When did Christianity really start?

Question

Several posters have argued that Christianity (as morphed from Judaism) is the oldest of religion since it goes back to "the start of time". This is an idea proposed in the OT, that the bible is the "only text" that dates back to the "actual" beginning of time. However, my question is this:
There were other (documented) religions far older than Judaism. (Sumerian, Hinduism, etc.). Abraham, the patriarch of the religion, was born around 1800 BC, thus heralding the start of the new religion. The pre-Mosaic religion of the Hebrews were polytheistic, animistic, and anthropomorphic. If the start of Judaism (and thus the later Christianity) was born about 1800 BC, how can that equate to "the start of time"?

Some will argue the stories were passed by oral tradition. But if the religion didn't even exist yet, who passed the oral tradition on? Where did the oral tradition begin with prior to Abraham? And if the idea of Yahweh existed prior to Abraham, why was no one following Him?

Crap, obviously I should've put a different title. Perhaps it should be: "WHEN DID THE ORAL TRADITION START?" Ignore the first title, I guess its misleading. Sorry.

Answer 1

Ok, I think there is more than one question here.. The Bible does not claim that Judaism was the first "religion". The first people in the bible knew God directly, and had no "religion".. Over time, as God did not directly talk to people after Adam and "Eve" were sent out of the Garden, people stopped associating the power of nature with God, and started to believe that nature itself was the power. They made symbols to represent great natural forces, and eventually prayed to the symbols, even forsaking nature as a power. Abraham, about 4100 years ago, realized that idols had no power, and that all the power of the universe must have a source, and when he realized the source was God, God decided to speak to him in the way he spoke to Adam and "Eve". This is the short short version of how the Bible defines the creation of the Jewish Religion. It began not at "Creation", but much later, and after there were many other religions in place, some worshiping nature, others idols... That should answer one of your questions..
As to when Christianity began, I'd say about 1700 years ago, give or take.

Answer 2

The simple answer would be to say it started when Jesus walked the earth. But I and others would say it started back in Genesis 3:15, where Adam and Eve ate off of the forbidden tree.You can't get much older than that! There God promised that the offspring of the woman would crush the head the Satan the snake, but that Satan the snake would hurt (bruise the heel) of the woman's offspring. this points to Jesus' atonement on the cross. This is known as the protoevangelium (first gospel). You may want to do a search to learn more about it. Basically, many Christians (like myself) feel that you have the promise of Jesus made in Genesis, prophecies and events that point toward his coming throughout the Old Testament, fulfillment in the New Testament, and his final coming yet to occur.
If you believe the Bible, it states that all was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:19-21) Genesis records that various people fololowed and believed in Yahweh. Obviously, Noah did. At some point it was written down. the Old Testament today is esentially the same as when Jesus walked the earth. He quoted from many of the Old Testament books including Genesis.
From promise of a Savior, the coming and atonement by the Savior, and the return of the Savior to bring His people to his eternal paradise, it would seem Christianity covers all of history until history is no more. This may not be what many today want to hear, but it is what I and a lot of others feel Scripture reveals.
I hope this has helped. God Bless.

Answer 3

In Genesis we are told that Adam and Eve were given a promise that a Messiah would come and save them. This is the first promise of Christ. Adam and Eve then were made to leave the Garden of Eden. When they did leave the Garden they brought with them the oral tradition of the promised messiah and the practice of offering a blood sacrifice. This is seen when Cain and Able brought their sacrifice to God and Abel brought the blood sacrifice and it was accepted, but Cain brought the work of his own hands in the basket of fruits and wheat. His sacrifice was rejected. This caused him much bitterness and he killed Abel.
Now this is where the truth can be see in these, because if the traditions were not important then the line would have stopped here, but Eve gave God another to pass down the promise of the Messiah. His name is Seth who began to "Call on the Name of the Lord."
The line that came from Seth kept the oral traditions until the time of Abraham and then to Moses. (the book of Job was probably written by some one during Abraham's time.)
Sorry but you asked a question that take a while to explain.

Answer 4

You are asking as if there is to say, " This is when it started, the people maintaining the oral tradition wanted to be remembered, so they made sure that we had an accurate record of when they started, and who they were within the tradition, instead of the tradition itself. Therefore the Oral Tradition began with _____ and started on the date_______ because they felt that they were as important as the tradition."

That does not exist. What which I was taught and what I've read as far as the oldest information available is that it was started. And it continued until Moses who was educated to write by the Egyptians began to have these things written down.

If you want, we may assume the the story began to be told by Adam and Eve as they told stories to their children at night by a fire. That somewhat suits me, though I too have questions about that. But sometimes because of the lack of information, there simply is not enough information to tell more.

Answer 5

The Old Testament does not say that Judaism is the oldest religion because the term "Jew" is a derivative of the name Judah - one of the sons of Jacod, or one of the ten tribes of Israel. "Hebrew" can't be the oldest also because the term came either from "Eber" a patriarch of the first tribes that adopted his name, or "habiru" which means "wanderers" that implies Abraham and the rest of the Patriarchs.

However, Genesis 4:26 did mention that after the murder of Abel by Cain (both sons of Adam and Eve), and after the succeeding births of Seth and Enosh, "It was then that the people began using the Lord's holy name in worship." This verse tells us about a structured worship of God - religion.

Of course, let's not forget that Cain and Abel gave their offerings to God in the first part of Genesis 4. One offering was accepted, while the other was rejected signifying the existense of some sort of rituals and practices.

The Christian religion (belief system that places faith in Jesus Christ) technically started at Pentecost right afer the ascension of Jesus to heaven. Or we may start earlier when Peter confessed that Jesus is the Son of the living God.

Answer 6

There is no credible documentation of any kind to indicate that Judaism existed prior to about 900 BCE, and the internal evidence of the OT indicate it was originated as a way for Judah to claim preference over Israel after the fall to Babylon. Judaism started off as a political tool based primarily on pre-existing sumarian religions. (note that even the name 'judaism' gives deference to Judah over Israel).

Regarding Christianity specifically, there is no credible documentation of it existing prior to 70 CE.

Answer 7

The original followers of Jesus were very few. For the supposed son of god, he didn't to a particularly good job at gathering converts during his life.

His fame came many generations later, and the spread didn't really start until the 4th Century. Emperor Constantine adopted christianity and made it the religion of his empire- which probably did more than anything to spread the religion.

Answer 8

Of course there were religions long before Judaism. Pagan religions are as old as humankind itself, an inevitable response to the inner sense of the divine that is part of being human.

Answer 9

God walked in the Garden with Adam. What do you suppose they talked about:?

All of the ancient religions are corruptions of the original conversations that God had with Adam, Enoch, etc. Much information was saved by Noah's son Ham. That's why there are ancient references to gods who die and rise from the dead, and who are born of virgins, etc.

Answer 10

In the year 130 ac ,christianity separated from judaism