| The_vagabond7 said: I know what the links say, I've read all about the history of christianity. It isn't flattering. Constantine didn't need a deity to worship, he had plenty. It was just chance that he ended up going with Yahweh. If he had decided to go with visions of Mars we'd all be martians now, and christianity would be an odd historical footnote. And trying to claim that the christian god was a part of rome becoming a christian empire isn't at all flattering to yahweh, or Jesus. It would imply that he installed a pagan emperor to spearhead his proselytizing initiative by assisting him in a violent war, convincing him of his power, then he installed the most vile and traitorous of the christians to seats of power, having them violently act out against those that called them out on being traitors to god, then lead to a period of integrating paganism into christianity before installing one of the most powerful, violent and racist organizations in history to have them spend centuries waging brutally violent torturous wars to spread teachings of his grace and love, and also his intense hatred of various groups. I'm failing to see where this is a PR win for the judeo-christian god or jesus. |
It is flattering when you think about how they haunted christians down and than later they themselfes became christian. It would be like Nazi Germany becoming jewish. Also, what the hell is yahweh? A jewish God? Dont mix that up. Because romans had much diffrent relations with jews and christians back than...
Anyway, Constanite's mother was also christian and Constantine claimed he saw the icon of Jesus and and a christian cross on the battlefield, so i would say that he was enlightend by God and Jesus Christ. He had no reason to make that stuff up, he didnt need to. He didnt just roll a dice and picked Christian God by an accident. I think something made him choose christianity, which is what i find fascinatig - his soldeirs were killing christians all over Isreal, and than he, the emperor, turns out christian.
And no one argued about the history of Christianity here, we all know some people forced their religion on others. I was just saying how amzaing it is for Christianity to conquer the empire tha tried to whipe it out. And dont try to put his actions as part of history of christianity. Its history isnt about how it was forced on people as many angry atheists fundamentalists would have you believe. Christianity also didnt spread across europe using only violence. History of Christianity is about Jesus Christ and his teachings. Here is another link that explaines the stuff very well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_the_Great#Religious_policy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_centers_of_Christianity
