Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Biologist Richard Dawkins' book The God Delusion argues against the Five Ways. According to Dawkins, "[t]he five 'proofs' asserted by Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century don't prove anything, and are easily [...] exposed as vacuous." [46] In Why There Almost Certainly Is a God: Doubting Dawkins, philosopher Keith Ward claims that Dawkins ...
Monothelites believed that Christ had only one will, which was divine. [33] Paulicianism: Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches, mainline Protestantism: Paulicianism was a heresy that arose in the 7th century. Paulicians believed that the material world is evil, and the only way to salvation is to reject it. [34]
Agnostic scholar Bart D. Ehrman claims that evidence that early Christians believed in reincarnation is scant. [99] Christian theologian Norman Geisler claims that there is no evidence of reincarnation in the Bible. According to him, the text in John 9:2–3 reflects the rabbinic belief in prenatal sins, according to which a fetus could commit ...
While all Christians believed that Jesus was indeed the Unigenite Son of God, [6] "the divinity of Christ was a theologically charged topic for the Early Church." [ 7 ] Debate on this subject occurred during the first four centuries of Christianity, involving Jewish Christians , Gnostics , followers of Arius of Alexandria, and adherents of Pope ...
Coming from a Jewish background, early Christians believed in angels (derived from the Greek word for "messengers"). [142] Specifically, early Christians wrote in the New Testament books that angels "heralded Jesus' birth, Resurrection, and Ascension; ministered to Him while He was on Earth; and sing the praises of God through all eternity."
According to the Christian scholar Epiphanius of Salamis, he was born in Egypt and schooled in Alexandria, where the Gnostic Basilides was teaching. However, Clement of Alexandria (c. 150 – c. 215), another Christian scholar and teacher, reports that Valentinus was taught by Theudas, a disciple of the apostle Paul. [5]
The gospel accounts provide insight into what early Christians believed about Jesus. [29] As the Christ or "Anointed One" (Greek: Christos), Jesus is identified as the fulfillment of messianic prophecies in the Hebrew scriptures. Through the accounts of his miraculous virgin birth, the gospels present Jesus as the Son of God. [30]
Bart D. Ehrman attributes the rapid spread of Christianity to five factors: (1) the promise of salvation and eternal life for everyone was an attractive alternative to Roman religions; (2) stories of miracles and healings purportedly showed that the one Christian God was more powerful than the many Roman gods; (3) Christianity began as a ...