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Christianity, in the mind of God, is NOT religion. Read the New Testament.

trevyn 6y ago
I'm curious about what you're saying, but I do not currently have the time budget to read the New Testament. Could you explain?
- winter_blue 6y ago
  I think he’s alluding to thaw idea where Christians call a Christianity a relationship with God (and not a religion). In my opinion though, the relationship nature of Christianity holds up well both in the Old Testament and New Testament.
  - ElectronShak 6y ago
    True, although I do think that in the Old Testament, this relationship was based on works, and on what you did to fulfil and not break the law. In the New Testament, this relationship is based on Grace, the free gift of God.
    - logical_proof 6y ago
      But Abrahams righteousness was accounted to him by faith and not by works. The entire premise of the book of Hebrews is centered around the idea that Gods covenant with man has always been by grace. In the Old Testament looking forward to the promised Messiah from Genesis and in the New Testament looking at and back to the manifested and risen Christ.
      - ElectronShak 6y ago
        True, great point! thanks. Also key to note, Abraham was, before the law was given. Paul in the book of Romans, does explain that by considering Abraham the father of the Faith or Forefather, the point is missed when we forget that Abraham was justified by faith and not by works.
- ElectronShak 6y ago
  Religion fundamentally gives you a set of rules that you must follow to achieve acceptance, or the ultimate goal of a particular "religion", usually getting to their definition of "heaven", after life on earth. The law of Moses in the Old Testament for the Jews was such that if you broke one law, you broke all, essentially making it impossible for anyone to achieve salvation by following the law or by working for it. The Gentiles (non Jews) who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it Enter New Testament: Jesus Christ of Nazareth, comes not to abolish the law, but to fulfil it, such that every man (being) receives the FREE gift of salvation, and eternal life. Now this life bears good fruit in all that believe.
  - dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago
    > Enter New Testament: Jesus Christ of Nazareth, comes not to abolish the law, but to fulfil it, such that every man (being) receives the FREE gift of salvation, and eternal life. The obvious question is: why? Why was it ever necessary, if God is omnipotent? Why was it so late, so that people living earlier had no chance? And so on. The Gnostics, Marcions and so on came up with another interesting idea: there were two Gods, one from the Old Testament, and another from the New Testament. The former was the creator but wasn't really caring for his creation. The latter was the God of Love and he sent his son in order to save mankind - Jesus was a kind of ransom paid to the former. This theory has slightly more sense than the one presented in mainstream Christianity.
    - ElectronShak 6y ago
      > The obvious question is: why? Why was it ever necessary, if God is omnipotent? To answer this, God is a just God. If the penalty of sin is death, then surely someone had to die to pay the price. God could have just swept all mankind's sins under the rag, and acted like nothing ever happened. But such would not be considered integrity or righteousness on God's part. Also if by one man (Adam), sin came into the world, and all men were considered sinners, then justly, by one man (Jesus Christ)'s death and resurrection, the price was fully paid, all men (mankind) can now freely claim the gift of righteousness. >Why was it so late, so that people living earlier had no chance? Well just like you stated, God is omnipotent, and not limited by time and space. It's never late or early in God's eyes. We would not explicitly say they had no chance, then or now, goes back to God being Just.
- Erlich_Bachman 6y ago
  There is a difference between spirituality and religion. Spirituality is a system built up inside every individual that fills their life with meaning and expands their consciousness. The common spiritual texts, including the new testament are a good tool to build up this spirituality, inside each particular individual, that works for a large number of people. It has been selected by the group consciousness as a particularly good tool, good aid in helping people this way. It is not the only tool, and for a particular individual might not even be the best one, but it is a good one that has stood the test of time. The religion on the other hand usually refers to the outside structure that is often built on top of a spiritual tradition/text. It includes structural elements like the network of churches, some additional practices, political movements, attempts to control population, hierarchy systems between priests, reputation etc. It is this additional structure that much more often gets corrupted by the natural human corruptive forces, just like governments, corporations or large open source frameworks do. When people get power, they sometimes corrupt, and they do it with whatever the underlying structure was.
loopz 6y ago
The New and Old and Everything and Nothing is parts of God, not constrained by any particular part! Parts are forever apart.

I'm curious about what you're saying, but I do not currently have the time budget to read the New Testament. Could you explain?

winter_blue 6y ago
I think he’s alluding to thaw idea where Christians call a Christianity a relationship with God (and not a religion). In my opinion though, the relationship nature of Christianity holds up well both in the Old Testament and New Testament.
- ElectronShak 6y ago
  True, although I do think that in the Old Testament, this relationship was based on works, and on what you did to fulfil and not break the law. In the New Testament, this relationship is based on Grace, the free gift of God.
  - logical_proof 6y ago
    But Abrahams righteousness was accounted to him by faith and not by works. The entire premise of the book of Hebrews is centered around the idea that Gods covenant with man has always been by grace. In the Old Testament looking forward to the promised Messiah from Genesis and in the New Testament looking at and back to the manifested and risen Christ.
    - ElectronShak 6y ago
      True, great point! thanks. Also key to note, Abraham was, before the law was given. Paul in the book of Romans, does explain that by considering Abraham the father of the Faith or Forefather, the point is missed when we forget that Abraham was justified by faith and not by works.
ElectronShak 6y ago
Religion fundamentally gives you a set of rules that you must follow to achieve acceptance, or the ultimate goal of a particular "religion", usually getting to their definition of "heaven", after life on earth. The law of Moses in the Old Testament for the Jews was such that if you broke one law, you broke all, essentially making it impossible for anyone to achieve salvation by following the law or by working for it. The Gentiles (non Jews) who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it Enter New Testament: Jesus Christ of Nazareth, comes not to abolish the law, but to fulfil it, such that every man (being) receives the FREE gift of salvation, and eternal life. Now this life bears good fruit in all that believe.
- dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago
  > Enter New Testament: Jesus Christ of Nazareth, comes not to abolish the law, but to fulfil it, such that every man (being) receives the FREE gift of salvation, and eternal life. The obvious question is: why? Why was it ever necessary, if God is omnipotent? Why was it so late, so that people living earlier had no chance? And so on. The Gnostics, Marcions and so on came up with another interesting idea: there were two Gods, one from the Old Testament, and another from the New Testament. The former was the creator but wasn't really caring for his creation. The latter was the God of Love and he sent his son in order to save mankind - Jesus was a kind of ransom paid to the former. This theory has slightly more sense than the one presented in mainstream Christianity.
  - ElectronShak 6y ago
    > The obvious question is: why? Why was it ever necessary, if God is omnipotent? To answer this, God is a just God. If the penalty of sin is death, then surely someone had to die to pay the price. God could have just swept all mankind's sins under the rag, and acted like nothing ever happened. But such would not be considered integrity or righteousness on God's part. Also if by one man (Adam), sin came into the world, and all men were considered sinners, then justly, by one man (Jesus Christ)'s death and resurrection, the price was fully paid, all men (mankind) can now freely claim the gift of righteousness. >Why was it so late, so that people living earlier had no chance? Well just like you stated, God is omnipotent, and not limited by time and space. It's never late or early in God's eyes. We would not explicitly say they had no chance, then or now, goes back to God being Just.
Erlich_Bachman 6y ago
There is a difference between spirituality and religion. Spirituality is a system built up inside every individual that fills their life with meaning and expands their consciousness. The common spiritual texts, including the new testament are a good tool to build up this spirituality, inside each particular individual, that works for a large number of people. It has been selected by the group consciousness as a particularly good tool, good aid in helping people this way. It is not the only tool, and for a particular individual might not even be the best one, but it is a good one that has stood the test of time. The religion on the other hand usually refers to the outside structure that is often built on top of a spiritual tradition/text. It includes structural elements like the network of churches, some additional practices, political movements, attempts to control population, hierarchy systems between priests, reputation etc. It is this additional structure that much more often gets corrupted by the natural human corruptive forces, just like governments, corporations or large open source frameworks do. When people get power, they sometimes corrupt, and they do it with whatever the underlying structure was.

loopz 6y ago

The New and Old and Everything and Nothing is parts of God, not constrained by any particular part! Parts are forever apart.