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The Way of Life, Not Just the Way of Belief

The Way of Life, Not Just the Way of Belief

Last updated on: October 5, 2024 at 10:22 am by Larry Jordan

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The Way of Life, Not Just the Way of Belief 2024-10-05T10:22:33-05:00 Larry Jordan

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What did The Way look like to the early followers of Jesus?

What did The Way look like to the early folowers of Jesus? Image from pixabay/Wolfgang_Hasselmann

What did The Way look like to the early followers of Jesus? Image from pixabay/Wolfgang_Hasselmann

My book is called The Way, which is what many religions, including Christianity, were called at first. Originally, the founders of the religions, as well as the early mystics and the sages, prescribed a way of life, often based on the Golden Rule.

Eventually, the later priests and theologians supplanted the early founders, mystics, and sages. Instead, they proscribed a way of belief, often based on speculation and superstition. Indeed, a way of life offers guidance, whereas a way of belief exerts control.

In Taoism, the Tao means the Way. In Buddhism, Dogen Zenji, the 13th century Zen master said:

To study the Way is to study the Self.

And to study the Self is to forget the Self.

To forget the Self is to be enlightened by all things.

To be enlightened by all things is to remove the barrier between Self and other.

In the book’s foreword, Jim Palmer, Founder of the Center for Non-Religious Spirituality, writes, “Do not mistake the title, The Way, as an arrogant claim to absolute truth. The title rightfully identifies the fact that a broad spectrum of fields of knowledge and investigation has produced a unified understanding of ultimate reality, even if different language is used to describe it.”

What Did The Way Look Like to the Early Followers of Jesus?

For starters, there was no Bible, no church, no clergy, no creed. So, Christians did NOT fully develop their doctine until many years later:

The Trinity? That was Tertullian, 300 years after Jesus’ death.
Original sin? That was Augustine, 400 years after Jesus’ death.
Substitutionary atonement? That was Anselm, 1,000 years after Jesus’ death.
Justification by faith? That was Martin Luther, 1,500 years after Jesus’ death.
Papal infallibility? That was Pope Pius IX, 1,800 years after Jesus’ death.

And, for many years, Christians contested their beliefs. In fact, Catholics did NOT develop the first comprehensive catechism until 1566, during the Counter-Reformation, in response to Protestant criticism of some Catholic beliefs.

And, the first leader of the Jewish Christians was NOT Peter or Paul, but James, the brother of Jesus, who led the church for over 30 years. Also, the early Jewish Christians continued to worship in the Temple.

Apparently, the Jewish Christians were strict monotheists. They did NOT believe that the Messiah would be divine or that he would suffer. The Didache, one of the earliest Jewish Christian documents, refers to Jesus in prayers to the Father as “your servant Jesus.”

Then, everything changed. The Romans killed James in AD 62 and destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70. Christians and Jews went their own ways. So, history lost track of the earliest Christians—along with James, their leader—within the next 300 years.

The Way of Life

So, if we choose to follow the way of belief, would we then choose to follow the original Jewish Christian beliefs, the early Catholic beliefs, the early Orthodox beliefs, or the later Protestant beliefs? Even today, which of the 45,000 variations of Christian beliefs would we follow?

Thankfully, if we choose to follow the way of life, then the ideal Christian way of life has been consistent from the 1st to the 21st centuries. Love your neighbor as yourself. Turn the other cheek. Help the immigrant, the marginalized, the oppressed, the poor and the sick.

What did The Way look like to the early followers of Jesus?

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The Way is a Silver winner in the 2024 Nautilus Book Awards.

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About Larry Jordan

Larry Jordan is a follower of Jesus with a Zen practice. Recently, he published “The Way,” informed by the Eastern religions, the mystics, and the quantum physicists. "The Way" won a 2024 Nautilus Book Award. You can read more about the author here.

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