That Was Then, This Is Now (Jesus Christ, rituals, tradition, Jehovah)

[cardero]

That Was Then, This Is Now

This thread was inspired from the baptism thread. It seems that God did not require baptism in the Old Testament yet in the New Testament baptism is suggested and now it is something that some religions require at birth. It seems that there is much emphasis put on the Bible and the ability to follow God’s word accurately, yet the rules seem to be unclear, or are outdated or updated and some practices really have been adopted only to fit our current society and practiced only on the basis of what some religions feel that God wants (Jehovah’s Witnesses’ stance on male facial hair comes to mind). Does this mean that God changes His mind? Is God making up the rules as He is going along or is it clear case of religions taking things too literally or misunderstanding Scripture or even taking matters into their own hands?

[angellous_evangellous]

Originally Posted by cardero

Is God making up the rules as He is going along or is it clear case of religions taking things too literally or misunderstanding Scripture or even taking matters into their own hands?

Yes.

[Victor]

Originally Posted by cardero

That Was Then, This Is Now

This thread was inspired from the baptism thread. It seems that God did not require baptism in the Old Testament yet in the New Testament baptism is suggested and now it is something that some religions require at birth. It seems that there is much emphasis put on the Bible and the ability to follow God’s word accurately, yet the rules seem to be unclear, or are outdated or updated and some practices really have been adopted only to fit our current society and practiced only on the basis of what some religions feel that God wants (Jehovah’s Witnesses’ stance on male facial hair comes to mind). Does this mean that God changes His mind? Is God making up the rules as He is going along or is it clear case of religions taking things too literally or misunderstanding Scripture or even taking matters into their own hands?

All the above.
I, along with many others on the forum do believe that God set in stone what we are to mimic. His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. If it is left to personal interpretation, then I see no reason why I can't mold my own Jesus and mimic myself to Him. But my Jesus may look different then yours.

Interpretational Anarchy

There is either a solution for this, or there is not. If there isn't, then you can argue your head off on what is important and what isn't until you turn blue in face. I think the logical conclusion is that God would have set-up a mechanism through which to resolve this.

[cardero]

Well let us take baptism for example. What would have been the importance of incorporating this into modern religious tradition or in the era of Jesus’ ministry when it seemed unnecessary before to the social era in which the old testament is described? Was this something that God had forgotten to explain? I do not think that this was a tradition that Jesus started because John the Baptist was performing these ceremonies before Jesus came to him. Where did John the Baptist receive this ordinance to perform baptisms?

Another example would be during the last supper when Jesus said “do this in remembrance of me”. Could this be an example of Jesus just addressing his apostles in the moment or is this a ritual that should be performed regularly? Could this have been a scripture that has been taken to literally? If not, should it pertain to every religious mass or ceremony or just done at a certain time of the year?

If any other members have other examples please feel free to add them to the discussion.

[sojourner]

Originally Posted by cardero

Well let us take baptism for example. What would have been the importance of incorporating this into modern religious tradition or in the era of Jesus’ ministry when it seemed unnecessary before to the social era in which the old testament is described? Was this something that God had forgotten to explain? I do not think that this was a tradition that Jesus started because John the Baptist was performing these ceremonies before Jesus came to him. Where did John the Baptist receive this ordinance to perform baptisms?

Another example would be during the last supper when Jesus said “do this in remembrance of me”. Could this be an example of Jesus just addressing his apostles in the moment or is this a ritual that should be performed regularly? Could this have been a scripture that has been taken to literally? If not, should it pertain to every religious mass or ceremony or just done at a certain time of the year?

If any other members have other examples please feel free to add them to the discussion.

Obviously, baptism was around long before Christianity. John was already baptizing before Jesus came on the scene. Baptism is as very ancient practice. One might look at some of the Hebraic cleansing rituals as baptism of a sort. Baptism crosses religious and cultural boundaries. There are many different sorts of baptism, in addition to the form and meaning of modern Christian baptism. It was not something that was "invented" by Christians. Personally, I think too many people place too much legalistic importance upon baptism.

In the RC, Orthodox and Anglican traditions, the Sunday service of worship is a celebration of the Eucharist. (The Eucharist is not "part" of the service; it does not "take place within" the service; it is not a corollary to the service -- the Eucharist is the service.) The Church anciently understood the importance of the command and that tradition has continued: The Church meets together in order to celebrate the breaking of bread in anamnesis of Christ.