Just to piss G-C and the rest of the morons off even more, here is an excerpt from Bart Ehrman's "Lost Christianities." Prior to the thuggish emperor Constantine handing power to what Ehrman calls the "proto-orthodox" gang there were xtians of all stripes throughout (mainly) the eastern empire.
Now I fully expect the lunatic fringe of this board to shout that all of this was mere heresy but Ehrman's point is that there was no power which could enforce the charge. Rival gangs of rioting xtians probably did fight it out from time to time....emulating modern muslims...and no doubt attracting the wrath of the local urban prefect who wouldn't have given two shits about their silly superstitions and cracked a few heads in the process of riot control. It was not until Constantine gave the proto-orthodox the power of the state to suppress "heresy" that the basic order of xtian bullshit that we know today was finally allowed to establish itself - and woe to anyone who said "hey, wait a minute".... in the 4th century.
Quote:The Varieties of Ancient Christianity
The wide diversity of early Christianity may be seen above all in the theological beliefs embraced by people who understood themselves to be followers of Jesus. In the second and third centuries there were, of course, Christians who believed in one God. But there were others who insisted that there were two. Some said there were thirty. Others claimed there were 365. In the second and third centuries there were Christians who believed that God had created the world. But others believed that this world had been created by a subordinate, ignorant divinity. (Why else would the world be filled with such misery and hardship?) Yet other Christians thought it was worse than that, that this world was a cosmic mistake created by a malevolent divinity as a place of imprisonment, to trap humans and subject them to pain and suffering.
In the second and third centuries there were Christians who believed that the Jewish Scripture (the Christian “Old Testament”) was inspired by the one true God. Others believed it was inspired by the God of the Jews, who was not the one true God. Others believed it was inspired by an evil deity. Others believed it was not inspired.
In the second and third centuries there were Christians who believed that Jesus was both divine and human, God and man. There were other Christians who argued that he was completely divine and not human at all. (For them, divinity and humanity were incommensurate entities: God can no more be a man than a man can be a rock.) There were others who insisted that Jesus was a full flesh-and-blood human, adopted by God to be his son but not himself divine. There were yet other Christians who claimed that Jesus Christ was two things: a full flesh-and-blood human, Jesus, and a fully divine being, Christ, who had temporarily inhabited Jesus’ body during his ministry and left him prior to his death, inspiring his teachings and miracles but avoiding the suffering in its aftermath.
In the second and third centuries there were Christians who believed that Jesus’ death brought about the salvation of the world. There were other Christians who thought that Jesus’ death had nothing to do with the salvation of the world. There were yet other Christians who said that Jesus never died.
Now I fully expect the lunatic fringe of this board to shout that all of this was mere heresy but Ehrman's point is that there was no power which could enforce the charge. Rival gangs of rioting xtians probably did fight it out from time to time....emulating modern muslims...and no doubt attracting the wrath of the local urban prefect who wouldn't have given two shits about their silly superstitions and cracked a few heads in the process of riot control. It was not until Constantine gave the proto-orthodox the power of the state to suppress "heresy" that the basic order of xtian bullshit that we know today was finally allowed to establish itself - and woe to anyone who said "hey, wait a minute".... in the 4th century.
