A KISSed History of Beliefs

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6. The sixth event is the founding of a significant government by Alexander the Greek (d. 323 B.C.)
whose Hellenist culture was adopted by the Romans (who conquered Palestine c. 63 B.C.).
The sixth belief is that atheist/pagan government (the Pax Romana) served God by preparing the way
for the advent of Christ and creation of His church as the Gospel was taught in many nations.
 
7. The seventh event is the founding of Christianity by Jesus and his disciples (c. 30-68 A.D.), which is recorded in the New Testament.
The 7th belief is that the Christian Gospel fulfilled and superseded the Old Law or Covenant (per Hebrews 7:18-10:1).

8. The 8th event is the morphing of biblical Christianity into Roman Catholicism (RC) after Constantine authorized the
Nicene Creed (325 A.D.) The 8th belief is that gaining political power corrupted the true Gospel, ushering in a dark age
regarding spiritual beliefs.
 
9. The 9th event is the founding of anti-Christian Islam by Mohammed (c. 622), who dictated the Qu’ran and began the forcible conquest from India to Spain. The 9th belief is that Judaism, RC and Islam are condemned by Jesus (per John 8:42-47).

10. The 10th event is the proliferation of struggle for hegemony (“king of the hill” or KOTH) during the medieval age, when Germanic tribes supplanted the Romans (c. 476), Eastern Orthodoxy separated from RC (in 1054) and RC popes ordered crusades to retake Jerusalem from the Muslims (c. 1095-1209). The 10th belief is that KOTH resulted from failure to learn and cooperate with God’s plan of salvation/peace (per Ephesians 2:11-3:6).
 
11. The 11th event is summarized as the Renaissance (rebirth of knowledge), which may be deemed to have begun when Marco Polo brought knowledge from China (in 1295), to have been furthered when scholars fled the Turk takeover of Constantinople (in 1453) and as global explorers discovered new lands via new seas (c. 1500) and to have been primarily due to the wide dissemination of knowledge made possible by Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press (in 1450).

The 11th belief is that this period culminated in the renewal and resurgence of biblical Christianity, which began with Martin Luther's attempt to reform the corrupt Roman Catholic Church in 1517.
 
12. The 12th event is the evangelical Protestant movement, which spread despite the RC Inquisition and proliferated into many denominations due to freedom in the United States (even as European philosophy became increasingly agnostic and deist) leading to the First Great Awakening.

The 12th belief (following Martin Luther) is that Scripture/the Bible is authoritative rather than denominational organizations,
which may disagree about details but should agree on the essential New Testament Gospel.
 
The purpose of this thread is to provide a succinct history of humanity's beliefs as context for the Christian faith, incorporating secular and scientific beliefs.

Beginning at the beginning, scientific research indicates the universe began when energy in a “singularity” exploded with a “big bang”. Science attempts to explain how the physical world operates, whereas the Bible focuses on why the world was created and how humanity should operate.

The Genesis account of creation (GN 1) portrays God as speaking the universe into existence, so that both the world and inspired scriptures manifest God’s Word, and then creating humanity in His image, who migrated from Babel after the flood during the lifetime of Noah (GN 11).

Secular histories of mankind commonly begin with the civilization near Babel at the Sumerian city-state of Ur in Mesopotamia, where archaeologists have found the earliest written language (pictographs on clay tablets) and wheeled vehicles.

Our study will continue from this point, trying to KISS the history as much as possible.
Science proposes that aforementioned historic theory of the "Big Bang". They can't sustain the notion because they can't answer from what source did all those compressed elements arrive so to go bang?

It's easier to claim lots of elements bunched together and went bang and then all that we see was born from that, then to admit something just as incomprehensible and that we call God did it.

They ancient Sumerians recorded the beginning of our civilization is from an extra terrestrial civilization.
They created us to be slaves because they did not want to engage in manual labor.

After this the created slaves worshipped them as Gods.
Sumerians are the oldest civilization in recorded history.

Theirs and subsequent civilizations worshipped Gods and Goddesses.

The one common characteristic amid them all? God(s) and Goddesses are always made in our image and likeness.

Or,vice versa.

Notice that? The God of the Bible is just like us. We are just like him.
We were created in God's image and likeness. Sumerian Cunneiform tablets say we were created through genetic splicing . The DNA of the Gods spliced into the DNA of an upright hominid like ape.

Adam and Eve are of a tree that imbued them with the same knowledge as God,knowing good from evil.

Reading all that God did to people in the OT, we learn ,even when employing the Hebrews as his army, he's not any different than us.
 
Science proposes that aforementioned historic theory of the "Big Bang". They can't sustain the notion because they can't answer from what source did all those compressed elements arrive so to go bang?

It's easier to claim lots of elements bunched together and went bang and then all that we see was born from that, then to admit something just as incomprehensible and that we call God did it.

They ancient Sumerians recorded the beginning of our civilization is from an extra terrestrial civilization.
They created us to be slaves because they did not want to engage in manual labor.

After this the created slaves worshipped them as Gods.
Sumerians are the oldest civilization in recorded history.

Theirs and subsequent civilizations worshipped Gods and Goddesses.

The one common characteristic amid them all? God(s) and Goddesses are always made in our image and likeness.

Or,vice versa.

Notice that? The God of the Bible is just like us. We are just like him.
We were created in God's image and likeness. Sumerian Cunneiform tablets say we were created through genetic splicing . The DNA of the Gods spliced into the DNA of an upright hominid like ape.

Adam and Eve are of a tree that imbued them with the same knowledge as God,knowing good from evil.

Reading all that God did to people in the OT, we learn ,even when employing the Hebrews as his army, he's not any different than us.

Yes, atheists cannot sustain their notion based on facts, because science has shown that the universe is eternally expanding
from a "singularity", which we believe God created and caused to bang bigly.

Yes, from the beginning what has distinguished normal adult humanity from animals is God-consciousness and moral conscience.

You may appreciate what I share on our website <truthseekersfellowship.com> in Parts III & IV of Lesson One on the Best Belief.

LIC, GWH
 
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12. The 12th event is the evangelical Protestant movement, which spread
(despite the RC Inquisition) and proliferated into many denominations during the 1600s due to freedom in the United States
(even as European philosophy became increasingly agnostic and deist), leading to the First Great Awakening in 1736.

The 12th belief (following Martin Luther) is that Scripture/the Bible is authoritative rather than denominational organizations,
which may disagree about details but should agree on the essential New Testament Gospel.

The 13th event is the rise of irrationalism (in reaction to authoritarian RC) during the latter half of the 1700s,
represented by Voltaire, Mendelssohn, Kant, Paine and J. Smith.

The 13th belief is that the history of salvation continued to be convoluted, involving both corruption and correction.
 
14. The 14th event is atheism being manifested in many ways, including: by Marx’s militant socialism, illogical positivism,
religious skepticism, affirming survival of the fittest, psychoanalysis and anti-Semitism.

The 14th belief is that disbelief in Christianity and consequent hatred was foretold by Jesus (in Matthew 24:10-12).
 
15. The 15th event is war against God by philosophical positivists and political nihilists from Marx to Mao
seeking to conquer the world.

The 15th belief is that atheism reached its acme/apex via fomenting the big lie and mass murder (cf. John 8:42-44).
 
16. The 16th event is the culmination of history (during the lifetime of the baby boomers) with the present spiritual struggle between atheism and Christianity.

The 16th belief is that Christians should pray for God’s will to be done on earth even as the eschatological catastrophe seems to be imminent. I cannot keep from wondering who might be revealed as the "man of lawlessness" (2Thes. 2:3-4) if the Marxists win.
 
And so we come to the end of the HOB beginning in Revelation 20:11-15, which describes God's judgment
of each person according to what he/she had done while on earth.

When we look for what this means, in Rev. 2:2-7 we find perseverance in repentance from wickedness.
In Rev. 2:9-11 we find suffering persecution and death. In Rev. 2:13 we find not repudiating faith in Christ.
In Rev. 2:19 we find deeds of love and faithful service. In Rev. 3:2-4 we find those who remain strong in doing good.
In Rev. 3:8-10 we find those who are spiritual Jews, keeping Christ's command to endure. And in Rev. 3:15-18 we find
those who are spiritually rich in good deeds.
 
The following hymn "To God Be the Glory" is a fitting way to conclude this presentation of the HOB:

1. To God be the glory, great things He hath done,
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life our redemption to win,
And opened the life-gate that all may go in.

(Chorus:) Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear His voice;
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice;
Oh, come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory; great things He hath done.

2. Oh, perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,
To every believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.
(Chorus)

3. Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done,
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
But purer, and higher, and greater will be
Our wonder, our transport when Jesus we see!
(Chorus)

[Revelation 22:1-21] :love:
 
Now we will review the HOB naming believers in chronological order.

God (Creator) > Adam & Eve (humans/theists > Sumerians (civilizers/polytheists) > Abraham (monotheist) > Moses (legalist) >
David (salvationist) > Isaiah (Messiah) > Greeks (atheism) > Hindus-Buddha (karmaism) > Romanism (hegemonists/imperialists)>
Christ-Paul (Christianity/Gospel) >

Was any significant belief omitted?
 
Continuing the review of the HOB by citing only significant believers (those who had a lasting impact):

Christ-Paul (Christianity/Gospel) > Constantine's Roman Catholicism > Augustine's "tulipism" > Justinian's Eastern Orthodoxy > Mohammed's Islam > Wyclif's English Bible > Gutenberg's printing press > Italians' Renaissance > Protestants' Reformation >

TBC...
 
Protestants' Reformation > Arminius (opposed Calvin's tulipism) > King James' Bible > Williams' Rhode Island (liberty) >
Wesley's Methodism > French philosophers' atheism > America's Constitutionalism > J. Smith's Mormonism > Marx's socialism >
Darwin's evolutionism > Nietzsche's racism > Hitler's Naziism > Barth's dialectical theology > Freud's psycho-analysis >

TBC...
 
Concluding (with corrected order): Freud's psycho-analysis > Barth's dialectical theology > Carnap's verification principle" >
Hitler's Fascism > Bonhoeffer's suffering for Christ > Skinner's "operant conditioning" > Graham's evangelism > WCC's ecumenism >
RCC's end of inquisition > CCP's subversion > Alinsky's radicalism > Soros's globalism > AI's transhumanism > Trump's Americanism

Where will we go from here?
 
Finally it is time to consider why those in these lists were significant in the history of salvation.
Most are rather obvious, but perhaps some are not. The need for God in order to be saved is certain.

God - The Creator of the existence of history (Gen. 1:1) and the Savior of believers (1Tim. 2:3)
via re-creation/resurrection to heaven (1Cor. 15:14) after the end of earthly human history (Heb. 9:28, Rev. 22:12-13).

Is this statement sufficient?
 
Finally it is time to consider why those in these lists were significant in the history of salvation.
Most are rather obvious, but perhaps some are not. The need for God in order to be saved is certain.

God - The Creator of the existence of history (Gen. 1:1) and the Savior of believers (1Tim. 2:3)
via re-creation/resurrection to heaven (1Cor. 15:14) after the end of earthly human history (Heb. 9:28, Rev. 22:12-13).

Is this statement sufficient?

Assuming the sound of silence indicates sufficiency, let us now consider the significance of Adam and Eve:

A&E - the first created humans, believers/doubters and sinners (Gen. 1:26-27, 2:7&22-25, 3:1-22), like the rest of humanity
who followed them in earthly history through the present time that will end with Judgment.

Does that suffice?