Christianity isn't that complicated

[Julie Marie]

Christianity was created with the idea one should follow the teachings of Jesus Christ.  And that's where things get complicated because, to the best of my knowledge, Christ never put any of his teachings or beliefs down in writing.  One must rely on interpretations of others, and I think that's where the waters get very cloudy.

If you want to be a Taoist, read the Tao Te Ching, written by Lao Tzu.  Yes, you will need to do some interpretations but all interpretations begin with what Lao Tzu wrote.  Not so with Christianity.  You have to begin with what OTHER people wrote, who no doubt did some interpreting themselves, and then take it from there.  And by the time it gets to you no doubt some pope, bishop, priest or some other religious figure has told you how to interpret those words of those who interpreted what Christ said or what someone else said Christ said.  And then there's the people you're not even supposed to read like Mary Magdalene and Judas, two people who knew Christ very well.

The biggest problem I had with Catholicism was the huge degree by which all the religious figures who professed expertise had in their interpretation of Christ's teachings.  I eventually concluded I'm better off not asking anyone anything but rather figuring it out on my own. 

[Annah]

In the History of Christianity classes I had taken, multiple interpretations really took off once Christianity became Rome's state religion.

Fundamentally, Christianity "according to the teachings of Jesus" was simplistic. We started to make it complicated by trying to define the essence, nature and spirit of Jesus, The Holy Spirit, et al.

For example, you had the Council of Nicea (325 CE) to define a Christian. Then you had the Council of Constantinople (in 381 then in 553 and in 680 CE) to define it more and then you had the Council of Chalcedon (451 CE).

I find it interesting that the Council of Chalcedon stated:

Following the holy Fathers we teach with one voice that the Son [of God] and our Lord Jesus Christ is to be confessed as one and the same [Person], that he is perfect in Godhead and perfect in manhood, very God and very man, of a reasonable soul and [human] body consisting, consubstantial with the Father as touching his Godhead, and consubstantial with us as touching his manhood; made in all things like unto us, sin only excepted; begotten of his Father before the worlds according to his Godhead; but in these last days for us men and for our salvation born [into the world] of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God according to his manhood. This one and the same Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son [of God] must be confessed to be in two natures, unconfusedly (Eutyches), immutably (Arian), indivisibly(Nestorius), inseparably [united](Arian and Apollynariam), and that without the distinction of natures being taken away by such union (Eutyches, Polynaros), but rather the peculiar property of each nature being preserved (Nestorius)and being united in one Person and subsistence, not separated or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son and only-begotten, God the Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, as the Prophets of old time have spoken concerning him, and as the Lord Jesus Christ hath taught us, and as the Creed of the Fathers hath delivered to us.

Everything I underlined and bolded were the people I added in that the creed was personally attack as those people had different interpretations. Even the early church writers such as Justin The Martyr were defined as heretics based on their beliefs.

Everyone ("heretics" included) used passages of the New Testament to define their beliefs. One of the biggest reasons why we have the definitions of orthodox religion today is because of the Emperors backing up the Bishops who concluded that their interpretations were right. One example we have in this is the Emperor's daughter, Hilaria believed that Mary should have been the Theotokos (Mother of God). The orthodox Bishops said that was wrong. It should be Christotokos (The Mother of Christ).  The Emperor of Rome was offended that the bishops would disagree with his daughter. So in the Council of Ephesus, the Orthodoxy Bishops made it official that Theotokos would be the word. This became Orthodoxy because the Emperor's daughter wanted it to be so. Just like many other reasons why things became orthodoxy.