Atheists- A question about Christian history...?

Question

For atheists who have studied the history of Christianity (the timelines, and the history of the developement of churches): Which church (denomination, etc) out of all that exist today is the closest to being the truest* Christian church?

*Truest: Lasting since from the beginning of the Christian timeline; without disappearing into history and returning again; truest in regard to the description of the church according to the Bible. Thanks.

I ask atheists & not christians 1) because I want a secular source that is a Little more likely to be unbiased toward any particular church, denomination, or religion.

Answer 1

I am afraid that your definition makes what you ask impossible. Your definition disregards the fact that christians in the beginning of the movement had no "church". They met in each others homes and I know of no existing "church" that adheres to the teaching that went on at that time. I am an atheist and have a good bit of knowledge in the area, but I am not a "scholar" by any means. I can't answer your question as asked.

Answer 2

that is almost impossible to answer. Messianic Judaism is probably closest to what Jesus believed, but it is a pretty recent development I think. Jehovah's Witnesses are on to a lot of things, closer to the bible than all large churches, but also they are new. Quakers are probably closest to John the Evangelist, they are from the 1600s.

I don't think there is any continuing line from Jesus's time until now that stays close to the bible. Most big denominations adhere to the nicene creed, which has nothing at all to do with the new testament. Belief in the trinity is incompatible with the new testament, and no state church has ever taken the sermon on the mount seriously. This kind of makes sense as the sermon on the mount was not adressed to rulers but to the people, but still the content of christianity was shaped by state churches, so there is no sensible continuing line of christianity. Bear in mind that some christian writers acknowledged this from the very beginning of state acceptance of christianity: the concept of the invisible community of christians as not identical to an organized church already developed in the 300s. So the answer could be the invisible church, the true believers, scattered amongst the denominations. Galenus Abrahamsz., a Dutch Baptist minister, of the seventeenth century claimed exactly that. But it's not really a satisfying answer is it?

Answer 3

That is a good question. Of course the Catholics will claim the longest running but in reality many of the Orthodox sects can trace their lines back to the early Gnostic churches, originating as early as 100 A.D. There has been much fragmentation and changes through the years have made it such that no current church accurately resembles the first Gnostic churches. Christ himself never actually set up a church but rather taught a series of doctrines on which one could be formed. To pinpoint one single modern church as most accurate is impossible with the historical data available to us today.

Answer 4

I would say atheists. But I know a few Christians who know at least some of the history and are still Christian. I bet half of them just go on belisving without doing any research while the other half has done the research and just refuses to acknowledge it or they just don't want to give up on their fantasy

Answer 5

Jesus didn't want to set up a big Church heirarchy, so I'm betting that he'd be more approving of a stand-alone non-denominational church.

Answer 6

Catholicism. It was the original Christian church. Its also relatively still worshipped in the original way it was created. Even if the Protestants don't like that. There's a reason why the word "Protest" is in the word "Protestant".

Answer 7

none the church age ended in 1988.

church age began in a.d. 33 and from then until 1988 any church was suitable for worship but now God has driven true believers out of church

also now that the church age is over everyone thinks that they attend the true church and that other people attend a bad one lol wow they are all so lucky LOL.

Answer 8

The Catholic Church is the only one that existed before the Protestant Reformation and is still in existence today.

Answer 9

I would say Catholicism. All other churches branched off of it. Of course, this Catholicism also has had some reforms and changes in it's doctrine during it's history, so its not exactly like the original church. But as far as being able to trace it's history to the historical Christ, its as close as you're going get.

Answer 10

Orthodox is the closest to the roots of Christianity.