1. Christianity Was Always Massively Varied
#christianity
'Christianity' is not a single religion dating from 2,000 years age. A long series of varied different religions, flowing on from one another, have all called themselves "Christian". Rightly so. The beliefs and form have changed so much from time to time that it is best to consider Christianity a series of religions and the word "Christianity" to be an umbrella term for multiple faiths all of which have the same name but different beliefs. Some historical forms of Christianity have made more sense, and some have made less sense, than the Christian mythology that is common today. Modern archaeology has uncovered many of these early forms of Christianity, and no longer can we say that modern-day Christianity in its various forms represents early Christianity. It hardly does. Christianity now is quite varied, but in history the varieties were much more exotic.
Some say that the reason there has been, and continues to be, so many versions of Christianity is that Christian theology contains contradictions and doesn't entirely make sense1. Different sects are different attempts at resolving problems with Christian theory. Christians themselves documented early disputes over what beliefs their movement should have. The Church Father Irenaeus (130-202CE) listed twenty forms of Christianity that he himself was aware of2. The Christian academic Origen was instrumental in the founding of Christian literary theology. In his book Against Celsus (248CE) he writes at length against a 2nd-century attack on Christianity that described it as being comprised of disparate groups. Celsus said that Christians "were divided and split up into factions, each individual desiring to have his own party. [...] Thus separated through their numbers, they confute one another. [... They] are determined in different ways by the various sects". And Origen agreed that this was the case, that "from the beginning there were differences of opinion among believers regarding the meaning of the books held to be divine" and the reason was that because important issues always cause strong differences of opinion3. The expert in ancient prime sources Prof. Bart Ehrman likewise states that one of most common causes of forgeries and fabrications was the urgent need that believers had to put across their point of view to convince others - and that, unfortunately, included the far-too-common practice of writing in other people's names4.
As Christianity continued and debate raged about the actual meaning of its various stories, the sects proliferated. In 384CE Epiphanus counted no less than 80 different forms of Christianity2.
“During the first three Christian centuries, the practices and beliefs found among people who called themselves Christian were so varied that that the differences between Roman Catholics, Primitive Baptists, and Seventh-Day Adventists pale by comparison. Most of these ancient forms of Christianity are unknown to people in the world today. In the second and third centuries there were, of course, Christians who believed in one God. But there were others who insisted that there were two. Some said there were thirty. Others claimed there were 365.”
"Lost Christianities" by Bart Ehrman (2003)5
Types of Christianity in History: Who Were the First Christians?
