The Ghost of Marcion

Marcion could have been one of the great early Church fathers, well if only he had not allowed pride, position and ego to interrupt his understanding of whom God is.....

Shunned by the early Roman centered Church, he went on to form his own church, which did quite nicely for several centuries and came darn near close to out distancing true Christianity.  His numerous heresies led to some marvelous writings against his beliefs by the early church fathers and have become the basis for what we as Christians have come to know as our belief.

BUT!, unfortunately many of his thoughts are still in circulations within the Christian Church today and are a part of what I call the problem of the American church.  Yeah, it is actually not as much Christian a its believers would like to believe.  See how many of the following statements you do not agree with.....

So, against Marcionism:

• The God of the Old Testament is the same God we have around today.
• The Hebrew people are still God's chosen people; gentiles, as Christians, have been allowed into God's grace.
• Yes, Jesus was Jewish!  
• Jesus was not the first "Christian".
• God has emotion, He loves - judges - hates!
• The Old Testament has not lost its usefulness.
• The New Testaments style of God is not newer or better than the Old Testament style!
• Jesus, the Word of God, came from the Father, ie - the God of both the Old and New Testaments.
• God gave Jesus His mission on Earth.
• God loves you! - eternally and completely.
• Jesus' story is one of Love from the moment of creation through the empty tomb!

Marcion was sold out on Greek philosophy.  The thought of a God whom had emotions was appalling to him.  He wanted an emotionless - sociopathic God - nothing but facts and data please!  (and what is wrong with that?  no mercy, no compassion, you are toast dude!)

We, as fallen humans, are constantly trying to cast God into our image or at least our image of whom we would like Him to be.  Unfortunately, God does have a role to play and a description - if it does not match with your expectations then you can expect a fight on your hands - at least until God says, "Okay, you know it all, go your way and I will still be here when you get back....."

For Marcion, the man whom almost destroyed the early Church, his end was to come without having ever achieved what he sought - power, recognition nor a god he could control.  Yeah, blind ambition can be a real problem in some lives.....