What is it to be Christian ?

[mrnoodle]

Originally Posted by rkzenrage

This is why the Thomas books were not included in the Nicene Creed. IMO, that it has to to with the divinity of Christ is BS. There are other references in included text to Christ as a man.
The reason was all the referenced to the individual relationship between the individual and God and how all people are to be lead to God, not just a select few or ANY form of specific inclusion.
Really, this is the core of what pissed-off the Jewish authorities. His teaching that they were not special.
The Gospel, on many levels, threatens the Church's role in faith, Paul's legacy, and the true nature of Christ in the Church's view (it must remain as unattainable as possible to keep the rubes payin'-up and the butts in the pews).

By the time we get to Constantinople, the message is already being diluted, and confusion is already setting in because church leaders are already "forgetting where they came from" so to speak. Paul was a well-respected leader in the Jewish community who himself sought out and killed members of this dangerous new sect of Jesus-followers. After his conversion, he continued to follow Jewish law, although he believed that Jesus had eliminated the need for it. He did it so as not to become a stumbling block (his words) for those who followed it themselves. He considered himself a "Jew's Jew" throughout his ministry.

The passage you're referring to does not have anything to do with the divinity of Christ in and of itself, nor was I intending to purport it as doing so. TBH, I'm having a little trouble parsing your post. What are you getting at?