Protestant Christians like to distance themselves from Roman Catholics. They like to take the high ground since the Reformation, believing that they have the "true faith" now and the RC's are some weird monolithic cult that went sideways in the 3rd Century.
But where did the worship of saints, the worship of Mary and the ceremoniousness and ritual of the RC church originate? Most Protestant Christians will claim Constantine invented the church to control the Roman Empire's diverse population. He supposedly "changed the times and the seasons" by changing the sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. Strange though, that the Christians claiming this are all still having sabbath on Sunday.
I'd like to propose the painful truth that it was Peter, Paul and the other early followers of Jesus that invented what later became known as the "Universal Roman Church" aka Roman Catholicism. Ouch, the truth hurts sometimes but I'll try to be gentle. 🚑
The early Christians were faced with a host of problems. The first was the many new Greek converts. Many of the Jewish Christians insisted the new Greek believers had to be circumcised. I can only imagine the look on the faces of the Greeks when they were asked to have the ends of their penises chopped off. So they were forced to compromise with the Greeks and made them get baptized instead which they were fine with.
Another of the problems they had was with the mystery cult members who insisted on eating food sacrificed to their idols. This was horrifying to the Jews. Food rituals and rules were a huge part of the Jewish religious belief system. Peter even had such a distaste (no pun intended) for preaching to the pagans until he had an epic dream about God telling him to eat unclean food. The Jews gave up their food laws in order to keep the door open for their new pagan converts.
The mystery cults also practiced drunken orgies in the forests which the prudish Jews could not and would not tolerate. The mystery cult members also practiced elaborate rituals with candles, incense, ringing of bells and sprinkling water. They wore monkish robes and ornate head gear. The rituals had to followed perfectly or the gods would not be pleased. Anyone who has attended a Roman Catholic mass will see that these rituals have remained unchanged in 2000 years.
The mystery cults were allowed to keep their rituals which were fully integrated into the new Christian system of worship borrowed from the synagogues but they had to give up the orgies. Was it a good trade? I'll let you decide.
Religious progress is almost always two steps forward and one step back. Our current Christian churches are undergoing similar compromises. They have adapted to the culture by allowing drums and guitars and multi-media. Rock music was once condemned as the "devil's music" but now it is normal for churches to have rock style worship.
Churches are being forced to compromise by allowing gays and lesbians into their congregations. They are being forced to re-examine their beliefs in the light of a changing modern culture. Progress is slow and can be delayed but it can never be stopped for long. Thank God for that. Onward and upward. Progress is the watchword of the universe. ❤️🙏🌎🌞
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