How did Christianity spread so far and wide being an offshoot of Judaism?

[Hawkins]

Actually, early Greek Christians were not at all focused on divine punishment or justice (that was a later western emphasis in the late middle ages).

No. It's an original Jewish concept.

An Extract Out of Josephus’ Discourse to the Greeks Concerning Hades

2. In this region there is a certain place set apart, as a lake of unquenchable fire, whereinto we suppose no one hath hitherto been cast; but it is prepared for a day afore-determined by God, in which one righteous sentence shall deservedly be passed upon all men; when the unjust, and those that have been disobedient to God, and have given honor to such idols as have been the vain operations of the hands of men as to God himself, shall be adjudged to this everlasting punishment, as having been the causes of defilement; while the just shall obtain an incorruptible and never-fading kingdom. These are now indeed confined in Hades, but not in the same place wherein the unjust are confined.

 

[pescador]

Ancient people have more spiritually sense, that's before humans are brainwashed by modern secular education.

Would you rather be ignorant?

 

[pescador]

No. It's an original Jewish concept.

An Extract Out of Josephus’ Discourse to the Greeks Concerning Hades

2. In this region there is a certain place set apart, as a lake of unquenchable fire, whereinto we suppose no one hath hitherto been cast; but it is prepared for a day afore-determined by God, in which one righteous sentence shall deservedly be passed upon all men; when the unjust, and those that have been disobedient to God, and have given honor to such idols as have been the vain operations of the hands of men as to God himself, shall be adjudged to this everlasting punishment, as having been the causes of defilement; while the just shall obtain an incorruptible and never-fading kingdom. These are now indeed confined in Hades, but not in the same place wherein the unjust are confined.

I didn't realize that Josephus wrote in 17th. century English. "Whereinto we suppose no one hath hitherto been cast"? "...and have given honor to such idols as have been the vain operations of the hands of men as to God himself, shall be adjudged..."? "...not in the same place wherein the unjust are confined."?

Do you think that he was reading the KJV, the Tyndale Bible, or the Geneva Bible?

 

[Landon Caeli]

Zoroastrianism, by it's own doctrine cannot be "spread". They do not allow evangelization. To be a "Parsi", both of your parents must be "Parsi". Attrition due to mortality and forced conversion have doomed Zoroastrianism.

Could it be said that Christianity was the first "evangelizing' faith ever? Maybe that holds some significance.

...We know the Zoroastrians and the Jews didn't do it.

 

[Widlast]

Could it be said that Christianity was the first "evangelizing' faith ever? Maybe that holds some significance.

...We know the Zoroastrians and the Jews didn't do it.

I wouldn't go that far, being that there is much of ancient history that we know little about.
When the Aryan's conquered India, their beliefs were somewhat merged with those of the Dravidians who already lived there, thus becoming the basis for Hinduism. With Egypt, just about the opposite happened, when the Greeks conquered Egypt, the conquering nobility adopted the Egyptian religion of the time. And of course we are all familiar with how Islam spread (hardly by reasoned discourse or intelligent debate).
Perhaps one could say that Christianity is the only religion ever spread by friendly conversation without regarding class or wealth distinctions.

 

[Albion]

Could it be said that Christianity was the first "evangelizing' faith ever? Maybe that holds some significance.

...We know the Zoroastrians and the Jews didn't do it.

It has to relate to the Roman Empire. Comparing it to Zoroastrianism or some other faith misses this critical point--Christianity mainly spread through the Roman Empire and did so relatively quickly.

 

[Landon Caeli]

It has to relate to the Roman Empire. Comparing it to Zoroastrianism or some other faith misses this critical point--Christianity mainly spread through the Roman Empire and did so relatively quickly.

Maybe Christs words were more "prophetic", rather than (or equally if one prefers) designative, when he said: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church."

...Could it be that Christ knew that the faith would spread far and wide through the Roman Empire? And this occurred within the first couple hundred years, beginning with Simon (Peter) after Pentecost?

EDIT: I'm definitely not claiming here that Christ dedicated Peter or anyone to rule the Church, just to be clear. I'm just checking prophecies and miracles involving the Apostles and the first couple hundred years of Christianity's spread.

 

[Albion]

...Could it be that Christ knew that the faith would spread far and wide through the Roman Empire? And this occurred within the first couple hundred years, beginning with Simon (Peter) after Pentecost?

Certainly. And Peter's role remains the same--the miraculous conversion of thousands on Pentecost. They were the beginning of the expansion of the church.

 

[JoeP222w]

"How did Christianity spread so far and wide being an offshoot of Judaism?"

Simple answer: Purely and solely by the grace of God.

 

[Albion]

That doesn't really answer the question, though. God no doubt did will that the faith would spread, but he wouldn't have commissioned his Apostles to go into the whole world and preach the Gospel of Christ, baptizing all nations, etc. if all he had to do was will that all heathens suddenly become believers in Christ or, for that matter, agree to everything the minute an evangelist appeared in their neighborhood. And if he had willed something like that, none of the Apostles would have suffered martyrdom nor would the early church have been persecuted or forced into catecombs.

 

[BobRyan]

It seems miraculous that people in India, Egypt, Russia, Romania, Italy, etc., would all accept a religion rooted in Judaism, especially when they had their own preferred culture that normally would have taken precedence over foreign influences.

...It seems impossible! What happened?

All the apostles were Jews and when the world church had a dispute where did they go for "the answer"? Acts 15 - to the Jews in Jerusalem - the Christian Jews.

Jesus said to the Samaritans in John 4 "salvation is of the Jews"

 

[BobRyan]

@Landon Caeli - Colonialism, the gospel spread through gunfire.

Ii forgot all about Peter riding around Jerusalem shooting all the Jews that opposed Christianity... oh no wait!!!

 

[lesliedellow]

Roman Mithraism was a neoplatonic reinterpretation of the Persian Cult, which was not an Indian import. Both Persian and Indian Mitra were derived from the common Indo-Aryan base religion, with Mitra brought to India by the Aryan invasion.

Since the mid seventies Mithraic scholars have seen Roman and Persian Mithraism as being two different religions, with not much more than the name in common.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Ii forgot all about Peter riding around Jerusalem shooting all the Jews that opposed Christianity... oh no wait!!!

@BobRyan - That's pretty funny, thanks

 

[SolomonVII]

It seems miraculous that people in India, Egypt, Russia, Romania, Italy, etc., would all accept a religion rooted in Judaism, especially when they had their own preferred culture that normally would have taken precedence over foreign influences.

...It seems impossible! What happened?

The one difference that the God of the Jews brought to the world was the idea that morality was essential. God is defined by as being good, and the Christian expectation is that people who love God will follow his Way, as exemplified by God Incarnate, Jesus Christ.
Simply in a 'survival of the fittest' kind of way, statistically, people who lead moral lives have a much greater chance of success than people who lead dissolute lives. The thousands of years of Jewish living withing larger pagan cultures perfected techniques of surviving and prospering as a subculture within the larger cultures of the dominant empires of the region, and this is what Christianity brought to the people of the Roman Empire, whosoever had the ears to hear and the eyes to see. Judaism was limited by tribal affiliation, but Christianity was the religion of the open table. The people of the world who found the morality of Judaism of special appeal were all invited to the table, regardless of race or creed or any other social constraint.
Paganism and polytheism was ultimately was all about the magic. It was about manipulating the forces of nature to act in ways auspicious to the ones doing the rituals in the proper ways that would be pleasing to the gods.
Of course, this is all pure nonsense. There is no such thing as magic. Rain dances and the like just do not working.
But living a moral life does work It is the Judeo-Christian moral creed that has lead to the success of any people who have chosen to express their love of Christ by following his Way.

It is not rocket science. It is not magic, nor is it even miraculous. The success of Christianity lies in people living out their lives according to the Way that the example of Jesus Christ left us to follow. The moral code of Christianity has made people who follow it more fit to survive and prosper and fill the earth with their kind.

 

[dqhall]

According to a 2015 Pew Research report, 31% of the world's population was Christian in 2010. Christianity is not the fastest growing religion.

According to a 2011 Pew Research report, about 50% of the world's Christian population is Catholic.

 

[thecolorsblend]

You might be interested in reading this article on The Impossible Faith:

http://www.tektonics.org/lp/nowayjose.php

If you hadn't shared that link, I would've had to.

 

[ChristsSoldier115]

It seems miraculous that people in India, Egypt, Russia, Romania, Italy, etc., would all accept a religion rooted in Judaism, especially when they had their own preferred culture that normally would have taken precedence over foreign influences.

...It seems impossible! What happened?

The Holy Spirit, and a simple agreement among the apostles that a person can still retain their cultural identity and be Christian as well. See: every rebuke of the Judasizer in Paul's letters. You don't have to be a jew to be a Christian, just like a African doesn't have to be a German to be a Lutheran, or an Indonesian has to be Italian to be a Roman Catholic. Our Faith supercedes and overcomes cultural evil, it isn't because of the culture. It is because of the Holy Spirit. All cultures are sinful and each manifest sin in different ways. There is no such thing as a Christian Culture, only a culture's interpretation of Christianity.