benja burns

It's often said that if a modern Christian were to examine the beliefs of the early Christians (as in, those who lived close to the time of Christ) they would be shocked to find that the early beliefs were very different from the current ones. Is this true? If so, what did the early Christians believe that would make the modern Christian say 'That can't be right'? Did they believe anything so completely different from modern beliefs that if a modern Christian believed it other Christians would deny that they were true believers?

Chris Weimer

You can only be forgiven once, and only right before Baptism, after that, it's hell for you.

benja burns

Nice!

Chris Weimer

I'm not one-hundred percent positive that it was believed then, though, I think some may have mentioned it. In all actuality, there wasn't a uniform standard for believers. The easiest thing to do is run through the Pauline corpus and use that, like women aren't allowed to speak in church, and men must have short hair/women must have long hair and wear head veils, etc...

SaintOfMe

Well, reading about the incredible diversity of early Christian thought was one of the things that pulled me away from viewing my former religion as something infallible and immutable. When you look to the beliefs of the early Christians, you also have to ask yourself which early Christians you're supposed to be looking at. In hindsight, that seems like an easy question to answer, but if you try to see Christianity the way it must have looked in the first few centuries CE, it really shakes your trust in the absolute correctness of your faith in its current state.

Joan of Bark

The excellent writer Elaine Pagels also argues that Christianity today is actually more united than the Christianity of the first centuries.

John Kesler

I guess this depends on how "early" you are talking about. Even in Paul's day, "super-apostles" (as Paul calls them) were preaching "another Jesus" and "a different gospel" (2 Corinthians 11:4) from what Paul taught, so there was no uniform set of beliefs even then. Assuming that you mean "orthodox" Christianity as it was practiced in the years in which the NT was being written, I think the belief that Jesus' Parousia was imminent rather than "2000 years and counting" would certainly separate early from (most) modern Christians.

clocpw2

They would say... Trinity?!?! The scriptures doesn't talk about that.

Armageddon?!?!?!

Hell?

Julian

Virgin birth?

Unbeliever

I realize that most if not all religions of today have different sects and denominations, but I'd venture a guess that Christianity is the most fragmented religion in the history of the world!