Posts by Doug Mason

27

A chapter on The Trinity

by Doug Mason in

as i work my way through the history of judaeo-christian salvation, i have drafted a chapter on the trinity and early christology.

as before, i am seeking corrections, advice, and suggestions.. the chapter is available at: http://www.jwstudies.com/formative_christianity_s_christological_combats.pdf.

while preparing this chapter, i realised that i am not looking at the "evolution" of soteriology.

Doug Mason

irishdub,

The first person that comes to mind is Origen, who spoke about universal salvation, even for the Devil. If you want to explore his ideas further, try Googling with:

Exclusivist or universalist? Origen the 'wise steward of the word'

While I was out walking, I was thinking of you and your "keep me in your prayers, I'm a sinner".

I wonder if religion is providing you with inner peace or whether it is the cause of torment. The idea of "you are a sinner" is one element of a powerful model employed by the few to control the masses. They play on two fears --(1) a person's recognition of their inadequacies (join the clan!) and (2) the fear of the consequences when God either intervenes or one dies.

Their model then says: (1) you are lost to God and in danger of eternal damnation (2) We are the only people who can show you the way to solve this problem, so come and join in with us (3) You are continually reminded to go back to step #1 ("you are lost ... etc.").

I suggest to you that every morning, before you hop out of bed, you tell yourself - aloud, if possible: "I am not a sinner. I do not fear death. I will enjoy today and make every effort to make the world a better place".

Doug

27

A chapter on The Trinity

by Doug Mason in

as i work my way through the history of judaeo-christian salvation, i have drafted a chapter on the trinity and early christology.

as before, i am seeking corrections, advice, and suggestions.. the chapter is available at: http://www.jwstudies.com/formative_christianity_s_christological_combats.pdf.

while preparing this chapter, i realised that i am not looking at the "evolution" of soteriology.

Doug Mason

snowbird,

It IS my intention to make people think, and to think for themselves, away from ideas imposed on them by others.

I am not concerned whether a person agrees with me or not. What matters is that each person is honest to themself and that they resopect the rights of anyone else to their views. Otherwise the mental consequences can be too much to bear. I want the right to have my views; hence I must extend that right to others.

Throughout history up to today we see what happens when people do not respect the rights of others to have a different religious outlook. Christianity was torn apart by its internal wars of the 4th and 5th centuries, and when tens of thousands were killed during the Reformation period, and today such as with Ireland and with fundamentalist Islamists. When has religion brought peace? Secular society is bringing the churches (and the Watchtower) to account over the sexual abuses they tolerated in order to protect their organisations.

Doug

27

A chapter on The Trinity

by Doug Mason in

as i work my way through the history of judaeo-christian salvation, i have drafted a chapter on the trinity and early christology.

as before, i am seeking corrections, advice, and suggestions.. the chapter is available at: http://www.jwstudies.com/formative_christianity_s_christological_combats.pdf.

while preparing this chapter, i realised that i am not looking at the "evolution" of soteriology.

Doug Mason

thewonderofyou,

Are you prepared to keep in touch with me by email? If so, my address is in my Study. I guarantee that I never disclose communications or any personal details.

I am about to embark on a Chapter dealing with the soteriology of the Church's first few centuries. When you look at my overall Draft Study, you will see that I have drafted a Chapter on Anselm, who dreamt up the idea (based on his medieval culture) that Jesus' death compensated for the death that a believer should have experienced because of their sin.

Prior to Anselm, the Church followed Origen, who said that the death of Jesus was a ransom payment to Satan. With the Watchtower's "ransom" theory, I do not know who they believe the "ransom" was paid to.

Regarding the idea of the worth of Jesus' "blood" that you raise, again it is a matter of understanding idiomatic usage, as you point out. In this case, the term "blood" simply means his "death". With Jewish writings, poetry consists of paralleling ideas, whether as agreements or as contrasts. Off-hand, I cannot recall the precise reference, although I think it is in Romans, where the term "blood" is paralleled with "death".

Note, however, that this is Paul's take on salvation. His focus is totally on Jesus' death and resurrection. His need to emphasise this shows there were others who had a different focus. I think here of the Johannine community, which wrote that God gave his son (speaking of the birth, not the death) so that any who believes will be saved. John focuses on the life of Jesus ("I am the way", etc., which Jesus probably did not say) not on his death. John does not places the "this is my blood/body" within the context of the Passover.

You will see my understanding of the Johannine community at my Draft Study.

Doug

27

A chapter on The Trinity

by Doug Mason in

as i work my way through the history of judaeo-christian salvation, i have drafted a chapter on the trinity and early christology.

as before, i am seeking corrections, advice, and suggestions.. the chapter is available at: http://www.jwstudies.com/formative_christianity_s_christological_combats.pdf.

while preparing this chapter, i realised that i am not looking at the "evolution" of soteriology.

Doug Mason

snowbird,

Was Jesus not a normal human?

Was he a pretend human?

Doug

27

A chapter on The Trinity

by Doug Mason in

as i work my way through the history of judaeo-christian salvation, i have drafted a chapter on the trinity and early christology.

as before, i am seeking corrections, advice, and suggestions.. the chapter is available at: http://www.jwstudies.com/formative_christianity_s_christological_combats.pdf.

while preparing this chapter, i realised that i am not looking at the "evolution" of soteriology.

Doug Mason

Irishdub,

Theology will agree with you that the expression "eternal life" speaks of the quality of life, and that it is experienced here and now. In other words, the expression means sharing in the life of the Eternal one. Look particularly at the present tenses in 1 John 5:10-12, and similar.

Let me give you a purely personal unjustifiable hypothesis: "Death created Sin".

By that I mean that some ancient community asked: "Why did the gods not sustain their creation and permit people to die?". They explained something had happened which displeased the gods, and the name they gave to this cause was "sin".

But that does not resolve the problem of why the execution of a Rabbi provides the reversal of death for others. Does the Bible explain, or does it simply assert? Origen's model lasted for 1000 years until Anselm came up with his model.

If God "gave his Son", then Judas, the High Priests, and the Romans were the good people, doing God's work.

Doug

27

A chapter on The Trinity

by Doug Mason in

as i work my way through the history of judaeo-christian salvation, i have drafted a chapter on the trinity and early christology.

as before, i am seeking corrections, advice, and suggestions.. the chapter is available at: http://www.jwstudies.com/formative_christianity_s_christological_combats.pdf.

while preparing this chapter, i realised that i am not looking at the "evolution" of soteriology.

Doug Mason

Hi Snowbird,

I think you will find that other Roman emperors were responsible for persecuting Christians.

Constantine had a dream (vision) which included a Christian symbol. He said that if he won the battle against his enemy the following day, he would become a Christian. In reality, he was not baptised until he was on his death bed - and the ceremony was performed by an Arian Christian (not by a Trinitarian).

It is absolutely my pure guess and assumption that Constantine's support for Christianity was deeply influenced by his mother Helena (Helen). Read the article at Wiki about her:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_(empress)

As emperor, Constantine's main interest lay in maintaining peace throughout the Empire, so the dissensions within the eastern part of Christianity deeply troubled him, especially as he could not understand why the eastern churches were embroiled in the minor matter of the nature of God and of Jesus Christ.

When he convened the Council of Nicaea, hardly any of its delegates came from the western church, and the Bishop of Rome played no part in it or in its outcomes.

Doug

27

A chapter on The Trinity

by Doug Mason in

as i work my way through the history of judaeo-christian salvation, i have drafted a chapter on the trinity and early christology.

as before, i am seeking corrections, advice, and suggestions.. the chapter is available at: http://www.jwstudies.com/formative_christianity_s_christological_combats.pdf.

while preparing this chapter, i realised that i am not looking at the "evolution" of soteriology.

Doug Mason

Hi,

As I work my way through the history of Judaeo-Christian salvation, I have drafted a chapter on The Trinity and early Christology. As before, I am seeking corrections, advice, and suggestions.

The chapter is available at: http://www.jwstudies.com/Formative_Christianity_s_Christological_Combats.pdf

While preparing this chapter, I realised that I am not looking at the "evolution" of soteriology. Rather, I am uncovering "revolutions" and upheavals. So I have amended the Study's title and the names of each major section to reflect this.

I have updated the Draft of the overall material to include this latest chapter. This is available at: http://www.jwstudies.com/Take_a_look_over_my_shoulder.pdf

Many thanks for your interest and help,

Doug

18

Colossians and The Gospel of Thomas - a work in progress

by Doug Mason in

as i prepare the pre-draft stage of my study into the evolutions of salvation, i have drafted a chapter on colossians and on the gospel of thomas.

http://www.jwstudies.com/colossians_soteriologies.pdf.

http://www.jwstudies.com/the_soteriology_of_thomas.pdf.

Doug Mason

HTBWC,

All of the Gospels owe their origin to oral transmission. Mark, the earliest, was written 40 years after the "Jesus-event". Jesus wrote nothing. None of his hearers wrote anything. It was an oral society.

Each Gospel is the stories by a particular community. Each Gospel often tells us much more about the community than it does about Jesus. This understanding accommodates the differences between each of the Gospels, whether canonised or not. The Gospels are neither biographical nor are they literal narratives.

Dooug

18

Colossians and The Gospel of Thomas - a work in progress

by Doug Mason in

as i prepare the pre-draft stage of my study into the evolutions of salvation, i have drafted a chapter on colossians and on the gospel of thomas.

http://www.jwstudies.com/colossians_soteriologies.pdf.

http://www.jwstudies.com/the_soteriology_of_thomas.pdf.

Doug Mason

fulltimestudent,

Thanks for your thoughts. I have no knowledge or information about the Thomas Christians of India at the moment. I will save your post for my records.

Perhaps I could mention the the Indian Thomases when I get to my final Chapter. I will make a note to myself to follow up on it at that time.

I currently have the thought that when I do get to the final Chapter (dealing with contemporary soteriologies) that it is possible I might find some interesting ties into the modern-day Orthodox Church. I understand that its ideas on the execution (crucifixion) of Jesus are at odds with those of the Western (RC and Protestant) Church.

Doug

18

Colossians and The Gospel of Thomas - a work in progress

by Doug Mason in

as i prepare the pre-draft stage of my study into the evolutions of salvation, i have drafted a chapter on colossians and on the gospel of thomas.

http://www.jwstudies.com/colossians_soteriologies.pdf.

http://www.jwstudies.com/the_soteriology_of_thomas.pdf.

Doug Mason

Hi HTBWC,

In my presentation, I tried very hard to focus on the contents rather than being concerned with the discussions about whether it is a 1st century or 2nd century document. For my purposes, I simply want to show the soteriologies that have been in play over time are quite varied.

I am not passing judgment on the veracity of any form of soteriology. I simply record them. Each soteriology was genuinely held by a group of faith.

As I noted, I see many similarities in soteriology between Colossians and Thomas. I suspect that Ephesians owes much to Colossians. The sequence in the NT is determined by length, not by chronology.

Doug