Raised in a Jewish home, he was taught the Old Testament Scriptures and brought up in strict accordance with the beliefs and practices of the Pharisee sect. The Greek language was used by educated people, Greek-inspired schools of philosophy were established in leading cities of the Roman Empire, and the writings of the Old Testament were translated into Greek by the seventy scholars whose work was known as the Septuagint version of the Hebrew Scriptures. This event, referred to as the coming of the Day of the Lord, what in the Old Testament is referred to as the Day of Yahweh, was described as a great catastrophic event, an end of the world and the ushering in of a new age. Because early Christianity made its appeal to Gentiles as well as to those who had been Jews, the New Testament reflects something of the Gentiles' background, along with that of the Israelite people. Because the story of this resurrection was told in various places, it was not always interpreted in the same way. Rather, it would be brought about by a sudden supernatural intervention. So far as humanity is concerned, Reason functions to give guidance and direction to the activities of life. Because only in the Christian sources do we have any detailed account of the life and teachings of Jesus and the general character of the early Christian movement, we need to center our attention on them. It is a rich source of poetry and knowledge and is the rock upon which Christianity stands. To what extent do they reveal what actually happened, and to what extent do they merely indicate what the author believed to have happened? It was revealed to Moses and through him was communicated to the entire Israelite nation. A century and a half later, the southern kingdom suffered a similar fate at the hands of the Babylonians. In New Testament times, the Roman government persecuted the Christians, and the Book of Revelation did for the Christians of that day what the Book of Daniel did for the Jews of an earlier date: assure those who were suffering for their faith that although the evil forces in the world were then in the ascendancy, the time was not far distant when God would intervene and bring an end to the reign of evil by establishing a kingdom of righteousness in which those who had proved faithful through all of their trials and afflictions would dwell forever in peace. Additionally, occasions arose when the Scribes had to make exceptions to these exceptions, a very complicated and confusing process but an important one, for if a person was to be judged solely on the basis of whether he had obeyed the laws, there must be some authoritative way of knowing exactly what the laws required under a given set of circumstances. Mark. Although neither the Jews nor the early Jewish Christians thought of this issue in this way, many, if not most, of them believed in some kind of survival after physical death. For many of the Christians who had been Gentiles, it seemed perfectly natural to think of Jesus as one who fulfilled the role of the heroic redeemer; on this basis, they accepted him. By the end of the … Reason is present in the minds of humans, and knowledge is possible because the rational element in human nature is akin to the Reason that exists in nature, the only difference being that in the former case, Reason becomes conscious of itself. Christianity began with the belief that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah. However, sometimes this power was used more to promote selfish interests than to benefit people as a whole. Evil entered the world with the Fall of man and infected all of the elements in his nature, including his mind and his body. In order to prepare for this experience, the applicants for membership were required to go through certain initiatory rites, which usually included a sprinkling ceremony in which either water or blood was used, thus signifying a purifying process that cleansed the individual of evil. They saw so much wickedness in the society around them that they felt impelled to live in a secluded colony where they would be sheltered from such evil. Souls that do not receive the happiness that they deserve in one life can be given a just compensation in another one. Removing #book# One of the chief devices used by Satan to lead people astray is the development of people's sense of complete satisfaction with themselves, which is often designated as the sin of pride, a feeling on the part of individuals that they are already good enough, that there is no need for any reform on their part.