Guest Furball Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Christianity is a death cult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravenstar Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 regarding 6. above. I saw a documentary where they speculated Constantine actually saw himself as a Christ figure, placing his tomb in the center of the 12 apostles tombs / relics. That he saw a connection to Christianity because it reinforced His belief / general propoganda that the Emperor was a diety... Jesus was also a deity who took on fleshly form. I think without Constantine, it would have remained more of a middle eastern / african curiosity with a diverse range of views. It was far more established in Africa and the Middle East, more of a curiosity in Europe at the time of his conversion. In the History of Christianity, MacDiarmaid describes how after the sacking of Rome by the "barbarians", the Roman power system basically folded into the Catholic Church. This sudden influx of power / money / resources / ambition was a key factor promoting the dominance of "western" christianity, which is by far the most dominant form on earth today (containing Catholocism, and all branches of protestantism). Im also pretty sure if the industrial revolution occurred first in an "eastern" christian nation, or Moslem nation things would also look different. I think the key is how the meme of religion hitches itself onto structures of power. The meme isnt really able to spread in and of itself. According to Wikipedia, there are currently 18 million jews. Judaism wasnt able to hitch its ideas to sources of worldly power so never gained widespread prominence. Compare that to the 2-3 billion Christians. See! It IS a virus! I knew it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cousin Ricky Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 This is very interesting since I grew up in the Roman church. Could anyone lead me to some reading material/websites on this topic? Thanks! The Rejection of Pascal's Wager. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarflungWanderer Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 I still stand by the idea that someone would have adopted Christianity eventually, though I'm not as sure anymore. Really, I think it's a heads-or-tails sorta thing. It might have happened anyways, or Rome might have stuck with its previous system. We can't say for certain, though, that the Roman Empire continuing would have been a better alternative. I need to look into that more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RipVanWinkle Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 I have read that Constantine actually did not convert until his death bed. But who knows? Only religious nuts believe history (in their own holy books) is accurate. Rip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RipVanWinkle Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Woodsy: A good book that covers early Xtian history is Constantine's Sword. It is not all about Constantine, but it does discuss him and his impact. Rip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Furball Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 maybe he is the father of the "death bed conversion" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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