Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2743915, member: 19463&quot;]The theology of that day made it very desirable to be baptized as close to the time you died as possible.&nbsp; If Baptism washed away all sins before that sacrament, you would only be called to account for what you did in the last couple hours if you played it right.&nbsp; In the case of someone who had killed his son, wife and probably quite a few other people, this would seem a really good deal.&nbsp; I&#039;m sure many clerics would shake their heads and point out that God might not be happy with people who did their sin returns like many people now do their taxes.&nbsp; Christian theology had been a subject of major &#039;discussion&#039; for all 300 years since Christ died.&nbsp; Constantine arranged major meetings like the Council of Nicaea in 326 AD in the hope that all Christians could agree on one game plan. It did not go quite as well as he might have hoped but in 336 it would not be at all hard to find a Bishop quite willing to assure the Emperor that all was well with his soul.&nbsp; Some of the things they argued about then strike us as strange today.&nbsp; Would God forgive those who denied Him under torture?&nbsp; What happens to people baptized by priests who later turned out to be heretics?&nbsp; The big one was whether Christ was the similar to God or identical to him.&nbsp; The two words in Greek were only spelled differently by one letter <b>i</b>: ὁμο<b>ι</b>ούσιος or ὁμοούσιος.&nbsp; &nbsp; That is where we get the phrase &#039;Doesn&#039;t make an iota of difference.&#039;&nbsp; People died over that one. People today still fight over some things that mystify me but the <b>i</b> had to be a &#039;highpoint&#039; of theology.&nbsp; I do not know if anyone had questioned the use of last minute baptism when Constantine used it or not.&nbsp; Anyone?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in