The purpose of this blog is for me to attempt to answer the world’s biggest questions, about religion, via an investigation of The Bible, and science, via an examination of the theories of creation. I shall attempt to be impartial.
I have recently bought, from Waterstones, a Bible, the King James version, for this investigation. I’ll start with religion and then move on to science, and then flutter back and forth between both.
HOLY BIBLE
The above title appears on the front cover of my version.
From where does The Bible originate?
In it’s collected form, as we know it today, it originated with the Roman Empire during the reign of Constantine (304 to 337 Common Era)
It appears that Constantine was originally a follower of Sol Invictus (The Unconquered Sun) a deity worshipping cult of his time. The Sol Invictus cult received official status as a religion many years before Constantine’s birth, in the year 274, during the reign of the Roman Emperor Aurelian. The birthday of Sol Invictus corresponds to that of our celebration of Christmas, yes it was said that the solar deity was born on December the 25th.
Before Constantine was Emperor, Diocletian reigned supreme over a united Roman Empire, but after his abdication the Empire was thrown into civil war. Eventually peace was announced, and Constantine became Emperor of the West, and Lincinius became Emperor of the East. Both Emperors agreed to issue the Edict of Tolerance, this edict officially ended years of Christian persecution, and led to the recognition of Christianity as a religion. Christianity had originally begun life as a Jewish sect, operating from within modern day Israel and Palestine, eventually this sect, or cult, spread rapidly, infecting Syria, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor and Egypt.
The first Christians were originally from the peoples we now refer to as Jews, and the first Christians were converts from Judaism. At first all Christians were Jewish, either converts or those born of converts, it wasn’t until Saul of Tarsus converted to Christianity that the cult began to spread to non Jews.
The writings attributed to Saul of Tarsus, also known as Paul the Apostle, form a large part of the New Testament. Due to a lack of evidence and the differences in the styles of writing there is some dispute amongst scholars to whether or not Paul the Apostle wrote all of the books attributed to him.
In the early days of Christianity there were a variety of differing views all competing against each other regarding the identity of Jesus Christ. The most commonly held belief was that Jesus was a unique agent of God, not the son of God, and certainly not an aspect of the deity having assumed human form. It is the Pauline Doctrine that first refers to Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the Saviour and he who will return from Heaven to save his faithful from the imminent doom of the world. Obviously, such doom turned out not to be imminent after all.
The end of Christian persecution didn’t initially lead to a better way of life for these early Christians, far from it, under the reign of Constantine, the Christian leaders became sycophantic towards the Emperor, making outrageous claims about his holiness and goodness, contrary to the reality of Constantine. Early Christian leaders chose to become followers of the Emperor, and tried their best to be part of his inner circle. Sucking up to charismatic leaders is shameful, naturally, and unfortunately still occurs today.
Neither Emperors, Lincinius nor Constantine, were Christians, although Constantine did convert, it’s likely his conversions was politically motivated. Emperor Constantine was a control freak, he demanded order throughout all levels of society. Suffering from paranoia and a massive ego he founded New Rome, which he then renamed Constantinople, in honour of himself.
Within Christianity the Arian Controversy was causing a great deal of consternation. A Christian Elder, Arius, taught a theology that concerned itself with The Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. His idea was that Jesus, being the Son of God, did not always exist, but that he was created, not as a vessel of God but as an emissary, such an idea divided early Christians, and eventually led to Arius being declared a heretic.
Constantine ordered a church council, The Council of Nicaea, in which gathered the Christian bishops. The purpose of this was to establish an agreeable Christian doctrine, free of controversy, adhering to the concept of Father, Son and Holy Ghost all being one.
The Bible, in the form we know it today was decided at such a council, Athenasius, the Bishop of Alexandria, identified the twenty seven books that still comprise the New Testament, added to this were the thirty nine books of the Old Testament, and thus, in a fashion, was born The Bible.
For more information about The Origins of The Bible, and differing views, visit these websites:
