if you look at the early followers of christ before the term christian or christianity that existed pre- constantine. the early followers of Christ were Jews who practiced Judaism and believed that Jesus or Yeshua (hebrew) was the messiah prophesized in the torah, psalms . some Jews felt Jesus was not the messiah for a variety of reasons, a major being the "messiah" did not save the Jews from the immediate persecution also they believed the "messiah" wouldnt declare mosaic law is no longer the way to salvation or pleasing God. in this early period Jews who believed and didnt believe both worshipped @ the same temple and synagogue. as more people started converting especially those who werent from Judea or of Jewish descent started being identified as being "Jewish" for their religious beliefs which ultimately meant persecution, as well as the fact more converts were all together not practicing mosaic laws eventually led to this desire for a separate identity.
IF YOU GUYS WATCH THE HISTORY CHANNEL, DISCOVERY CHANNEL OR KVIE - EDUCATIONAL CHANNEL AROUND PASSOVER ,EASTER, HANUKKAH/XMAS OFTEN TIMES THESE DOCUMENTARIES ABOUT HOW CHRISTIANITY BROKE AWAY FROM JUDAISM WILL BE ON
but either way in the bible it is taught that Jews were led by God not to believe Jesus was the Messiah, so that the rest of the world would recieve the gospel of Jesus Christ, but we know what we worship because of the Jewish people. and eventually when the Jews return to Israel, which has started happening, Jesus(messiah) will save them from the various lands whose always TRYING to kill them , and in that they will realize Jesus is the messiah.
Greetings blackivy, there were many different types of Christians before Constantine and they had different beliefs. The Jews of Jerusalem and Palestine in general were not as what we know as "Christians" because they were not followers of paul. Those Jews that recognized Jesus as the Messiah did not convert to anything but they were doing exactly what was right. That is what a Messiah is and Jesus (as) was exactly that, he was sent to bring the children of Israel back to the path of Moses and the Torah. The Jews that were out to kill him were not doing so because he supposedly claimed divinity but because he was a danger and threat to Rome, and the compromising Jews who were benefitting from the occupation.
If he really claimed divinity as the Bible suggests, the Jews would have simply laughed at him and he would have been considered a harmless lunatic. There would be no need to kill him because that is not something serious. If the Jews who were on the correct path would have found offense to him claiming divinity, which they would have, he would have simply been stoned to death the way they stoned others, but this is not the real picture. This church theology and propagnda and unfortunately, even some Muslims have fallen for that. There was a party of Jews who were on the right path and they were persecuted, over taxed and executed(crucified) regularly. Crucifixion wasn't something new and specially reserved for Jesus Christ(as) but this is the way the Romans executed those who were against their occupation. It was these oppressed Jews who were supporting Jesus (as) and had he claimed to be God to them, they would have stoned him, but they would be in no position to crucify him because Romans and the compromising Jews did not take orders from them, and it was these same people they were oppressing.
So the divinity claim is not correct nor was this the reason that they were trying to kill him. If he has really been preaching "pay your taxes" "it's okay that they are persecuting you" "faith is only in the heart" and "love your enemies", the Romans would have loved him for this and there would be no way that they would get rid of such a Messiah who is telling his people to submit to Rome. This is not the reality nor is this the reason they were out to execute him. He was a threat to Rome and to the Jews who who were not on the right path. The high priests were appointed by Rome and these types of Jews were getting rich by selling out their religion and people. I am not saying Jesus(as) picked up weapons and fought, but we know that these Messianic Jews fought Rome and they were all anti-occupation. They wanted to establish the law of God in the land. Even James the just, who was the successor of the Jesus(as) movement in Palestine belonged to this group.
So Jesus(as) would have been a threat naturally just being there and just by talking. The Quran tells us that Jesus (as) told the children of Israel "worship God, my lord and your lord, that is the straight path" and he further stated "fear God and obey me". These words would have been fighting words because he is calling people to obey him and to worship God. The Romans have made themselves the lawgivers and rulers in the land. Jews, just like Muslims, are required to rule by sharia(law of God) and this would be a problem for the Roman occupiers, and the Jews who had compromised would have been angry with him embarrassing them, pointing out their errors, and calling them to return to worshiping God. Of course they would want to kill him because he is causing problems. It is in this regard that Muslims and Christians differ. We believe that they were trying to kill him, but God was plotting as they were plotting and God is the best of plotters.
We believe as God tells us in the Quran:
“That they said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of God";- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:- Nay, God raised him up unto Himself; and God is Exalted in Power, Wise.”[Qur'an 4:157–158]
As one can see from the above quoted verse, those who believe otherwise are following conjecture and have no certain knowledge in this matter. Well we know this from history that Paul came sometime after Jesus(as) was already gone, he never knew him nor saw him. Paul was in opposition to the Jesus(as) movement in Jerusalem and at one point nearly got killed by them but was rescued by Roman soldiers because of his citizenship. If he came after Jesus, it is natural that he was only following conjecture, and falsehood. He picked up the rumor that Jesus(as) was crucified and it was from this falsehood that this whole theory started and these doctrines of a man savior who redeems us from our sins. This is not the reality and the 4 gospels are written after the letters of Paul and they are written by people who follow Pauline theology. I am not a Muslim who holds the view that the Bible is the injeel nor do I try to connect the Jesus of Islam with the one of the Bible. As you have shown on here, you quote from your new testament in order to make your points about what Jesus taught, and we know from the Quran what Jesus taught and the trinity, atonement, original sin and other Christian doctrines can not be from him nor from God.
I hold the view that these gospels in the New Testament are corrupt and I stay away from them. I do not try to get information on the life of Jesus from them because they are written with a motive. The New Testament gives the impression that Palestine was peaceful and quiet place where Jesus was sitting like a Buddah statue with his legs folded and giving hour long sermons about "faith is only in the heart" and "pay your taxes to Ceasar". There is no mention of the brutal occupation, the regular crucifixions, the gang rapes and other forms of oppression. This alone is enough to notice that the writings were not written in that life time but as scholars rightly claim and they were not written in Jersusalem for a purely Jewish audience but they were written for a completely ignorant audience. The followers of Jesus were persecuted in Palestine and violently removed. They were in opposition to Paul and tried to kill him. There were many Christian sects that were declared as hereitics and the information that survives of them comes mainly from those who declared them heretics and killed them (Mainstream modern Christian church such as Catholics). For example, the followers of Jesus(as) under James believed that Jesus was the Messian, a prophet and a servant of God. They continued to obey the law of Moses(as) and they were anti-Roman occupation.
There were also many other groups that were in existense in the early centuries prior to Constantine era. In the 4th century, more than 70 sects were declared heretics and they were violently removed. My mom's church (nestorians) were also declared heretics and were persecuted by the Pauline Christians and by the Romans. It wasn't until the rise of Islam that they became safe and were freed from Roman persecution. Many of them embraced Islam in the 7th century and there is still a minority of them around, and they mainly live in Iraq, Iran and Syria. This sect started off as unitarian Christian and later try to satify the both the Romans and the Arians by willing to accept the trinity but they still refused to accept Jesus as God in full human flesh. This led to their persecution and they were killed for this. Even after accepting the Pagan trinity, they were still declared heretics.
These particular Christians read their scripture(Pe*!*!*!*!ta) in the Aramaic language and their books are based on older manuscripts. Their scripture has a different amount of books and the verses you quoted to us from the book of Mark (16:9-20) are not in their scripture nor is the story of the adulteress from the gospel of John. There are also other verses missing and other verses that are not present in your Bible. The book of Revelation is also not in the Pe*!*!*!*!ta and that is only some of the difference between them and you. I am revert to Islam and I am thankful to God for guiding me but I still am interested in the history of my culture and background. It shows how the religion of Jesus was in reality no different than the rest of the Prophets and it was after him that these controversies started. Since the early days, there were different types of groups all claiming to be followers of Jesus(as) and there is a reason for that as I indicated above. There was a party in and immediately after Jesus(as) that was on the right path, and there were others who completely rejected Jesus(compromising Jews and high priests) and there were others who lied and exaggerated about him(Pauline Christinans). The ones who were on the right path of Jesus(as) were persecuted, killed and many of their writings were destroyed.
The Quran tells us that Jesus came in the foot stepps of the prophets who came before him. He was sent by God to bring the Jews back to the right path, to uphold the Torah, submit fully to God and he also was given a revelation from his lord(Injeel). I didn't want to make this long lol, nor am I trying to attack you personally!! You seem like a nice and cool person and I am only trying to tell you a bit of my views on this and also some historical reality about the time in which Jesus Christ(as) would have lived and also about the different types of Christians. The today's Christians are all spin offs from the creed of Constantine and Paul. The modern denominations evolved out of the Catholic church and there were different sects before the Constantine era and after the many were exterminated there are new ones today that have emerged. Examples are the Protestant denominations, Anglicans, Eastern Orthodox, Jehovah's Witness, etc.
May God guide you and open your heart to the straight path, amin.
