Replies

olofob: Joseph Smith would be proud....he said the church went into apostasy in the 1st century, and you agree!!

Cronos: So do you then agree with that conclusion by J Smith? Or don't you? It's a simple answer -- yes or no.

Both.

He was off by a few centuries. It was fourth century.

And it wasn't the true church that went into apostasy. It was organized religion, of which that is an ultimate natural end result when a state religion is created.

And the following history of immorality and corruption and power grab by that which calls itself the Catholic church bears witness to that fact.

olofob: Joseph Smith would be proud....he said the church went into apostasy in the 1st century, and you agree!!

Cronos: So do you then agree with that conclusion by J Smith? Or don't you? It's a simple answer -- yes or no.

Metmom: Both.

That does not make sense -- either you believe the church went into apostasy in the 1st century or it didn't. I'm not asking you if you thought it went into apostasy in the 4th, 7th, 11th or 19th centuries, just if it went into apostasy in the 1st

Metmom: It was organized religion, of which that is an ultimate natural end result when a state religion is created.

Constantine didn't make Christianity the state religion. All he did was declare toleration for it so that it was no longer illegal to be Christian. Constantine didn’t turn over pagan temples to the Church or any of the other historically false allegations made against him.

In 311 Constantine and two of his co-emperors, Licinius and Maximum, revoked the edicts of Diocletian against the Church.

Constantine I and Licinius, the two Augusti, by the Edict of Milan of 313, enacted a law allowing religious freedom to everyone within the Roman Empire. Furthermore, the Edict of Milan cited that Christians may openly practice their religion unmolested and unrestricted, and provided that properties taken from Christians be returned to them unconditionally. Although the Edict of Milan allowed religious freedom throughout the empire, it did not abolish nor disestablish the Roman state cult (Roman polytheistic paganism). The Edict of Milan was written in such a way as to implore the blessings of the deity.

Constantine called up the First Council of Nicaea in 325, although he was not a baptised Christian until years later. Despite enjoying considerable popular support, Christianity was still not the official state religion in Rome, although it was in some neighboring states such as Armenia and Aksum (Ethiopia)