"The Beginnings of Strange Days...the Origins of Christmas"...part 2

"In the days of old, it was rather common...not to put much emphasis on the date of one's birth. Rather, the focal point of one's life would appear to be in their accomplishments in life or how they greeted Death...with courage and honor vs. cowardice or selfishness.
                    
                                                   Or so it has been written....

 Christianity had been growing for approximately 300 years in different parts of the world since the Resurrection of Christ Jesus, and its perimeters were ever expanding in it's outreach to save the lost. Yet, had His Church within kept her "priorities right"?...was her focus the same as it had been initially started?
 The Early Church did not have an "official" New Testament to go by, that wouldn't come for a few centuries. What they did have was the Old Testament with the Law of Moses, the history of Israel, and the writings of the Prophets...along with books on passions in life like the Psalms and the teachings of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. After the Resurrection, letters were sent to various local church communities to give thought and direction in their pursuit to follow after the life of Christ Jesus.
  So, what exactly was going on those first 300 years after the Resurrection...and what led to the Christmas story being celebrated?
   Alot!

 First, let me get a little timeline going here.....
1. Paul, one of the main apostles that sent forth the Gospel of Christ Jesus to other parts of the world outside of Israel, begins his ministry around 35-40 A.D.
2. Even though the New Testament had not been put together as one complete book, much of the New Testament had been written by 75 A.D....through letters by various leaders within the Christian church: 1 & 2 Thessalonians around 51 or 52 A.D., 1 &  2 Corinthians 53-54 A.D., Galatians, Colossians, and the letter to the Romans around 56-57 A.D., the Gospel of Luke and Philippians 60-68 A.D., 1 &2 Peter in 65 A.D., 1 &2 Timothy, Titus, and the letter to the Hebrews around 65-67 A.D.,  the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and John 64-66 A.D., the Book of Acts 66-68 A.D., 1,2,3 John was written between 80 to 85 A.D., and the Book of Revelation between 90-95 A.D.

 Now, the problems begin with this observation. Jesus, while here on earth...really didn't give any specific instructions on how the Gospel was to be spread. He spoke of "The Comforter", the Holy Spirit..would be responsible for these things to happen. He did speak of going out "two by two", and the necessity to leave behind what you may have been occupied in life previously, and learn to put trust through the direction and anointing of the Holy Spirit, yet...there seemed to be no specifics as to how this was to happen.
 Today for example, if you feel inclined to start a church, a prayer meeting, a bible study...you just get on line or go to a library...and there is a "gazillion" books and articles as to how you might begin a ministry of that nature.
   So...what happened?

 Well, false teaching began to enter the Christian message...big time. One of note was...The Gnostics. Gnosticism was a little different from the heart of the Gospel message...to put it mildly. Gnosticism believed Yahweh created the world as we know it...but had problems with His invention. Yahweh could get help...from the person who created Him...the "Goddess of Wisdom"...Sophia...who in turn was created by a Supreme Being no one has ever seen, and he goes by the name of "Bythos".
 The heart of their concept is everything physically...the earth, the animals, and people are evil by nature...contrary to what God had spoke saying everything He had made...was good.
 On top of this, the Gnostics had a 2 fold purpose when it come to Christ....there was 1) the Gnostic Christ, and 2) the human Jesus. In other words, it was just a human Jesus that grew up and became an adult, then He became Christ right before His water baptism, and the Christ part of Jesus left...right before the crucifixion. 
 The words Christ spoke was a part of the "secret knowledge" that man needed to know in order to cope with life here on earth, and the death of Jesus had nothing to do with Salvation....He came rather for the sake of having "secret knowledge given to us.
 Furthermore, Gnostics tended to mix everything into one belief....Christian, Jewish, Greek, and Roman...and kind of took on a more eastern religion approach...like Buddhism. It basically took away the knowing of Christ Jesus in a personal way, and caused people to become Christians based n the level of understanding about life they may be at, and that coming as a result of having "secret knowledge" a person may have attained.

 As a result, along with other false teachings about Christ Jesus, the Early church found it necessary to establish leaders for different areas the were believers in Christ, and the extent of their domain was dependent upon the Christian populace of the region they were over....to keep the Message of the Gospel pure. After a while, these "Deacons or Elders" had great influence on how the Christian church was to be run....with Rome having a great amount of Christians. The leader of the Roman area became known as the "papa" of all the Christian leaders...and from "papa"...came the word "Pope".
 At this time as well, much emphasis was given to the structure of Christianity...the proper way for water baptism, how to conduct service, who is to be allowed to teach the people, and eventually the services transferred from homes to larger structures. And since a structure was built to honor God, these structures became quite elaborate in nature.
 As this type of thought monopolized the Christian faith, the need to know Jesus in a personal sense moved to simply surrendering to the dictates of the Christian hierarchy...and you would then be considered..a Christian.
 And the key to having direction from the Holy Spirit with which Jesus spoke of.....one must first have a friendship with Christ Jesus...and that is where the Christian church seemed to begin to unravel.
 Instead of putting emphasis on personal growth in Christ Jesus, tending to the needs of the poor, and giving to one another...things had began to change. It was no longer "Ask what the church can do for you, rather, it was ask what you can do to be a member of the Church.
 The Church now became a rich and powerful land holder, demanding money from all who joined her...and promised Eternal Life (with conditions) to whatever laws the Church established. The Church became no longer interested in a person's heart and soul, rather it's concerns were to a person's loyalty to the church, and to help in making "Christianity"...into the dominant force of its day.
  
 It was out of this world of troubles...came the Dark Ages...and Christmas...was born.