A Little First Century Context

[Ed Hurst]

It's not obvious to a lot of folks who read the Bible, but the Christians traced by the New Testament were generally a pretty minor presence in the Roman Mediterranean. There were countless pagan religions from way back already established in various houses of worship around the empire. And just a few decades after Paul's first missionary journey, a significant number of churches left the fold and plunged into all kinds of wild religious nonsense. A great many heretics went off and started new churches.

To the outside audience, there is very little discernment between the thread of biblical churches and all the other stuff that merely claimed to be biblical. Secular history of the era for that region scoops up a lot of crap that didn't belong, and simply assumes there is no substantial difference. That's because secular folk, along with all the outcasts, understood neither heart-led nor the Holy Spirit. They deny that whole area of scholarship in examining such things.

Get used to the idea that we will grow, but we may well remain numerically insignificant, so far as outsiders are likely to notice.

[jaybreak]

scoops up a lot of crap that didn't belong

Heh, great visual there.

Do you think it was the case that Christianity got lumped in with all the other new, Hellenist idea coming out, may have contributed to its "insignificance"?

[Ed Hurst]

In the minds of your average Mediterranean non-Christian, I think Christianity was most often lumped in with the likes of Mithraism, which was also new at that time. There were superficial similarities between Mithraism (which had its own internal divisions) and genuine Christian religion. But this was putting it in a class of symbolic religions, not Hellenistic rationalism. A great many official records listed Christianity as merely an offshoot of Judaism.

[IainH]

I would much rather be few in number and slowly, carefully bring in new people who are genuine than hold lively enthusiastic "Revivals" than bring in hundreds 99% of whom don't know what they're doing. I don't see anyone here promoting that. It is doable, I mean the tools and template already exist. However, the act of putting RF out there in that format would cause it to cease to be what it is.

[Ed Hurst]

How right you are, Iain. We can't use that approach because it requires the arrogance of claiming to have the One True Religion. I got some harsh discipline over that some years ago. Once I was able to let go of that false image in my search, I could settle down and just be glad I found what God wants for me. Turns out there are a few folks in this world who benefited from my telling of the search. I no longer envision a mission to all the earth, only to a few whom the Lord grants. We don't live in the world of the New Testament, so we aren't led to do what they did. All we can do is give it our best effort to make sure the widest range of folks can understand what we do, just in case it calls their name.

[jaybreak]

Here's a quote I'm going to get wrong, but the meaning is intact:
"I'd rather have a few good true believers than a hundred with only casual interest."