Review: Jim Staley – Trinity on Trial

Nothing evokes as much passion in a debate than that of the Trinity. In fact, this debate has raged since the inception of Christianity. In the infancy of this newly evolving religion there were a range of views. This site [Early Christian Writings] lists all the known writings in chronological order. It not only shows diverse beliefs, but also the struggle of a coherent message about the divinity of Jesus and what we call today the Trinity. It wouldn’t be until the 4th and 5th century that this new religion would be formalized into creeds affirming the core doctrines we have today. It should also be pointed out that by this time there were no, or very few, Jews in this movement. This is interesting considering this movement started out as an apocalyptic Jewish Messianic movement with hopes of restoring Israel.

Melchizedek: The Truth Behind The Myth

One of the most prevalent doctrines in Christianity is that Jesus is the final High Priest in a heavenly Temple sitting at the right hand of the Father acting as mediator between man and God. In my post on the error of Korah [here] I point out that the error of Korah was his rebellion against Moses, and more specifically the role of Aaron as High Priest. Most people don’t read past Numbers 16 to see Yehovah caused the tribe of Levi’s staff with Aaron’s name on it to bloom signifying Aaron is the chosen High Priest (Num 17:8).

So where did Melchizedek come from and how is he superior to Aaron? What information do we have about this Melchizedek?

The Book of Revelation a Pre-Christian document?

One thing I had noticed in my own work on the book of Revelation over the years was that the explicit references to either “Jesus” “Christ,” or “Jesus Christ” outside the letters to the churches of chapters 2 & 3, are mostly clustered in chapters 1 and 22, with few in the middle chapters.

But what is even more astounding, to me at least, was the observation that nearly all of these references can be easily removed without detracting in any way from the structure or flow of the passages in which they occur. In other words, one could get the distinct impression that references to Jesus Christ lay quite lightly on the text and could even be seen as secondary interpolations.

via TaborBlog | “All things biblical” from the Hebrew Bible to Early Christianity in the Roman World and Beyond.

The Return of Korah – Did He Ever Really Leave?

To the dismay of many in the Hebrew Roots Movement many are coming to the realization that Jesus was not divine and some are even leaving it for Judaism.  Indeed, those in mainstream Christianity warn that this movement is dangerous in that it diminishes the NT in favor of the OT.  They warn that this calls into question the Trinity and divinity of Jesus and lead people astray.

Independent thinking is no more welcomed in Christianity today than it was in the past. Thankfully, no one is burned at the stake today. If you question anything you’re labeled a heretic or deceived by Satan.  However, when an independent thinker confronts the inconsistencies of the Christian texts, the misquoting of the Hebrew Bible, and the outright falsehoods contained within them they are left with two choices. Blindly follow what they know in their heart is not quite right or face the facts and leave altogether.