Why or how did Christianity become a religion

[sigma]

Was it because of social / political events. Were the people disenchanted with the then existing religion or did their lives have a void they felt needed filling.

[naomi24]

This is a very big subject. Perhaps this will help.

http://en.wikipedia.o...story_of_Christianity

[Mosaic]

Like Naomi says, this is a massive question.
For my own two penn'orth, I think the fact that it was 'free to join', therefore open to anyone, was a huge attraction as word got round. Weird eastern cults were very much in fashion in the classical world at the time, but most maintained exclusivity by requiring expensive gifts as joining 'sacrifices', and only allowing rich and influential people to join, and sometimes also by having daunting initiation ceremonies. A wall-painting in Pompeii shows a woman having a damn good hiding in one such ceremony while the attendants play flutes and drums.....being dipped in the nearest river must have looked quite nice in contrast.

[naomi24]

Actually, I will add something of my own. The doctrine of Christianity is formulated in the main from the ideas of St Paul and from subsequent councils that sat several hundreds of years later. Jesus was a devout Jew and as such, appears to have had no intention of founding a new religion. He has, in my opinion, consequently been appallingly misrepresented. Paul is the real founder of Christianity, but he never met Jesus.

[MarkRae]

If you want the short answer, Christianity became a religion through evangelism. The early Christians did what they'd been told i.e. to go forth and multiply, and they spread the word as they went...

> Most Christians haven't got the faintest idea how their religion came into being.

Even more worryingly, most people in the UK who call themselves Christians haven't got the faintest idea about anything that they (claim to) believe in...

[tamborine]

one guy called Jesus told his mates to leave their homes and follow him.....Jesus collected up 12 mates and they roamed over Israel having a larf & doing tricks. Soon they had a big fan club & did live gigs. They became legends and everyone believed in them!

[jno]

Christ may have thought he was Jewish, but his teaching differed in one big aspect from Judaism: the emphasis on an afterlife. The poor and oppressed were told that however bad their life was now, they would after death be with a loving god in heaven (in fact, *especially* the poor and oppressed).

Judaism doesn't really teach this: http://www.religionfa...beliefs/afterlife.htm

This was a welcome message among those on the bottom of the heap in the Roman world, and that included women. Not so much a void that needed filling as a harsh world that needed improving on. It was spread by evangelism, as MarkRae says.

[jno]

oh, one other thing that could be pointed out was that Jews believe in the coming of the Messiah, but they don't think Jesus was the one. I'm not sure that was a major factor in people turning to Christianity, though his preaching that the kingdom of God was at hand may have influenced them to convert.

[naomi24]

Birdie, //Christianity could just as accurately be described as the Cult Of Paul. //

That's exactly what it is.

jno, //Christ may have thought he was Jewish//

But you know better?

[jno]

naomi, no doubt he observed Jewish religious practice, but some Jews believed him to be the messiah; others did not. Those who did became the first Christians. The others are what we call Jewish. Since he said he was (John 4:25-26), I reckon that claim splits him off from what is now Judaism. But you can decide for yourself.

He also claimed to be the son of God, a different matter but one which I think Judaism also would not accept: John 9:35-38

These claims, incidentally, are central to Christianity, but had nothing to do with Paul.

[naomi24]

jno, I have already decided for myself. The gospels were written long after the event, and for a specific purpose. I just thought it odd that, bearing in mind I presume you, as a Christian, believe Jesus to be God, you should say he may have thought he was Jewish.

[jno]

It depends on your point of view, naomi. At the time, Jews believed in the coming of a messiah. Jesus claimed to be that messiah. Some Jews accepted this, some didn't; but all of them were still adhering to Jewish teaching.

And yet, looking back from 2010, we can say that the former group were Christians, the latter Jews - according to the way those religions are defined now. At what point does a 'Jew' who believes the messiah has arrived become a 'Christian'? I don't know. If you have decided for yourself, please tell me?

I also don't know how far Jesus regarded hmself as a Jew. He may have observed the faith's teachings, but his own were different. In particular, Judaism insisted on one god; Jesus's claim to be not just the messiah but both the son of God and God himself seems completely incompatible with the Hebrew god.

(By 'Jewish' in all this, I'm talking about his religion, not his race.)

You needn't presume I am a Christian; I haven't said so and it is relevant to nobody but me.

[KARL]

jno, can you please tell me where it is recorded that JC said he was God. This is not a trick question, I am simply unaware that he is quoted as stating this - I of course know he often referred to himself as the son of God and/or to God as his Father.

[Ankou]

karl, if we set aside the opinion that he didn't exist, or that he didn't say anything at all about his greatness, or his words were embellished and any claims that were made were ones created by later writers, then according to the bible - which is the only "evidence" we have of jesus' claims then there are several occasions in it where he claimed to be god, or at least implied that he was god - mostly in the gospel of john

[jno]

KARL, yes, it's as Ankou says. John 10:30, for instance: 'I and my father are one'. There is some discussion of different verses, and possible different interpretations, here:

http://www.godonthe.net/evidence/said_god.htm

[naomi24]

jno, As I said, the Gospels were written long after the event, and they have been amended countless times in order to suit the purpose for which they were written. Therefore what they contain cannot possibly be considered to be the 'Gospel' truth.

The benign Christian God is incompatible with the psychopathic Hebrew God because the latter would not have been unacceptable to the Gentiles at whom St Paul primarily aimed the new religion. I suppose we could say that God was given what we would now call a 'makeover'. Of course, Paul did try it on the Jews first, but when that didn't work, he sought pastures new. The whole thing is a fabrication, and frankly I feel very sorry for the Jewish rabbi called Jesus. I'm sure he had the best of intentions, but he has been much misrepresented - and he is still being misrepresented.

No, you haven't said you're a Christian, but your confirmation or otherwise matters little.

[naomi24]

*acceptable - not unacceptable.

[tamborine]

Ooooops - who wrote above in my name? Those effing bikers again!

[Ankou]

birdie, some would argue that the early church and even paul himself acknowledged and supported female apostles, junias i think was said to be a woman. whilst others say that men were in control and that women were periphery. the latter i could understand from a 2000 year old book, as that is what has been going on for 10s of thousands of years, right up until the 20th c. and still today in some societeis.

the gay thing is i reckon a failry modern homophobic reaction, because for many years it was acceptable for men and women to share beds with the same sex, the greeks were particularly noted for it, as were roman soldiers and soldiers/females during medieval times. i imagine bible interpretation of the "abhorration" of gayness was set to mirror and further the flames of societal "disgust" at homosexual behaviour as being sinful and un-ethical.

in the uk i would guess that there are many christians who accept/abhor women priests and homosexuality as there are atheists. i for one don;t give a hoot which sex reenacts the strange ritual the cult has.