The establishment of christianity

[Anonymous]

Good day to one and all
I come before you witha request for help and information - I am a student floundering in his own thesis. I will be honest with you from the off - I am not christian in anyway, not particularly religious and yet I am taking a religion and philosophy quailfication. However I appear to have hit a wall in my research. If I quote something - well I will - I would like please and I will be so greatfull if you can help me explain what it means. Here goes:

The Christian Church, looking at the statistics should not exist at all today let alone be one of the major faith traditions in the world

This has been said in one form or another by various people. What I want to know is what statistics are they refering to. What factors would make it appear as if the feldgling Christian following (which by definition was a cult with in the Jewish tradition) would fail and what actuall caused it to accell to where it is. It is rather important to my search for information especially as my paper is entitled INVESTIGATE THE SPREAD OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH & THE METHODOLOGY OF ITS ESTABLISHMENT or ITS-O-FEC-CAT-MOI-E for short . Anyway - anyinformation you can supply me with will be most appreciated ad you will be cited in my working. Many many thnks

Mr Raj

[Jac3510]

Good question . . . First, let me refer you to this article. It's a long read, but a great one. It covers seventeen reasons that Christianity should have never even gotten off the ground.

I'd also recommend you pick up Lee Strobel's book, The Case for Christ. He has a chapter that deals with this question, as does Jesus Under Fire (edited by J. P. Moreland).

Basically, keep in mind that the Christian Church was founded on the belief that a crucified man was God in the flesh. In first century Palestine--especially among the Jews--this would mean believing that God could become man, that the Messiah would be killed (and in absolutely the most SHAMEFUL way possible), that salvation came through faith and apart from the Law, and that there was actually a resurrection before God restored the entire world. The Jews believed that there would be a single resurrection at the end of time . . . where would the disciples have gotten the idea that the Messiah would have been resurrected at this time?!? It shouldn't have even occurred to them! See the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Old Testament Eschatology.

You have other problems, like the historical verifiability of the claim that Jesus actually raised from the dead (if He didn't, why didn't someone speak up about it?). You have the repeated NT references to historical figures that could have been easily checked out . . . the first century Jew was contemporary with Jesus. He could have checked out any of these claims for himself, but NOWHERE is there any hint that the disciples lied about what they saw. The Jews, in fact, simply claimed that Jesus was a sorcerer . . .

So, if those events were fabricated, where did the belief come from, especially in light that the founders were Jews and believed that salvation came through the Mosaic Law? To lie would be to guarantee one's own damnation. And what of their followers? How did they become so easily convinced of the most shocking method of salvation ever offered to mankind in light of obvious historical fallacies (assuming, of course, Christianity is false!).

The list goes on and on, but that should get you started. I believe the article linked has a pretty extensive bibliography that you can follow up on. If not, William Lane Craig (http://www.williamlanecraig.org) has some good stuff you may want to look into as well. I've not read him personally on the subject, but I imagine that Moreland does as well.

Hope that helps, and good luck with your paper.

God bless

[Anonymous]

Woah man

That is some high quailty information there. Lots of stuff to read through I agree but it all look like excellent stuff. YOu have abeen a great help to my investigation. My research has been useless compared to some of this. I am cut of from the libraries both on site and public as it is the Xmas holiday period. Excellent excellent excellent.

Anyway keep the stuff coming people the more the better.

Thanks again

Mr- Raj