what does this say about the credibility of the christian faiths spread of the gospel.?

Question

in the early days of christianity paul of taurus certainly spread word of the gospel with enough convincingness to pull a small segment of people in israel to believe in the story of jesus.
Even in a day when people were especially succeptible to religion, it is no small feat to bring in even a neglible amount of adherents to a faith. Still the spread of christianity was very gradual; not anything remarkable.

then the roman emporer constantine, being converted, stopped the persecution of christians and made it a legal religion. not long after that, emperor theodosius not only retained it legal status, but made all other religions illegal. All pagan temples dismantled or put to other use. It was the only religion you could publicly have. Eventually pagans themselves were persecuted for their faith.

Now, the roman empire, at its peak, was spread across the altlantic including most of Europe, the northern part of Africa,and over half of the middle east. CONTINUES BELOW..

This all contained what was the most civilized and populous area of the planet, at that time. The only religion these people could have was Christianity. It would only make sense for Christianity to spread as it did. How can the spread of the gospel of jesus be credible in this situation?

c'mon guys, doesnt anyone out there have competent dissent? Jeez......

Answer 1

You need to check your history more closely.

Christianity spread like wildfire in the first century. By AD 100, churches were established as far apart as Spain in the west, North Africa in the south, and India (and the southern tip, at that) in the east. The eastern church in particular spread well beyond the boundaries of the Roman empire. At the same time, it penetrated society so thoroughly that members of such insular institutions as Caesar's household, the Praetorian guard, and the Judean priesthood were Christians. And all this when being a Christian could get you killed.

Furthermore, the Christian message has lost none of its compelling power in the face of persecution -- witness the great number of active Christians during the Soviet years. Today, you'll find the same evidence in the flourishing churches of places as diverse as China, Vietnam, Sudan, and Indonesia.
On the evidence, over the course of Christianity's history, quite a number of people have found it compelling enough to hold fast in teh face of financial ruin, rape, torture, and death. And quite a few more have found Christianity so powerful that they could only hope to quell it by resorting to inflicting financial ruin, rape, torture and death on their own populace--and even that hasn't worked all that well, has it?

Answer 2

Do you not see the Hand of Providence in all that you have recited? Christianity was born at a time when the spread of the Gospel could be facilitated: great Roman roads, Pax Romana that allowed travellers including arly missionaries to travel all over the Roman Empire virtually inimpeded; the growing disillusionment with pagan gods who could not protect from the coquests and might of Rome - I mean people were looking for something to fill the vacuum. In all of this, I say God orchstrated events and conditions so that the Gospel WILL be heard throughout the Roman Empire. Wheter people sincerely embraced Christianity and the claims of Christ is another thing becuase individual faith is rather private, eh? But the message and call of Christ was preached and heard.

Answer 3

First of all, it is Paul of Tarsus, and he was called to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, which he did, throughout the Mediterranean area. The other 11 apostles also spread out to various points in the known world. If you look in Acts chap. 2, you will see a wide variety of people there in Jerusalem who heard the first message by Peter. It is written that close to three thousand people believed in one day. The Church was growing through the persecution of the Romans and the Jews and was established well before Constantine came on the scene. He simply made it the church of Rome, incorporated much of the pagan holidays and rituals into the church of Rome and it was the precursor of the Catholic church. But, Christianity was growing in parts of the world not under the rule of Rome, which was diminishing in power .

Answer 4

The Gospel of Jesus also spread rapidly during the time it was illegal, and carried the death penalty. The fact of legality made it easier, I'm sure, but there is no stopping the truth, whether in times of freedom or times of persecution.

Answer 5

First of all, Constantine was not a convert, he was a smart politician and was following the will of the people to stay in power. His mother was a Christian and probably helped in his influence. You have loosely summed up a tremendous span of history and skipped the very essence of the early church. If you question Christianity all you have to do is find the fault in the word, not man, but the word. You will find no fault in it. There are too many examples of man's fault to count, that's why God came to us in Jesus Christ. To save us from ourselves.

Answer 6

I always find it funny that people follow a religion that was not even endorsed by the people who created it.

I mean who would know better about the credibility of Jesus and Christianity than the Jews?

Yet 99.9% of them rejected it in Paul's time and after.

I mean at least Mohammad got the Arabs to follow Islam...

its quite sad

Answer 7

My, my. You're either not very old, or you don't have a very clear idea of people. When religions are mired with the state, and other religions banned. People don't stop believing what they believed. They simply give lip service in public to what they are "supposed" to believe and go and practice in private. I would argue that Constantine probably hurt the faith more than helped it.

Answer 8

In John 17:20-23 Jesus prayed that one and all who believed in him could be as one, so as that others ought to confirm that he have been sent by utilising God. So the rationalization that there are such diverse distinctive Christian faiths could look that Jesus exchange into not sent by utilising God, for this reason none of them is right for me.

Answer 9

your facts are tainted and you are frosting the facts to suit your idea.
Paul was a great hater of the believers and did much to stop their beliefs. Once he converted he was not the only one nor the first one to spread the word. This is just one small point of your facts that are design to meet your views as being misleading

Answer 10

Rome also incorporated Pagan religious beliefs and ceremonies into what they redefined Christianity to be, and then outlawed other religions. So in essence Rome has dictated what your belief system is, and how it is practiced.