Constantine and Christianity

Emperor Constantine (306–337 AD) made Christianity the state religion

Constantine merged the Christian church with the institutionalized pagan practices of Rome and eliminated all aspects of the Jewish religion followed by Jesus.

Emperor Constantine
Emperor Constantine saw himself as an 'Emperor of the Christian people'. He ruled over the Roman Empire during the period 306-337 AD
Background
Rome did more than hire barbarians to fight its wars; like any latter-day imperialist power, it intervened directly and indirectly in 'tribal affairs' far beyond its frontiers. Rome had its 'client kings,' its royal hostages and refugees, its barbarian 'consuls.' It encouraged conflict between the tribes and it used its influence, money and diplomacy to effect the outcome of each crisis of tribal leadership. Barbarians did more than fight for Rome. They competed with each other for imperial favour, they supported rival imperial candidates and took sides in Rome's civil wars. A tribe might fight both for and against the emperor in a single campaign season. Barbarians re-established 'Roman' rule in exchange for land and titles. A 'Roman' generalissimo, more often than not, was himself of barbarian blood. Ultimately, barbarian chieftains nominated the Caesars and the Augustii. When they tired of the fiction, they still acknowledged the Emperor in Constantinople. Through it all, during the 4th-6th centuries, a Christian civil war was fought between Arianism and Catholicism, the terrible twins of a malevolent religion. Now shadowy and all but forgotten this conflict was nonetheless violent and of decisive consequence. The nastier of the two – Catholicism – was to triumph. Arianism's undoing was the same as Paganism's before it: its religious tolerance. The simple reality was that the violent, fanatical and intolerant creed of Catholicism destroyed all that stood in its way. Humphreys
Conversion
It is claimed that Constantine converted to Christianity in 312 AD and was baptized on his death-bed 25 years after. According to more reliable sources, it is more likely Constantine remained a pagan throughout his life, until the point of death.
Family
Constantine's mind had not been enlightened either by study or by inspiration. He remained a pagan, a tyrant and criminal who murdered his son, his wife and thousands of innocent individuals because of his lust for political power. In 326 AD, Constantine had his eldest son, Crispus' killed: on his father's orders, he was tried by a local court at Pola, Istria, condemned to death and executed. Soon afterwards, Constantine had his own wife, Fausta killed; she was suffocated in an over-heated bath, and from all appearances, Constantine continued his life as a worshipper of the Sun-God
State Religion
Christianity was institutionalized as the dominant state religion across the Roman Empire together with all it's pagan practices in 4 AD. Before this the Christians suffered much persecution at the hands of Rome.
State Law
The laws and policies of the Roman Empire and the doctrine of the Church were merged under Emperor Constantine. This required the destruction of hundreds of early Jewish-Christian writings, gospels and scriptures believed to be against the Rome's version of Christianity. It is possible any scripture revealed to Jesus Christ (the Injeel), was destroyed at this point in time.
Reformation
The "Christianity" Constantine endorsed was considerably different from that practiced by Jesus Christ and the apostles. Constantine accelerated the reformation of Christianity due to his hatred for Jews and religious practices he considered Jewish.
Commentary
British historian Paul Johnson summarizes how Constantine's approach of merging religious practices produced a corrupted Christianity that meshed Paganism with Biblical elements: Thus the followers of Isis adored a madonna nursing her holy child; the cult of Attis and Cybele celebrated a day of blood and fasting, followed by the Hilaria resurrection-feast. The elitist Mithraics, many of whom were senior army officers, ate a sacred meal. Many Christians did not make a clear distinction between this sun-cult [Mithraism] and their own. They held their services on Sunday, knelt towards the East and had their nativity-feast on 25 December, the birthday of the sun at the winter solstice. How could the Christian Church, apparently quite willingly, accommodate this weird megalomaniac [Constantine] in its theocratic system? Was there a conscious bargain? Which side benefited most from this unseemly marriage between Church and State? Did the empire surrender to Christianity, or did Christianity prostitute itself to the empire? A History of Christianity, 1976, pp. 67-69
Bible - Four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John)
Constantine at the Nicea Council ordered the destruction of all gospels written in Hebrew which resulted in the permanent destruction of nearly 300 accounts. If these writings were not more authentic than the four present gospels, they were of equal authenticity. Some of those writings were written by Jesus' disciples and many of them were eyewitnesses to Jesus' actions. Hundreds of gospels and religious writings were hidden from the people. Some of them are still available such as the 'Gospel of Barnabas' and the 'Shepherd of Hennas' which agree with the Quran. The Gospel of Barnabas, until now, is the only eyewitness account of the life and mission of Jesus. The choice of the present four gospels of ‎the New Nestament (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) were imposed in the Council of Nicea 325 CE. for political purposes under the auspices of the pagan Emperor Constantine, and not by Jesus. Even today, the whole of the Protestant world, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists and other sects and denominations condemn the Roman Catholic version of the Bible because it contains 7 "extra" books. The Protestants have bravely expunged seven whole books from their "Word of God." A few of the outcasts are the Books of Judith, Tobias, Baruch and Esther. What Gospel did Jesus preach? Of the 27 books of the New Testament, only a small fraction can be accepted as the words of Jesus, and only 4 of the 27 books are known to be attributed as the Gospel of Jesus. Paul supposedly wrote the remaining 23. Muslims believe Jesus was given God's "Good News" gospel. However, Muslims do not recognize the present four Gospels as the utterances of Jesus.
Sabbath
Constantine's affection for 'Sun-God' worship led him to endorse Sunday, as the first day of the week. A day dedicated to honoring the Sun, and as a weekly day of rest in the Roman Empire. This created considerable hardship on the Jews and early Christians who continued to observe Saturday as the Biblical Sabbath day of the week.
Currency/Coins
After his supposed conversion, Constantine had coins minted with a portrait of himself on one side and a depiction of his "companion, the unconquered Sol [sun]" on the other.
Christmas - 25 Dec
In Rome, their were a number of pagan festivals celebrated around 25th December glorifying various Gods. The main festivals were: Natalis Solis Invicti celebrated on the same date in honor of the Sun-God, Mithras. Saturnalia - The pagans believed that as winter approached the days grew shorter because the Sun-God was leaving. As the days started getting longer again they had the ancient feast of the Saturnalia on 17-23 December, also in honour of the deity Saturn; Christmas - In 375 AD., the Church of Rome under Pope Julius I announced that Christmas, the birth date of Jesus Christ was decided for December 25th. By setting Christmas close to major pagan festivals, Rome could merge all the festivals into a short period of time and encourage Sun-God worshipping pagans to convert to Christianity.

CREDIT
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athanasius_of_Alexandria
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_the_Great_and_Christianity
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crispus
http://www.marytruth.com/home/constantine-cover-up-and-sun-worship
https://roberthorvat30.wordpress.com/2013/10/27/the-vision-of-constantine-the-great-on-this-day-in-history-2/

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