Origin of Christianity


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3 hours ago, priesthoodpower said:

Possibly that Jesus never did exist.

Not possible.  The "gospel" is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  If he didn't exist, all else is meaningless, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Fortunately, Jesus Christ lives and his gospel is true.

(Sorry, I won't have an hour and a half to spare before Sunday at the earliest, but I added it to my "watch later" list.)

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I did not watch the video, however, I will say that many people find supposed connections to concepts of salvation from sin, and saviors, and other aspects of Christianity.  However, the connections they make based on pre-Christian era doctrines and concepts are actually all descended from apostatized truth.  Remember that the gospel was taught in it's fullness to Adam, and he was baptized.  From there, eventually it fell and was degenerated by various civilizations until even the Israelites were not sufficiently prepared to receive it.  If the true principles of what is now known as Christianity existed from the beginning, and then were jumbled up through apostasy, some here, some there, then it would be expected that researchers could find evidence of these things.  If an uninspired researcher finds pieces of information, are they going to conclude that Christianity must be true because its concepts go back so far, or will they assume it must be a made up mixture of other religious views that came before it?  With that in mind it doesn't bother me in the slightest what the world thinks of the origins of Christianity.

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Well, sure; if you throw out the accounts of all the people who say they've seen Him, there's no real "evidence" that Yeshua-bin-Yosef ever existed ... :roll eyes:

Generally speaking, we could probably stand to become more sophisticated consumers of the New Testament.  Deseret Book has some nice titles that engage modern secular scholarship reasonably well--Jesus Christ and the World of the New Testament is a great start, and lavishly illustrated to boot.  There's also a great three-volume series on Jesus' ministry edited by Richard Holzapfel, among others.  And BYU is undertaking a multi-volume New Testament commentary that sounds quite promising.

Are there inconsistencies and textual variants and problems with some of the New Testament as we know it?  Absolutely; and I have no problem with modern scholarship exploring those.  But it takes a special kind of a chucklehead to try to say that any individual to whom ancient texts attributed extraordinary deeds, actually never lived at all.  You'll notice that no one seriously makes those sorts of absolutist arguments about--say--Mohammed, or Siddhartha Gautama, or Confucius, or Gilgamesh, or Sennacherib.  It's only Jesus of Nazareth, we are told, for whom the "historical evidence" seems especially dodgy.

Edited by Just_A_Guy
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I'm not going to bother with the video but may I suggest that you counter 'research' that questions Christ/Christianity with other research that reaffirms it. There's a movie out now called "The Case for Christ" or you can read the book of the same title.  My library also has a book by David Limbaugh "Jesus on Trial: A Lawyer Affirms the Truth of the Gospel". These are just a couple options and I haven't watched or read them (yet) but you may want to consider doing so yourself.

Edited by my two cents
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Guest MormonGator

It might help for you to read "The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel. 

There will always be people who think Christ never existed or that the holocaust never happened, but they are on the fringe and not take seriously but even secular scholars/historians. 

Edited by MormonGator
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25 minutes ago, Just_A_Guy said:

Well, sure; if you throw out the accounts of all the people who say they've seen Him, there's no real "evidence" that Yeshua-bin-Yosef ever existed ... :roll eyes:

15 minutes ago, MormonGator said:

It might help for you to read "The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel. 

There will always be people who think Christ never existed or that the holocaust never happened, but they are on the fringe and not take seriously but even secular scholars/historians. 

:clap:

5 hours ago, priesthoodpower said:

I just watched "Origin of christianity" on youtube today and its pretty interesting, I take it at face value...

There was your first mistake.

5 hours ago, priesthoodpower said:

but it seems pretty compelling some of the points that these researchers are making. 

How compelling is it to say:

"SEE!! WE HAVE AN ACTUAL QUOTE FROM SOMEONE SOMEWHERE THAT SAID SOMETHING WE AGREE WITH, SO YOU SHOULD LISTEN TOO!!!"

Isn't that the very thing that atheists criticize theists for about believing the Bible or any holy book?  The fact that something is written down doesn't make it true or not.  It is whether the Holy Spirit of Truth testifies that what you've just heard or read is actually true.

Edited by Guest
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5 hours ago, priesthoodpower said:

Guys I would appreciate some feed back on this.

I have a deep love and devotion to our LDS church, the foundation of my testimony does not depend on any man, woman, prophet or leader in fact over the years (and most recently) I realized that it doesnt even depend on a book either, not the bible nor the bk of mormon. What does it rely on? It is based on three distinct experiences I had with the Holy Ghost confirming to me that these things are true. What things? Well it took me some time to narrow it down and it came down to this...

Experience #01 - I was 18yrs old living with my Uncle. He had a son that was preparing for his mission and a few months later left on his mission. While he was still home it was a normal household but after he left I noticed that their home became more peaceful and calm, one particular night I came home and a blanket of warmth passed through my body, I paused and it passed through me again. I knew that the spirit was strong in this home because of the blessings of having a child serving a mission. 

Experience #02 - When I was 19yrs old living at home I had got my call to serve a mission. I went to the temple several times a week until I left for my mission. One particular day after completing a session and exiting the temple doors I proceeded toward the parking lot, it was about noon and the sun was very bright and hot out, I soon felt the Holy spirit fill my body with light. What was just a few seconds ago the bright sun in the sky beating down on my face turned into what I felt was a thousand of those suns shinning brightly in my bosom, I felt like my skin and whole body was glowing.

Experience #03 - When I was in the MTC I got a little homesick and prayed b4 bed to know if I was doing the right thing. As I layed in my bed a blanket of warmth fell upon me, it was the Holy Ghost confirming to me that I was doing the right thing and in the right place. I rolled over to my side and the spirit fell upon me once again.

As a life time member of the church I had always had good feelings about going to church and living the gospel but nothing as distinct and physical as the witness of the Holy Ghost as I had shared above. My experiences taught me that God is pleased when we are in the service of others, Missionary work (serving others) was the basis of my 3 experiences. Where do we learn how to do missionary work? Well in my case it is missionary work as performed by the LDS Church. Is it possible that other christian churches that perform missionary work (spreading the gospel and serving others) can receive the same visitations from the Holy ghost? or was it only because at age 8 I was baptised and received the gift of the Holy ghost? If that be the case then that would mean baptism according to the LDS church is the true baptism and Joseph Smith who restored the priesthood and keys to perform baptism was a true Prophet of the restoration. If that be the case then the Bk. of Mormon must be true and the LDS church does have the fullness of the Gospel.

Now guys heres where It gets interesting. I just watched "Origin of christianity" on youtube today and its pretty interesting, I take it at face value but it seems pretty compelling some of the points that these researchers are making. Possibly that Jesus never did exist. It doesnt change my testimony or belief I have in God, nor my perception of our LDS church but it does make me think a little.

Whats your guys take on this video?

 

Thats some of worst research and hateful propaganda Ive ever seen. If one can believe that or lose faith over that video I would certainly immediately seek out Heavenly Father in prayer and ask for the blindfold to be removed. Watching parts of that video and it was easily discerned that the spirit of Satan is influencing its makers. 

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Please keep this a secret: the Holy Ghost is the red pill to escape the matrix of worldly philosophy/sophistry, particularly of the leftist persuasion. By taking it (or receiving it) one may recognize videos such as this as carefully orchestrated illusions, and discover the blessed reality of the mortal Christ and well as the historicity of the Book of Mormon.

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

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On 4/27/2017 at 4:21 AM, MormonGator said:

It might help for you to read "The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel. 

There will always be people who think Christ never existed or that the holocaust never happened, but they are on the fringe and not take seriously but even secular scholars/historians. 

Thanks MG I looked up and listened to some of Lee's lectures which is leading me to other stuff.

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Guest MormonGator
11 hours ago, priesthoodpower said:

Thanks MG I looked up and listened to some of Lee's lectures which is leading me to other stuff.

Very welcome my friend. 

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