Reginald P. Smithers III wrote:
Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On Mon, 25 Feb 2008 07:58:53 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III"
"Reggie is Here wrote:

Read up on early Christians, there were and are many sects of Jews,
just as their are many different sects of Christianity. Early
Christians did not break off from the Jews, they considered
themselves Jews who followed the teaching of Christ.

Thank you Harry - I'm sure you are much more versed in this area than
most.

Ouch, you are now starting to hit below the belt.

My description of what happened is really considered religious history
by most theologians.

Tom,
Here is a more in depth review of early Christian History.

During the first six decades of the first century CE, Judaism was
composed of about two dozen competing factions: Sadducees, Pharisees,
Essenes, Zealots, followers of John the Baptist, followers of Yeshua of
Nazareth (Iesous in Greek, Iesus in Latin, Jesus in English), followers
of other charismatic leaders, etc. All followed common Jewish practices,
such as observing dietary restrictions, worshiping at the Jerusalem
temple, sacrificing animals, observing weekly sabbaths, etc.

Yeshua of Nazareth (a.k.a. Jesus Christ) conducted a short ministry (one
year, in the Galillee according to the synoptic gospels; perhaps three
years, mainly in Judea according to the Gospel of John). His teachings
closely matched those of Beit Hillel (the House of Hillel). Hillel was a
great Jewish rabbi who lived in the second half of the 1st century BCE
one or two generations before Yeshua's birth.

Yeshua was charged with what would be called "aggravated assault" under
today's law, for his attack on merchants in the Temple. This was
apparently considered treason or insurrection by the occupying Roman
forces. (Crucifixion, when used on a non-slave such as Jesus, was
restricted to these two crimes.) He was executed by a detail of Roman
soldiers, perhaps during the springtime, sometime in the late 20's or
early 30's CE. Most historians date the event in April of either the
year 30 or 33. According to the Gospels, his disciples initially
returned to their homeland of Galilee immediately following their
leader's death.

Four decades later, in 70 CE the Roman Army attacked Jerusalem and
destroyed the central focus of Jewish life: the temple. This was an
absolutely devastating blow at the time; Jewish life was totally
disrupted. Jews were no longer able to worship at the Temple. Out of
this disaster emerged two main movements: rabbinical Judaism centered in
local synagogues, and the Christian movement.

There was great diversity within the Christian movement during the first
few decades after Jesus' execution. Some of Jesus' followers (and those
who never met Jesus but who were inspired by his teachings) settled in
Jerusalem. But others spread across the known world, teaching very
different messages. "Even in the same geographical area and sometimes in
the same cities, different Christian teachers taught quite different
gospels and had quite different views of who Jesus was and what he did."
1

During the latter part of the first century CE, the three largest groups
within the primitive Christian movement:

Jewish Christian movement: Jesus disciples appear to have regrouped
later in Jerusalem under the leadership of James, one of Jesus'
brothers. The group viewed themselves as a reform movement within
Judaism; they viewed Jesus as a prophet and rabbi, but not as a deity.
They organized a synagogue, worshiped and brought animals for ritual
sacrifice at the Jerusalem Temple. They observed the Jewish holy days,
practiced circumcision of their male children, followed Kosher dietary
laws, and practiced the teachings of Jesus as they interpreted them to
be. They are frequently referred to today as the Jewish Christians. 2
(These should not be confused with followers of modern-day Messianic
Judaism who generally follow an Evangelical Christian theology and who
are sometimes also called Jewish Christians.) Many were killed,
enslaved, or scattered during the Roman attack on Jerusalem in 70 CE.
Pauline Christianity: Saul, a Jew from Tarsus, originally prosecuted the
Jewish Christians on behalf of the priests at the Jerusalem Temple . He
experienced a powerful religious conversion, after which, he departed
for places unknown for three years. Later, having changed his name to
Paul, he became the single most active Christian missionary, from about
36 CE until his execution by the Romans in the mid-60's. He created a
new Christian movement, containing elements from many forms of Paganism:
Greek, Roman, Persian, Egyptian, Mesopotamian, etc. He included the
concept of Jesus as "The Word", as a god-man -- the savior of humanity,
the product of a virgin birth who was executed, resurrected and ascended
into heaven. There are dozens of points of similarity between the life
of Jesus and that of Krishna, the god-man and second member of the Hindu
trinity. Many of the events which the Bible describes happened to Jesus
appear to have been copied from the legends of Krishna and of other
god-men from Egypt to India. Paul abandoned most of the Laws of Moses
and rejected many of the Jewish behavioral rules that Jesus and his
disciples had followed during his ministry. Paul taught that God had
unilaterally abrogated his covenants with the Jews and transferred them
to his own Christian groups.

Paul went on a series of missionary journeys around the eastern
Mediterranean and attracted many Gentiles (non-Jews) to his movement. He
was assisted by many co-workers, both male and female. Paul organized
churches in many of the areas' urban centers, in competition with Greek
Paganism, Mithraism, Mystery Religions, Judaism, many competing
Christian movements, and other religions. His Epistles record how he and
his movement were in continual theological conflict with the Jewish
Christian movement centered in Jerusalem, and with Gnostic Christians.
Paul ran afoul of the Roman Empire, was arrested, and was transported to
Rome where he was held under house arrest. He was executed there about
65 CE. Paul's churches survived his death and flourished. Some of his
letters to various of his church groups were later accepted into the
canon of the Christian Scriptures (New Testament).

Christian groups typically met in the homes of individual believers,
much like home churches and cell churches do today. Leaders were both
men and women. There was no central authority, no standard style of
organization at the local level, no dedicated church buildings or
cathedrals. The Greek words episkopos (bishop, overseer), presbuteros
(elder, presbyter) and poimen (pastor, shepherd) were originally
synonymous terms which referred to the leader of a group of believers. 3
Gnostic Christianity: Gnosticism is a philosophical and religious
movement with roots in pre-Christian times. Gnostics combined elements
taken from Asian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek and Syrian pagan
religions, from astrology, and from Judaism and Christianity. "Among
Gnostic Christians there were communities under the name of John and
Thomas and many other lesser and later disciples." 6 They claimed to
have secret knowledge about God, humanity, and the rest of the universe
of which the general population was unaware. They were/are noted for
their: Novel interpretations of the Bible, the world and the rest of
the universe.
Belief that the Jehovah of the Hebrew Scripture (Old Testament) was a
defective, inferior Creator-God, also known as the Demiurge. He was
viewed as fundamentally evil, jealous, rigid, lacking in compassion and
prone to committing genocide.
Tolerance of different religious beliefs within and outside of
Gnosticism.
Lack of discrimination against women.


Some Gnostics formed separate congregations. Others joined existing
Pauline Christian groups. Still others were solitary practitioners.

In addition to the above three main groups, there were many smaller
religious communities, which have been referred to as Matthean
Christianity, Johannine Christianity, etc. "Among Jews especially in the
East there were Christian communities and literature under the name of
Peter and James that stood in opposition to Paul and John." 6 Together
produced over 80 gospels and hundreds of Epistles (letters). "Many of
these other Gospels outside the New Testament had very different views
of Jesus, produced in communities that held widely different
understandings of Jesus." 7


Second and third centuries CE:
The three groups within the primitive Christian movement survived into
the second century. One died out and the other two expanded:

The Jewish Christian movement: The failure of the Bar Kochba revolt
(132 - 135 CE) was devastating for the Jewish people, including the
Jewish Christians. Any Jews who remained in Palestine in 135 CE were
killed, enslaved or permanently driven from the land. The Jewish
Christian movement had a brief resurgence during the 2nd century CE, and
then disappeared from the pages of history.
Pauline Christianity continued to spread across the known world. It
started to develop a formal theology, a set of doctrines, and an
unofficial canon of writings which were later to become the Christian
Scriptures (New Testament). From the enormous supply of Christian
gospels and epistles (letters) they chose a few that more-or-less
matched the theology of the developing church. Admittance of the Gospel
of John into the official canon had to overcome a great deal of
resistance; many in the church felt that it had too much Gnostic
content. The canon accepted: Four gospels, written by unknown authors,
but attributed to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Acts of the Apostles, apparently written by the same author as who
wrote Luke.
Thirteen Pauline Epistles -- letters which claim that they were
written by Paul. Religious liberals accept that seven were written by
Paul, one may have been written by him, and 5 were by unknown authors --
mostly from the second century many decades after Paul's death.
Eight general Epistles -- James, John, Peter, Hebrews and Jude, -- all
by anonymous authors with the possible exception of Hebrews which may
have written by Priscilla.
Revelation, a book about the end of the world.


Gnostic Christianity consisted of many separate groups with no
appreciable central organization. Each group was under the leadership of
a Gnostic teacher like Marcion, Valentinus, and Carpocrates. These
groups shared some core beliefs, but otherwise differed greatly from
each other. The Gnostic movement initially expanded, and at one point
was the primary form of Christianity in the eastern Mediterranean.
However, due to programs of persecution and extermination by Pauline
Christians, it later went into a steep decline, and ceased being a
significant force by the 6th century.
After the deaths of the Apostles, the Apostolic Fathers were looked upon
for guidance. They included a number of teachers and bishops: e.g.
Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus, Origen, Polycarp, Tertullian. A
hierarchical organizational structure called the "monarchial episcopate"
then developed in which the individual congregational leaders recognized
the authority of their area bishop in matters of doctrine and faith.
There was no person or group who could speak for the church as a whole.
It was only in 325 CE that bishops from throughout the Christian
movement would be able to meet at the Council of Nicea and attempt to
resolve differences in Christian beliefs.