Aco
Puritan Board Freshman
In many places here in Europe, (catacombes in Rome, Southeastern Europe etc.) in the 3rd and 4th century, many Chistians practiced what is called burial ad sanctos, as it is called in technical terminology in archaeology. It means that Christians were buried near tombs and graves of martyred saints. The reason why they did that is because they had such a fear of the final judgment that they hoped for intercession of those martyrs. The location of their graves to the graves of the martyrs have been believed to have an influence on their status before God. That practice wasn't just sporadic.
For me here rings already a fundamental denial of the Gospel, as we understand it. Because those who are in Christ don't have to fear the final judgment.
That's just one example. The nebulous and contradictory teachings of Early Church Fathers is another issue.
What I'm struggling with is how on earth could the Gospel be muddied soo quickly. Where was the Church them? Where was the promise that the gates of hell cannot pravail fulfilled? And to answer that question with "the understanding had to develop" is abject capitulation and everybody can convert to Rome. The Gospel is infallible and perpetual and there must be at least a simple grasp of it, even to claim that there is a Church and that there are Christians.
Feel free to correct me on anything here. It is an issue I think about a lot in the last months.
For me here rings already a fundamental denial of the Gospel, as we understand it. Because those who are in Christ don't have to fear the final judgment.
That's just one example. The nebulous and contradictory teachings of Early Church Fathers is another issue.
What I'm struggling with is how on earth could the Gospel be muddied soo quickly. Where was the Church them? Where was the promise that the gates of hell cannot pravail fulfilled? And to answer that question with "the understanding had to develop" is abject capitulation and everybody can convert to Rome. The Gospel is infallible and perpetual and there must be at least a simple grasp of it, even to claim that there is a Church and that there are Christians.
Feel free to correct me on anything here. It is an issue I think about a lot in the last months.