Posted by lcare on January 23, 2004, at 9:39:14
In reply to Re: How to justify pagan roots? » Miss Honeychurch, posted by rayww on January 12, 2004, at 10:23:26
Dear Rayww -
First, I have to say that you did a great job of setting the record straight about the roots of Christianity going back "to the beginning", since Jesus Himself was at the beginning.
Many promoters of paganism fail to recognize that Christianity is simply Judaism continued - it's just the Jews (& later Gentiles) who recognized Jesus Christ to be the long-awaited Messiah. They erroneously believe that Christianity began with the death of Jesus - as if something "new" had come about. Christianity isn't something new - it's the fulfillment of the law & the Prophets of Judaism.
Also, Christianity isn't in its essence a religion. It's a relationship. A personal relationship with God, through His Son, Jesus Christ. It's a way of knowing the Creator of the universe on an intimate, personal, real level. It's a transformation of a person from darkness into light. From death into life. From being separated from God to being His child. And the transformation from darkness into light continues throughout the rest of the Christian's life.
It's from the position of this relationship with God that we "do the things" that make up the Christian life: we follow Him (meaning we let Him take the lead in our life - we acknowledge that it's His right to do so); we obey Him, knowing that He directs & guides us out of His perfect love for us; we worship Him, acknowledging that He's God & we're not, that He's the Creator & we're the creation; we love Him, both by obeying Him & by loving others (as others are supposed to "know we are Christians by our love"); we gather together with other Christians to fellowship, because together we make up His Body here on Earth.
Christianity is about knowing, following, obeying, worshipping, & loving the One whom God promised in the very beginning to send, to save us from our separation from God, & to bring us home to Him.
God, with Jesus beside Him, was in the very beginning of eternity past. His plan pre-existed any other belief system that deviated from Him. To say that Jesus or Christianity came from pagan roots is simply incorrect - & perhaps wishful thinking.
Take care,
lcare
poster:lcare
thread:297550
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/faith/20040113/msgs/304589.html