THE
EARLY FOLLOWERS OF JESUS CHRIST AND 1.1 The Word “Christians” Were Unknown To Jesus 1.2 Diversity In the Early Followers of Jesus 1.3 The Nazarenes Versus the Pauline Christianity 1.4 St. James, the Head of the Nazarenes 1.6 The Origin of the Word Nazarene 1.8 The Early Church, The Church of the Circumcision 1.9 Salvation Is Through Faith & By Obeying God’s Law 1.10 Obey the Scribes or Teachers of the Law 1.11 Jesus Instruct His Followers to Offer “the Gift that Moses Commanded” 1.13 Jesus: Those Who Do Not Follow The Law Are Hypocrites 1.14 St. James: Faith Without Good Works Is Useless And Cannot Save Anyone 1.16 Paul, The Real Founder of Christianity 1.18 Paul and His Pauline Churches Changed Jesus Into God 1.19 Paul’s Life: Examining His Contradictory Testimonies
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1.3 The Nazarenes (Judeo-Christianity) Versus the Pauline Christianity
According to Christian sources, the main dissension among the early followers of Jesus Christ was between the Nazarene Community headed by St James “The Righteous” or Yacub Ibn Yusuf Najaar[1] who presided over the Jerusalem Council, which consisted among others, of Jesus own disciples,[2] and the Pauline Christianity headed by Paul or Saul of Tarsus.[3] The teachings of Paul created great controversy at that time. “The Dead Sea Scrolls Documents” discovered in the caves of the Qumran Hills,[4] which contain Biblical materials, shows that Paul’s teachings did not represent the beliefs of the Nazarene Community headed by St. James. Paul frequently argued with the leaders of the community over The Torah or The Laws of Moses. The Nazarenes rejected Paul’s teachings because Paul did not teach what Jesus taught. Jesus taught his followers to uphold the Law (al-Shari‘ah). Paul taught against it.[5] [1] Maulana Taqi Usmani, What is Christianity (The Muslim World League, Makkah al-Mukarramah, Saudi Arabia), 1987, 68 [2] Based on the Bible, the 12 Disciples are Simon, also called Peter, his brother Andrew, James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John, James the son of Alphaeus, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax gatherer; Lebbeus or Thaddeus, Simon, a member of the Zealot party; and Judas Iscariot, the betrayer. [3] Paul was not among the disciples appointed by Jesus Christ. [4] The original discovery of the “Dead Sea Scrolls” occurred in 1947 in a cave in the valley of the Dead Sea in a locale known as Qumran. It is not known how many were originally found because those of the original find passed through many hands. Some were ignorantly burned and others were sold on the black market. Altogether, a total of seven complete scrolls found their way into the public domain, along with the fragments of some twenty-one others. Subsequent searches of near-by caves produced other material. One cave in particular yielded over 800 scrolls. The Dead Sea Scrolls contained material pertaining to both the Old Testament and early Christianity. Prior to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, we did not know about many of the other early Christian writings because earlier writings were ordered to be destroyed. During the reign of the Christian Emperor Flavius Theodosius (d.395 C.E), all writings that were not in conformity with the doctrines of Roman Christianity were burned, with the approval of the Emperor and the Church. Again, during the reign of the Christian Emperor Valentinian 111 (d.454 C.E), the emperor issued an order to burn all writings opposed to the Roman version of Christianity (The New Testament in Question, 4-6) [5] Secrets of The Dead Sea Scrolls, 2, 41 (adapted in part) |
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