What Are We Then To Do?

It has been said that England and the United States are two countries divided mainly by a common language. It turns out that, over the centuries, Christianity has experienced that same kind of thing. It is a faith that has been divided into many parts mainly by a common sacrament, Baptism. On the first Pentecost Sunday, men who had just hours before were hiding together in a room afraid for their lives suddenly burst into the crowds of Jewish believers that had come to Jerusalem to celebrate Shavu'ot and preached out loud for all to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. The crowds were stunned. Many had traveled to Jerusalem from foreign lands yet they claimed to have heard the Apostles of Jesus preaching to them not only in Hebrew, not only in Aramaic, not only in Greek. The Apostles seemed to be speaking in the multitude of native languages of the lands from which they had traveled. In whatever language the Apostles were speaking, they explained to their listeners that Jesus was the Promised One of God. It was Jesus about whom the Hebrew Scriptures had been speaking. Jesus was of the shoot of Jesse. Jesus was the new Paschal Lamb whose blood would once again save God's people. Jesus was the Suffering Servant of Isaiah who would bear the pain of the sins of the people. Many in the crowd on that first Pentecost were moved. They asked a very simple and direct question which forms the title of this book: "What Are We Then To Do?" The answer that the Apostles gave seemed just as simple and direct: Repent and be baptized. Three thousand understood those words so clearly and that on that very day, they joined the Apostles in following and living the good news of Jesus Christ. Yet, as time passed, the understanding of repentance and Baptism changed. Repentance devolved from a call to action and to change into a simple feeling of remorse. Baptism went from a ritual that both symbolized new birth and new life in Christ, in some cases, to a mere naming ceremony. This book, "What Are We Then To Do?," also examines the context of Christian views on love and the Law through the first few centuries of Christianity. It explains the views regarding repentance and Baptism as they exist in the major divisions of Christianity today; Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Arminian Protestantism and Reformed Protestantism. These views are then compared and contrasted to the views of Christianity of the first three centuries with a special emphasis on morality love and obedience to the Law. The last section of "What Are We Then To Do?" looks at three specific events in Christian history that deflected Christianity from its views on morality, love and obedience to the Law from the context in which they were understood in the first few centuries of the Christian experience to the context in which they have come to be understood today.

• | Author: Joseph Theranger
• | Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• | Publication Date: Dec 05, 2017
• | Number of Pages: 196 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Paperback
• | ISBN-10: 1975717309
• | ISBN-13: 9781975717308