How did the Christian 'truth' change after the Councils of Nicaea?

Answer 1

One of the main things being questioned was the nature of God and Jesus. Was Jesus actually God, the son of God, or just a messenger? The Council of Nicea was formed in an attempt to settle this dispute, and the Nicea Creed (the Trinitarian doctrine) was subsequently hammered out.

The Council of Nicaea was historically significant because it was the first effort to attain consensus in the church through an assembly representing all of Christendom. "It was the first occasion for the development of technical Christology." Further, "Constantine in convoking and presiding over the council signaled a measure of imperial control over the church." With the creation of the Nicene Creed, a precedent was established for subsequent general councils to create a statement of belief and canons which were intended to become guidelines for doctrinal orthodoxy and a source of unity for the whole of Christendom — a momentous event in the history of the Church and subsequent history of Europe.

Answer 2

Until the Council of Nicene (or actually the Edice of Tolerant which preceded the council) Christian was a banned religion and anyone practicing it faced execution usually by torture. So the Council was the first time Christians could "formally" establish what their faith taught.

As they had never been able to have holidays before, this was the first time they could proclaim them, so of course they were the ones who "set" the holidays.

As they had never been able to publish a scripture publically before, of course they were the ones who settled the content of scripture. But they did so through careful research.

They looked at the Bibles which were already in use in the churchs, and carried those same books over into their "official" version. The earliest (still surviving) complete New Testament pre-dates the Council by over 100 years, and is word for word identical to the Bible text used today for translating Bibles.

They did deal with two very major issues within the doctrines of the church. The first was the humanity of Jesus. If you read the minutes of the Council (which still survive today) you will discover that they never discussed the diety of Jesus. That he was God was a given. They all agreed on that. The question was whether he was a MAN. Did he have a real body, eat, sleep, etc., or was he just a spirit that only looked human. That he was human was their decision based on scripture.

The other was the issue of the Trinity. The question was whether the Father became the Son who became the Holy Spirit, or whether they all exist at the same time. Again from the scriptures (such as when all three appear together at the baptism of Jesus) it was decided that they all exist at the same time.

So no "truth" was changed, but rather it was more clearly defined. Each of the doctrines they approved was based on the scriptures, and required scriptures to support it before the Council would approve it.

Answer 3

Lone Ranger Hit the nail on the head!!! Christianity was formally Paganized at the Council of Nicaea. Thankfully God sent one last book to guide the world back to Him...it's called the Qu'ran. Unfortunately the last book is now starting to be widely mis-interpreted and corrupted...a clear sign of the end of ages!

Answer 4

Every time in this forum I see reference to the Council of Nicaea or Constantine I think: This is the unfortunate result of the Da Vinci Code. Not that Nicaea and Constantine were not important; rather I do not believe that they were the unique watershed that some make them out to be.

The orthodoxy that gradually emerged out of the welter of early Christianity had its expressions long before either Nicaea and Constantine. And I am not sure that the orthodoxy was much worse than the welter out of which it emerged; it might even have been better.

See the writings of Bart Ehrman

Answer 5

The council accomplished several things.

It debated over the substance of Christ vs. the substance of God.

It developed the Nicene Creed.

It sorted through the many religious literary works to determine which were inspired by God and which were not.

They did not rewrite the books that were put in the Bible.
These were all theologians called to consider these things.

As to the celebration of Easter, it was changed from the same day as Passover to the first Sunday after passover when the grave was found empty.

grace2u

Answer 6

True Christianity did not nor ever will change. The Councils of Nicaea changed the Catholic version of Christianity and established many of the man-made traditions of the Catholic faith, many of which are contrary to the church of Christ and the Bible itself.

Answer 7

Christian truth change... hmm. Maybe catholic truth changed. But God's word is eternal, and He's the same yesterday today and tomorrow. Luckily, Martin Luther,(who was a former catholic monk, you all probably know that) made a stance for what the Bible was saying; not what any council of the mainline church at that time was saying.

Answer 8

The various councils changed the concept of "Christian Truth."

Truth used to be "PERSONAL enlightenment."
Truth was the insight that each person sought for him/her self.

The councils; by means of discussion, debate and majority vote; changed the concept of "Christian Truth" from:
"personal enlightenment" to
"orthodox doctrine."
.

Answer 9

The original Church of God was based in Jerusalem and by it's practices was virtually indistinguishable from Judaism, except they accepted Yashua as their Messiah. They were for many years after the Ressurection of the Messiah considered another sect of Judaismn.

Partially because of anti-semitism, and the fact that the Jews kept rebelling against Rome (resulting in the destruction of the Temple in 70AD), the Roman church, among others sought to separate themselves from thier roots. This was also partially because the "church" was accepting converts like Simon Magus (Acts 8:9-25), who some believe became the "Peter" who was in charge of the chruch of rome, and was interested more in power over people than in truth and conversion.

http://www.geocities.com/~hebrew_roots/

As late as 155 AD there were still surviving disciples of the original Apostles that followed the original teachings of the Church of God

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polycarp

Those beliefs were basically Torah Observance, in other words ,the feasts of the 7th Day Sabbath, Passover, Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles, and the Last Great Day. They also would have kept the dietary laws and di not eat anythong Biblically unclean.

These practices would have closely followed the example of Yashua the Messiah, who was a practicing Jew.

After the Roman Emporer Constantine came to power (a worshiper of Mithra, the Roman Sun God) , because of the growing power of the "christian" church, which had already slid into apostacy, decided to make the "christian" religion the religion of the .Empire, with himself as the head. As he head of this religion, he cnvened the Council of Nicea in about 324-325AD to establish a common "christian" church with common doctrines.

Among the changes made were
: 7th day Sabbath (Biblical)
to: Sunday (Day of the Sun, Mithra's day, Pagan)

Passover on the 14th of Abib (Biblical) followed by the Days of Unleavened Bread, with NO celebration of the ressurection.

To: Easter, after the Goddess Ishtar or Astarte. The day celebrated in honor of the pagan god Tammuz rose from the dead in the spring.

Also, the false docrtine of the trinity was accepted.

Edit: Perry L. I had a pretty straight and strongly worded answer in reply to your psot, but when I told my wife about it, she wanted me to take it off. Muslims don't handle truth well and she was worried that one of your kind would somehow track us down and slit our throats in our sleep. Just saying this probably is more than she is comfortable with.

However, I am going to post this link. I hate to give this guy any credibility, but , I hate that I am an American Christian and I have to walk on eggs around you people. Anyways, when it comes to a study of Islam, I think he probably has it right:

http://hope-of-israel.org/scourge1.html

Answer 10

They decided which books would be in the Bible and which would be left out. They decided to set Jesus's birthday during the winter to combat against the Pagan and Jewish holidays during that time period. They decided that Jesus should be viewed as the literal 'Son of God' because they wanted their "leader" to be seen as an immortal, thus solidifying his word. They developed the Nicaean Creed.