What was the first Christain denomination around ?

[Uphill Battle]

When Paul was explaining the letter from the elders to the churches, he said that it was not beneficial to force Gentiles to be complete Torah observant Christians yet. He said that in order for them to get in the the synagogues and learn they only had to do 4 things, those that are mentioned in Acts 15:20, and his reasoning was that they would learn the rest of the Torah in the synagogues.

that's a fairly detailed assumption, based on the text we actually have.

 

[DMagoh]

Peter and his successors the popes...

Peter was not a pope. Peter was married - but I guess that was before the Catholic church decided that Peter was wrong and popes and priests shouldnt marry.


I guess Peter was also wrong in that I never see any mention of him with a rosary. According to several Catholic websites, it wasn't until the year 1214 that the Church received the Rosary. I guess Peter missed out on that important concept, and it took 1200 years before the Holy Spirit made it known to anyone how important it was.


What about the indulgences that were sold? In the 1500's Pope Leo X took indulgences even further. Indulgences bought during this period were not just for already committed sins, but for sins not yet committed! So, for example, if you wanted to steal a chicken, you could buy your indulgence beforehand, steal the chicken, and be comforted by the fact that you were already absolved of your sin! The proceeds of the sale of these indulgences went to the building of St. Peter's in Rome - I guess the end justified the means?


Nepotism abounded in papal appointments as Pope Sixtus IV appointed 6 nephews/grandnephews to College of Cardinals.


As I said, the church was in NEED of reformation. And Martin Luther just wanted to reform the church back to where it was supposed to be. But the Catholic church rejected him and excommunicated him. Since the church wouldnt reform, there was no other option but to break away. It's sad, but true.

 

[Smilebomb]

that's a fairly detailed assumption, based on the text we actually have.

Well I guess that comes down to the semantics of what an assumption is.

The whole issue in the chapter is the Pharisees telling the Gentiles that they had to be circumcised to be saved. You can see that from the beginning of the chapter. What James said was why put a yoke on them that even our forefathers couldn't bear? As in, they couldn't save themselves. So what was the sentence, "you should only demand that they follow these 4 things... so that they can go into the synagogues and learn Torah, for Moses of old has been taught in every synagogue every Sabbath day." His sentence was that you didn't have to follow the law to be saved... otherwise that'd just be nonsense to say those were the only 4 things that God demands Gentiles follow.

Peace