Hello ruwth . Thank you for entering this month's contest.

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Grill a Christian  (13+) What is truth? How can the truth of a thing be explained? #2327636 by LightinMind

As the official Judge of this contest, I have the following comments to offer for "ruwth is writing..." 

Did you answer the question?

You focused on Constantine and nominal Christianity, suggesting these were a product of forced faith rather than genuine conversions.

Use of quotes, proof-texting or AI - could I hear your voice?

This was your voice.

How consistent was your argument?

You consistently argued that forced Christianity did not work rather than positively showing why the alternative did work.

My thoughts on the substance of what you said

A major error in your piece concerned Emperor Constantine establishing Christianity as the state religion. Constantine became a Christian on his deathbed. He drafted the Edict of Milan in 315 which established freedom of religion for Christians across the Empire. It was Emperor Theodosius at the end of the Fourth Century who established Christianity as the religion of the Empire and from whom the true Church-State relationship can be traced. You could argue that the Armenians were the first Christian nation to declare Christianity as their state religion in 301 AD.

But nominal Christianity was indeed a major issue following Constantine's ending of Roman persecution of the church. Many Christians suspected every new convert especially the ones who were just following the fashions of the age. Entry requirements were stricter in those days, especially for those who had been Christians but renounced Christ to save their lives in the Diocletian persecutions. You are right that nominal Christians today play out commercialized rituals at Christmas and Easter without connecting to the meaning of the events. But as the climate toward Christians grows harsher I suspect that many of these fake believers will be burnt away. Indeed this is one reason why stats about declining church numbers do not bother me that much. It is the nominals that are being burned away by testing not true believers.

I attach a certain value to the church calendar even if its connection to the historical dates is tenuous. The Jewish calendar was 360 days the Julian/Gregorian one is 365 days. So we cannot use the Passover as the date for Easter because it would always be changing. But Easter is about new life and situating it in Spring makes sense for that reason - although I guess for the Southern hemisphere this is Autumn. Christmas occurs at the darkest time of the year and the new birth has a special symbolism at that time representing the eruption of new hope and light into that darkness. Early church people often took over pagan events or locations as part of the strategy of spreading Christianity. The displaced religions were soon forgotten and any spiritual authority was shifted to the true faith as a result. It seems like a clever strategy to me and worked in most places.

Maybe salvation mathematics is a fool's game and the real answer will always be to ask God. That said I suspect that there are more Christians on the planet today because of Constantine than had he never existed. This is because the Eastern church in which no real Christian state dominance was ever been established was repeatedly wiped out while the state-supported churches of the West and in the Americas have been better protected down the generations.
Roman Catholic kings for all their faults may well have saved the church many times and indeed cleared a path for it also. So maybe the true answer to the question I posed is that God uses both love and force to get what he wants while respecting the free will he has given us all.

Mechanical issues

This entry was a little short.

Neither if of these holidays are in the Bible.

ressurection - resurrection

Britanica - Britannica

mished up mess - no such word as mished - maybe mushed works

Thanks again for entering.
LightinMind

STATIC

My Philosophy of Rating and Reviewing  (E) How do I assess people's work when reviewing? #2259390 by LightinMind

My review has been submitted for consideration in "Good Deeds Get CASH!" .