Origin Stories The origin of all Christian belief

[room2593 0]

Just learned some interesting facts about the origin of the Christian church.In the early days of the Christians, they (of course) did not call themselves "christian". Paul and Peter and the others spread belief through the world, through Rome and beyond. One Roman Caesar brought back the games and started killing them off, because they were a contesting source of power. Eventually, the entire belief system of Christianity was hidden in pockets in the mountains. One such group was notably the Waldenses. These pockets eventually broke out and started spreading again. They eventually converted the emperor of rome, Constantine. He famously walked his entire army through a river to 'baptize' them. Roman Christianity spread rapidly throughout the empire, all the way to Great Britain and beyond.This is, of course, the way that Saint Patrick became a Christian. He was a member of the upper class, stolen and sold into slavery in Ireland. He escaped and went to Rome to learn to be a monk. He eventually came back and ministered to the Celts in Ireland, converting a great number of them. Monasteries in Ireland spread rapidly because there were only allowed to be 12 monks in a monastery at a time. Any more than that and they had to spread out. Eventually, the bulk of the island was Christian.At about this point, there was a massive influx of barbarians filling the hole of the failing Roman empire. The barbarians actually sacked Rome. They destroyed and burned everything they could get their hands on. (this is why the Venus de Milo has no appendages) Barbarians named Angles, Saxons and Jutes invaded the big island of Britain and overran everything, even up to the northernmost reaches. They did not, however, take the island of Ireland. This meant that Christianity survived. The monks in Ireland became a refuge for manuscripts from all over Europe. Manuscripts were smuggled in to monasteries.The amazing burst of monks in Ireland (and the fact that they wouldn't keep themselves cooped up) meant that they spread to other parts of the world with amazing rapidity. These monks carried classical literature with them to Europe, where they founded monasteries that eventually became cities - cities such as Vienna, Cologne, and Aachen, Leon, and Tours. This burst of classical knowledge opened the way for the Roman church to grow again. Eventually, the Roman Church grew all the way to Northumbria, in England. King Oswe, the king of northumbria at the time, called a conference to decide which variance of Christianity he would join. Eventually, he chose the Roman church (not because of any inherent benefit in one or the other). The amazing part is that he could have easily gone with the Celtic Christians from Ireland! That would play havoc with our timeline of history.From then, the Roman Catholics dominated Christianity until Martin Luther posted his 95 theses. From there, Calvin and Luther formed a following that was harried by the Catholic church. The protestants found a home in England when the King wanted a divorce but the Pope disallowed it. He became protestant so that he could get another wife. The distinct strain of Celtic Christianity survived until Mary, queen of Scots.So there's an interesting side note for history. It was an opportunity for everything to turn out differently than it did. I thought it was insane and thought you might too.

[truefusion 3]

In the early days of the Christians, they (of course) did not call themselves "christian".

I heard the term "Christian" was first a derogatory term. It is interesting to note the kind of turning the other cheek done with this word that today it is something that is held with pride—or at least should be.

[room2593 0]

I know that Saul persecuted those who followed Christ. I'm not sure if they had coined the term 'christian,' however.But you're right. It didn't seem popular to be a christian back in the day.

[Baniboy 3]

Very interesting. Although I'm not a Christian or believe in any deity, it was an interesting read. The whole history of religions and their influences is quite interesting.Here where I live (Finland) most of the people(about 80 % I think) belong to the "evankelisluterilainen" church which basically should mean evangelic lutheric or something like that translated in English? Anyway, thanks for bothering to write that.

[webishqiptar 0]

I know from Islamic point of view the word christ has come from this origins, just give a close look up..christ - jesus -Isus -Isa(this is what in Islam is called..))..what do you think??

[room2593 0]

Christ merely is a translation of the hebrew word "messiah". Jesus is another form of the name Jeshewa or Joshua. So there's that anyway. I'm 95% sure that Christianity and Islam have no connexion in their origins. If they do, then it's probably only a mere meeting of ideologies, and not a full-fledged idea trade of cultures.