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Zensee -> RE: The Jesus Myth (5/3/2008 12:07:31 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: ILsexyOne69
quote:
These people wished more so to appease the pagans and encourage them to join the "christian" church by adding these holidays. It was really a political move by Constatntine to retain peace in the Roman Empire, than any actual Christian conversion. Sort of a 'one size fits all' religion. The actual followers of Jesus at that point, were still following the Jewish traditions and reeling from persecution and then the later combining of their beliefs with pagan beliefs.
For me, Jesus and my relationship with Him,is one thing....religion and how people choose to follow Him, is another.
going to have to disagree with you on the "one size fits all" comment .... for the reason that the catholic church will shun anyone that even expresses thoughts in a same-sex relationship, poly relationships, or even a "pairing" from 2 different religions (with that, they require the non-christian to agree that any offspring produced from the pairing will be raised as christian - my mom, catholic; my father, athiest : married in a catholic church)
I think this is more in reference to the church of rome during its expansionist phase. They learned from the Romans that it is better to absorb foreign religions and control them from within than to oppress them harshly from without. They allowed the pantheon of saints to overlay the native pantheon and permitted pagan traditions to continue under the guise of adoration of the saints. This strategy continued well into the conquest of the Americas.
Once the catholic church had reached saturation, it switched to the more authoritarian, intolerant model we know today.
Z.
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