If you imply that the early followers (those who walked with yeshua) were christians your views/theories/assessments would NOT be validated by *ANY* Pseudepigraphical, sectarian, deutro or proto-canonical books. I'm not putting other sources over anything. Do historians put other sources before the bible when they use history to validate it? Of course not. Nothing is wrong with using outside sources to confirm/validate. If you can't accept this you should no longer accept history or outside writings to prove the stories in the bible and/or the existence of Yeshua.
I understand that you have to dig more info regarding certain things outside the biblical scripture throught other sources.
You gave a few examples of that already and I agree with that.
Oh yeah, yes I am implyin that people who walked with Yeshua AKA Jesus were Christian. It says it in the bible itself, Paul and Peter (whom is the rock) were called Christian (After the fact).
Now if you or any scholar wants to believe other wise because they were called differently before that, then do so.
I mean you stated that they were known as"The followers of the way" which looks like that is just a description. That needs further research.
You also said that they were called "Nazarenes" which sounds like that's what you would call someone from Nazareth.
That needs to be researched.
Cuz judging from the bible alone, it's tellin you that these people never had a title until they were later identified as Christians. Which comes from the word "Christ" and Jesus was
called the Christ. So it only makes sense that people who follow his faith are Christians.
Like I said, I'll research this stuff and let you know what I think. I will give you an honest answer and opinion....
And I'll also let you know why I'm making a big deal out of this later in this post....
I think christians today are true to the name? LMAO! I have *openly* condemned todays "christianity" and the 501 c3 church. Todays christian/christianity has little to do with the christianity of old.
You misunderstood what I said. I didn't say you believe Christians today are true to their roots.
I agree with you, they have fallen way off....
:shaking his head: LOL! ACTS 24:5. Migg based on your studies how do you come to the conclusion that they had no name? LOL! If I told you another name was DISCIPLES and that other writings (historical and canonical) confirmed you would still argue. What about Galileans? Would you accept that?
Based on what you have presented thus far, and based on what I know myself so far. But I will do my research to see if I'm missing something.
Now you say the word "disciples",
dude I'm gonna have to say that anyone can be a disciple but that doesn't really represent a name or title.
And "Galileans" is just like "Nazarenes", doesn't sound like a title for a religious belief. They sound like titles given to people who were from those cities/towns.
I'm going off the top of my head and yes maybe I haven't done my any research regarding this stuff but it's pretty clear to me.
I'll do my research just so that you don't use my lack of it against me as a basis to discredit what I'm sayin.
And for the record, understand that I am not arguing against everything you are sayin bro.
I am just simply pointin out it's flaws.
Flaws? In the ideas that the names you've been giving me were actual names given to the early followers of Christ.
So far I've been able to give you a good reason why those aren't "real" names without outsourced research.
Now I'll do as you suggested and research this stuff to see if my ideas hold up.
That's all I'm tryin to do bro, I'm tryin to get to the bottom of this to know the truth. I ain't tryin to debate with you.
Just sharing my ideas with yours....
I'm not claiming that the name came from a "cult". The term was used by NON-JEWS (gentiles) to refer to NON-JEWISH followers/believers. If you believe it was derogatory or not is left to you.
I didn't say this is coming from you but I saw that a long time ago when I started gettin into this religious stuff.
There's people out there who refute the name Christian because they claim that name was taken from a once cult and applied to the followers of Jesus.
Anyway, here's why I'm making a big deal about this.
I am not speaking about you or anything like that but you have to understand that there is people out there today who want to establish their own identity even if they follow Jesus.
From what I know so far, we are all Christians at our starting point. Not just by name, but by belief....
We were all one....
Then came the Catholic church which gave themselves a new name and with the new name came new ideas.
From them came the Protestants, again a new name along with new ideals.
You see the pattern here? Instead of sticking together as the followers of Christ, (Christians or what ever) these people divided themselves because of their differences in their interpretations of the scripture. What was the solution? Either settle their differences or respect them, but division should've been the last resort. Throught out the years there's been more and more spin-offs resulting in the chaos we have today. We are no longer the body of Christ, we're too busy caring only for ourselves and not our brothers in Christ. There is no unity anymore and as much as you want to distance yourself from Catholics, non-believers still consider you one of them. It's the same with Southern Baptists, to them, we are from the same tree. But we don't see it that way.... The problem with this is that we need to unite so that we can set everyone straight to keep them from tarnishing our image to the world. Even though you are not a member of their denomination, they still affect you and me. So what's the solution?
We need to start over again, unite with one another as the tru body of Christ. What ever was the name for the early followers of Jesus must be our new name. And we must keep that title and stay together no matter what. We should never ever divide ourselves man. That is what I stress....
I'm the only one who feels this way right now and I'm wondering if you feel the same way. We need to start this today bro....
I hope that you will preach this message one day....
We would save a lot of souls this way bro, and that is your mission and everyone elses. We must be disciples of Yeshua and make disciples out of others, not just believers....
Maybe I'm like Peter, who Jesus callled a stump in his path from God's plan to sacrifice his Son when Peter tried to prevent that from happenning. Maybe I'm not supposed to unite everyone as one body. Maybe we're supposed to stay this way to make way for the end....
