Constantine and his group of thugs had a great deal to do with the creation of Christianity as we know it. This is especially true for the foundation of the Catholic Church.
Prior to that time, there were a wild variety of different Christianities. To cite a few of the more prominent examples:
- The Ebionites who believed Jesus was a mortal human, conceived the same way all babies are by Mary and Joseph, and adopted by God as a son. The Spirit came down and inhabited his body at his baptist by John the Baptist. The two then formed a symbiotic relationship which was why Jesus could heal people and perform miracles. At his crucifixion, because God can't die, the Spirit left him on the cross. This might explain the quote "why have you forsaken me".
- The Marcionites who believed in two gods. Yahweh, the OT god, was the lesser god of this world. Jesus was separate from and superior to this base god. Jesus appeared in the temple one day as a fully formed adult (no Mary, no Joseph, no childhood) to offer salvation out of this lesser world to a better place. They rejected all things Jewish and would have left out the OT completely.
- The Docetics who believed that Jesus was an apparition of God. They thought the material world was so corrupting that the pure spirit of God could have no part of it. Jesus was an illusion. The idea of an incarnation of God was to them a contradiction in terms.
There was such wild variety between the different Christianities prior to Nicaea as to make distinctions between Protestant and Catholic, or even between Christian and Muslim, look like petty hair-splitting in comparison.
So to answer the question, we have to nail down just what we call "Christianity". The idea wasn't born overnight. Nobody "just made up Jesus one day". Evidence indicates the religion slowly evolved as a synchratic faith. A bit of Egypt. A bit of Persia. A bit of Greece. A bit of Rome. A bit of Judaism...
Prior to that time, there were a wild variety of different Christianities. To cite a few of the more prominent examples:
- The Ebionites who believed Jesus was a mortal human, conceived the same way all babies are by Mary and Joseph, and adopted by God as a son. The Spirit came down and inhabited his body at his baptist by John the Baptist. The two then formed a symbiotic relationship which was why Jesus could heal people and perform miracles. At his crucifixion, because God can't die, the Spirit left him on the cross. This might explain the quote "why have you forsaken me".
- The Marcionites who believed in two gods. Yahweh, the OT god, was the lesser god of this world. Jesus was separate from and superior to this base god. Jesus appeared in the temple one day as a fully formed adult (no Mary, no Joseph, no childhood) to offer salvation out of this lesser world to a better place. They rejected all things Jewish and would have left out the OT completely.
- The Docetics who believed that Jesus was an apparition of God. They thought the material world was so corrupting that the pure spirit of God could have no part of it. Jesus was an illusion. The idea of an incarnation of God was to them a contradiction in terms.
There was such wild variety between the different Christianities prior to Nicaea as to make distinctions between Protestant and Catholic, or even between Christian and Muslim, look like petty hair-splitting in comparison.
So to answer the question, we have to nail down just what we call "Christianity". The idea wasn't born overnight. Nobody "just made up Jesus one day". Evidence indicates the religion slowly evolved as a synchratic faith. A bit of Egypt. A bit of Persia. A bit of Greece. A bit of Rome. A bit of Judaism...
Atheist Forums Hall of Shame:
"The trinity can be equated to having your cake and eating it too."
... -Lucent, trying to defend the Trinity concept
"(Yahweh's) actions are good because (Yahweh) is the ultimate standard of goodness. That’s not begging the question"
... -Statler Waldorf, Christian apologist
"The trinity can be equated to having your cake and eating it too."
... -Lucent, trying to defend the Trinity concept
"(Yahweh's) actions are good because (Yahweh) is the ultimate standard of goodness. That’s not begging the question"
... -Statler Waldorf, Christian apologist
