THE DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINAL CHRISTIANITY

Selective reading from :

HISTORY OF THE WORLD

BY
H. G. WELLS

IN the four gospels we find the personality and teachings of JesusJesus Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ: Doubts and controversies are always with him. Whether he existed at all or not?  Whether Paul was correct or Muhammad about Jesus? If Paul was a student of Gamaliel then why he had heard nothing about Jesus from him? Why Aramaic culture of Jesus was not preserved? Why there were no dates in apostolic letters? But writing Date in letters was a standard practice then. What was the original language of the epistles? Possibly Constantine would have known these. He died due to asphyxiation. but very little of the dogmas of the Christian churchChurch Creedal political organizations of Christian People (Ecclesia) were created in Rome around 350 CE with a reading manual (NT) under a local leader (Bishop) within Roman provinces. A church building is also called a 'church'. The church is the body of Christ and the Doctrine of the catholic church was added around 400 CE. Christian groups are divided into Roman Catholics, Orthodox, and countless reformed denominations. A church is maintained by donations and taxation from its members.. It is in the epistles, a series of writings by the immediate followers of Jesus, that the broad lines of Christian belief are laid down.

Chief among the makers of Christian doctrine was St. Paul. He had never seen Jesus nor heard him preach. Paul’s name was originally Saul, and he was conspicuous at first as an active persecutor of the little band of disciples after the crucifixionCrucifixion It was viewed as the worst and lowest punishment that could be bestowed upon a non-Roman citizen. The most common hypotheses on death by Crucifixion included pulmonary embolism, cardiac rupture, suspension trauma, asphyxiation, fatal stab wounds, and shock.. Then he was suddenly converted to ChristianityChristianity Christianity was formed in Alexandria. Whether the theology, organisation, or reading materials, everything formed in Alexandria in or around 80 CE and then exported everywhere by traders. The term Christion was not used before the first quarter of the 2nd Century. Christianity is the outcome of three Jewish-Roman wars, namely, 'The Great Revolt' (66-70 CE), the  'Kitos War'( 115-117 CE), and 'Bar Kochba Revolt' of 132-135 CE. After the Bar Kochba revolt, Christianity became a distinct sect from Judaism. In 30 BCE Greek became the language of Alexandria. NT was written in this language and the passion of the Christ was first performed here. The legacy of Clement (159-215 CE) and Origen ((185-254 CE) was to be noted., and he changed his name to Paul. He was a man of great intellectual vigour and deeply and passionately interested in the religious movements of the timeTime Where any expression of it occurs in any Rules, or any judgment, order or direction, and whenever the doing or not doing of anything at a certain time of the day or night or during a certain part of the day or night has an effect in law, that time is, unless it is otherwise specifically stated, held to be standard time as used in a particular country or state. (In Physics, time and Space never exist actually-“quantum entanglement”). He was well versed in Judaism and in the Mithraism and Alexandrian religionReligion ‘The word ‘Religion’ -Re Legion- A group or Collection or a brigade, is a social-cultural construction and Substantially doesn’t exist. Catholic religion is different from Protestant religion. It is not Dharma. of the day. He carried over many of their ideas and terms of expression into Christianity. He did very little to enlarge or develop the original teaching of Jesus, the teaching of the Kingdom of Heaven. But he taught that Jesus was not only the promised ChristChrist Lamentations 4:20 > The breath of our nostrils, the Christ (Mašíaḥ) of Yahweh, was captured in their pits, of whom we had said, “Under his shadow, we shall live among the nations.” Greek Septuagint (OT), χριστός derived from χρίω (anointed one). Whether Jesus was Christ? NT declared in affirmative. Jews never accepted Jesus as a chosen leader. His violent death was interpreted as a curse by Yahweh. For Hindus, Christian claims are absurd. Performing Dharma leads to liberation. For Muslims, Jesus never died on the Cross. He who confesses that Jesus is Christ is Christian. Confessing Muhammad is the Last Prophet (Rasul) earned the name of Mohammedan. ., the promised leader of the Jews, but also that his death was a sacrifice, like the deaths of the ancient sacrificial victims of the primordial civilizations, for the redemption of mankind.

When religions flourish side by side they tend to pick up each other’s ceremonial and other outward peculiarities. Buddhism, for example, in China has now almost the same sort of temples and priests and uses as Taoism, which follows in the teachings of Lao Tse. Yet the original teachings of Buddhism and Taoism were almost flatly opposed. And it reflects no doubt or discredit upon the essentials of Christian teaching that it took over not merely such formal things as the shaven priest, the votive offering, the altars, candles, chanting and images of the Alexandrian and Mithraic faiths, but adopted even their devotional phrases and their theologicalTheology Biology, Sociology, etc are the same type of English construction. Theos (gods) and logos (talking/chatting). Talking about gods and goddesses. Not having perfect knowledge about Olympian gods was a Greek 'mystery'. In the Christian sense theology is the understanding of Trinitarian 'mystery'. Most of the Christian people study theology to become church executives or employees. Dharma Tattva (धर्मतत्त्व>Gopath Brahman) is not Theology. धर्मतत्त्व is possiblele without god/s. धर्मतत्त्व is Philosophy (दर्शन) without school affiliation. Read more {223}ideas. All these religions were flourishing side by side with many less prominent cults. Each was seeking adherents, and there must have been a constant going and coming of converts between them. Sometimes one or other would be in favour with the government. But Christianity was regarded with more suspicion than its rivals because, like the Jews, its adherents would not perform acts of worship to the GodGod People in most cultures believe in the existence of supernatural beings and other supernatural concepts. God is attributed to both anthropomorphic properties (“listens to prayers”) and non-anthropomorphic properties (“knows everything”). Conceptualizing God is associated with willingness to get the COVID-19 vaccine or Vaccine hesitancy. Pope requested people not to practice “Jesus is my vaccine”. For the Jewish, family (Avestan universal) god became national God:  I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,”(ex 3:15).  See Ishwar.  Cæsar. This made it a seditious religion, quite apart from the revolutionary spirit of the teachings of Jesus himself.

St. Paul familiarized his disciples with the idea that Jesus, like {224}Osiris, was a god who died to rise again and give men immortality. And presently the spreading Christian community was greatly torn by complicated theological disputes about the relationship of this God Jesus to God the FatherGod the father θεῷ πατρὶ of Mankind. The Arians taught that Jesus was divine, but distant from and inferior to the Father. The Sabellians taught that Jesus was merely an aspect of the Father, and that God was Jesus and Father at the same time just as a man may be a father and an artificer at the same time; and the Trinitarians taught a more subtle doctrine that God was both one and three, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For a time it seemed that Arianism would prevail over its rivals, and then after disputes, violence and warsWar Whenever Christians wage a war, it is a Just war (City of God). Jesus asked his followers to purchase swords (Luke 22: 35-36). Those who legitimately hold authority also have the right to use arms to repel aggressors against the civil community entrusted to their responsibility (Catechism 2265). Without Jihad there is no Islam. In Mahabharata, Krishna tried to stop the War imposed by Kurus. Lord Rama killed Ravan in the war to restore his wife. Deva and Asura battles are not available in Vedas., the TrinitarianTrinity Matthew 28:19 - Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit... was added after 380 CE or later (Refer Eusebius 325 CE, and then Epiphanius 374 CE). The word "Trinity" does not occur in the  Greek NT. All shadows of Trinitarian aspects were added after 350 CE. It is said that the Latin term was first used by Tertullian (155-200 CE). Prophet Muhammad vehemently opposed the Trinity doctrine. It obliquely suggests that Christian God has no name and Father god can not be identified with Elohim. Again this doctrine never explains another Christian doctrine of Incarnation. It is unclear, whether when one component (μέρος) of Trinity moves other components also move or not. formula became the accepted formula of all Christendom. It may be found in its completest expression in the Athanasian Creed.

We offer no comment on these controversies here. They do not sway history as the personal teaching of Jesus sways history. The personal teaching of Jesus does seem to mark a new phase in the moralMorality Mental frame. It can be high morality or low morality, savage morality or civilised morality or Christian morality, or Nazi morality. Decent Behaviour is acceptable norms of the nations. Christian morality starts with the belief that all men are sinners and that repentance is the cause of divine mercy. Putting Crucified Christ in between is the destruction of Christian morality and logic. Now morality shifted to the personal choice of Jesus. What Jesus did is 'good'. The same would be the case of Ram, Krishna, Muhammad, Buddha, Lenin, etc. Pure Human Consciousness degraded to pure followership. There exists no proof the animals are devoid of morality. and spiritual life of our race. Its insistence upon the universal Fatherhood of God and the implicit brotherhood of all men, its insistence upon the sacredness of every human personality as a living temple of God, was to have the profoundest effect upon all the subsequent social and political life of mankind. With Christianity, with the spreading teachings of Jesus, a new respect appears in the world for man as man. It may be true, as hostile critics of Christianity have urged, that St.. Paul preached obedience to slaves, but it is equally true that the whole spirit of the teachings of Jesus preserved in the gospels was against the subjugation of man by man. And still more distinctly was Christianity opposed to such outrages upon human dignity as the gladiatorial combats in the arena.

Throughout the first two centuries after Christ, the Christian religion spread throughout the Roman Empire, weaving together an ever-growing multitude of converts into a new community of ideas and will. The attitude of the emperors varied between hostility and toleration. There were attempts to suppress this new faithFaith  πίστει. in both the second and third centuries; and finally in 303 and the following years a great persecution under the Emperor Diocletian. The considerable accumulations of Church property were {225}seized, all bibles and religious writings were confiscated and destroyed, Christians were put out of the protection of the law and many executed. The destruction of the books is particularly notable. It shows how the power of the written word in holding together {226}the new faith was appreciated by the authorities. These “book religions,” Christianity and Judaism, were religions that educated. Their continued existence depended very largely on people being able to read and understand their doctrinal ideas. The older religions had made no such appeal to the personal intelligence. In the ages of barbaric confusion that were now at hand in western EuropeEurope Once the word came to be peculiarly associated with the transalpine formations of Latin Christianity, it became a cultural term as well as a geographic one. The word “European” merged with the word “Western” and there was a supposed “Western civilization” occupying the Atlantic region, colonizing the two continents and making contact with the Pacific. EU is a “union of states which lies between confederation and federation. Read more. it was the Christian church that was mainly instrumental in preserving the tradition of learning.

The persecution of Diocletian failed completely to suppress the growing Christian community. In many provinces it was ineffective because the bulk of the population and many of the officials were Christian. In 317 an edict of toleration was issued by the associated Emperor Galerius, and in 324 Constantine the Great, a friend and on his deathbed a baptized convert to Christianity, became sole ruler of the Roman world. He abandoned all divine pretensions and put Christian symbols on the shields and banners of his troops.

In a few years Christianity was securely established as the official religion of the empire. The competing religions disappeared or were absorbed with extraordinary celerity, and in 300 Theodosius the Great caused the great statue of Jupiter Serapis at AlexandriaChristianity Christianity was formed in Alexandria. Whether the theology, organisation, or reading materials, everything formed in Alexandria in or around 80 CE and then exported everywhere by traders. The term Christion was not used before the first quarter of the 2nd Century. Christianity is the outcome of three Jewish-Roman wars, namely, 'The Great Revolt' (66-70 CE), the  'Kitos War'( 115-117 CE), and 'Bar Kochba Revolt' of 132-135 CE. After the Bar Kochba revolt, Christianity became a distinct sect from Judaism. In 30 BCE Greek became the language of Alexandria. NT was written in this language and the passion of the Christ was first performed here. The legacy of Clement (159-215 CE) and Origen ((185-254 CE) was to be noted. to be destroyed. From the outset of the fifth century onward the only priests or temples in the Roman Empire were Christian priests and temples.