Tag Archives: Primitive Christianity

Let’s Argue!

Christians love to argue! If you have any doubt about it just get a few believers together and bring up any doctrine you can think of. You’ll see in a hurry that we are a contentious bunch to be sure. Lord have mercy! We’ll argue over just about anything. We’ll argue about the second coming of Christ, the purpose and meaning of communion, spiritual gifts too and the list goes on and on. The debate about Christology has gone on for nearly two thousand years and shows no sign of slowing down. We all know there is no shortage of debatable points to argue about. Name any topic you like and you’ll see our motto seems to be “Let’s argue”.

Let’s Argue About Baptism

Baptism is an especially notable flash point. Many of Jesus’ disciples have been put to death by other Christians for their beliefs about baptism! There are lots of arguable points concerning baptism and believers love to debate all of them. Is baptism really necessary? If so, should we baptize infants or adults? Should we baptize by immersion or by sprinkling and by the way, who gets to do the baptizing? Do we baptize in the name of Jesus Christ or invoke the phrase “in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”? The list of nuanced beliefs and disputes about baptism seems endless.

The First Argument About Baptism

Interestingly enough, the first recorded argument about baptism occurred on the very day Jesus himself wanted to get baptized. Christ had come to John the Baptist to be baptized but John objected to the whole idea!  The Baptist was silenced when Jesus said, “Suffer it to be so now to fulfill all righteousness.” At that point John quit arguing about baptism and simply did what Jesus asked. We think that was a good idea then… and we think it’s still a good idea today. Don’t quibble about baptism, just do what Christ asks and follow His example.

If Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, wanted to be baptized to fulfill all righteousness where does that leave us? Jesus was baptized Himself and instituted baptism for His disciples, so we are baptized. He was baptized in the Jordan River by immersion so likewise, we preach baptism by immersion. Christians are meant to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ just like the early disciples did in the Book of Acts. (In fact our word baptism comes from baptizo which means to dip or submerge). Somehow baptism fulfilled righteousness in Jesus’ life and somehow it fulfills righteousness in our lives too. This isn’t complicated!

If you still feel inclined to argue about baptism please consider John the Baptist and his response to Jesus. John had an opinion about baptizing Jesus but quickly abandoned his personal beliefs in favor of Christ’s. Maybe you should abandon your personal opinions too.  Instead of arguing about baptism why not simply do what Jesus commanded? Someday you’ll be glad you did.

Copyright 2023 by Bob Shutes

Has the Church Been Led Astray?

It’s reassuring to be in the majority, especially when it comes to religion. No one wants to be accused of belonging to some heretical cult and our herd instinct is pretty strong. Most people also have a lot of confidence in experts. This is especially true when all the experts seem to agree. Of course, sometimes the experts can be horribly wrong. Like when the chief priests and scribes wanted to kill Jesus and got everyone else to go along with the idea. History is filled with good examples of this! Here’s something to think about… has the Christian church been led astray by her leaders? Could it be the majority has been lead down a path of platonic philosophy that has nothing to do with Biblical truth? We think that’s a good question.

The Ancient Gospel That Pre-dates the Trinity

We preach an ancient Gospel that pre-dates the trinity. This Gospel proclaims there is just one God, the Father and Jesus Christ is His only begotten Son. Yahweh is the name of the Father and Jesus of Nazareth is His Christ or Anointed One, the Son of God. The Father is self-existent and eternal while His Son Jesus Christ was miraculously born of a virgin in Bethlehem. Jesus was crucified and then raised from the dead and now He is seated at the right hand of God. This isn’t hard to understand! You can believe it without resorting to the heady intellectualism that Greek philosophy has fashioned into the doctrine of the trinity. All you have to resort to is scripture.

Modern Christians are Embracing This Ancient Truth

What you just read about was the simple faith of most believers in the first three centuries of the Christian religion. This Biblical and understandable faith eventually fell into official disfavor thanks to the efforts and councils of the philosopher/theologians we call the “church fathers”. Fortunately, a growing number of Christians in our time are beginning to ignore the so called “church fathers” and embrace these ancient truths instead! Those of us who believe this Gospel now find ourselves asking a very old question, “Who has believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” (Isaiah 53:1) We hope you’ll believe our report… and that God will reveal Himself to you. God bless.

Copyright 2022 by Bob Shutes