{"content":[{"text":"God Yesterday and Today…Part 2","bbox":{"left":0.147059,"top":0.091362,"width":0.36864500000000006,"height":0.019635}},{"text":"Greek thinking influenced Christianity greatly, as did the Hebrew worldview, \n shaped by its mythical stories. The Christian story attributed the expectant \n liberator role, to Jesus. Early Christian preaching presented Jesus as fulfilling \n God’s plan for creation, promising a new creation. When the promise of Jesus \n returning to complete this work did not come about, the emphasis on a ‘new \n heaven and new earth’, became eternal life in heaven. Instead of being the \n liberator, Jesus came to be seen as the redeemer carrying the guilt of all (fallen) \n humanity. Life on earth was a trial with heaven as the reward.","bbox":{"left":0.147059,"top":0.124163,"width":0.693211,"height":0.13874500000000003}},{"text":"St Paul tried using Greek philosophy and abandoned it for the ‘illogic’ of the cross. \n His greatest influence became his message of inclusion. The Christian Church \n (the new Israel) was welcoming of anyone. The gradual breakaway from Jewish \n synagogue life was forced upon some Christians, because their claims about \n Jesus were deemed subversive (towards Rome) or incompatible with Jewish \n belief. Certainly all of the Christian communities believed that Jesus was the \n anointed ‘One’, the messiah. It was to be some time, before there would be \n specific claims of divinity.","bbox":{"left":0.147059,"top":0.280829,"width":0.71133,"height":0.139048}},{"text":"Throughout the fourth century there were ongoing attempts to explain how \n Christians were monotheists, because of their belief in the Trinity. Christian belief \n proclaimed that there was one ‘wholly other’ God who was creator and redeemer, \n and that God was revealed through three persona (or masks), Father, Son and \n Spirit. Some did not understand the true nature of Jesus. Was Jesus divine or \n human? There was difference of opinion, and a movement was led by Bishop \n Arius of Alexandria (250–336 CE) to suggest Jesus was human, not divine.","bbox":{"left":0.147059,"top":0.43295,"width":0.7052099999999999,"height":0.121473}},{"text":"The early Christian communities had been persecuted, but in a remarkable \n turnaround, they became patrons of the Empire under Constantinople. \n Recognising that there were differences of opinion, he demanded that there be \n common agreement about what Christians believed. Difference was to give way \n to doctrine following the statement of belief that came from the Council of Nicea \n in 325 CE, which declared Jesus was fully divine. This doctrine declared that \n God the creator and Jesus the Redeemer were one and the same (of the same \n substance).","bbox":{"left":0.147059,"top":0.575072,"width":0.6910400000000001,"height":0.138745}},{"text":"The Greek church was keen to avoid creating the impression that Christians had \n more than one god so they differed from the Latin church in how they explained \n this Trinity. They recognized that any language is inadequate, and no rational \n explanation is possible. The Latins tried to explain this mystery and in seeking to \n explain Jesus’ role, the Western church introduced the doctrine of original sin, \n and expanded it under the teaching of Augustine. This doctrine taught that God \n had dammed all humanity because of Adam’s sin and Jesus had come to save \n humanity. The Greek church suggested God would have revealed Godself in the \n form of a human, regardless of Adam’s failure.","bbox":{"left":0.147059,"top":0.734769,"width":0.697635,"height":0.15632000000000001}}],"images_bbox":[],"images_bbox_not_text_overlap":[]}