Did Christianity cause the fall of the Roman Empire?

Question

I am a devout Christian and I have been studying History and the history of Christianity in general. I used to buy into the junk about the Romans being corupt and immoral that caused their fall. Sure by today's standards of morality the Romans were some wicked people but did that really cause their down fall? To me there seems to be a connection with Romes acceptance of Christianity in the 4th Century and the fall of Rome by the hands of the Barbarians not long afterwards. By the way Paganism was big buisness too. What do you think?

Answer 1

It was in part due to Christianity, but also (and perhaps moreso) due to the fact that not only the people were corrupt, but many of the later leaders/emperors were corrupt and squandered the resources of the state - along with the fact that Rome came to occupy more vast lands than they could reasonably govern/protect and as time went by they lost more and more of them as the peoples they opposed began to join forces. Wasting/spending too much, trying to do too much in too many places, and civil unrest (different generals/leaders trying to undermine one another) were the main causes.

Answer 2

Not necessarily. Although it would take me forever to create a huge laundry list of what caused the Roman Empire to fall, I will say that it got too big for its britches.

It expanded over from Italy into the Middle East, parts of Gaul (modern day France), Britain, Germany, Spain, etc. Now imagine the governments set up there to govern these captured lands. Since they are so far away from Rome, it is difficult to manage the empire. Plus, you had other non-Romans coming in the empire as well (from North Africa, the Middle East, etc). Plus, there were uprisings here and there (including the one with the Romans vs. the ancient Teutons in a German forest; the Roman army had a difficult time trying to maneuver through the woods).

There's a book that I'm planning to get back into reading and it's called "The Fall of the Roman Empire" by Edward Gibbon. It's a great resource but just for the record, Gibbon does criticize the Christian faith but not to the extent of being offensive and demeaning.

Answer 3

No. There was great turmoil in the Roman Empire during the century before it's fall. Because it was so weak, barbarians from the north were able to destroy the Western Roman Empire. The Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine) continued until 1453, when the Ottomanns conquered them.

Answer 4

Rome's fall was prophecied in Daniel's dream of the Golden statue. Daniel 2:27-45

27 Daniel replied, "No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, 28 but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you lay on your bed are these:

29 "As you were lying there, O king, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen. 30 As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than other living men, but so that you, O king, may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind.

31 "You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. 32 The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. 34 While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.

36 "This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. 37 You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; 38 in your hands he has placed mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.

39 "After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. 40 Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. 41 Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. 42 As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.

44 "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. 45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.
"The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy."

Jesus was that "rock cut out of a mountain but not by human hands." It was His Kingdom that brought down Rome and it is His kingdom that reigns today, even in the midst of the pagan nations. That's what the Bible teaches, especially Revelation.