sickness

Its been a very long time since I posted anything to this blog. I started this blog in 2007 to chronical my missionary journeys to China, and so that my family and friends could read about our experiences. Later, I began to post just thoughts about the Christian belief. I posted a bit of misery we went through and then back to thoughts. I am going to pick up where I left off. Christianity is no different then the organized Jewish religion that existed when Jesus was born. We have to look deep into this, it is not something you can merely parrot the words of your pastor or Sunday school teacher to explain. Jesus did not go against the religion, His religion, the religion God designed. Rather, He spoke against what man had created out of it. Likewise, after the departure of the apostolic fathers, the apostles, we have what is called the early church fathers, the like of Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine of Hippo, Pope Gregory, and John Chrysostom to name a few. Many of these men were steeped in Greek philosophy and pagan rituals. We’ll call it baggage, of which they brought it with them when they become Christians. There is no doubt they inculcated their Greek philosophy and paganism with Christianity. We see that in Paul’s letters, such as Colossians 2:8 where he states clearly that philosophy is hallow and deceptive. In 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, Paul speaks of not using flowery speech to testify about God. However, it must be noted that Paul used philosophical arguments in his letters. So, to say that Greek philosophy did not mix into the new faith would be wrong and misleading. Over the centuries, many more great men have followed in the footsteps of the early church fathers. Many adding to the already burgeoning manmade doctrine. I have to ask you, do we really need the 3rd century doctrine of the trinity to understand God, Jesus and the Spirit? What of the doctrine of original sin? Again, postulated not by the Apostles but those who came later. Augustine was the first to use the term “Original sin,” and only became popular with reformers like Luther and Calvin. Augustine’s doctrine has little origins in the bible and was created by a mistranslation of Paul’s letter to Romans. Original sin has no basis in Judaism or biblically for that matter. People sin, simple as that. Some sin more than others. In Hebrew there are multiple words for sin, each carrying a different concept, nuances in the word; however, it does mean to miss, to fail. Hebrews and later, Jews, believed in good and bad desire. Bad desire is what makes you disobey the law. This is sin in their world. People are not born with sin but develop it. With this in mind, we consider that today, Christianity is full of tradition and laws, no different that the Pharisee of Jesus’ time. Belief is God is simple, if you believe in God, and you love Him, you will obey him. How do you know what is right and wrong? There is the Torah law, those which apply to Gentiles, and then there is your heart. Paul says God wrote the law on our hearts. Jesus says, love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and to love your neighbors as you love yourself. Doing this fulfills the law. It’s fairly simple when you really break it down to its fundamentals and begin to remove manmade ideas, traditions and rules. Puritanism in a sense.