First Century Christianity

Take a look at this video in order to set the mood!

All righty, now that your sinusoidal deplanaration has been attenuated, let's get down to some basic truth.

Christianity is not supposed to be complicated!

We have a list of "rules for a good marriage" on the wall on our house. It has been there as long as I can remember and some of the rules are quite comical, though all are true! The one that comes to mind goes like this: "In an argument, the one doing the most talking is usually the one who is wrong." This is true on so, so many levels!

I have found myself reading incredibly long treatises trying to explain, using a maximum of adjectives and flowery language, how some plain truth of the Bible is neither plain nor true. Take the Sabbath for example. The Bible only sanctifies one day of the week to be kept holy and that day starts at Friday sunset and ends at Saturday sunset. The 4th commandment and Leviticus 23 tell us what to do on that day; don't work, don't make anyone else work, have a holy convocation (go to church). Easy to explain and easy to understand. Now ask someone to explain why most of Christianity does not keep the Sabbath and instead observes Sunday. Yep, it'll take pages.

Think about the other stuff people like us do. Most of our differences with mainstream Christianity come from simply scripture.

Q: Why don't you believe in the Trinity?

A: It's not in the Bible. Jesus prayed to The Father and is seated next to the Father so He's not the Father.

Q: Why don't you eat pork?

A: Because Jesus didn't eat pork. I'm a Christian so I want to be like Christ.

Q: Why don't you keep Christmas?

A: It's not in the Bible and Jeremiah writes that we specifically aren't supposed to do stuff like that.

Q: Why don't you have crosses in your house?

A: Jesus was killed with a cross. I don't think the device of His execution hanging on a wall is an appropriate tool for worship. Oh, and the commandment says not to use stuff made by men for worship.

See how easy that is? Sure, we can elaborate on all those points and many more, but for most of us the house of cards that is mainstream Christianity started falling down based on simple scripture. For me, the idea of an eternal hell with immortal souls came apart when I read Revelation 19 and 20. I remember asking my wife, who was raised a Sabbath keeper and schooled in the WORD, "Honey, it doesn't look like hell exists yet. Is that right?" And her response, "Of course not, keep reading."

That's some of the best advice anyone has ever given me with respect to the Bible. Keep reading. Yes, brothers and sisters, let's keep reading and by all means, Keep It Simple!