posted on May, 3 2010 @ 11:15 AM
Good post!
Early Christianity actually started out as a Jewish sect. Once more Gentiles joined the movement than Jews, it slowly turned into a Gentile religion.
This was largely done by blending other beliefs with those coming from the Jewish sources.
The resulting early sects were generally based on which other religions were merged with. The Gnostics took those "Eartern" thought processes and
developed their own new teachings. That was not unique, though, because many sects developed with the "Christian" movement in the first two
centuries.
The Christianity we know only came about by suppressing most of the sects that were contrary to the prevailing sect, that became the Orthodox
religions.