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Constantine made Christianity the official religion of Rome. As did King Henry VIII with the Anglican Church, Presbyterianism in Scotland, Lutheranism in Germany, Sweden, Norway, etc. That's politics and bad politics if you get down to it. Does it have anything to do with doctrine and what the Church taught as Jesus's Gospel? Are the implementations of an official religion the fault of the Mother Church? Is bad application of Christ's truth the fault of men or doctrine? Did hell prevail?
Whatever is made official religion is not Christianity.
I hear that Christianity went astray, and that the reformers we able to get Christianity back in true form. My question, about what year did they, the early Christians, loose it, or begin to loose it.
When the apostles were killed and had no successors, there was no one in a position (i.e. holding the proper authority) to receive further direction from God with respect to the Church as a whole.
Ephesians 4:11-14 states:
"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive..."
In other words, prophets and apostles were an essential part of the Church Jesus Christ established. They were its foundation. Without them, the foundation crumbled, and without the foundation, people were once again like children, persuaded first one way and then another, and unable to distinguish between true and false doctrines, being subject to the teachings of those who were crafty and who desired to deceive them.
With respect to the Reformers "getting it back in true form," they didn't. As Roger Williams, the Pastor of the first Baptist congregation in America sayd, “[There is] no regularly constituted church of Christ on earth, nor any person authorized to administer any church ordinance, nor can there be until new apostles are sent by the great head of the Church, for whose coming I am seeking.”
When the apostles were killed and had no successors, there was no one in a position (i.e. holding the proper authority) to receive further direction from God with respect to the Church as a whole.
The apostles still take absolute authority, because they left the New Testament.
The apostles still take absolute authority, because they left the New Testament.
Sure, but look at how differently each denomination of Christianity (and there are over 30,000 of them) interprets the New Testament. That's what I'm getting at. Who do we believe? Please don't say, "Just believe the Bible." It's just not that simple. If it were, all Christians would agree on all of these issues we're constantly debating. Paul said that the organization that existed in the early Church should continue to exist "until we all come in the unity of the faith." We're not there yet. Not even close. Living prophets and apostles are essential to the correct understanding of the words the original prophets and apostles left. Otherwise, you get what we've got now.
Sure, but look at how differently each denomination of Christianity (and there are over 30,000 of them) interprets the New Testament. That's what I'm getting at. Who do we believe? Please don't say, "Just believe the Bible." It's just not that simple. If it were, all Christians would agree on all of these issues we're constantly debating. Paul said that the organization that existed in the early Church should continue to exist "until we all come in the unity of the faith." We're not there yet. Not even close. Living prophets and apostles are essential to the correct understanding of the words the original prophets and apostles left. Otherwise, you get what we've got now.
Only because of the rejection of certain aspect of the Bible and the imposition of nonbiblical traditions.
What we know today as "Christianity" is the exact opposite of Jesus' teachings. How in the world can anyone POSSIBLY imagine that a council who's judgements led to slaughtering those who disagreed with them had ANYTHING to do with the Spirit of Christ?
Here is Jesus' mission:
The early church councils were purely political in nature, intimidating all who opposed them with threats of torture and death. Constantine knew that a house divided cannot stand and so made the decision to extinguish the various factions and unify Rome BY FORCE OF ARMS using religious doctrine. How on earth could any of you EVER imagine that this was the Spirit of Christ in any way, shape, or form???
I fear we have been so brainwashed for so many centuries that somehow we are blind to what has gone on "in the name of Jesus".
Mopping up the blood of 'heretics' from the church floor?
Are you freaking kidding?
If you would carefully read what I wrote and not start accusing me of somehow being in leauge with people who kill, you might realize that I was only showing support for the refutiation of the false doctrine of Arius. What Constantine did as emporer, or as the governmental ruler of the Roman Empire, is for GOD to judge and not for me to judge. It was good for people to know about the diety and the humanity of CHRIST. So the council makeing that known was a very good thing. That is all I was pointing out. Sure there were mistakes made back then, as before then, as today. But good is still good and the declaration about CHRIST during that council was good!
When the apostles were killed and had no successors, there was no one in a position (i.e. holding the proper authority) to receive further direction from God with respect to the Church as a whole.
Ephesians 4:11-14 states:
"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive..."
In other words, prophets and apostles were an essential part of the Church Jesus Christ established. They were its foundation. Without them, the foundation crumbled, and without the foundation, people were once again like children, persuaded first one way and then another, and unable to distinguish between true and false doctrines, being subject to the teachings of those who were crafty and who desired to deceive them.
With respect to the Reformers "getting it back in true form," they didn't. As Roger Williams, the Pastor of the first Baptist congregation in America sayd, “[There is] no regularly constituted church of Christ on earth, nor any person authorized to administer any church ordinance, nor can there be until new apostles are sent by the great head of the Church, for whose coming I am seeking.”
Sure there were. Successors of Peter.
Are you saying that God had a plan for thousands of years to reestablish the relationship between man and Himself, after the fall of Adam and Eve, by giving messages to prophet after prophet about the coming of a deliverer/messiah . Then after thousands of years and countless generations, God fulfills His promise by delivering His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus starts His Church here on Earth, with His Authority given to Peter and then in just a few years after Christ's death, after all the Apostles died, all truth is lost. If you believe that, then how can you possibly believe that Christianity is real at all and how can you believe that God is all powerful when He can't even hold his promise together for a few decades. Also, if there was no truth left or Christianity was majorly corrupted by the 4th Century, how could you possibly trust your Bible?
When the anti-Christ instituted Eternal Torment and it spread to become the dominant belief (as predicted) in so-called Christianity (which is really Bibleanity or Churchianity). ET bears NO RESEMBLANCE to the example and message of Christ . . . but it "tickles the ears" of our VINDICTIVE species.
how can you believe that God is all powerful when He can't even hold his promise together for a few decades.
What promise was that?
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