[wmfights]

Thus I believe Bill is correct that the early Christians had to use terms of the existing culture as a means to express christian truths. The problem is when the pagan concepts related to those terms are incorporated into christian doctrine. That seems to be the tricky part. How do you incorporate the terms of culture without incorporating the pagan aspects of that term?

Thank you. You have advanced the thought better than I could.

And we’re not immune from this same problem today.

Today in pursuit of mainstream popularity Christianity is normalizing homosexuality and The Gospel is not preached as much as universalism is. It's no different than 1700 yrs ago when Constantine had a statue of the mother-goddess Cybele set up in the Forum presented in a posture of Christian prayer. Over time Cybele and Isis were replaced by Mary in the popular culture, especially after she was declared the "Mother of God".

The point being without any rule of faith that doesn't change over time these outrageous things become a part of the norm. It's a never ending battle.

[Quix]

Today in pursuit of mainstream popularity Christianity is normalizing homosexuality and The Gospel is not preached as much as universalism is. It’s no different than 1700 yrs ago when Constantine had a statue of the mother-goddess Cybele set up in the Forum presented in a posture of Christian prayer. Over time Cybele and Isis were replaced by Mary in the popular culture, especially after she was declared the “Mother of God”.

= = =

IIRC, there’s a statue of the goddes Diana in the Vatican. Hard to understand why.