaders, buildings, and meetings. But there are so many differing religious organizations, how would you know which one is genuine Christianity?
Some say that Christianity consists of merely attending a weekly religious meeting consisting of singing, an offering, announcements, sometimes a sacrament, and a lecture by a professional Christian. But that is like saying that watching American TV makes you an American. It is not really true.
So how can we discover what Christianity is? Thanks for asking. Why not read what Jesus taught and look at how the first Christians lived? Fortunately we can. The Gospels contain Jesus' teachings. Notice especially Matthew 5,6, & 7 -- "The Sermon On The Mount". Also "The Book of Acts" tells and shows how the first Christians lived.
If you care to know what Christianity really is, I encourage to read (and re-read) "The Sermon on the Mount" and "The Book Of Acts". Read them with an open mind and you will see genuine Christianity before your own eyes. |
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Remember, ALL of Scripture was written by Jews. If the Messiah did not come to start a new religion, but to RENEW the one laid out in the TaNaKh, should we not then look more like the Jewish brothers of Messiah Y-shua and not the paganism that we left behind whe we were ingrafted into the covenant family of Elohim? Does the fact that Y-shua and ALL of his followers is\were observant Torah-keeping Jews matter to anyone anymore? What about the blessings that Elohim, the El of Avraham, Yitz-chak and Ya-akov and Eretz Yisra-oel, longs to bestow on those who keep H-s Sabbaths? I do believe that Elohim still wants to and does bless those who choose to keep H-s appointed times. shalom, ach louquas |
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Great blog once again, Pastor Steve. To Loukas (who excites me by his being a Messianic Jew), my thoughts go to the book of Galations -- admittedly, written by a Jewish author, yet an apostle to the Gentiles. He didn't seem to think non-Jewish believers needed to "look" like Jews at all...
Galatians 5:6
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
God bless!! ~mike |
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Once again.... awesome blog Steve!
It's a 24/7 walking it out in Love, daily dieing to self, follower of Christ living in the Holy Spirit kinda' thing! |
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Amen Steve, I'm wondering.............if.............at a later date......you are going to recommend the rest of the New Testament? :)
Loukas, amen, paganistic lifestye is not equal to the Christian lifestyle ! |
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awesome blog Steve!
a life of grace and glory, which comes from God alone. |
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Christianity began to die the moment they ate from the pages(scrolls/letters) of the bible that projected a duality of Good and Evil. A religion can not stand if it divides against it's own people.
Christianity created to many enemies. You hear constantly. False this false that. They are a paranoid bunch of thinking minds. Love God/ but Fear God. Saved if you do/ not saved if you don't. Christianity is not secure. They have created a nightmare where no one can bond to anyone else except of their own color and type. We should be able to accept all of the various, diversified body. What so strange is the worst of the bunch of so called false teaching is directly from the pulpits. They are constantly preaching against one group or another.
I personally think present Christianity is a poison from a invisible realm. It's fruits have all the finger prints of a clever manipulative mind. It holds the mind in a very repressive form of captivity where it is paralyzed to ever allow a risk in adventure and creativity. What would happen if you told an artist he can never paint crooked lines or else.
Christianity has a virus and the leaders are making a killing $$$ by compromising with the Devil.
....and everyone knows the devil is behind the scenes. They can sense it. But They FEAR any changes would possibly trigger a last day prophecy. False prophets/false doctrine, and jeopardizing there shaky salvation ground.
Kw |
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| I think Steve is talking about real Christianity. |
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| To coin a phrase "Christianity is a relationship it is not a religion." |
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| Excellent comments. I really enjoyed reading them. Thanks to you all! |
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Christianity is........Him......His Body....in this World.......The Church.
His Hands......His Feet.........Managing The Business of Eliminating The Curse from Creation. |
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Well my bible is good for many things. I like it as a Guide to go by. It projects many Truths. One of these Truths are that a close disciple betrayed Jesus. I believe this was a warning to all Generations. Christianity is liken to a disciple. It takes the gold every time it is offered. It compromises the True Gospel in order to get along with the Pharisee type leaders of every synagogue. They do not want Grace and Mercy to reign forever. They do not want Free grace. They prefer their own Faith compared to the Faith of God. They do not want Jesus to be the Savior of all Men as to His genuine Title, But rather their own Title that Jesus saves only if you believe the way we do.
When Christianity throws it's Gold in the street, and repents and steps down from the higher platform above their own and forgives every man his tress passes and stops pointing their fingers at everyone different than themselves, I will then be open minded to their genuine Heart of worship. |
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| Trust and obey for there is no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. |
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Ed |
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May 06, 2008 at 7:13am |
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Here's another phrase that I have remembered from long ago: Religion is man-made, Christianity is Christ-made. We need to be careful that we are not merely religious, but actually follow Christ's teachings...then we can be called Christians.
I may be a little slow, but what's up with Kingdom Within? Am I not getting it? Where's he coming from? Somebody put it in simple terms for me, please. |
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| Jesus said: "The kingdom of God is within you." He also said: "Seek first the kingdom of God and His right living." |
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Ed |
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May 07, 2008 at 6:29am |
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| You're right, apodemeo, Christ never came to establish organizations or movements. I'm not sure about Constantine, my history books says he was instrumental in ALLOWING Christianity to proliferate, i.e., he didn't start Christianity, he tolerated the Christians. The Bible says (Acts 11:26) that in Antioch (way before Constantine) followers of Christ were first called Christians. And it wasn't the followers of Christ who coined the phrase, it was His opponents. True, Jesus came to "seek and save", not "organize and establish". But because of his radical Judaism, He was a stand out. His life and teaching were so influential we can now say that He was the source of Christianity. To be called a Christian is a good thing...if you follow Christ in the way that He taught. |
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