Q&A: Christianity – a man-made religion?

[This is one of our first posts in 2012 when we started this website. Understandably, we had a lot of explaining to do about why we left Christianity.  The Christian Lenten season has begun leading to Easter week, so we think this is a timely reminder of the ‘whys’ of our perceived  ‘apostasy’.—Admin1]

 

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Q:  Why do you call Christianity a’man-made’ religion?  Is it not based on God’s word, the New Testament?  Isn’t the New Testament simply an extension of the Old Testament?  

 

 

A.  We have debated the meaning of the term “religion.”  Our definition of religion is — man’s understanding and way of relating to any god of his imagination or invention.  Unless God reveals Himself to man, man has to guess what God is like.  In our view, all religions, unless they are based on God’s revelation belong to the category of ‘man-made religion.’  Even Judaism, in our view, is a religion, albeit based on the revelation of the God of Israel.  Judaism has ‘fenced’ the laws of God in their zeal to not violate any of it, and in the process add prohibitions that are extra-biblical.

 

In our view, in belief and practice, Christianity belongs to man-made religions; historically, this is very easily proven, specially when you read the beginnings of this belief system as well as how it re-invented itself into different sects through the centuries.  [Best to read different histories of Christianity; secular historians give a far more objective account than christian historians.]

 

Historically this religion developed under one religious umbrella known as “Christianity,”

 

• with roots in a mother syncretic religion— Roman Catholicism
• and breakaway sects which evolved into Reform Protestantism and its evangelical offsprings;
• it has a 20th century version that masquerades in Hebrew dress and Jewish trappings called Messianic Judaism, because MJ claims that Christianity was an offspring of 1st century Judaism.

 

In terms of TRUTH-content, attached to its New Testament canon is its “christianized” version of the original revelation The Hebrew Scriptures or the Tanach [TNK]:

 

•  Retitled as  “Old Testament” [OT] to suggest its being obsolete and replaced by the “New Testament” [NT].
• In teaching that divine revelation is “progressive”, OT is considered merely as prophetic, pointing to fulfillment in NT.
• It teaches a theology that runs counter to its predecessor — foundational scriptures [Tanach or “old testament”]—that  it claims to be a continuation and conclusion of.
• It teaches that christians or believers in Christ are “under grace” and not under the “Old Testament” Law but  Jeremiah 9:11-13/16:11 declares otherwise.
• It rearranged in chronological order the original order, division and number of books comprising the original Hebrew Scriptures.
• It assigned Anglicized/Greek titles to the Hebrew titles and in so doing, readers all but forgot that the 2nd person it declares as God Himself was a Jew.
• It redefined the very nature of GOD from “the ONE and ONLY” [Deuteronomy 6:1] to a Trinitarian Godhead, according to majority vote in mere councils of men [Council of Nicea, 325 CE].
• It tampered with, mistranslated, reprogrammed many OT verses to confirm its claims about the  Jewish messiah.
• It changed the whole concept of the Jewish messiah into a totally foreign gentile mythic figure patterned after pagan religious concepts of a savior.
• In doing the above, a different god was introduced—
  • with a different name from YHWH—Jesus Christ,
  • with a dual nature [human/divine]
  • but belonging to a trinity as “the second person”
  • co-equal with the other 2 persons—Father [Colossians 1:15] and Holy Spirit;
  • and worshipped more than the other 2;
  • totally eclipsing TNK’s GOD YHWH whose NAME was all but forgotten,
  • relegating YHWH to the background “Father” status who concedes all power, honor, glory and judgment to  His “Son” [Isaiah 42;8/48:11];
  • ascribing titles that belong only to YHWH [Isaiah 43:11-15/44:6-8/45:5, 21-23]
  • who was proclaimed to be the very Creator Himself [John 1:3/Colossians 1:16],
  • who creates the “new heavens and the new earth” [Isaiah 65:17/66:22]
  • who was supposedly prefigured in about 324 “messianic prophecies” in OT.

 

If any christian seeker after the ONE TRUE GOD—–

•  decides to investigate all the claims of christianity and manages to take bold steps to peel off layers of what has been  “added on” and “tampered with” in the 2-part scriptures [The Christian Bible] used in this religion,
• Then—he has a chance of progressing to the True Original Revelation [TNK] and finally meet the ONE TRUE GOD who has proclaimed throughout the TNK that HE is ONE, there is no other, [Deuteronomy 4:32-40]
• the GOD of history [Isaiah 46:8-10/48;3-6]

Because of the very fact that GOD’s Words and acts in history have been faithfully recorded by the receivers of HIS revelation [Israel], then there is great responsibility for any individual/community who have access to the ORIGINAL REVELATION to read/study/apply/obey–and declare, as the “mixed multitude” did on Mt. Sinai:

“All that GOD has spoken,

we will do and we will hear.”

 

• There is no more reason to remain ignorant in this day and age, because every christian bible/new testament has the “OT prequel” attached to its “NT sequel”.
• It is therefore incumbent upon the individual/community-leader[s] to heed the warning in Deuteronomy that after Torah, all future claims to be from YHWH’s mouth must be measured against the standard of HIS original revelation—Torah [Deuteronomy 13:1-6]
• Just as all counterfeits must be scrutinized and checked against the genuine—whether money or imitated goods—- the same must all the more apply to “Scripture” that claim to issue from YHWH, that does not carry the same authority as the Prophets of Israel in their unmistakable declaration that reverberates throughout the TNK—-“Thus saith the LORD”.
• The enlightened/informed seeker must then make a choice between his previous religious orientation and true Biblical faith in the ONE TRUE GOD whose NAME is YHWH;
• and make a commitment, just as Joshua and Israel did:  “Choose today whom you will serve . . . But as for me and my house, we will serve YHWH.” . . . “We too will serve YHWH, for HE is our GOD!” [Joshua 24:14-18]
• And heed the words of GOD through the prophet Jeremiah:  “Thus saith the LORD:  Stand on the roads and see; ask about the various paths of history, which path is best, and walk on it and find solace for your soul.” [6:16]