Recently on the public ELCA * Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ) Facebook group someone posted about how large churches were pagan and used by Constantine to control Christianity.
I did a double-take. This was completely unlike anything I have heard or read. Nothing in seminary, nor in my historical studies in grad school.
Constantine legalized Christianity in 313 A.D/C.E. That meant Christians could worship openly and operate ministries in public. He himself became a Christian and used the faith as a way to bring unity to the Roman Empire. A long relationship between the State and Christianity began and took various forms over the years in many places.
Not that I advocate such a relationship today. I commented on the post, and in a brief exchange, saw that the person who first posted claimed that having such a large public worship space was pagan. I asked how the Jersusalem Temple fit into that thinking. The answer skirted the issue, and I stopped commenting in the thread.
I did not check on the person, and I did not claim special privilege as a pastor. It seemed to me that Constantine, in this person's opinion, should not have legalized Christianity. That is another variation on the theme that Christianity was perverted, corrupted later on. And.....whoever tells us this knows THE TRUTH!
Constantine also convened the Council of Nicea, which gave the Church a creed. Tha6 group has been bashed by feminists, agnostics, New Agers, et al., which to my thinking gets a little tedious.
I need to stay out of groups like this and write more poetry/prose!
https://www.blurb.com/b/10799783-the-botleys-of-beaumont-county
https://www.amazon.com/Arthur-Turfa/e/B00YJ9LNOA%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share
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