If not for the intervention of Constantine I, where would Christianity be today?

Question

Do you see the benefit of the timing of the influence of ONE person with gobs of political power to the success of your religion?

Answer 1

Judging only from recent semi-fictional accounts and some historical data that is recorded...I believe Christianity would be much better off today without Constantine and the original "church".

Want a Jelly Bean?

Answer 2

Good question! Although, the real question may be 'where would Christianity be without the interference of Constantine?' Constantine himself was not Christian, most likely he was of the sun worshiping group. He was 'baptized' on his death bed according to most records. But without his actions the spread of the Christian belief would likely have died a sudden or slow death. I realize this will offend 90% of the Christians in the world. I am one of the 10% it doesn't offend. But He does work in mysterious ways right? So maybe it was the plan to use Constantine in this manner. Question is how much happens on earth without His (God's) OK? I love it!!! Questions that generate more questions!!! It is possible that the Gnostic Christians would have had more of a voice with no Constantine influence. That would put an entirely different form of Christianity into the limelight. All said and done, it is what it is. We now have to deal with the form of Christianity that we have been handed down and that form was greatly influenced by the folks that gained control of Christianity back then. And we will never truly know what the lack of any ones role in Christianity would have produced today. Just as we would not know what influence someones involvement would have been.

Answer 3

christianity would have remained fragmented into small sects like marcionism,gnosticism,montanism, nestorianism. also there would probably have been much more of a fusion between christianity and the dualism of mani. on the whole mithrasism would have remained powerful in the army and probably have percolated down to the plebs and peasants. amongst the governing classes there may have been some form of neoplatonism, though the neoplatonism we know today came about as a response to christianity becoming the state religion, there did seem to be some cynicism about the standard greco-roman pantheon and some form of sophistocated platonism would have filled it. in the west there may have been some form of germanic paganism, but i don't think that paganism was robust enough to survive the civilising influence of the romans and i think that the germanic elite would have adopted some form of platonism and again that would have had an influence on the beliefs of the population as a whole. without constantine christianity would have probably been restricted to armenia and ethiopia. as the real conversion work only came about when the church became united and organised and had the power of the roman empire behind it, even though the christians made up about 10% of the population of the eastern empire, it would have not grown much more as it was so alien to the beliefs and values of the average roman citizen at that time. it neede d constantine and his dynasty to give it the prestige and respectability that would allow the roman elite and citizens to embrace christianity. but this is all 'what if'?

Answer 4

Perhaps it could be traced back farther than that to the influence of Paul over the "Christian" message. Check out Hyam Maccoby's inflammatory (though intriguing) book, "The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity." It's better than the DaVinci Code, if you're up for a challenge.

Of course, Constantine carried on Paul's message of Christianity and established it as a state religion with state support. So Christianity as Paul envisioned it might have died out. But Christianity as Jesus envisioned it may have flourished in the form of Rabbinical Judaism. Read the book.

Answer 5

Christianity would undoubtedly be different....it would probably still exist, but would not be the worldwide phenomenon that it is today. Constantine removed the penalities associated with professing Christianity, making the religion more acceptable/less deviant. My biggest problem with him, though, is that he convened the Council of Nicea in 325 to deal with all "other" types of Christianity--mainly Arianism. If that hadn't happened, would there be an enormous divide today?

I'm not referring to something like Catholic v. Protestant....I'm referring to belief in the Trinity v. belief that God alone is eternal. That is a HUGE difference in doctrine.

Anyway, it's likely that Christianity would've stayed an underground, regional religion for quite awhile longer.....but figuring out what would've happened to all of Europe--and, consequently, the whole Western hemisphere-- without the intervention of Constantine would give me a headache :)

Answer 6

The Christian (Catholic) Church grew steadily from apostolic times until the time of Constantine, even under constant persecution. Obviously the legalization of Christianity (Catholicism) by Constantine removed some obstacles from the path of growth. However, there is no reason to doubt that the continuous growth of the Church before Constantine would have continued after his time, with or without his assistance. It is God who provides for His Church, not men.
.

Answer 7

Yes -from what little I know, Constantine was called by God with a vision, "One God, One Empire, One Emperor". He was promised by God that he would win the war and reunite Rome if he converted to Christianity.

If it were not for Constantine, the Bible would not be finalized as we know know it now and early Christians would have continued to be persecuted.

He refused to be Baptized Christian until just before his death.

Therefore, for believers, this means that God acted through Constantine and his political position.

Answer 8

There would still be Christianity today even if Constantine were never born!
It is not about Constantine, it is about Christ. People were following Christ when He was on this earth. They would be considered the first Christians.

Answer 9

"religion is Spiritual fraud"; "religion is the Worse invention of humanity" - Jesus Christ, Buddha and any one else with Spiritual intelligence.

Here's the BEST way to be better than religion:

Create a private, personal, direct, divine Relationship with Our Creator and save your Soul from religion.

Only with Our Creator's Love and Peace will we be Truly Free!

Love and Believe in Our Creator;
Love and Believe in Yourself.

Without God, there is No Love; Without religion, there are No Wars!

Answer 10

True.

But Constantine would have never come to faith without the influence of his mother.

His mother would have never come to faith without the apostle Paul.

Apostle Paul would have never come to faith without Christ who appeared to him and spoke to him.