Quote:
Originally Posted by glyn
Jesus was real, no doubt about that but (and people will hate me for saying this) he was never a christian! He was a practising Jew for all his long life. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that Saint Paul was responsible for founding christianity and thus creating a new religion.
Now I think we should jam our tin hats on, look for cover and expect INCOMING!
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This old man doesn't hate you... I just want to point out that you are in danger of becoming dogmatic.
You're right, Jesus was very much a Jew and I am convinced he thought of himself as a Jew right to the end (which if one is a true believer is never, but I digress).
However, what's all this about Jesus not being a christain? How could he not be a christian if from him eminated the teaching that makes one a christian.
I'd agree if you meant that Jesus probably didn't intend to create a new religion, but rather wanted to "clean up" and reinvigorate Jewish life as it was then. The label "christian", in that case, would have had no meaning while he was roaming the countryside.
Afterall, as you well know, the word come from cristos, the annointed one. How people interpreted annointed then and now might be different. However, there's no question his message set him apart from the average Jew at the time, and so he and his followers merited some sort of label, hence christian, follower of the annointed one, works just fine.