C. Guignebert, in an illuminating article, [FN 59] points out that for the first five centuries many converts from paganism to Christianity lived a sort of double religious life, which made them what he calls demi-Christians. Among the reasons he gives for this situation are syncretism, poor instruction in the faith, and the scandal of Christian converts who lapsed back into either partial or total paganism.From Fathers of the Church series (vol. 68), St. John Chrysostom, Discourses Against Judaizing Christians, translated by Paul W. Harkins, p. xxxiv.
[FN 59: "Les Demi-chrétiens" 65-102.]
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
Reason for Corruption?
One possible reason for corruption of the patristic church was the influence of outside religions, particularly the idol-heavy pagan religions:
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I would state that although we can say the Church prior to the reformation failed in several respects, yet she did not fail utterly, and even faithfully was sustained by Christ’s promise “The gates of Hell will not prevail” in this sense- that she kept within her bosom the sacred scriptures and preserved them down through the ages, so that, though men would deface the face of the virgin Ekklesia, they could not violate her so long as she clung to and preserved the rule of faith.
I would say it’s similar to how modern traditional Catholics say of the liberals “They don’t represent the true teaching of the Church, because they don’t take seriously past Church teaching” the Reformed ought to say, “These later innovations do not belong to the Church, because they do not represent the faith proclaimed in the infallible rule of faith, the holy scriptures!”
Yet after the excess is cleared away, and the Worldly institution of the Vatican clearly distinguished from the Church, it is then when the prophetess Jezebel, tolerated until now in the midst of the Church, is revealed as the whore. But the Vatican is not and has never been the Virgin Ekklesia.
What say you?
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One could, of course, also argue (in a similar vein to that of Matthew 19:8 or Mark 10:5) that it is due to the influence of Egyptian idolatry that Moses (whose father in law, Jethro, was a pagan priest), commanded (or allowed) the Israelites to decorate both the ark of the covenant (Exodus 25) and the curtain of the tabernacle (Exodus 26) with golden cherubs.
Similarly for Solomon, who erected enormous statues of cherubs in the Jerusalem temple (1 Kings 6; 2 Chronicles 3), and was also known to have sacrificed to idols later in life, due to the influence of his many polytheistic wives and mistresses (1 Kings 11).
However, as it stands, the argument is somewhat one-sided, cherry-picked, and at least partially anti-biblical.
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