When was the defining moment where Christianity became its own religion?

Question

Someone told me (I can't remember who or where) that Jesus was sent down from heaven by God to add to the Jewish message, not to create a whole new religion? So then what was the defining moment where His teachings became truly Christian and not Jewish? Was it after He died, or prehaps before? Is there any scripture or other work on this or is it just opinions? Is there no defining moment at all, but more of an evolution?

In school, while studying Christianity, we mainly just focus on that its implications in the Roman Empire and the Middle Ages, and in class at church we mainly just focus on Jesus's teachings and relating them to everyday life. My teacher at school already went into this whole big speech on the first day of class about how he is a world history teacher, and he will not allow religious debates in his class. My religion teacher, although he means well, is not a Biblical scholar. My Parish's Priest is on sabatical right now, and I don't really know the other priest.

Answer 1

Abraham knew me and rejoiced to see my day.
Chrisitanity was born by faith before the birth of Christ but began with his birth.

John 8: 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.

Answer 2

God's plan at least since Genesis 3:15 was that Jesus would be sent to earth to die for our sins.

Jesus was NOT an after thought.

What you need to realize is that the Jewish leaders had corrupted the Jewish religion long before Jesus was born to Mary. And in our world today, many religious leaders have likewise corrupted Christianity.

So by the time Jesus was born, Judism had long since stopped being what God had intended.

And all these false cults show how corrupted Christianity has become.

However there still are real Bible believing Christians today, on this Q & A place they are often ridiculed by the fakes.

Today the largest and most corrupt version of christianity is the Roman Catholic Church. And I intentionally spelled christianity in this paragraph with a small letter "c" since the RCC isn't real or genuinely Christian.

Remember that Pope John Paul 2nd did apologize to Martin Luther on October 31, 1999.

And there are lots of false cults today which are pretending to be Christian, when they are not. The best known of these would be the LDS or Mormons, JWs, and actually the religion of Islam started out as a false cult of Christianity.

Real Jewish teaching and real Christian teaching is the same.

Now I'm not talking about the beliefs of Jewish people today, I'm talking about Jewish beliefs as described in the Scriptures.

Jesus taught from the Jewish or Hebrew Scriptures.

Anyway please remember that God had plans to have His only Son come and die for our sins before He created the world. So it was not a last minute decision.

The Jews did not murder Jesus. They are not and never were Christ killers. When you hear someone make that claim, it should be clear that the person who makes that comment does not have a clue about the Bible or what God intended since long before day one.

And yes in case you missed it, I'm talking about Adolph Hitler and the Roman Catholic Church in the prior paragraph.

If you have more questions feel free to ask.

Pastor Art

Answer 3

He didnt come down so much to add to it as to complete it ""Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. Matthew 5:17"
It was when the jews rejected him that he took the message to the gentils, look at the apostles, all were jews, peter, the head of the church who was given the keys to heaven and earth was jewish, after jesus"s death and resurection there was debate over the gentil qustion, should they have to become jews or what? even the romans for a time regarded the christian "sect" as nothing more then a branch of judisim, up until the middle ages with the exacption of the eastern schism, there was only one church, i hope that part helps some

as for the disalowment of debate in class thats very close minded of him, debate, real debate, is the truest way to answer qustions, for its only in one"s finding the answer for themselves will they truly "own" the answer, otherwise its shoved in one ear and out the other sorry my two cents :) again i hope this helps some
Pax Christi

Answer 4

The New Covenant started on the Day of Pentecost. This was the first day of the first Church! This is when God sent His Spirit into the hearts of the believers and they spoke in tongues as the Spirit gave utterance. Acts 2:4. peter gave the greatest message ever given over the pulpit when He told us to repent and be baptized (by immersion because theat's how God set it up) in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of our sins and we will receive the Holy Ghost the same way they did in the upper room! God is still using this today. This is what sets the true believers apart from everyone else.

Answer 5

To understand early Christianity, you need to understand something about Paul of Tarsus. It is really Paul who laid the foundations of Christianity. Jesus always apparently considered himself a Jew, as did his followers. (I offer this with some mindfulness that there is growing conjecture that a real individual "Jesus" did not exist, and is instead the invention of Paul.) Anyway, Paul performed the essential evangelism that became Christianity, and that only got started after Jesus' life. More useful info: Paul never knew Christ in person. And the four gospels were written decades after the alleged incidents they portray. Also noteworthy: the gospels are at several points rather inconsistent between them. But Mark is generally dated as the first gospel, written perhaps soon after the destruction of the temple (67 CE).

Food for thought!

Answer 6

It was on the day of Pentecost. That was the day that God The Son sent God the Holy Spirit to dwell with all believers until His return. Pentecost was the birthday of The Church of Christ.