Posted on 05/25/2013 4:22:36 AM PDT by NYer
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “beating a dead horse.” It refers to something that has been said or done so many times that it has outlived its usefulness. This is especially true of arguments that are not only old but also untrue.
Like the proverbial horse, the Roman emperor Constantine has been beaten to death by anti-Catholics.
I make it a point to check all of the comments posted on our YouTube and Facebook pages at least twice a day. As sure as fish live in water, I have come to expect at least one message a day from a Christian Fundamentalist about how the Catholic Church was founded by Emperor Constantine sometime in the fourth century.
It’s almost unfathomable to me that in this day and age Fundamentalists still have not learned to verify the validity of their anti-Catholic arguments. But then again, with so many websites making claims like “Constantine founded the Catholic Church” living on in cyberspace, it’s no wonder some folks still cling to what blogger Mark Shea refers to as “pseudo knowledge.”
It would be nice if this falsity were confined to Fundamentalist circles, but sadly it is not. As atheist podcast host and blogger David Smalley explains on his website:
The Bible was 'canonized' around 325 C.E. (about 275+ years after Jesus' death) with Constantine in charge. . . . At the time Constantine was overseeing the canonization or 'building' of the Bible, if he didn't agree with the text, it was thrown out. There are tons of 'scriptures' that did not make it in. A quick research on the Council of Nicaea will prove this.
There’s no doubt that Constantine was favorable to Christianity. Still, many people mistakenly believe that he not only favored it but that he made it the state religion. He did not. He signed the Edict of Milan, which made it legal to practice Christianity and ordered that the Christians’ confiscated property be returned to them.
Another mistaken notion is that Constantine exercised complete control over the First Council of Nicaea in 325. The primary reason for the council was due to the growing Arian heresy. Jimmy Akin summarizes Arianism this way:
[Arianism was] founded by Arius, a priest of Alexandria, Egypt, in the early 300s. Arius held that originally the Son of God did not exist. There was a time in which there was a single divine Person who became the Father when he created the Son out of nothing. The Son was the first of all created beings and thus separate from the Father in beginning. The heresy was condemned at the first ecumenical council—Nicaea I in 325—but the controversy intensified and lasted much longer (The Fathers Know Best, p. 85).
Constantine did not fully understand why Arianism was so controversial, and he even endorsed many of Arius’s ideas. Historian Dr. James Hitchcock explains:
[W]hen Constantine also endorsed Arius’s ideas, there was an uproar that led the emperor in 325 to call the Council of Nicaea (Asia Minor) to settle the issue. After an intense struggle, the Council condemned Arius, declaring the Son to be “consubstantial” with the Father, that is, sharing the same substance (History of the Catholic Church, p. 83).
If Constantine held as much sway over the Council as many claim, then it is a peculiar thing that the Christology he favored was the big loser.
The next anti-Catholic claim is summarized in Mr. Smalley’s quote above: It is the idea that Constantine decided which books belonged in the Bible and that the ones he did not favor were left out.
The Council Fathers discussed many things besides Arianism, including the proper dating of Easter, the validity of baptisms administered by heretics, and more. One issue they did not discuss, however, is which books belonged in the Bible. They drafted a list of canons (ecclesiastical laws) that you can read for yourself here.
Mr. Smalley’s assertion that “quick research on the Council of Nicaea” will prove his claim in fact proves otherwise; unless, of course, you are getting your information from anti-Catholic websites that don’t provide any primary sources to back them up.
Finally, there is the claim that Constantine introduced pagan elements into what was “pure” Christianity up to that point. Many Fundamentalists will claim that doctrines like transubstantiation, the communion of saints, or the sacrifice of the Mass were pagan ideas. But all of these teachings and more can be traced back to the time of the Apostles through the writings of the early Christians.
To counter this claim, I highly recommend Jimmy Akin’s book, The Fathers Know Best: Your Essential Guide to the Teachings of the Early Christians, available from Catholic Answers. I also recommend getting a copy of the May-June 2013 issue of Catholic Answers Magazine, in which I tackle several of the supposed pagan parallels to Catholic practices.
Poor God...Had to sit there and wait for 300 years for someone to be born who ~~~~ blah, blah, blah....Your statement IS just as rediculous as it sounds...
What unmitigated hogwash.
The Catholic church is not responsible for the Bible.
They just try to claim it so they can control it and lay claim to those who read it.
"IF"? Christians know it because it's TRUTH. Catholics are the subjects of a cult and are kept in alignment with it's demonic teachings.
When we hold the Bible in our hands we are in the position of the Ethiopian official whom Phillip over heard reading Isaiah. “Do you understand what you are reading?” said Phillip. The Ethiopian replied,” How can I unless someone shows me?” We must have someone inspired by the Spirit to show us.
So, obviously, someone spirit filled didn't show you because GOD'S Word would be the Final Authority in your life.
This man was not only seeking the Lord but he was also humble. He was teachable even though he was a man of great authority.
So are you sure you are in the same position? Who told you that?.... When we hold the Bible in our hands we are in the position of the Ethiopian official whom Phillip over heard reading Isaiah.
So what we know he holds God's Word as Authority as he was seeking The Lord in the right place. And then humbled himself to ask for help from a spirit filled believer and that made him teachable and open to Truth.
The Lord led Philip right to a man who was reading some of the classic Old Testament scriptures about the Christ (Isaiah 53:7-8) and he was wondering who the prophet was speaking of. There could not have been a better situation for witnessing about Jesus. It is wonderful when the Holy Spirit leads us into situations like this, where His guidance is so obvious.
So the Holy Spirit always does His job as Teacher and anyone who DOES earnestly seek The Lord and humbles himself will FIND Him.
God always answers when someone is earnestly seeking Him. And reading your posts, the earnest factor is missing since you fell in the trap of 'man' and their own teachings who are enemies of God. He calls them hypocrites and they worship Him in vain. Keep spinning the wheels in mud because Jesus already gave a shout out against 'man and their teachings.' Supporting it is being an accomplice in it and we know the wrath of God that is coming on His enemies and can't say your didn't know. No one can KNOW God under 'man' and their teachings - they only learn 'about Him' which the demons do, also, and pride, opposite of humble, being the root of their downfall, also.
Your leaders/popes 'act' humble but are not humble - God KNOWS the heart. And all their subjects learn how to 'act' humble, also.
What's humble about a man when he's claims to be 'infallible'? Nothing. IT IS SATAN saying I am finally equal with God and he does it through 'man' and with man agreeing with him. That's the mud you are spinning in.
How, is this, as advised in earlier posts, not flame baiting and "making it personal" because it extends the claim to "the church" which entails all members individually - some of whom are Freepers?
Oh please...How many times have you called Protestants cult members, and members of sects???
Just like the ones who keep saying that once a Catholic, always a Catholic, or, we don’t pray to Mary, we only ask her to pray for us...
These people somday WILL meet the REAL Jesus...
Were that true you would have no problem providing examples.
I tell all catholics that - including my family - as I came from catholicsm - no one is offended as you. And not good to want someone to sin because they are offended by truth.
“Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”
Grow up and quit being so easily offended.
And their eyes will be opened and realize they never understood the difference between worldly/man/natural and God/final authority/supernatural.
Man representing themself as God with their ‘infallibility’ teaching and how they bowed to it - will learn that who they bowed to - is who they will go to and spend eternity wishing someone told them. Meanwhile they had ‘the book’ to hear and obey all along but didn’t take it serious because it was only ‘a book’.
You really do you best to avoid the obvious that Scripture needs an interpreter, the right interpreter, and then they, after hearing the truth, must submit to be baptized. How many Jews walked away from Jesus because, hearing the truth, they still rejected it. The Word became flesh in order to save mankind. He did this by word and deed, but he wrote nothing. That task he left to the Church whom he then appointed to spread the Gospel. Our disagreement is over WHO the Church is. You say it is those who accept principles most definitelu laid down by Luther. I say that these principles do not accord with the Truth.
‘FROM’ your man CAVE?
I know where that sign is and it looks like your ‘cave’ is located out by the curb! (which you don’t even have.)
But they MEANT well!
SURELY that counts for SOMEthing.
Well; it's along the guidelines set by the RM, so the question in my mind is, "Are YOU; personally; feeling the heat?"
That's because they ARE!!!
--CatholicDude(Return to the Mother church. We will still accept you.)
They can’t help themselves - they have CONTROL issues. It’s a socialism/liberal thing, also. Obama and his ilk have it - they have their own beliefs and it doesn’t come from Our Constitution.
God’s Word is The Final Authority - who disputes that?
The Constitution is the Law of the Land - who disputes that?
Evil has got his pawns working fast and furious on his behalf.
Who disputes our God-given freedoms and who disputes those ‘in Christ’. They are of the same family - darkness.
"Do you imagine, whoever you are, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. - Romans 2:3-5
Coffee Shack
Amen to that! Oh that more people would understand prophecy from scripture rather than listening to man.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.