Fundamentalism

[Dave]

Originally Posted by awareness

Bro Jesus4Me,
My question is, is that how Jesus wanted us to live; by a book, like Jews living it as the law?

I think that is what has produced fundamentalist extremists. Extremists are book obsessed.

awareness, In two sentences you have summarized fundamentalism, whether it be Christian or Islam etc. Jesus never wanted us to live by a book however good it might be. He knew that it would not work. He saw how the Pharisees had parsed the OT to fit their religion. Same with the Sadducees. He could have written his own book which we could have followed. He didn't because there is nothing about him which reflects, "follow a book". It is the complete opposite.

Only men who followed him believed that a book was needed. The NT gospels are mangled versions of what really happened. Paul, well, he had his own agenda. "The Fathers" put together pieces of what was written and then sanctioned it which has changed over the years. Various Councils and Theologians have sanctioned what is the "book" which in part is what we have today. It's a mess but as long as you can get a segment of a Christian population to sanction it --- then it is the "word of God" and everyone else is wrong.