Origin of Christianity

Origin of Christianity (If you don't like religious writes don't read on) It may surprise some that Jesus was born a Jew, his parents Joseph and Mary were Jewish, both from the tribe of Judah, in the lineage of King David. (Matt 1:6,16) Jesus (Latinized form of the Greek I-e-sous) (Hebrew Yehoshua, or Yeshua) was raised a Jew, was taught the Jewish traditions attending synagogue in Nazareth in Galilee, from a very young age. He was taught the daily prayer called the Shema found at Deut6:4 "Hear Oh Israel Yahweh (Jehovah) your God is one Yahweh (Jehovah). So Jesus was raised believing in the one true God as worshiped by the Jews. Jesus would go to Jerusalem and listen to the great teachers of that time, and they in turn listened to him, as he had demonstrated his skilled use of the scriptures even at the tender age of 12. It was his families custom to go to Jerusalem for the Jewish festivals like Passover, festival of booths etc. Some mistakenly believe Jesus was Catholic, that is impossible as the Catholic church didn't appear until 300 years after Jesus death. For the origin of Catholicism just google it. (founded by Constantine the Emperor of Rome c325 CE) Jesus was raised to observe the Mosaic Law (some 600 laws named after Moses who received it directly from God). After Jesus grew to adulthood, he was baptized at 30 years of age, and at that time became Jesus the Christ ( Greek Khristos, means Chosen one) In Hebrew the equivalent term was Ma'shi'ach (Messiah) Jesus as Christ or Messiah began teaching people in all of the Roman provinces of Judea and Galilee, teaching many new things, but mainly taught about the coming Kingdom of God. He continued believing (and teaching) some of the Jewish traditions such as the resurrection back to earthly life, that the Grave (Hebrew Sheol) is the destination for the dead, and there they would await resurrection back to life. (see the account of Lazarus' resurrection back to life John chapter 11. It's noteworthy that he was dead for 4 days and there is no record that he was in heaven and came back to the earth)) The teaching that the soul is immortal came from Greek philosophers, sadly Jewish tradition adopted that teaching in the second and third centuries after Jesus death. The common teaching today of the Immortal soul, Trinity, and Hellfire, were not taught by the first century Jews, and therefore was not taught by Jesus or his disciples that followed his teachings. (For more information on the origins of these doctrines look up each one in any encyclopedia, even the New Catholic encyclopedia.) The first Christian congregation was located in Jerusalem and was made up of the Twelve Apostles, some of Jesus family (who became disciples after Jesus death) and many disciples numbering about 120. Fifty days after Jesus resurrection there was the Jewish festival called Pentecost ( meaning 50th day) and there Jesus' disciples received the Holy Spirit (it was poured out upon them proving it was not an actual person) After that event there arose a great persecution, and many disciples from Jerusalem were scattered to other cities, some to Antioch (Syrian) and it was from there that the term Christian was first used to describe Jesus disciples. (See Acts 11:26, previously they were called Nazarenes or the sect The Way) As many of the new believers were not Jewish, rather Gentiles, there arose a dispute as to whether Christians needed to follow Jewish customs such as circumcision, and Jewish holy days, and dietary restrictions. Some Jewish religious teachers called Pharisees became Christians, and they strongly tried to force all Christians (Jew and non-jew) to continue practicing the Mosaic law. However over time it was revealed to the Apostles that because Jesus fulfilled the Mosaic Law, they as Christians were no longer under that law that was given specifically to the Jews. These disputes were resolved by the Apostles and the account can be found at Acts chapter 15. About the year 60 CE the Apostle Paul rebuked those Pharisaic teachers who were zealots for the Mosaic Law, saying that they were trying to subvert the Christian faith, and they were not to be tolerated and if they did not change they should be rejected and expelled from the congregation. So by that date true Christians stopped celebrating Jewish festivals, Sabbaths, Passovers etc. (Notably First Century Christians did not join political parties, join the military, celebrate birthdays, Christmas, or other pagan festivals.) Christmas had it's start around the year 325CE. After all of the Apostles died, (John the last around 98CE) Christian truth began to be mixed with Roman and Greek philosophy, and as a consequence pure Christianity was adulterated with paganism, and a pseudo Christianity was born. This was not a surprise for Jesus foretold in Matthew chapter 13 that true Christians (the wheat in the illustration) would be mixed with weeds( false or pseudo Christians) and that they would grow together and would be indistinguishable until the time of the harvest ( the final judgement) but then there would be a separating of the wheat and the weeds. For more information google any of these statements and you will find public records confirming dates of celebrations and first century history. This is written to inform any who want to learn about true Christian teachings, obviously we all choose what we want to believe and I respect your choice! John Derek Hamilton May 16,2020