How did Christianity not only survive, but thrive? >Romans

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>>293534
Truth finds a way.

Anyone who doesn't say divine intervention is a fedora edgelord

>>293534
The Roman Empire was in a state of decline and everyone thought the world was soon to be ending (because Rome was the world). Then this religion pops up not only promising to save your soul in particular but bring about a kingdom of heaven on Earth and soon. The whole kingdom of heaven on Earth thing kind of was kind of pushed back when it turned out the world wasn't actually ending but whatevs.

>>293549

>The Roman Empire was in a state of decline

The Roman empire hadn't even reached it's peak when Nero was persecuting Christians

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>>293542
Btu anon.

Accounts of Christian persecution were highly exaggerated and even made up entirely.

Islam survived against all odds because it is the one true faith.

>>293534
Christianity sounds a bit nicer to worship than some pagan religions that required material/human sacrifices. Though this only applies to the pagan religions that actually had such things.

>>293564
Shut the fuck up mustafa

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>>293564
Don't you have a remarkable stone to adore or something?

>>293534
Who is Constantine I?

It would have remained obscure were it not for Constantine.

>>293579
Why does he wear the corona?

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>>293579
>>293583

>>293534
>How did Christianity not only survive, but thrive?

It moved its base of operations to Terminus.

>>293554
Romans didn't know that back then.

>>293534
because God is real and Jesus is the Messiah

Basically a couple of emperors converted and it became a meme.

When you make a religion that says being a victim is holy it's not too hard to survive being a victim. Read the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says being beaten and mocked means you are blessed. The sadomasochism reaches it's ultimate level of perversion when being crucified is actually a good thing, it becomes a divine privilege to be tortured.

Early Christianity was very much a death cult. You got everything if you died as long as you didn't give up the religion, the real world is meaningless, the other world is everything.

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>>293631
It was a meme to begin with.

>>293632
>humility
>perversion
spotted the asshole

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>>293569
>>293576
Don't you have 3 gods to worship?

Fucking hindus

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>>293641
>he worships false prophets

>>293640
Humility would be saying that your cult leader is not the fucking king of the universe that is going to punish all the bullies.
Perversion would be turning the torture murder of criminals into a holy act.

>>293660
but he was God, yet came to earth as a man and died for our sins. I'd say, within the narrative of the Gospels, that Jesus was about as humble as we can philosophically conceive

>>293539
>Jews controlled Rome

Nice meme

>>293665
"I am God and your king, you should all obey me, I don't have to listen to your laws"
"I am humble"
You don't see a fucking contradiction here?

During his trial Jesus threatened a judge who was trying to be impartial by saying he could summon a host of angels to kill him. That's not humble, that's the ravings of a lunatic. Jesus's crime was the same as his other 12 disciples, they wouldn't acknowledge the rule of the government, they were anti-Romans.

>>293539
Is this meant to be taken seriously? If so, kill yourself.

>>293696
>You don't see a fucking contradiction here?
no, because if he really was God then him telling his followers that they're bad at following him is a neutral position

then him dying to atone for their sins is the ultimate example of humility

I really fail to see how the argument that God existing automatically concludes that he has an unrighteous position of authority when in fact the opposite is true. Jesus being straightforward about his power and then willingly going to the cross is massively humble. It's like understanding that you cannot have courage without fear. If you were never really afraid, is it possible to be brave? Or is bravery when you overcome fear? In the same way humility is greatened when justified pride is denied. God denying himself for man is the ultimate act of humility.

>>293696
Jesus doesn't really specify what he is most of the time in the bible. He just vaguely agrees with things people say sometimes.

He seems to speak of God as another entity, but doesn't disagree when people call him Elijah returned or incarnated God.

>>293722
Self-denial is the ultimate manifestation of cowardice. In that regard your God makes everything backwards.

When he himself has sinned he refuses to take responsibility and blames the world "I'm totalling doing this for you guys"
When he had a chance to show courage at the trial and admit that he did go around saying he was the King of the world, he shows cowardess by staying silent. At the very least he could have admitted he did exactly what the court accused him of.

These are not the actions of a God, these are the actions of mortal who is trying to escape his crime. He denies his crime and when that fails he shifts the blame on others.
As Jesus is written in the bible there is nothing good about him. The historical Jesus was probably a decent guy but the traditional account of him is a bad person. We know that his miracles were either lies or tricks because no one outside of his fucking cult takes him seriously. He can't perform his magic at the courts because it's all just bullshit.

"You can't kill me! I'm the king of the universe and I'm god"
"What do you mean I'm on trial. You better stop or I'll send angels to kill you!"
"Of course I have magic powers, I'm not lying"
"IT's your fault! I'm innocent. Your all guilty and I'm taking the punishment for you...my dad will come and kick your ass!"
"Father why have you forsaken me"
Than a few days later his cult leaders try to say it was all his master plan and he's totally alive.

>>293807
>Self-denial is the ultimate manifestation of cowardice.

Are you trolling?

>>293817
>OuterLimits
Gee I wonder

>>293534
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,"

>>293632
But anon, the whole point is that God is renewing the real world and making it more real, and permanent and harmonious. The horrors of persecution are still horrible, but they are inseparably connected to the truth of the resurrection.

Because that's what the Christian revelation is all about, the violence of the powers that be, and the innocence of the scapegoat. That's what's so fundamentally different in Christianity from every other religion, it identifies with the persecuted rather than the persecutor. Every time the Romans martyred a Christian, they were only reenacting the passion of Christ and proving the truth of his revelation.

>>293807
Your assertions are way off base. Have you even read the bible?

Or, in 4chan speak:
>implying

>>293554

And Christainity was a tiny cult back then, it only became big once things started to fall apart.

i was told once that a lot of romans were deeply impressed by the courage christians faced in the face of death/martyrdom (considering their own culture emphasized the glory of an honorable death) and that helped generate converts when the greco-roman religion was dying and giving way to mystery cults

could be bullshit though

Christianity basically says that god fucks you over, because he loves you and wants to test your faith, and if you do love God eternally then you'll go to place where you never get fucked again. That idea appealed to some of plebeians in time for they were already getting fucked. It caught on and later when Constantine adopted Christianity (in my opinion he did it to rule over and gain acceptance for his actions from the lowest classes) it really caught on and then Silk Road blah blah blah Mongols blah blah blah Charles Martel blah blah blah and now

>>293534

Because they were a death cult, and this terrified the Romans into submission and acceptance.

The Romans couldn't pull the trigger on thousands of civilians even if they were asking to be martyred, which is why they completely lost to the tribals in the Migration Period.

We're having the same problem now with the Muslims. They have no value on life and they'll either invade forever or we'll kill them, and we're too enlightened or terrified to do that.

>>294035
>silk road
>having anything to do with christianity

>>294035
>>294048
>God fucks you over
>death cult

Way to go understanding everything the exact wrong way around.

>>294065


Way to not read any of the Roman political writings on interactions with Christians before deciding to post here like a nigger.

The early Christian religion was a cult that revolved around martyrdom, as the. On multiple occasions the governor of a province would threaten the Christians with death if they didn't convert or leave, and they would beg for death, confusing and/or scaring the Romans.

>>294065

>God doesn't fuck you over to test you
>has never read the Book of Job

>>294065
That was a good job explaining your rationale, for a third grade presentation.

How does the last chapter of their holy book go again?
What did christian god do that no other god before did that you should probably do yourself if you think that book is literal?

>>294085
He replaced Job's wife and kids with better wives and kids who also gave him even more material wealth than when he started.

>>294081
Martyrdom is just the inevitable consequence of being non-violent in a violent world, it's not something to be desired in itself.

>>294085
That's Judaism you dimwit.

>>294117
No idea what you're trying to say but you seem equally confused about it.

>>294134
If you are so confused about that evil god death cult's stories, how do you understand the right way around interpreting them?

>>294134
>That's Judaism
Christianity is a subsect of Judaism that shares that particular story, though.

>>294139
You have a lot of questions that don't make any sense, you're going to have to do better if you want anyone to help you.

>>294143
Not really, the only use for the Old Testament is that it introduces the Messiah. Christianity is defined by the Gospel.

>>293534
Christians were persecuted abroad by many different peoples (especially the Jews). After 300 years of hiding, suffering, and death, Constantine tempted Christians with relief by making Chrisianity legal, so long as they make the Roman Emperor the head of their church

>>294147
Just because you are too dense to make sense of things that conflict with your stupid worldview doesn't mean they don't have clear answers.

The last chapter of the bible is the Apocalypse of John which details the supposed death of the world for the glory of their god.

Christian god killed himself,unlike any other god before, and as your idol, it would be wise to follow his path and kill yourself.

>>294161
>Messiah
So you only believe its true because it is the realization of Jew Prophecy and thousands of years of "documented" history, but you don't think jewish history is valid and all their other prophecies are lies?

>>294170
I suggest you try actually reading the Bible one day, since you seem to have an interest in it.

Nothing about the Apocalypse suggests that it's done for "the glory of God", it's the complete opposite. And Christ didn't kill himself, he was killed by Man.

You seem to have a primitive conception of religion centered on gods of violence and sacrifice. That's the model of every religion but Christianity, and the entire point of Christianity is precisely to put an end to that.

>>294181
Nothing I said suggests either of those things.

>>294170
The Crucified Savior is almost an archetype. Everything Jesus supposedly did was also by done, and I mean literally the exact same events, by other previous or contemporary supposed demi-gods. The story of Jesus really isn't even a little original even as a story and it is laughable to take it in historical context.

>>293534
I don't know but it's a retarded religion that encourages obnoxious pacifism and a strange literal translation of a centuries old book that says the earth is flat and a guy survived in a whale's stomach

Not sure why people buy into it, really. I guess they like the idea of living on forever. That actually sounds like torture to me

>>294200
Yeah no, stop getting your education on Zeitgeist.

>>294203
>being non-violent is obnoxious

>That actually sounds like torture to me
I can see why.

>>293868
If you read the bible thinking Jesus is perfectly good and the messiah you will get a very different result than if you read it unsure of what it means. I read it completely unsure what it meant and by the time I was done with one Gospel I thought "there is no way this character is supposed to be a God. That's not how he is written at all"

Honestly I think there are multiple interpretations for the bible. At different times Jesus is God himself or an ordinary mortal. Sometimes he knows his future other times he doesn't. Also the bible is going to have a totally different message depending on how literally you read it. A literal reading of the bible is what I follow which is probably the thing that makes Jesus the unlikable. There's also a million allegorical interpretations with a ton of different techniques. From what I understand even individual lines have special interpretations. Plus I think a lot of the passages are clearly retconned (for example, the ressurection feels like it was added in later).

The bible is probably the book with the most interpretations ever made. The bible can mean pretty much whatever you want. But the general impression I got is Jesus is some sort of faith-healer con artist that got arrested and than tried to smooth talk his way out a punishment. he dies with no ressurection, than they retcon in the Resurrection.

I don't believe it was an eye-wittness report. I think it's a collection of different stories and each writer has an agenda. Jesus is a different person in each story with a different personality and a different relationship with God.

>>294217
Way to take things out of context

>>294186
You seriously need to review Apocalypse of John 21 and see what god's angels have to say about the need for mass death and a new jerusalem just to show off the glory of god.

I suppose if you leave your car running in the garage knowing it will kill you if you don't intervene, you didn't kill yourself either, it was all the car and god who let your follow in his wonderful non suicide footsteps .

tbqh Secular Westernists and Radical Islamists are ruining the earth.

Do they kill each other in the end?

>>294189
I don't care what you have to say about your opinions since you don't know what you believe as long as it is contrarian, but that is what the books themselves suggest, you can't have Christianity without Judaism, so if you dismiss the jewish stories embedded in the old testament, you must also dismiss the entire christian religion.

>>293807
Jesus is not God himself, merely an incarnation.

>>294081
Can you give me some sources on those political writings? That's really interesting.

>>294246
Arianist heretic detected.

>>294246
>Incarnation literally means embodied in flesh or taking on flesh. It refers to the conception and birth of a sentient being who is the material manifestation of an entity, god or force whose original nature is immaterial.

You can't even use human language in a coherent way and you expect people to believe you?

>>294283
Says the guy who uses contractions unironically.

>>293696
jew detected

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>>294283
Does this explain it better for you? Jesus is a manifestation of God but he's not the father.

>>294081
By this logic ISIS is gonna take over the world because they are so eager to die.
>"stop your bullshit or we send drones"
>"more drones pls"

>>293534
That picture is pretty moving. At the time when they were about to die Rome was spectacular and all powerful yet eventually Rome fell and their religion survived.

>>294234
Your understanding of the Apocalypse is completely wrong, and Jesus chose not to respond to violence with violence because that would have destroyed his entire work.

>>294240
>you can't have Christianity without Judaism
Of course you can, they're two entirely different religions.

>>294303
I did not use any contraction, the other meaning of incarnation is the religious meaning such as>>294306 pic, which is a complete logical fallacy which is only justified by religious feelings.
If A is B/C/D than B/C/D are A, end of the line, saying otherwise means you're absolutely bending logic just because, which is unscientific and irrelevant.

>>294327
You need to review it because Jesus came to the Apocalypse to engage in war.

I guess you think that you can have Catholicism without Christianity or Shi`ites without Muslims.
In the real world, Christianity is a continuation of Judaism and if you think Judaism is a bunch of lies, then the foundation of Christianity is also based on lies.

>>294335
Didn't you, though?

>>294335
Its not a fallacy, its a paradox, but some confusing paradoxes can be true, like the fact that low birth weight and mothers who smoke contribute to a higher mortality rate, but babies of smokers have lower average birth weight, while low birth weight babies born to smokers have a lower mortality rate than other low birth weight babies.

>>294335
I'm telling you how it is according to the religion. I was correct in that aspect, and beyond that you have nothing else to say to say to me. Take those fallacies up with the catholic church.

>how did a religion that basically masturbates to martyrdom survived being martyrized

>>294260

>I'm a disingenuous faggot who can't use google: the post

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pliny_the_Younger_on_Christians

>>294312

But that's exactly what's happening right now. There are more Muslims in the West than before the wars.

>>294336
>Jesus came to the Apocalypse to engage in war
wtf

>Christianity is a continuation of Judaism
Christianity doesn't require the Jewish text in any way. All the Old Testament does is provide context to better understand Jesus' vocabulary. But the Revelation is universal and completely independent.

>>293534
Christianity was a masochistic religion, people were lining up to suffer as much as possible. It only meant a more glorious afterlife.

>>294361
I'm not the person you were talking with, just something reading through this thread who happened upon something interesting.

Thanks though.

>>294344
Thats not a paradox, thats misreading statistics.

>>294369
Is the joke that half of those plants look like that naively and have all been selectively bread to be useful?

Uncultivated potatoes look like testicles and uncultivated carrot look like cocks. Yet neither help your genitalia.

>>294366
>Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come.
>follow with plagues and wrath

>completely independent
Jews are specifically mentioned in the Apocalypse and the witnesses were specifically at the temple of god and told to ignore the gentile's courts with all the saved being the ones who believed all the prophecies and remained pure.

>>294383
It is not a misreading but a recontextualization that changes the observed properties of the principle statistics to conflict with some of its other properties.

>>294335
Let me give you an example.

The triforce of power is part of the triforce.
It's not the triforce of wisdom. but both of them are part of the triforce.

>>294412
>The triforce of power is part of the triforce.
Why isn't it written "the force of power is part of the triforce". There's an obvious language issue if you use the same word to refer to something and its component. It's not an issue of theology or philosophy, it's just bad communication.

>>293534
Because Christian doctrine was basically engineered to conquer paganism.

Most pagan belief systems make no claim to universalism. There is no "one true god" in paganism, and no reward in the afterlife for worshiping the correct gods, and no punishment in the afterlife for worshiping the wrong ones.

Basically, a Roman had nothing to lose (spiritually speaking) in converting to Christianity, but a great deal to lose if he stayed pagan and it turned out the Christians were right.

>>293534
Monotheism is a hell of a drug

>>293534
>survive
a death cult whose members will literally die for their beliefs meant the community would always survive and be strong unless they were all genocided (which the romans declined to do)

>thrive
constantine recognised that making the population this way would be politically useful

>>293564
>tfw you wake up so late you don't even have time to change out of your nightcap and jammies, just get on your horse and go

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>>293688
They controlled Pilate or at the very least Pilate allowed them to manipulate him.

>>293534
The grace of god

>>293534
Lets say there was only 1 lion, and all the humans had small, roman era swords. could they win?

God willed it

>>295226
Could they? Yes, The odds would still be favour of the lion though

>>295217
Sure some jews had money and could bribe some lowly roman juror, but Rome was Pagan at the time. It'd execute jesus because he was a threat to them.

Jesus considered the pagans to be blind children that needed saving, although this could be the poeticized canon made in retrospect after Constantine declared Rome christian and fought a war against the pagans.

>>294306
What do satan, the false prophet(judah or w/e) and Nicholias have in common?

>>295226
You serious nigger? The lion would get massacred. It may take 1 or 2 with it if it's good, but it's getting gangbanged.

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>>295338
The point is that Jesus was killed because the Jews wanted him dead; Pilate didn't really care one way or the other and caved into their demands so they would calm down.

>>295222
Yes, but also because Jesus was truly the Son of God.

I like this passage from Acts:

[34] Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space;
[35] And said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men.
[36] For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought.
[37] After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.
[38] And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:
[39] But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.

>>295217
How do you figure that? I don't think the bible ever says they bribed Pilate. It says they bribed the crowd to hate on Jesus. But Jesus was found guilty by Pilate who is very impartial in the story. Where are you getting this idea that Pilate was on the jewish payroll?

This is just sounds like basless /pol/ speculation "the jews are behind everything"

>>295361
Historically Pilate was a humongous dick-head that is supposed to have loved executing people. The records show that everyone thought he was a terrible governer and would use any excuse to have a blood bath.

In other words even if you were to bar the Jews from the court scene Pilate would still probably have done the exact same thing. Jesus is clearly guilty of saying he is a king and Pilate being a judge without mercy would have gone him the harshest punishment for his crime.

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>>295381
>Pilate would still probably have done the exact same thing.

Why would a Roman prefect give two shits about a homeless preacher?

>Jesus is clearly guilty of saying he is a king

He said he was KING OF THE JEWS, Pilate would not have cared at all had the kikes not leaned on him.

He even tried to execute Barabbas instead but the kikes refused because they wanted Jesus dead.

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>>295370
>Where are you getting this idea that Pilate was on the jewish payroll?

Whether he was paid or not is irrelevant, the point I am making is that Pilate was coerced into executing Jesus so that he wouldn't have to deal with the headaches caused by throngs of screaming merchants. He agreed to have Jesus executed for political expediency.

Pilate himself said he "washed his hands" of Christ's blood and the Jews responded "his blood shall be on us and on our children!"

>>295408
>He said he was KING OF THE JEWS, Pilate would not have cared at all had the kikes not leaned on him.

Dude if he gave the slightest shit about his job he would care a HUGE amount. The King of the Jews is supposed to be the emperor of Rome. If Jesus is saying he is the king he is saying the emperor is not legitimate and that's first degree treason, it's a fucking revolution. That's a serious crime, an automatic death sentence.

Jesus is a guilty. Maybe Pilate thinks Jesus is harmless, maybe he thinks Jesus is just a crazy street preacher and so it's better to pardon the street preacher over Barabarass the thief. But Jesus is 100% guilty. You can say the Jews bribed the crowd into getting Jesus killed but the man was not innocent. The cross is something that Jesus brought upon himself!

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>>295438
>The King of the Jews is supposed to be the emperor of Rome.

Troll confirmed.

Adios Schlomo.

>>294048
>be a monster and save civilization
>be a coward and destroy it.

This is not WW2, isn't it?

>>295449
If you are a citizen of Rome your king is supposed to be the emperor of Rome. This isn't that hard to understand. Also they took loyality to your king seriously back than.

A Jew in Rome that said the emperor is not his legitmate ruler would be be charged with treason, this is what happened to Jesus.

>>293534
The martyring of Christians in the Roman empire was grossly exaggerated it was maybe no more than a few hundred who died in religious upheavals.

Constantine decided it was the best step to pacify the near East and take a stance against the Jews who were the terrorists of the times.

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>>295457
>oy vey dem pharisees gud boys who dindu nuffin! dey need dem shekels for dem temple sacrifices! de romans be oppressin em!

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what i don't get is constantine
i don't get his whole thing
first he's a christian then he's not then he it after all
then he's like "eh i don't know"
then he says he just wants to respect christianism as an equal religion but then starts to actively persecute non-christians
i don't get this man
help me understand him /his/

>>295419
The entire religion of Christianity started as nothing more than members of a defeated cult being angry at their cult leader being killed and wanting revenge. Jesus is defeated so they make up a story about how he 'meant to do that' and he will comeback in a few years to beat up all the bullies. It never happens so they move the date back, they keep moving it back until we get today. Where 2,000 years later the cult is STILL MAD that their leader was defeated and any day now he could come waltzing back, he'll ressurect the Pharisee and torture them, and everyone else that made fun of the cult members. That's all the last judgement is, one giant revenge fantasy.

You're just proving the point that the 'religion' is nothing more than gigantic cry-baby tantrum. "Wahh! My credit card interest is too high! Fucking Kikes! Jesus help me! Save me from these merchants!" How spiritual! How mystical! Maybe Jesus will also torture me for making fun of you!

>>295466
>>295466
I truly truly hate how there's so much in this board goin "it's a meme" and "we waz [thing]" stuff. Why is it so hard to argue like normal people?

I'm not even the kike.

>>295472
Politics. That's it. He saw a giant feverish cult and found a way to make gain control of it. Once he had control he wants everyone else to be part of the cult. Eventually he loses control of the monster and it consumes everything. It's the same reason that politicians back clearly insane groups, because the group gives them power in exchange for being recognized.

>>294048
>The Romans couldn't pull the trigger on thousands of civilians even if they were asking to be martyred
Are you kidding me?

>Who is Crassus
>What are gladiator games
>"The slaughter within was even more dreadful than the spectacle from without. Men and women, old and young, insurgents and priests, those who fought and those who entreated mercy, were hewn down in indiscriminate carnage. The number of the slain exceeded that of the slayers. The legionaries had to clamber over heaps of dead to carry on the work of extermination."

>>295486
but it was such a small cult
he could've gone for zoroastrianism or any other shitty religion like that
like, why christianism in particular? just feels like too much luck for jesus

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>>295477
>>>/reddit/

>>293534
Rome liked it and because it was Roman it was civilization. If christianity had never become the religion of the Roman Empire everyone in the dark ages probably would've been a hellenist zealot.

>>295492
It was like 10% of the population by Constantine's time

>>293594
>Ἐν τούτῳ νίkα

Cool.

>>295477
You're on 4chan faggot, go to the countless other history forums if you want a legit discussion. This is 4chan history so it's filled with memes.

>>295520
that's still pretty fucking small
it's like a western leader today turning to islamism then forcing it everywhere

>>295492
The cult Jesus founded was incredibly small. It was origenally only for Jews and the vast majority of Jews rejected it. Paul changed everything, he started allowing non-Jews in and changing the doctrines. Eventually he got most of the lower class citizens involved and than it crawled up the social ladder.

The new Christianity was more more feverish, actively working against every other religion, it was one of the very few religions that required you be exclusive to it. Also the old Olympian religion was already in decline, with growing understanding of philosophy and science the human like Gods became less beleivable. There were already a ton of mainstream philosophers that questioned them. The big movement was Platoism which emphasized a transcendent inhuman God as being above the Olypmic Gods.

>>295539
why don't we learn about this stuff in elementary school? the development of christianism as a mainstream religion is HUGE

>>293534
Because Christianity is borderline masochist and all that oppression just made their dicks harder.

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>>295525

We could have had serious discussions.

>>295550
Because it goes against the narrative and is highly politically incorrect. It implies that sociological functions and not 'innate truth' or 'the holy spirit' were behind it.

Also it ruins the image of Christianity as something that has been 'unchanged'. Imagine trying to explain to an evangelical that many of the earliest Christians (including some of Jesus's first followers) thought the religion shouldn't be universalized. Paul ultimatly got to control the religion the most because he was the only early christian who had citizenship status (this was a rare privilage). Non-Christians would have respected him and listened to him more, he would also get to preach in places others could not. This is how they managed to spread the religion to other citizens rather than confining it to the slums. Once he got other citizens to become converts and preachers it spread quickly.

There's also the fact that the exact nature of Christianity is very difficult to pindown. For instance, to what extent did the Platonic idea of a transcendent God influence Christianity?

>>295576
i'm pretty sure modern history education is completely secular so i'm going to say you don't really know what you're talking about

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>>295474
Every time I see you posting under that nick you demonstrate your irrational hatred and utter ignorance towards the Christian religion.

You are the same person who did not know that Luke wrote Acts.

You ought to spend more time studying and less time polluting this forum with your asinine scrawlings.

>>295529
Well his mother was also Christian

>>295576
>Imagine trying to explain to an evangelical that many of the earliest Christians (including some of Jesus's first followers) thought the religion shouldn't be universalized.
But those followers were clearly running counter to Jesus's wishes, which was Paul's entire point. He didn't change the Faith, as you claim. He was faithful to it. As Jesus says Himself: "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations."

>Paul ultimatly got to control the religion the most because he was the only early christian who had citizenship status (this was a rare privilage)
Paul died in the '60s, before the Fall of Jerusalem even. He had no more control of the movement than any other Apostle.

Probably said in this thread, but Christianity was a Mystery Cult, which means rites and such were done behind closed doors. This made the religion mystical and in the later years of the empire, mystery cults were all the rage.

Plus it appealed to the shit-faced peasants; suffer quietly and be a good person, you'll go to an amazing afterlife! What did Hellenism offer? Your soul fucks around Hades for a while and putters out.

>>295654
Any attempt to explain how a religion is formed is going to offend someone. Religion is a hot button issue. Just argueing about whether Jesus existed (only very fringe scholars think otherwise) is going to piss people off. I personally think they should teach theology in public school but there's no way that would happen. Can you imagine the potential for lawsuits?

History classes are already really over crowded. There isn't a proper effort to sort out the information. I swear I was taught more about the civil rights movement than all religions combined.

Christianity was small time until about the later half of the third century. Then a bunch of plagues wars and famines occurred and the only people who seemed upbeat were the Christians they were murdering. All that martyrdom and the nice afterlife promised made Christianity pretty awesome to go after. Soon enough if started gathering more and more momentum and before you know if it's big enough for Constantine to allow.

>>295332
I find it hard to believve the lion could kill a dozen plus one by one in such a close group attacking him all at once

A kind of evolution

Whatever promised the most, and had the most "power" in one entity will win.

And has to be invisible of course.

>>296271
what the fuck are you on man