Christianity, the Backstory

The stage play Image:   'What is Truth?',  a painting by Nikolai Nikolaievich, 1890 --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christianitythebackstory/message

James the brother of Jesus, and the elders at Jerusalem, and thousands of Jews there who have believed and are zealous for the law... How are they regarded by the author of Acts? How are their envoys received at Antioch?  Image:   'What is Truth?',  a painting by Nikolai Nikolaievich, 1890 --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christianitythebackstory/message

Jerusalem and Antioch, culturally and ideologically divergent. The defining principle of Christianity, and a response to it by James, the brother of Jesus. Image:   'What is Truth?',  a painting by Nikolai Nikolaievich, 1890 --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christianitythebackstory/message

"They added nothing to my message." The exclusive gospel of Paul. Image:   'What is Truth?',  a painting by Nikolai Nikolaievich, 1890 --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christianitythebackstory/message

Tracing the belief system of Christianity back in time, how do we get from Antioch to Jerusalem ?    It’s about what people were thinking.   There’s a group of people in Jerusalem who need to have believed pretty much the same things that people were believing in Antioch. Image:   'What is Truth?',  a painting by Nikolai Nikolaievich, 1890 --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christianitythebackstory/message

This is notice of a public challenge to the Christian Church, bringing into question its past conduct. To the Church of old:   The story you passed on to us about a first century Jewish movement… was it faithfully told? REFUTE THIS THESIS. The premise of the thesis is that Christianity began in Antioch, and can't be traced back to Jerusalem. The disciples of Jesus and their community in Jerusalem could only have been Christians if they changed their belief as a result of Paul's self proclaimed, exclusive, encounters with the risen Jesus. And there is plenty of evidence in the New Testament to say that this didn't happen. They were Jews who followed the teaching of their rabbi. Both these men and their movement disappear from the story in Acts, and from Church history, for a reason. This thesis is presented as a podcast.   It's open to contribution and requires argument for the other side. Its conclusion is that there is something fundamentally wrong with Christianity. Can you demonstrate that there’s something wrong with the thesis? Are the core doctrines of Christianity built on the teaching of the man we call Jesus, or not? This notice needs to find a learned Christian willing to speak up for listeners who are waiting to hear the Christian response. If that's you, choose any assertion made in the podcast, or respond to the whole premise, and send it in as a voice message. If it's instructive and concise, it will remain as part of the podcast, to provide a more balanced view of things. --- Send in a voice message: anchor.fm/christianitythebackstory Over 1400 subscribers, waiting for an explanation. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christianitythebackstory/message

The story that Christian belief is centred on,    does it reach back to Jesus? --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christianitythebackstory/message

The story begins. What did Peter and John and the other disciples of Jesus go on to do? ... Where did they go? Introducing Paul, and his doctrine. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christianitythebackstory/message

What did they believe? Image:   'What is Truth?',  a painting by Nikolai Nikolaievich, 1890 --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christianitythebackstory/message

The missing information about the disciples of Jesus. Image:   'What is Truth?',  a painting by Nikolai Nikolaievich, 1890 --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christianitythebackstory/message

How far back do we go with this concept of Christ?  Can we really take it back to the people who followed Jesus around Galilee and Judea? Did they believe it?  Were they Christians? --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christianitythebackstory/message

An interview with Rabbi Philip Kaplan at the Great Synagogue, Sydney. In Mark 8:29  Jesus says to his disciples;  "What about you?  Who do you say I am?"  And Peter answers, "You are the Messiah." Who is better placed to know what Peter might have meant by this; a Reverend, or a Rabbi? --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christianitythebackstory/message

An interview with the Reverend of Saint Andrew's Presbyterian church, Newcastle Australia.  (The Church in the picture) Tim responds to two questions: #   What is Christianity?  #   What is the central message of Christianity? We also address what exactly it is that makes a person eligible for heaven. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christianitythebackstory/message

The mother of all Christian assumptions --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christianitythebackstory/message

A combination of material from two rival movements --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christianitythebackstory/message

Looking between the lines of Church history and the New Testament. An unorthodox tour through early Church times for anyone interested in what might have been going on behind the scenes. Behind the scenes of the official story that was produced by the Church, with its rise to power. The Church has demanded a narrow minded view of Christian origins. Another way to look at that story is to take away the assumption that God was with the religious elite, and against anyone who disagreed with them. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christianitythebackstory/message

Underlying ideas, and the mother of all Christian assumptions --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/elliott-smith6/message

 A combination of material from two rival movements  Introduction Part 2   --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/elliott-smith6/message

There's a story that we're supposed to believe about how Christianity came together. The one where the religious elite were right, and everybody else was wrong.   The Church has demanded a narrow minded view of Christian origins. Here's another way to look at that story. This is part one of the introduction to Shaking Christianity. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/elliott-smith6/message

The mother of all Christian assumptions --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/elliott-smith6/message