A subclass of sin which is defined as a gross injustice or
wicked.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Sin
Literally it means missing the mark. Originally
it was an archery term. If someone did not get a Bull’s-eye they “sinned”. Eventually
it was used as a metaphor in life. A current definition might be “dysfunctional
coping skills”, "bad habits" or making "poor choices".
When we set goals and fall short of those
intentions we have “sinned” against ourselves. If we
mistreat people, hurt them or don't follow through on a promise we have “sinned” against them.
When we don't do what God wants of us we have sinned against God. IN all of these situations we have missed the mark or the goal.
The goal God has for us is to “love God & Love one another” all of the other expectations that God has of us is filtered thru love. Even if we "follow the rules" perfectly but do it in an unloving manner we have still missed the primary goal of love, therefore we have sinned.
The meaning is probably closer to “making a
mistake” then the way it is often used in our culture: Evil. Evil is also
missing the mark or goal of Love, but it is a sub-class within the categories of
“sin”. The word sin is a more general term that includes EVERY misdeed minor or big and even horrible.
Salvation
Being saved from disaster whether
natural or spiritual.
In the spiritual sense: Deliverance
from sin and its consequence which is eternal death or Hell. In the natural sense “God saved me
from dying in the storm at sea”.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Redemption
Deliverance, rescue, “saved from” or emancipation. In Christianity it is being saved from sin. “God’s plan of
redemption was sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sins.”
In a mortgage it means paying off your loan early. The bank hangs this mortgage
payment over your head each month but someone came in and paid your loan off
for you. You have been redeemed!
In Christianity: now instead of being overwhelmed by the
guilt caused by our stupid choices (sin) Jesus paid the penalty. Since we are
forgiven, we can start all over with a clean slate. We are “delivered” or “redeemed” from the misery failure brings through forgiveness.
Righteousness
“Right living”
This
is in contrast to being “good”. A righteous person does things “right” despite
peer pressure to compromise on certain moral convictions. A Good person is
compliant with the “good” expectations of society. A righteous person does the
right thing despite pressure to do something that is not necessarily right but everyone does it anyway.
In Christianity “right” is explained by God.
Every society has a different definition of right and wrong. A righteous person
will embrace the morals that God embraces even if the society they live in or
the group they are associated with have different definitions.
Friday, February 3, 2012
New Testament
The sacred writings of Christianity.
It a collection of letters that were written
after the crucifixion. They document the life of Jesus and first few years of
Christianity following his death on the cross and resurrection. Even though
they were letters we call them "books".
The first four books are all accounts of the life of Jesus called the Gospels: Matthew Mark Luke & John. The first three are very similar and are called the Synoptic gospels. Many Bible scholars feel these three book must have been taken from another original source since they are so much alike. They call this theorical document the Q source.
Just like today each region at the time had their own take on Christianity. The four different Gospels were favored by different groups.
The first book is Matthew and it was favored by the Jewish Christians. It has a very strong Jewish cultural flavor to the way it presents the story lines. The author assumes the reader already understands Jewish Law, culture and customs and speaks to that audience. Traditions says it was written by the disciple Matthew. The Jewish Christians learned under the teachings of James the brother of Jesus. In Jewish culture when a man dies his brother inherits his family. So the Jewish Christians reconized James to be the successor to Jesus.
The second book is Mark. It is the shortest Gospel. It is considered action packed. Some theorize that this might actually be the Q document. They think it was written in Syria. It is written to a non-Jewish audience. Historically it was said that John-Mark wrote this Gospel. He was an eyewitness to Jesus as well as an interpreter for Peter. Justin Martyr called the book of Mark "The Memoirs of Peter". The theme is the "suffering Messiah". Rome believed Peter to be the successor to Jesus because they felt that Jesus had personally handed him the baton. Peter however endorsed both James and Paul's authority.
The third book is Luke. It is the longest Gospel. This book was written by the Apostle Paul's physician. He did his thorough research and then recorded his finding. This book was obviously favored by those who became Christians thru the ministry of the Apostle Paul. This books emphesis is prayer, the Holy Spirit, women & Jesus having compassion on the weak.
The fourth book is John. Early church history said that this was written by John one of the 12 disciples. Many modern scholars do not feel that John actually wrote it but it was instead the Gospel used by the Johnnine community. In otherwords the people who became Christian's through John's preaching. This book is more spiritual, using metaphors instead of parables and emphasizing the miracles and divine nature of Jesus.The stories that are in this book are totally different than in the other Gospels.
The book of Acts was also written by Luke. It is the account of the first few years of Christianity. It is thought that the book of Acts and the Gospel of Luke may have been one book instead of two books originally.
The rest of the books are actual letters that were written and sent to various churches. The churches would pass the letters around. Eventually they were collected and used to create the New Testament.
The first New Testament was originally gathered together by a man named Marcion. (144AD) He loved the Apostle Paul and taught from his teaching exclusively so he gathered Paul's letters and created a New Testament for his own followers to use. In his canon he included: The Gospel of Luke, Romans, I & II Corinthians, Galatians Ephesians Philippians, Colossians, I & II Thessalonians, and Philemon. Since his motive was poor his canon was rejected by Rome. He wrote it because he disliked the Jewish scriptures and decided to replace them. All Christians at the time depended on the Jewish scriptures what we now call the Old Testament.
Marcion taught that Jesus and the God of the Jews were different Gods. He did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Anything that Paul wrote that contradicted Marcion's thinking he deleted. So Marcion's canon was basically cut and pasted to his liking.
However over time Marcion's teachings and his scriptures became very popular amongst the average person and Rome came to realize the idea of a New Testament is actually a good one.
They took Marcion's New Testament using the original versions (not the cut & paste versions) and added the others Gospels. They also added the letters written by other Apostles and what we call the Pastorial letters. Now the New Testament was a more well rounded example of what the disciples taught and a much better representative of Christianity at large. They of course included the Jewish Scriptures as well labelling them the "Old Testament".
The list we ended up with was first found in a letter by a Bishop named Athanasius. (367AD). He proclaimed this list as the offical list to the people under his leadership. The people in our time who believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not for today base this belief on Athanasius' letter claiming his letter was the offical closing of the canon.
Athanasius' list was not the only list out there. There were other writtings and letters that mainstream Christians embraced other then the list he created. The problem was trying to figure out if this letter or that letter was actually written by the actual disciple the letter is attributed to it. Was it written by John or a follower of John or some other Christian named John? Remember they did not have the modern techniques for verifing authenticity as we do. They also were trying very carefully to find the original letters. Marcion was not the only one cut & pasting these letters to thier liking.
Everyone seemed to agree on the four gospels. They also agreed on the letters written by Paul that Marcion used. In all there was pretty universal agreement on about 22 of the 27 current books.
There was some disagreement with the book of James and I & II Peter but mostly II Peter. Some did not like II & III John and Jude. Since Paul did not write Hebrews some questioned that book as well. We now think it was written by Barnabas. There was dispute over what is called the Pastoral letters, I & II Timothy and Titus. To this day people have doubts that it was Paul who wrote them. Some wonder if it was instead Clement. The issues discussed in them sound more like second century concerns instead of first century.
There was disagreement on which Apocalypse should be used. Some liked John's, the current Book of Revelations and others like an apocalypse written by Peter. It was a graphic description of Hell. Some felt both could be in the Canon. (there are two books with the title Apocalypse of Peter. This is not the Gnostic version.)
There was a very popular revelation that was circulating at the time they were collecting documents for the New Testament called the Shepard of Hermas. It was a very long vision that a man named Hermas had. Many considered it scripture however it was written in the 2nd century, so they ultimately decided against it because of that.
There is also a document called the DIDICHE or "the teachings of the 12 apostles". This by some seems to be the oldest Christian writting that we have. It has been called the original church manual. The problem is that it has three sections so it seems that over time people would add to it. However the very first section is thought by some to be the document refered to in Acts 15:22-32 others do not agree with that. It reads very much like the book of Matthew and has some similar teaching that were found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. However since it was added to over time this was also left out of the bible.
Other books left out included a letter and a sermon that Clement wrote. They were included in the canon up to the fifth century. Since he is not named in the actual letter some wonder if he really wrote it. However it was a very important letter to the church in that day. Clement was said to be Paul's successor. There is a III Corinthians, which was the church in Corinth writting to Paul asking for advice on few thing. This letter was found in a canon in Arminia. Scholars do not believe that it was actually Paul that wrote this letter.
None of these books were called into question for reasons of doctrine that I know of. They were considered good teachings at the time. It is just that the people putting the New Testament together felt that it should be ONLY a collection of the original disciples. They made their best effort to accomplish this goal. In the end as a Christian we have to believe that the Holy Spirit ultimately directed them and the teaching that God wanted us to have ended up in the New Testament canon.
There are many other documents and letters that were available at the time as well but these were not even given consideration at all. Some good and important letters were already lost. Some were simply what we might be considered first, second and third century Christian novels. Some had rediculous exagerations in them. For example the Gospel of Peter had a 10 foot tall Jesus. They just tossed that gospel.
If you are wondering about the Gnostic gospels they would take real letters and Gospels and plagiarize them. We have found Jewish copies of a book and then found Gnostic copies of the same book. In order to trick people into the Gnostic doctrine they would rewrite Christian documents changing the essence of what Jesus taught from a Jewish theology to a Greek theology similar to what Plato believed. Since Jesus had never been to Greece nor influenced by that worldview, historians believe Jewish sounding documents are the originals and Greek sounding documents are the fake versions. Historically Gnosticism was said to have been started by Simon the scorerer. As a Christian it is clear that the enemy launched an attack on the writting of the New Testament but in the end....... Jesus wins!
The first New Testament was originally gathered together by a man named Marcion. (144AD) He loved the Apostle Paul and taught from his teaching exclusively so he gathered Paul's letters and created a New Testament for his own followers to use. In his canon he included: The Gospel of Luke, Romans, I & II Corinthians, Galatians Ephesians Philippians, Colossians, I & II Thessalonians, and Philemon. Since his motive was poor his canon was rejected by Rome. He wrote it because he disliked the Jewish scriptures and decided to replace them. All Christians at the time depended on the Jewish scriptures what we now call the Old Testament.
Marcion taught that Jesus and the God of the Jews were different Gods. He did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Anything that Paul wrote that contradicted Marcion's thinking he deleted. So Marcion's canon was basically cut and pasted to his liking.
However over time Marcion's teachings and his scriptures became very popular amongst the average person and Rome came to realize the idea of a New Testament is actually a good one.
They took Marcion's New Testament using the original versions (not the cut & paste versions) and added the others Gospels. They also added the letters written by other Apostles and what we call the Pastorial letters. Now the New Testament was a more well rounded example of what the disciples taught and a much better representative of Christianity at large. They of course included the Jewish Scriptures as well labelling them the "Old Testament".
The list we ended up with was first found in a letter by a Bishop named Athanasius. (367AD). He proclaimed this list as the offical list to the people under his leadership. The people in our time who believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not for today base this belief on Athanasius' letter claiming his letter was the offical closing of the canon.
Athanasius' list was not the only list out there. There were other writtings and letters that mainstream Christians embraced other then the list he created. The problem was trying to figure out if this letter or that letter was actually written by the actual disciple the letter is attributed to it. Was it written by John or a follower of John or some other Christian named John? Remember they did not have the modern techniques for verifing authenticity as we do. They also were trying very carefully to find the original letters. Marcion was not the only one cut & pasting these letters to thier liking.
Everyone seemed to agree on the four gospels. They also agreed on the letters written by Paul that Marcion used. In all there was pretty universal agreement on about 22 of the 27 current books.
There was some disagreement with the book of James and I & II Peter but mostly II Peter. Some did not like II & III John and Jude. Since Paul did not write Hebrews some questioned that book as well. We now think it was written by Barnabas. There was dispute over what is called the Pastoral letters, I & II Timothy and Titus. To this day people have doubts that it was Paul who wrote them. Some wonder if it was instead Clement. The issues discussed in them sound more like second century concerns instead of first century.
There was disagreement on which Apocalypse should be used. Some liked John's, the current Book of Revelations and others like an apocalypse written by Peter. It was a graphic description of Hell. Some felt both could be in the Canon. (there are two books with the title Apocalypse of Peter. This is not the Gnostic version.)
There was a very popular revelation that was circulating at the time they were collecting documents for the New Testament called the Shepard of Hermas. It was a very long vision that a man named Hermas had. Many considered it scripture however it was written in the 2nd century, so they ultimately decided against it because of that.
There is also a document called the DIDICHE or "the teachings of the 12 apostles". This by some seems to be the oldest Christian writting that we have. It has been called the original church manual. The problem is that it has three sections so it seems that over time people would add to it. However the very first section is thought by some to be the document refered to in Acts 15:22-32 others do not agree with that. It reads very much like the book of Matthew and has some similar teaching that were found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. However since it was added to over time this was also left out of the bible.
Other books left out included a letter and a sermon that Clement wrote. They were included in the canon up to the fifth century. Since he is not named in the actual letter some wonder if he really wrote it. However it was a very important letter to the church in that day. Clement was said to be Paul's successor. There is a III Corinthians, which was the church in Corinth writting to Paul asking for advice on few thing. This letter was found in a canon in Arminia. Scholars do not believe that it was actually Paul that wrote this letter.
None of these books were called into question for reasons of doctrine that I know of. They were considered good teachings at the time. It is just that the people putting the New Testament together felt that it should be ONLY a collection of the original disciples. They made their best effort to accomplish this goal. In the end as a Christian we have to believe that the Holy Spirit ultimately directed them and the teaching that God wanted us to have ended up in the New Testament canon.
There are many other documents and letters that were available at the time as well but these were not even given consideration at all. Some good and important letters were already lost. Some were simply what we might be considered first, second and third century Christian novels. Some had rediculous exagerations in them. For example the Gospel of Peter had a 10 foot tall Jesus. They just tossed that gospel.
If you are wondering about the Gnostic gospels they would take real letters and Gospels and plagiarize them. We have found Jewish copies of a book and then found Gnostic copies of the same book. In order to trick people into the Gnostic doctrine they would rewrite Christian documents changing the essence of what Jesus taught from a Jewish theology to a Greek theology similar to what Plato believed. Since Jesus had never been to Greece nor influenced by that worldview, historians believe Jewish sounding documents are the originals and Greek sounding documents are the fake versions. Historically Gnosticism was said to have been started by Simon the scorerer. As a Christian it is clear that the enemy launched an attack on the writting of the New Testament but in the end....... Jesus wins!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Messiah
It means “The anointed one”. He is the savior
liberator or redeemer.
The word Christ is the Greek word for
Messiah. Jesus is his name and Christ or Messiah is his title.
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