Problems in Christianity
Christianity is one of the largest practiced religions in the world, yet there is still hatred towards every walk of life. This is due to many different interpretations of the Bible throughout the years. The Bible has been revised so many times that no one knows what the original could or would have said. Even if there are ancient scriptures around today who owns them and why are these texts not published in their original format. We are still using different versions of the Bible that contain many revisions. These revisions have caused thousands of contradictions in how people should run their lives.
Christianity began like every other religion starting out, as a cult. Roughly 2,000 years ago a man, Jesus Christ, was born into this world. Throughout his life he performed many miracles and began to get a large following of believers. He was referred to as a savior for the people, the one who would deliver them unto salvation.
This all began during the era of the Roman Empire. The Romans felt that Jesus was a threat so they had him killed by means of crucifixion. Supposedly three days after his death Jesus came back as a spirit to prove his holiness. This sparked an explosion in this new religion.
Once Christianity had taken much of Europe, the Bible began to change. Kings began having monks change the Bible to suit their (the kings’) beliefs. The Bible was used to condemn all other religions in Europe, especially Paganism. The present image of the devil was derived from Paganism. The Christians told the Pagans that they should fear their horned god because he was a beast, and instead convert to Christianity where the All Mighty was good and peaceful. How ironic, that in today’s society we are told to fear the Christian god, because his vengeance is great, like they told the Pagans to leave their God because he caused them fear. Yet today we tell our Christian children to fear God because he punishes the sinners. The reasoning is different but it is fear just the same.
One contradiction in the Bible is the question that there is more than one god. In Deuteronomy 6:4 “The Lord our God is one Lord.” While in Genesis 1:26 “And God said, Let us make man in our image.” Both of these quotes come from the King James Version of the Bible. Which one should we follow? Most believe that this reference t...
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...dictions throughout the Bible are due to the original meanings of a word or other possible translations. Although it is always scholarly to consider the original languages, why should that be necessary with the “word of God?” An omnipotent, omniscient deity should have made his all-important message unmistakably clear to everyone, everywhere, at all times. No one should have to learn an extinct language to get God’s message. If the English translation is flawed or imprecise, then God failed to get his point across to English speakers. A true fundamentalist should consider the English version of the Bible to be just as inerrant as the original because if we admit that human error was possible in the translation, then it is equally possible in the original writing. If a
contradiction exists in English then the Bible is contradictory and therefore a flawed book.
Works Cited
The Bible, King James Version.
The Bible Gateway. “http://www.bible.gospelcom.net”
Graves, Robert, Raphael Patai. The Hebrew Myths.
Buenos Aires: Editorial Losada, 1969.
The Kabbala.
Morris, Henry M., and Henry Morris III. Many Infallible Proofs.
Green Forest: Master Books, Inc, 1990.
For thousands of years there have been many transcriptions and changes to the words of God, For example, just in the last thousand years there has been three different transcriptions, The New Testament, Homer, and also Sophocles. For a person not to look for their own interpretation of the lord’s book is
People, specifically in the U.S., have gone from viewing the bible as “The absolute, unchanging word of God,” to, “A collection of guidelines, allegories, myths, and stories useful for good living. Offensive versus must be igno...
This quote by Gene Nowlin in his book The Paraphrased Perversion of the Bible summarizes the composition of the Bible. Throughout life, Christians grasp tightly to these words of God in hopes to inherit the Kingdom of God one day. In order to do this, they must study the Bible closely and apply it to their lives daily. Without the proper Bible, this may become a difficult task to accomplish. Although the various translations of the Christian Bible are exceptionally similar in their message, some have quite a few differences and perversions that set them apart from one another. Many of them even leave out several potentially important verses in their revision. These variations contribute to the justification of one translation being more reliable and accurate than the other versions.
The Christian religion, like all other religions has its strengths and weaknesses in our modern society. Perhaps the strengths out weight the weaknesses as this is one of the largest religions in the world. Hundreds of people follow the Catholic/Christian religion yet still a greater number follow yet other religions. Perhaps this is because they see the weaknesses or perhaps it is simply because their parents have taught them that it is a sin to follow this religion.
Even though humans wrote the text, translating it and passing it down from generations to generations, God’s truth is unchanging. Debates of the inerrancy of the bible cannot usurp God as the King of grace. Instead of focusing on the inerrancy of the Bible, individuals who wish to seek a life of faith should focus on the inspiration God is showing them in his word. These revelations should move them into applicable, daily life changing implications from what they have learned. God shows revelations of himself through the Bible, and his character is revealed time and time again throughout scripture. Any faulty facts or discrepancies in grammar or data, should not take away from the value that scripture holds. When we read scripture we bring new meaning of interpretations of the truths God shows us, since new eras and environmental factors will be influential on how we process information. The bible is not just a fact book, telling humans stories of the past, but instead the bible is inspired instructions for how we can deal with spiritual and ethical encounters we
The question of identity regarding God and the Devil has been an ongoing dilemma for religious philosophers. No true identity can be formed due to the lack of undeniable evidence surrounding the figures. In addition, it has always been difficult to relate either characters to tangible or worldly matter; seeing how both are non-perceivable and equivocal figments in our minds. A start is to relate these supernatural beings to each other. The abilities of each are in contrast; God can create but not control, whereas, the Devil can control but not create. Creation is the act of making new matter, whereas the act of controlling is forcing matter to act based on the wishes of the controller.
As ancient Rome began to fall, Christianity began rising. Around 2,000 years ago, Jesus of Nazareth was born, later to be known as the Messiah or Son of God. When people of the Roman era began to hear of such a powerful being, they began to convert to Christianity. Why did Christianity take hold on the ancient world; Christianity took hold on the ancient world because it offered immortality, equality, and it was spread like wildfire.
While many Jews continued to follow their original faith, there were several that converted to this new way of living. Origination of Christianity starts with a Jew names Jesus, here it is seen again where present times were very difficult and Jesus was able to provide salvation to the people of his community. In the Jewish scriptures a messiah was predicted to happen and Jesus was believed to be the Messiah. In contrast many people did not believe that he was the Messiah and Jesus eventually was crucified by Pagans. Despite the horrific event that took place, Jesus was resurrected and passed a long his messages from God. Jesus brought light into the lives of the poor and helped the ill, he wanted a change to happen as there were many wars and chaos present at the time. After Jesus’ death, Paul, one of his apostles, left to travel around the neighboring countries and spread the name of Jesus and his teachings. Paul was a very important individual and main contributor to the success of
Christianity was first brought about by Jesus, who preached he was the son of God. After Jesus was hung on the cross and then resurrected one of his apostles, Paul, started the church. It first became popular in Jerusalem, and then continued to spread throughout the rest of the Middle-East, eventually reaching ...
Christianity has the largest population worldwide and has been able to continue to develop over the centuries. “Christianity is the name given to a religion based on the first century CE life and ministry of Jesus”. His followers claimed Jesus to be “The Jewish Messiah”, a person sent to the people of Israel to bring salvation and hope. However, during the first century, Christianity spread throughout the regions controlled by the Roman Empire and as Jesus’ followers began to separate from Judaism they established this living religion. Thus, the core foundation of Christianity is based on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, which can be found today in the Bible.
Christianity is a diverse religion with a multitude of beliefs that comprise the core of the religion. There are an abundant number of sects within Christianity however there are a few core principles which are generally true for all of them, for example the belief of the Holy Trinity or better known as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is what would be considered a primary belief. A primary belief is an idea that is a generally universal idea that is accepted by all the different sects of Christianity and must influence the secondary beliefs in the religion. For example the Holy Trinity is accepted by Roman Catholics, Protestants, Baptist, and etc. However what separates the different sects in the religion apart from one another are their secondary beliefs. A secondary belief is a belief that is accepted by many of the sects however the belief maybe slightly altered. Also another characteristic that must be true is that in order for it to be considered a secondary belief it must have a correlation to the primary belief. An example of this is the sacraments because the sacraments are believed in throughout Christianity but the number of sacraments in each denomination varies. The sacraments do play a specific role in the religion when dealing with the Trinity particularly concerning with the Eucharist. Because of these two credenda’s it is evident to see what an instrumental role these beliefs have in defining Christianity.
The Bible is read and interpreted by many people all over the world. Regardless, no one knows the absolute truth behind scripture. Walter Brueggemann, professor of Old Testament, wrote “Biblical Authority” to help people understand what he describes as six different parts that make up the foundation to ones understanding of scripture. He defines these six features as being: inherency, interpretation, imagination, ideology, inspiration, and importance. As Brueggemann explains each individual part, it is easy to see that they are all interconnected because no one can practice one facet without involuntarily practicing at least one other part.
When Jesus visited Jerusalem around 29 AD, he found enthusiastic crowds greeting him as the messiah. However he was arrested for not worshiping pagan Roman gods and was sentenced to death on a cross. While he was hanging awaiting death he forgave those who had killed him and those who had worshipped him the day before were denying him. After his crucifixion he was placed in a tomb, on the third day he rose, and greeted his followers, further convincing them that he was the messiah.
...tled in Italy and Judea. Many Roman rulers persecuted Christians, under Diocletian they weren’t even considered human, and outlawed from the Roman Empire. Diocletian claimed Christians as reprehensible for the fall of the Roman Empire. When Diocletian retired, Constantine took power and legalized Christianity, then became one himself. Christianity remained perennial even after the Empire fell because once it became widely accepted, due to its teachings on equality, forgiveness, and eternal happiness, many people enjoyed the idea that Jesus accepted sinners, and forgive them for their actions. This led many people to switch from polytheism to monotheism. Many people switched because they no longer believed in relying on pleasing the Gods to make their lives happier, but to figure out to make it better on their own. Christianity gave followers a sense of community.
In the quest for the original wording of the Bible you have to look at all of the texts and their background. Their are many versions: Revised Standard, The New English Bible, The New International Bible, New American Bible, and the King James Version. All have different ways of saying the same scripture. This is the beginning of the textual criticism portion of biblical exegesis. In my own personal opinion I have found that the K...