When asked what was the most important law, Christ responded "Love". "Love God, love your neighbour." That my friends is almost the most important part of Christianity. People like to over-analyze, confuse, theorize and over-complicate Christianity. But like all good things, simpler is better, and you can't get much more simple than that. Peace, -Niffer
The teachers of the day were the Pharesiees. High priests of judism. They were rich and fat, wore jewels and lived luxuriously. Then along comes this ex-carpenter saying he's the Son of God, and all the old laws (Leviticus) no longer apply. You didn't need to sacrifice animals, you didn't need to spill blood of innocent creatures to gain forgiveness from God. In fact, all you need to do is accept and believe that Jesus was, in fact, the Son of God, and you were eternally redeemed. This really pissed the Pharisee's off, they counted on the sacrifices and donations from the people - and Christ was preaching to the people to love, he was having dinner with prostitutes and taxmen, he taught to give away all your possessions and to live sacrificially. Definitely not what the Pharisee's had been teaching. So they gathered a mob, and killed Christ, not knowing that by doing so, Jesus himself was become the perfect sacrifice for all of our sins, and he did so as a man, and as God. ...aaaandd thats why he was hated. Peace, -Mama
Best to read the New Testament for yourself, or you invite a chinese whispers type response. Otherwise ask in the sanctuary, it's for Christians only.
Actually the Pharisees are portrayed this way in the NT as the result of 1st-century Christian politicizing. In fact, they were the more liberal of the groups within Judaism at the time, interested in wisdom practices and social justice. Read the relevant passage in Karen Armstrong's "A History of God" to learn way more about who the Pharisees actually were. Keep in mind that the Pharisees were the fathers of the beautiful wisdom tradition we now know as rabbinical Judaism (all modern Judaism, in fact all Judaism since the destruction of the 2nd Temple).
yes , Jesus of the Goats . you might think the goats have been better off since those days of ritual sacrifice , but not really . in a milkgoat herd most of the yearly contingent of baby bucks go to the butcher while the girlies might be kept or sold as replacement milkers .
Christianity is completely concerned with peace. Many Muslims call Islam a religion of peace. So many religions make this tenant their flag-ship issue. And yet, they historically failed and fail. Christ was stuck to a tree to death and his religious institution eventually grew to be oppressive. Islam creates hurtful Jihads. Darkness descends. This is to be expected. Humans aren't a peaceful people. That's why these messages of peace are so important. They're tantamount to medicine for the soul. So call Christianity a religion of hypocrites, call Islam a religion of war and hate... But the truth is, we're all soul-sick creatures and from time to time, we have to take our medicine. -BlkBks
It's hard enough to prove that there was a Jesus, let alone say with much certainty what He taught. The Gnostics, the Ebionites, and the proto-Orthodox (Pauline) Christians had different views on the subject. The Jesus Seminar has tried to identify the most reliable teachings attributed to Jesus--coming up with less than 20% of the ones given to us in the gospels. But their methodology is certainly open to question. In addition to going by how many of the gospels corroborate a particular teaching, they place a lot of importance on how early the gospel was written, and (most dubiously) whether or not it "sounds like Jesus" on the basis of the seminarians' views of His style. Since they consider non-canonical, as well as canonical, sources, they give the Gospel of Thomas more importance than perhaps it deserves. When I say I'm a Christian, I mean that I've bet my life on certain teachings and a role model presented in the Christian gospels, especially the Sermon on the Mount, the various parables, and the Golden Rule. To me, Jesus stands for non-judgmental, unconditional love for everyone, especially society's rejects. If someone could show me that's not what the real Jesus stood for, I'd go looking for another role model.
