In the earliest church, most converts had spent a lifetime in idol worship. Most of the world’s population where still idol worshippers.
All cults celebrated the equinox in the spring at almost the same time that Passover was celebrated, it was natural to combine the two. Idol worship made it a time of celebrating fertility. Now we have the symbols they used for fertility (bunnies and eggs) as a pagan part of sacred Passover.
By the year 323, the Roman Emperor (Constantine) had decided to make Christianity the state religion, but he hated the Jews. Constantine brought about 300 Christian fathers to Rome to decide on the doctrines of the Christian Church, they debated for three years. All their expenses were paid by Rome. The one instruction they were given was : 'Let us, then, have nothing in common with the Jews, who are our adversaries...Therefore this irregularity must be corrected, in order that we may no more have anything in common with the parricides and murderers of our Lord'"
In the first 100 years of Christianity, scripture was part of worship. People like James, the brother of Christ, headed the church and gentiles were told to learn about God in scripture. The NT wasn’t heard of, yet. Now, those people had been killed in the wars when Rome won so triumphantly. The people who headed the Christian church afterwards were gentiles who didn't know anything about God except that Christ rose from the dead.
Gentiles were told not to follow Jews, but the Jews knew the Father, they even believed there would be Christ but not that Christ was the savior. The Jews followed rituals to holy living, we were given the Holy Spirit to lead us instead of rituals. It was another reason not to follow Jews. We were given the Holy Spirit to lead us to holy living when before Christ it had been rituals to lead to holy living. With Christians in the minority to pagans, with being told Jews were terrible, with laws made against scripture by Constantine, with God being swept aside as only Christ as God, the traditions of our church was established.
I think it is time for us to study doctrines so they follow scripture without a bit of mixture with pagan ideas.
All cults celebrated the equinox in the spring at almost the same time that Passover was celebrated, it was natural to combine the two. Idol worship made it a time of celebrating fertility. Now we have the symbols they used for fertility (bunnies and eggs) as a pagan part of sacred Passover.
By the year 323, the Roman Emperor (Constantine) had decided to make Christianity the state religion, but he hated the Jews. Constantine brought about 300 Christian fathers to Rome to decide on the doctrines of the Christian Church, they debated for three years. All their expenses were paid by Rome. The one instruction they were given was : 'Let us, then, have nothing in common with the Jews, who are our adversaries...Therefore this irregularity must be corrected, in order that we may no more have anything in common with the parricides and murderers of our Lord'"
In the first 100 years of Christianity, scripture was part of worship. People like James, the brother of Christ, headed the church and gentiles were told to learn about God in scripture. The NT wasn’t heard of, yet. Now, those people had been killed in the wars when Rome won so triumphantly. The people who headed the Christian church afterwards were gentiles who didn't know anything about God except that Christ rose from the dead.
Gentiles were told not to follow Jews, but the Jews knew the Father, they even believed there would be Christ but not that Christ was the savior. The Jews followed rituals to holy living, we were given the Holy Spirit to lead us instead of rituals. It was another reason not to follow Jews. We were given the Holy Spirit to lead us to holy living when before Christ it had been rituals to lead to holy living. With Christians in the minority to pagans, with being told Jews were terrible, with laws made against scripture by Constantine, with God being swept aside as only Christ as God, the traditions of our church was established.
I think it is time for us to study doctrines so they follow scripture without a bit of mixture with pagan ideas.