CHRISTIANITY

On the 31 st of October of 1517, the Augustinian monk from Germany, Doctor in Theological Studies, Martin Luther nailed his 95 th Thesis on the doors of the Roman Catholic Church of All Saints in Wittenberg, in Germany, where he disputed the power of the Roman Church to absolve punishment in Purgatory through money offerings. Luther ideas sparked a religious reformation that soon spread all over continental Europe, then England, and then the rest of the world. Reformed Christians all over the world, celebrate this day Reformation Day, that should be good to reflect in the achievements of the Reformation, as well as its mistakes, to improve our actions to a better service of God and the Universal Church. THE GOOD THINGS Until then, the public adoration to God was done in old Latin, and unlikely any man was able to listen to the reading of the Scriptures, since this was done singing, and in a language not understood by anyone, except the educated clergy.   The

The celebration of Halloween, a word that comes from “All Hallows Evening”, also known as “All Hallows Eve”, or “All Saint’s Eve”, that takes place on the 31 st of October, on the Eve of the Christian celebration of All Saints Day; has its origins in the Celtic pagan festival of Harvest, also known as “Samhain”. This pagan ritual which pre-dates Christianity was commemorated from the evening of the 31 st of October to the evening of the 1 st of November. In the Gaelic concept of this festival, it was considered that on that day, the “spirits of the forest”, meaning Elves, Fairies, Gnomes, and other spiritual beings came in touch with humans, and so the celebration went from a common festival into a spiritual event. With the arrival of Christianity to the British Isles the Christian Church established on the 1 st of November the celebration of all Saints Day, commemorating all the Martyrs and Non officially canonised saints in Glory in the hope to also outroot this

During the life of Christianity, there has been a development, passing from worshipping in homes, to the grandeur of huge palaces in close resemblance to political buildings. This development from being a marginal Jewish sect, to the established religion of the Roman Empire, it happened within the first 300 years of existence. However, many Christians believe today that this abysmal change only became real after the Constantinian establishment, but that it is not the case, temples dedicated solely to worship, were being built since middle of the 200’s, like the Church of Dura-Europos in Syria, from around 233 CE. WHY WE BUILT TEMPLES But what moved the first Christians to buy or donate this buildings, even in smaller versions, to be used solely for sacramental purposes?. The only answer that we can arrive after a careful study of different possibilities, is their love for God. There was no money coming in for lucre, neither was the commodity of the people of the ho

In modern times there are mainly three forms of ecclesiastical government used by different Christian denominations around the world. CONGREGATIONAL Most common in the new American Evangelical Churches, Independent or Community Churches. A single Pastor is in charge of a specific congregation, who may be assisted by a local committee. They are elected by the whole congregations and all major decisions must be presented and approved by the whole Congregation in free elections. The Biblical model is based on the example of Acts 6:2-3 when the Apostles asked the whole congregation to elect seven deacons to help them in their catering duties. PRESBYTERIAN Use mainly by Reformed Churches were the government is entrusted to a group of Elders of the local Church, either commissioned as fultime ministers or not; and generally a delegation of them form a national assembly that would manage the whole denomination on a national level. The Biblical model is based on the

I was watching a video record where randomly a catholic woman approached an evangelical minister and started confronting him over some religious criticism he had made about some shrine. During the argument, the evangelical minister said that the devotion shown by the people in this shrine had no biblical warrant, and neither had the use of candles, robes or rosaries. DOCTRINE AND CUSTOMS In the claims postulated by the evangelical minister about the use of   candles and robes, amongst other things, he also mentioned that these things were added to Christianity in the times of Constantine and that it was this type of “syncretism” which ended up corrupting Christianity until the Reformation. However, these claims seem to overlook two important facts. Doctrine and Customs, and their different origin and purpose.   Christianity as we know it today, it is an amalgamation of a number of things that are considered to be divine and others of pure human origin. They are so b

When God created Adam and Eve, He created the woman subordinated to the man in all aspects, except in themes of direct obedience to God Himself. And this, even before the Fall took place (Genesis 2:7, 15-25). WOMEN AFTER THE FALL Once the Fall took place through female instigation, and Adam fell, the whole of humanity was afflicted by that Falling into sinfulness, and as a consequence, God decreed women to be subservient to Man’s desires on a permanent basis. And this situation seemed to last until the Second Coming of Jesus the Redeemer, when He would invert the order of Creation status, into a place of Glory for the glorified (Genesis 3:16; Romans 8:19-22; 2Peter 3:12-13; Revelation 21:1-4). WOMEN DURING MOSES’S TIMES When the Temple Worship was established, during the times of prophet Moses, the priesthood was given only to males of the chosen tribe of Levi, but not to all of them, but only through Aaron, Moses’s brother (Exodus 28:1). WOMEN DURING JE

Original Sin is theologically called in the West, as the tendency to sinfulness a human being is born with as a consequence of Adam’s First Sin in Eden (Genesis 2:15-17; 3) and the sub-sequent eternal separation from God that came for the whole human race in Adam’s Sin (Genesis 5:1-8). WHY WAS ORIGINAL SIN IMPUTED TO ALL HUMANS? God created Adam in full knowledge of his subsequent fall. This He allowed because if Adam had not fallen into sin, but some other of his descendants, then the Atoning Sacrifice would not have happened, and a large portion of humans would have been lost without opportunity to mercy. God allowed the fall of the initial human, in order to provide an all- encompassing Atoning Sacrifice on the Cross, during his unique and eternal incarnation. After this had taken place, a unique act of salvation was provided and given for all humans to accept it and benefit from it. That way, no human would be in a certain state of damnation (1Corinthians 15:22; T