Originally Posted by
DRay563
Of course not, as "Christian" means "little Christ" and was originally used as a derogatory term. How could the original also be the follower?
Why do you say that? The Messiah of the Jews is merely a prophecied and foretold person derived from the Old Testament. At the time, the Rabbis predicted something more along the lines of a war hero to help them out of the Roman oppression (when really, the Messiah was intended to relieve them of the oppression of sin in their lives). Christianity emerged from the Jewish culture (as well as the population of Gentiles). On what basis do you make this claim, that if Jesus was the prophecied Messiah, He cannot be the God of Christianity?
Israel is the chosen nation. This hasn't been forsaken in the least either! Paul clearly identifies with this fact in Romans (one verse, as an example):
Romans 1:16, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile."
Throughout the beginning of Romans (until Paul obliterates the cultural differences between the Jew and the Gentile, recognizing us all as the same), Paul continually uses that phrase "first for the Jew, then for the Gentile." It's a reminder that even though Christ is for all, Israel is still the chosen nation, the chosen people, and as such, will receive not only the first of the blessings but also the first of the curses.
Since you are so fond of pointing out what Jesus did and didn't do, when, in all of His ministry, did Jesus ever put on a flashy show? In fact, many times after Jesus healed someone, He would say "tell no one of this." That didn't stop people from talking, but Jesus wasn't a flashy person. He walked on water (but only to reach His disciples who were in the middle of a storm, and to escape the crowd), He turned water into wine (only at the behest of His mother), He healed the sick (because He had compassion, but never turned into any huge show like you might find on TV of the "evangelical healings for money" as I call them), but never did He call fire from heaven, flagrantly boast His claims, or cast any finger to write a clear message on any mountain.
Jesus' ministry was not a ministry of writing; it was a ministry of action. He left His ministry in the care of His disciples afterwards:
John 21:15, "When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?' 'Yes, Lord,' he said, ' you know that I love you.' Jesus said, 'Feed my lambs.'"
Acts 1:7-8, "He said to them: 'It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'"
I believe that part of this entrustment is the accurate recording of the ministry of Christ, as well as the ability to lay down doctrine. I'm reading a book called Velvet Elvis by Robb Bell, and although I haven't gotten to this part yet, I have heard that later on the book, he discusses the culture behind Jesus' words. In them, we find not only that Jesus spoke with the power and authority of a Rabbi, but also that Jesus passed that authority to His disciples because of the manner in which He spoke to them.
If you could do me a favor--show me where it says eating pork is an abomination, worthy of death, and then we'll talk. Also, show me a New Testament Scripture (the revelation of the new covenant) where homosexuality is condoned (Acts 10:9-23, for the condoning of eating all things, even pork). In fact, this is not the first time such a thing has happened in Scripture, as originally, God gave us only plants to eat (Genesis 1:30) until He then gave us meat to eat (Genesis 9:3).
Besides, one must recognize the difference between a moral law and a cultural law. Eating the pig is a cultural law (or, if you will, a law designed to have a healthy diet.... pork isn't the healthiest of things for ya). There's a difference between "this is unclean" and "this is an abomination, you need to die for this." Even more so, Jesus addressed the issue of eating--how it's the heart that makes a man unclean, and not what he eats--in the Matthew 15 section from one of my previous posts.
Lastly, you'll have to help me understand how treating women decently has anything to do with anything? The patriarchal society back then is pretty well-understood by scholars today, and just because there was a dominant male society does not mean that the Bible is against decent treatment of women. In fact, the Bible tells husbands to treat their wives as Christ treated the Church, and He died for the Church! All Scriptures used to support the keeping down of women needs to be interpretted with cultural goggles on, such that we can understood to whom Paul (the most common example) was speaking to, and why he said what he said.
Also, I would highly recommend a study of Colossians 2, as it deals with the freedom from human regulations found in a life with Christ. It's shattering to your position, IMO.
Daniel
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