381 ANGELA
No one denies that Judaism began before Christianity and that Islam came after that. This video will detail the various Christian and Gnostic sects that gave us Christianity.
But, first lets consider the past 500 years. What you see here is a list of only some of the religions created in the past 500 years.
When you declare your faith to be absolute, and what others believe is wrong and condemned to hell, you should consider that all religions were created by someone somewhere, someone that wanted you to believe what they were saying. We know that getting someone to believe what you say is power, and if they are convinced you can lead them to salvation, cure illness, give them wealth, and eternal life, well, you can see how this could lead to the abuse of the less mentally capable.
Religion can be a conman's treasure, religion can enslave you and doom a society to ignorance.
If you choose to believe in something, please be careful, and be honest to yourself. People are individuals who constantly change their minds, religion is no different it changes over time.
Early Christianity was diverse, with various groups interpreting Jesus's teachings differently and developing distinct theological beliefs. It becomes clear from historical sources that early Christianity was highly fragmented, with dozens of identifiable groups and possibly hundreds of smaller, local factions with distinct beliefs and practices. Before the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, there were numerous Christian and Gnostic sects:
These are some Christian Sects:
Jewish Christians: These were the earliest followers of Jesus, who saw him as the Jewish Messiah. They continued to observe Jewish law and customs.
Ebionites: A sect of Jewish Christians who believed Jesus was the Messiah but denied his divinity and rejected Paul’s teachings.
Pauline Christianity: Followers of Paul the Apostle, who emphasized salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and distanced Christianity from Jewish law.
Marcionites: Followers of Marcion of Sinope, who rejected the Old Testament and believed in a distinct God of the New Testament.
Montanists: A movement founded by Montanus, emphasizing prophecy, asceticism, and a rigorous moral code.
Docetists: Believed that Jesus’s physical body was an illusion and that he did not truly suffer on the cross.
Valentinians: Followers of Valentinus, who taught a complex cosmology involving a distant supreme being and a series of emanations.
Basilideans: Followers of Basilides, who taught that Jesus's suffering was only apparent and promoted a form of dualism.
Sethians: Believed in a hidden knowledge (gnosis) and saw Seth, the third son of Adam and Eve, as a key figure.
Ophites: Gnostics who venerated the serpent in the Garden of Eden as a bringer of knowledge.
Cainites: Venerated Cain and other biblical figures often seen as villains, believing they possessed secret knowledge.
Other Notable Sects were:
Arianism: Founded by Arius, who taught that Jesus, the Son of God, was created by God the Father and therefore distinct and subordinate to him.
Manichaeism: Founded by the prophet Mani, combining elements of Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Buddhism into a dualistic framework.
Donatists: Emphasized the purity of the church and its ministers, rejecting the sacraments performed by priests and bishops who had lapsed during persecution.
The question of how many different religions, including variations of the same were created in the past 500 years is a complex task due to the wide range of movements and denominations that have emerged globally. However, based on historical records and academic studies, we can provide a rough estimate.
First it is important to consider these categories:
There are over 45,000 Christian denominations worldwide as of 2020, many of which were established in the past 500 years.
New Religious Movements that have emerged in the last few centuries are estimated to be in the thousands. This includes movements like Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Scientology.
Various new Non-Christian Religious movements within Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and other major religions have also been created. For example, the Bahá'í Faith, Sikhism (late 15th century), and various new interpretations of traditional beliefs.
Many indigenous and syncretic religions have formed or evolved, such as Vodou, Santería, and various neo-pagan movements.
Estimates for the past 500 years within these major categories are:
10,000 new Christian Denominations .
2,000-3,000 New Religious Movements
1,000-2,000 Non-Christian New Sects
1,000-2,000 Indigenous and Syncretic Religions
Since the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, the Church would torture and-or kill heretics, because religion is how you hold power. Only recently, and only in some parts of our world, are we free to think of the divine in any manner we choose.
The conclusion we should all come to, is that religion is how the state controls its servants, and that we each have our own belief. There are a lot of options, and we should thank God that we live in a country that guarantees freedom of religion. We should take seriously our faith, even if we are atheists. We should be honest, truthful and know that as we change over the years, as we hopefully learn and gain wisdom, our faith will change with us.