I opine that Christianity is not a religion at all. It is a way of life. The religious part would be the way one expresses their faith. Some would call that denominations. Consider a room full of Christians. All of one faith, and all agree they are.
Now ask them to express their faith...and this is where the trouble can start.
One believes works are important, another believes the trinity is a flawed concept, another believes the Holy Spirit must manifest itself physically through us. Two argue how the sign of the cross should be made, two more argue whether there ever was a cross to begin with...
What happens here is the faith is lost in the religion. The truth is buried under onion layers of hyperbole, tradition, and personal opinion. The faith may bring us closer to God, but the religious differences can pull us so far away from God that we forget Him.
Jesus didn't "found" Christianity.
He was a Jew. He simply stated He was the way. His followers founded the religious variants.
If you look at the four Gospels, you'll notice that they do not target the "heart" of man (for the ways of the heart are deceptive and treacherous). They target the mindset of various groups of men. They appeal to the intellect, and later, soften the "heart".
Even Jesus never first went after the heart of men. He quietly amazed them first. He made them think of possibilities. Then once He had their attention, He challenged and piqued their intellect. All the while their own hearts opened and softened. Then He left it up to them to decide to follow or not.
Finally, Jesus was anything but passive. Had that been so, He would have stayed in one spot and let others come to Him. No, He went everywhere, talked with eveyone. Recruited followers, who in turn went out and recruited others, to this day.
On Christmas Eve 1914, in the trenches of Europe, one Christian soldier did something unheard of in war. He threw something at the enemy, and they hit the dirt expecting an explosion and carnage. Nothing happened. So the "enemy" looked around to find the dud bomb. It was a Turkey. Ready to cook and eat. Another Christian soldier from the enemy's side threw something back, with similar results as the first time. Only when they looked around, they saw a bottle of wine.
For a day, World War I stopped, because of the aggresive actions of two Christian soldiers from opposite sides of the battle field. The power of two Christians united in a single cause is the same as the power of 10,000 men. It must be so, for not a shot rang out that day. In fact the two sides played soccer together in no man's land, shared chocolate, cigarettes and food.
Christmas Day ended, the 26th of December dawned, and the two forces went about annhilating eachother. But for a day there was peace and good will between enemies, because of the aggresiveness of two Christians. One took a chance, and the other took an oppertunity.
There is no greatest religion in the world. Only Faith, hope and Love.
v/r
Q
