christianity is not monotheistic.

[Yoshiyahu]

Where Did Christianity come from?

What I mean is what was Christianity before it went to Europe? There were believers in Yisrael and Africa before Europeans converted. So what was different than. I know believers in the messiah called their god Yahweh and the messia Yeshua and their religion was called "The Way" by them and the Pharisees called them Nazorenes!


But what made them different than todays Christianity?

For instance they may have not celebrated
Christmas Easter halloween
may have not had relics like statues,paintings and crosses
may have not prayed to saints and angels
many other things christians do today.

What do you think followers of The Way were like in contrast todays evolved Christianity?

 

[jarrod]

The funny thing is that if you talk to a hindu they may tell you their religion is also monotheistic. The other gods are just manifestations of Brahma. Buddism, Taoism, Shinto and Confusionism are not considered religions is some countries because there is no god. You can classify anything any way you want to, but all Christians, Jews and Muslims will tell you there is one god. Call him Yahweh, God or Allah if you want to.

for the most part i agree, but shinto has a pretty clearly defined pantheon of gods. also while buddhism & taoism are not considered religions by some, those people are usually the educated elites. if you look at those modes of thought at the popular level, you will still have prayers & devotionals to bodhisattvas & immortals, often asking for things like wealth, health, happiness, etc, just like many religions.

jf

 

[jarrod]

Where Did Christianity come from?

What I mean is what was Christianity before it went to Europe? There were believers in Yisrael and Africa before Europeans converted. So what was different than. I know believers in the messiah called their god Yahweh and the messia Yeshua and their religion was called "The Way" by them and the Pharisees called them Nazorenes!


But what made them different than todays Christianity?

For instance they may have not celebrated
Christmas Easter halloween
may have not had relics like statues,paintings and crosses
may have not prayed to saints and angels
many other things christians do today.

What do you think followers of The Way were like in contrast todays evolved Christianity?

as elder alluded to in a previous posts, christianity was an extremely varied system of belief prior to the council of nicea in 325AD. in fact, i don't think it was intended to be spread outside of the jewish community until the gospel of luke was written sometime towards the end of the 1st century. so i think non-jewish christians prior to nicea probably somewhat freely adapted the teachings of christianity based on a) what texts they had available to them & b) the influence of their indigenous culture.

as far as differences between primitive christians & modern? entire books have been writtten about it. i think the most significant difference though is that they were not under the authority of any church hierarchy beyond that of their own community.

jf

 

[sjansen]

for the most part i agree, but shinto has a pretty clearly defined pantheon of gods. also while buddhism & taoism are not considered religions by some, those people are usually the educated elites. if you look at those modes of thought at the popular level, you will still have prayers & devotionals to bodhisattvas & immortals, often asking for things like wealth, health, happiness, etc, just like many religions.

jf

I'm with ya about shinto due to the fact they worship the natural. But, some countries do not recognize these as gods. All religions including those without a defined god pray/meditate, whether it be to find enlightenment or such. I'm not saying that Buddism and Taoism are not religions. Just that the are not recognized as such to a lack of a defined source in god. Moslty these are from communist and theocracist countries.