Why do some people think the Catholic Church came into being in the 300's?

Question

Constantine just made it the official religion of the Roman empire at that time, and his mother had been a Christian all along.

For the first 1000 years being a Christian meant being a Catholic.

And Constantine became a Christian before he died.

All early documents show that the Church called itself Catholic in the first century AD

Answer 1

Thanks for the history lesson...

Answer 2

There is an error of understanding of Constantine and his role in early Christianity. Constantine did not make Christianity the state religion, that was still paganism. What he did was to make it no longer illegal and further returned 300 years of seized property and land. At that point in time, the deacons of the Church of Rome were feeding 50,000 people per day. And that is just in Rome. The Catholic Church was the only source of social services at the time, but it was potentially dangerous to deal with Catholics. The Roman government doled out food, but not out of the niceness of their hearts and were very oppressive.

The word Catholic was at least 222 years in use by the time of Nicea, but Protestants forget that. Generally Protestants lack access to the early hymns and stories of early Christianity and so do not realize Catholicism was alive and well long before Constantine.

Answer 3

Catholicism was outlawed until the fourth century; when Emperor Constantine not only legalized it - he made it the official state religion. Until this, the Catholic Church largely functioned "under the radar" in the Roman Empire.

Anti-Catholics love to use this as "proof" that the Biblical origins of Catholicism is false, thus "proving" Christianity is a false religion.

Answer 4

During the times of the Apostles of Old, there was NO Catholic church, even though there was an anti-christ spirit, As the Apostles of old died off, then for nerly 300 yrs. it was just called Church, But in about 300 AD they added the word Catholic onto their title, Today & even back in 312 AD the Catholic church has strayed far away fro the True teachings of the Apostles, Today they even claim to be a successor to Peter, The first Pope, Peter was not a Pope But an Apostle, The Catholic church do not even follow the teachings of Jesus or the Apostles, The Pope thinks that all priests should not marry, to follow the example of Peter, Well Peter was married as was many of the Apostles, In the bible it even mention Peter's mother-in-law. Now you need to study the history of the Niacene Fathers. It will show you exactly what went on.

Answer 5

I guess many do not listen to the words of the Apostles creed which dates back at least to the Interrogatory Creed of Hippolytus (ca. A.D. 215)

"... I believe in the Holy Spirit; the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting."

The Nicene Creed (adopted roughly 100 years later) refines the above statement calling the Church Apostolic.

Anyone not seeing that the Church (the first Church which IS the Catholic Church) did believe in the fullness of life of the Saints and that there was only one Church. Heresies always have been around, but none that were scripturaly sound or Apostolic.

Answer 6

Being a Christian doesn't make you a Catholic, that is just another form of religion. His mother was a Christian, but he wanted to be the ruler of the religion so he formed the Catholic church so he could control everything, he also tried to make everyone convert to Catholicism.

Answer 7

Because the FIRST Ecumenical Council was held in 325 CE.

The Catholic church did not exist prior to that first council.


There were all kinds of "Christians" running around and one reason Constantine invented his brand new Universal Religion was to impose one set of rules on everyone. Claiming Constantine's mother was a Catholic is dishonest. She was not.

He wasn't a Catholic, nor did he ever convert to his new religion. The Catholic church claims he converted on his death bed. Yeah, right. So did John Wayne, according to Catholic priests. And, we know how honest they are (not at all).


You are totally wrong. Catholics were a brand new version of Christianity. And other versions continued to exist and exist to this day. What is "Gnosticism?"

Answer 8

This seems to be one of the many lies which Dan Brown wrote in his best seller, the Da Vinci Code, that will hang around for a while.

The Catholic Church has referred to itself as the “Catholic Church” at least since 107 AD, when the term appears in the writings of St. Ignatius of Antioch.

All of this was long before the Council of Nicea and the Nicene Creed from 325 A.D. which states, "We believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church."

With love in Christ.

Answer 9

In early Church history...there were some Christians that decided to break away from the Messianic Jews (Jews that believe Jesus is the Son of God).

That is were a lot of anti-simitism (spelled right?) began. There was a Bishop, (the founder of the Arians) that spoke out against them.

Catholicism was born...

If you look at Christian Church history, there have been many that have twisted and used the Bible for what it was NOT intended. There have been many mistakes (Crusades and Inquisition) made by man against one another.

The Holy Bible (and the ONLY book used for Christianity) teaches us to love the living God with all we are and all we have, first and foremost. What is the second greatest commandment? Jesus said, it is to love one another as I have loved you.

We as Christians need to make sure we are following the Bible in Spirit and in truth...not of the flesh...fighting amongst ourselves like children.

John 3:16-17 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, who ever believes in Him shall not parish but have everlasting life. God didn't send His Son into the world to condemn it but to save it!

Grace to all and God Bless

Answer 10

Christ established the Catholic Church when he said, "Your Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church." Hence the Catholic Church was born. To deny that Christ established the Catholic Church is to go against the Bible.

Answer 11

They think that because of the incorrect history Dan Brown provided in the DaVinci Code.

Interesting how these same people who stand in the philosophy section and point and scream at the Bible as being false will go to the Fiction section and embrace Dan Brown's work as true history.