How much of modern Christian belief existed before 500 C.E. ?

**Icefrisco** · May 30, 2007, 09:04 PM

I have always wondered the answer to this question. Historians say that Christianity has drastically changed in the past 2,000 years while devout christians say it hasnt. Which should I believe?

Well, is Christianity similar or completely different?

**Chaigidel** · May 30, 2007, 09:09 PM

I would say do personal research, although with such gulfs in time nothing is certain--- I know the pentateuch(sp) or torah has remained largely unchanged for the history of the jews considering the traditions they keep of very studied record making when it comes to the torah's made for each synagoge.--- christianity has had as many schism as any other faith so the history is incredibly rich and diverse-- same with any

**~~enoch~~** · May 30, 2007, 10:27 PM

arfrisco
well actually
Jesus gave us the word after the seventh day
but we lost it
and then he reappeared so that distracted us for awhile

but pretty soon all the homosexuals will be dead and things will be back on track

or

Yes, the beliefs have changed drastically in our lifetimes.

Female ministers/reverends in the Major Protestant religions. Evangelicalism and the second self interpretation movement and the catholics thought protestants were twisting the word beyond redemption.

Christianity is the second most politically oriented religion in the world, and as so, is in a state of constant flux, and back in the day when it was numero uno, it was the same game, not so different place.

**Thanatos** · May 30, 2007, 10:55 PM

Hmm... not so good on early Christian history... we need Zenith Darksea and the like in here...

**~~enoch~~** · May 30, 2007, 11:31 PM

or Jesus, he would set us all straight

after he was finished making Judas sore

**Thanatos** · May 30, 2007, 11:41 PM

Judas... sore...?

What, hell? Judas splitting in two? What?

**~~enoch~~** · May 30, 2007, 11:44 PM

they did like to make out

:heresy:
really should have a smiley

**Zenith Darksea** · May 31, 2007, 06:08 AM

Well it depends. If you look at the Western Churches, and particularly the Protestant ones, you will see a lot of change, mostly in the last five hundred years or so. However, look at the Eastern Churches (largely forgotten by the likes of Dan Brown, who are too ignorant to know any better), and you'll actually see an extremely high degree of continuity. Certainly the archaeological and textual evidence suggests that Christianity as you find it in the Eastern Churches is, as far as we can tell, exactly consistent with Christianity pre-500 AD, save for the fact that it has developed its organisational sophistication and adapted to local cultures and languages.

**Icefrisco** · May 31, 2007, 01:31 PM

Well it depends. If you look at the Western Churches, and particularly the Protestant ones, you will see a lot of change, mostly in the last five hundred years or so. However, look at the Eastern Churches (largely forgotten by the likes of Dan Brown, who are too ignorant to know any better), and you'll actually see an extremely high degree of continuity. Certainly the archaeological and textual evidence suggests that Christianity as you find it in the Eastern Churches is, as far as we can tell, exactly consistent with Christianity pre-500 AD, save for the fact that it has developed its organisational sophistication and adapted to local cultures and languages.

Thats true but many Orthodox christians are/were monophysites(dn spelling) and some believed Jesus was only a man. Were those just certain Orthodox groups beliefs like the Copts or entire denominations like Orthodoxy.

**GershomPatmos** · May 31, 2007, 02:20 PM

Originally Posted by arfrisco

Thats true but many Orthodox christians are/were monophysites(dn spelling) and some believed Jesus was only a man. Were those just certain Orthodox groups beliefs like the Copts or entire denominations like Orthodoxy.

Well if you look at 1 John 4, they were actually battling another heresy early on too - the belief that Jesus wasn't a man...but more like a spirit (the early heretical beliefs of gnosticism applied to Christianity).

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. [1 John 4:1-3]

It's one of those things though, where if not much writing is taken on a subject - people begin to assume that it's a "doctrine"/"dogma" developed later on...but that simply isn't the case. You have to understand that the early believers battled heresies as they came up, and not until much later on was it possible to hold more public councils, as persecution was predominant, especially considering the early beginnings of Christianity could be seen more like a "cult" than an official "religion" as we now see it. You have to take into consideration the methods of communication, the early motives/desires of the first church "fathers" (which were primarily aimed at spreading the Gospel, not at always arguing and going against "heresies"), and the cultures, etc. There are quite a number of variables to study when thinking about all of this. From a strictly literal conformist perspective - maybe you can deduce that the early believers didn't drive cars (obvious)...so neither should any "Christian" today. Sounds a little silly to us...but there are people who go this far, and sometimes beyond. From a liberal point of view others can say that as times change, so should the church to reflect the culture and people - but within certain constrains, but that Jesus gives us "liberality" in the "New Covenant" whereas we were bound and constricted in the "Old one."

I'll leave it up from here.

later friend,
Gersh

**Zenith Darksea** · May 31, 2007, 02:29 PM

Thats true but many Orthodox christians are/were monophysites(dn spelling) and some believed Jesus was only a man. Were those just certain Orthodox groups beliefs like the Copts or entire denominations like Orthodoxy.

Well, believe it or not, the 'Eastern' Orthodox (the dyophisites, who are in the 90% majority of Orthodox) and the 'Oriental' Orthodox (the monophysites) are now largely agreed that the Armenian and Coptic Churches weren't really heretical after all - they simply mistranslated some Greek, and both sides ended up misunderstanding each other. You'll probably see them come back into communion in the next few decades.

As for the other heresies, they have always been around, but they have only been adhered to by tiny minorities.