Burial ad sanctos in the Early church and the Gospel

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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.
 
The above is a perfect example of the actual path being ‘narrow’. There are very few who have a grasp of the truth. Most parishioners just take for granted that the leadership is guiding them along the straight and narrow, when in fact that path could lead to destruction.

I am sure that these rudiments happened at a trickling pace. The affects of a viral influence generally take time.
 
What I'm struggling with is how on earth could the Gospel be muddied so quickly.
Friend, the reason is same then as it is today: truth is distorted in this fallen world. I recently saw photos of a cemetery in Israel where grave plot prices increased the closer it was to Jerusalem. Sad. Stick to the truth as revealed in the scriptures.
 
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.

Read the New Testament epistles. The Gospel was muddied far more quickly than the 3rd and 4th century, it was muddied while the apostles still walked the earth! If it is the case that churches that had been planted by Paul himself could leave the gospel within the space of years, it should not surprise us at all that the same thing could happen centuries later. Especially when so many pagans had been brought into a church, with the Christianizing of the Empire, that was already struggling with error and heresy. The gates of hell may not prevail over Christ's church, and yet we know that God also removes the candlestick of churches in judgment for their lack of faith. Let us be warned.
 
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