Posted on 09/12/2013 4:22:27 AM PDT by imardmd1
In 1962, philosopher-scientist Thomas Kuhn coined the term “paradigm shift” to signal a massive change in the way a community thinks about a particular topic. Examples of paradigm shifts include Copernicus’s discovery that the earth revolves around the sun, Einstein’s theory of relativity, and Darwin’s theory of evolution. Each changed the world of thought (some for better, some for worse) in a fundamental way.
From a political perspective, Constantine’s Edict of Milan, issued in AD 313, constituted the formal beginning of a major paradigm shift that signaled the end of the ancient world and the beginning of the medieval period. That edict legitimated Christianity and impressed upon it the Empire’s stamp of approval.
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It is a fair question to ask: “Why do we care about the eschatological views of the early church fathers?” We as evangelicals emphatically agree with Hodge that “the true method of theology… assumes that the Bible contains all the facts or truths which form the contents of theology.” As Ryrie cogently put it:
The fact that something was taught in the first century does not make it right (unless taught in the canonical Scriptures), and the fact that something was not taught until the nineteenth century does not make it wrong unless, of course, it is unscriptural.
(snip)
From a theological perspective—specifically an eschatological one—the Edict of Milan also signaled a monumental paradigm shift—from the well-grounded premillennialism of the ancient church fathers to the amillennialism or postmillennialism that would dominate eschatological thinking from the fourth century AD to at least the middle part of the nineteenth century. Yet, as explored below, the groundwork for this shift was laid long before Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in AD 313. In the two centuries that led up to the edict, two crucial interpretive errors found their way into the church that made conditions ripe for the paradigm shift incident to the Edict of Milan. The second century fathers failed to keep clear the biblical distinction between Israel and the church. Then, the third century fathers abandoned a more-or-less literal method of interpreting the Bible in favor of Origen’s allegorical-spiritualized hermeneutic. Once the distinction between Israel and the church became blurred, once a literal hermeneutic was lost, with these foundations removed, the societal changes occasioned by the Edict of Milan caused fourth century fathers to reject premillennialism in favor of Augustinian amillennialism.
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The crushing blow for premillennialism came with the Edict of Milan in AD 313, by which Constantine reversed the Roman Empire’s policy of hostility toward Christianity and accorded it full legal recognition and even favor. Historian Paul Johnson calls the issuance of this edict “one of the decisive events in world history. With it, no longer was the blood of the martyrs the seed of the church. Rather, Christianity would be, in many ways, a mirror-image of the empire itself. “It was catholic, universal, ecumenical, orderly, international, multi-racial and increasingly legalistic.” It was a huge force for stability. Hence, Christianity after 313 would become worldly, rather than other-worldly.
The church’s new-found favor from Rome caused dramatic upheavals. Jerome complained that “one who was yesterday a catechumen is today a bishop; another moves overnight from the ampitheatre to the church; a man who spent the evening in the circus stands next morning at the altar, and another who was recently a patron of the stage is now the dedicator of virgins.” He wrote that “our walls glitter with gold, and gold gleams upon our ceilings and the capitals of our pillars; yet Christ is dying at our doors in the person of his poor, naked and hungry.”
Thus, the focus of the church changed from looking for ultimate comfort in the world beyond the grave to seeking comfort in this world, in the here and now. Christianity was viewed as “a religion with a glorious past as well as an unlimited future. As a result, it suffered what Johnson called “a receding, indeed, disappearing, eschatology.”
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The lesson for us is that we must continually guard against interpreting the Bible according to current events—a point often lost on some of dispensational millennialism’s more popular proponents.
The bottom line, of course, is that we must continually go back to the Scriptures as our only source for “doing theology.” As much as we may respect and admire the early church fathers, or, for that matter, the reformers, the puritans, or a particular modern spiritual leader, we must always remember to be Bereans, checking their conclusions and reasoning against the plumb line of God’s Word. No one could put it more clearly or forcefully than Martin Luther as he boldly and defiantly proclaimed before the Diet of Worms: “Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason—I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other—my conscience is captive to the Word of God… Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise.”
Praising God’s work through Mary is not denying Christ, it is complete affirmation that Jesus is Lord.
I will do so out of love for Jesus.
Don’t worry, it won’t be a prayer of praise, but one of supplication for a softened heart.
bttt
Not that it’s any of your business, but that was not meant as a put down but a sincere wish for a softened heart.
There first part was a tease regarding the conversation we were having about a prayer to Mary.
Catholics certainly do know how to pray and we love even those who do not love us, just as Jesus asked of us and we pray for them. I would be touched by any offer of the same from them.
Say what? You posted on a public forum for any and all to comment on.
>> but that was not meant as a put down but a sincere wish for a softened heart.<<
LOL Or maybe. “Please make him more like us”. Well, that’s not going to happen. Catholics are in grave error and the only prayer I have for them is out of sympathy because if they don’t come out of the RCC they will “partake of her plagues” as is clearly stated by God in Revelation.
Yes, I did post on a public forum to someone with whom I was having a conversation. It was a personal post and not intended to invite comment from others as say a general post may be.
*****LOL Or maybe. “Please make him more like us”. Well, that’s not going to happen. Catholics are in grave error and the only prayer I have for them is out of sympathy because if they don’t come out of the RCC they will “partake of her plagues” as is clearly stated by God in Revelation.*****
I do not pray for your conversion CB, merely a softer heart.
If that offends you, then so be it.
Your prayer for Catholics is understandable given your beliefs but it is one that will go unanswered; the church is His church, there is no reason for Him to call us out of her.
A softer heart? As in “oh be nice to them and let them suffer” kind of softer? That’s not going to happen. Read through Revelation and you will see what’s coming for those who do not come out of the RCC. After the true “bride of Christ” is taken from this world those who remain will experience the wrath of God and Revelation details that in horrific detail.
>>the church is His church, there is no reason for Him to call us out of her.<<
The RCC is definitely not the church that Christ instituted. The church that Christ began does not include pagan practices.
Let me ask you CB, do you believe that all one must do to be saved is believe in Jesus? Believe He is the Word of God who died for our sins and rose from the dead?
Acts 16: 31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Romans 10:9
1 John 5:10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. 11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
Romans 8:38-39 say, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Nothing can separate a child of God from their Father.
John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
2 Corinthians 1:22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
2 Corinthians 5:5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
Ephesians 1:13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
I’m guessing the answer is yes since you never actually said.
So, that being the case, a person is saved by believing in Jesus as Lord and Savior.
The next question is....
Believing this, do you also believe that once a person is saved, there is nothing they can do to cause them to lose their salvation?
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Really you might want to look at the founding of Maryland, which was founded as a Catholic Colony.
Can you document the marlarky about Constantine? From real sources not the fake ones that prots love to use.
No, No it actually doesn't. If you go to Google translate; Link to Google you will see that the only definition is Church
Actually I am demanding unbiased sources, secular or otherwise.
What is this, some kind of inquisition? Catholics sure do like to keep asking a lot of leading questions. Did you not read all the verses I posted?
1 John 5:10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. 11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
Romans 8:38-39 say, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Nothing can separate a child of God from their Father.
John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
What do you believe those verses say?
ROFLOL! So google is your go to source for translation of the Greek in scripture now? I surely hope you don’t expect those of us who are Holy Spirit filled followers of Jesus to take you seriously.
ἐκκλησία [ekklésia] is the combination of two root words. ἐκ [ek] which means from out, out from among, from, and καλέω [kaleó]I call, invite, name. Together they mean a calling out from among. The word ekklésia is used in the Greek for any called out assembly like a meeting of the “town council” for instance. In the instance we are talking about it’s the “assembly of those called out” by Christ.
The only time Jesus used the word it was in the form ekklēsian [ἐκκλησίαν] which simply meant those “called out”.
Any attempt to force the word “church” into that is a backward attempt and doesn’t give the original intent of the word used in the original text.
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