Wolf,
the official religion was Roman Rite Catholicism in the west. Also Constantine converted in 312 the night before the the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. In February 313 he got with Licinius or the east a drafted the Constantine was very instrumental in the propagation of the Christian Edicxt of Milan, thus ending persecution of Christians. Licinius didn't commit totally to Christianity, Constantine did. Constantine died in 337. faith. you are false in the image of Constantine/ He was there in the first counicl of Nicaea in 325 where the Nicene Creed was made. it was revised in 381.

His son Crispus was killed in 326 in Istria by his father decree. He even began to build the Hagia Sophia and the Hagia Eirene. He wasn't a pagan my friend, your info is false and untrue, how because he had the intent of baptism and he was baptised on the 3rd of April and he died 22 of May. He died a Christian and that is all that matters.



Constantine II was a Christian
Constans was a Christian too
Constantius II was raised along with his brothers as Christians he was big in Church councils and with the help of Constans banned pagan sacrifices in 341

Anywho the info of them being all pagan throughout their lives is uncredited. Face it Christianity couldn't and can't be stopped by pagan religions then or to this day.

[edit on 10-26-2004 by Cearbhall]

[edit on 10-26-2004 by Cearbhall]

Originally posted by shmick25
So lets assume for the sake of the arguement that all beliefs are valid and have legitimate gods that could manifest back onto earth right here right now. (Take the christian god out of the picture).

Some people say that society will be better off. This arguement lends itself to the reasoning that the christian belief has caused all evil on earth? So if we remove the concept of god and satan we would have no evil as the concept of evil doesnt exist?

No, I don't think you understand the issue. "Evil" is a social concept, not something mandated by a deity. You can find a lot of things in the Bible that God mandates as evil and then tells you what to do about them (if someone is suspected of adultery, you stone them to death)... but that society condemns the "punishment" as evil.

Picking up sticks on the Sabbath is a good example. God struck someone dead for that. Nowadays, we don't think that's a terribly evil thing, and if you found someone picking up sticks on Sunday (or any other day of the week), you wouldn't kill them for being an Evil Violator Of The Right Way.

I am sure there were evil pagan gods? I havnt done much research into them so tell me what you think? I thought there were pagan gods of war, love peace etc.

Not really. I'm sure there were a few, but nothing to compare to Satan in most cases. Most humans in their religion view the world as a good place and view good as being far stronger than evil, so you don't have a coequal Evil God. Not in the real cultures, anyway. In fiction, yes.

I just find it hard to picture a world with so many contrary beliefs all co existing on the world at once.

Read a little history.

The history of the American Indians would be a good place to start (a lot of different religions there and not a single religious war.) Or the Norse (they went raiding, yes, but they didn't do so on religious reasons. Or the Egyptians (and interesting bunch.) Or the Greeks (lots of religions came into contact with them) or the Romans (probably the ultimate adopter of religions.

Cearbhall
sorry but you are mistaken. Constantinius was as i recall Arian nor Roman. as for Milvan bridge as i recall there was a witness present that said the vision
was a vision of the Sun God.

but please continue to believe as you will and i will also.

The divided beliefs were put here to divide us humans so we never truly reach our full potential. Those "gods" were at one time or another on earth, they're nothing more than advanced aliens which at the time with their technology seemed like magick. With all the info coming out now on the BigHoax that is religion and the real info on aliens we will know a lot more soon enuf. Best thing to do is to do ascension meditation and save yourself, isn't that what all those "gods" are always telling you anyway.

Originally posted by Cearbhall


The Church, after many many years or persecution, became the legal religion with the Edict of Milan in 313. The Church sought to demonstrate in a dramatic way the victory of Christ over the false gods of paganism. The old shrines were emptied of their statues of pagan deities, replaced with symbols of Christian worship. The temples became churches and the practices of the former religion either discontinued or Christianized. Finally, the holidays and feasts celebrating pagan gods were replaced with days recognizing the victory of the True God. One well-known example of this is Christmas, where the feast of the sun god on December 25 was replaced with a celebration of God the Son.

[edit on 10-25-2004 by Cearbhall]

They were replaced because the people did not adopt Xtianity, the Rulers/kings did. The peasants were threatened with either death or baptism (as in the case of King Harald of Norway). The people of Europe had been practicing these ways for 1000 years, before a foreign Middle Eastern god was forced upon them. To say the god of the Xtians/Jews and Muslims is the one 'True' god, is downright wrong.

I would much rather follow the Nine Virtues of the Nordic Religions:

Nine Noble Virtues: Courage, Truth, Honor, Fidelity, Discipline, Hospitality, Industriousness, Self-Reliance and Perseverance. The family is greatly valued and honored. They reject any form of discrimination based on ethnicity, gender, language, nationality, race, sexual orientation, or "other divisive criteria".

At least they are honest.

Originally posted by ZeroDeep

The term pagan comes from the Latin word, "PAGANOS" which meant, "HICK", are you calling us hicks !

lol

Many of those Gods are not Pagan, in fact, i find that term somewhat offensive..

Deep

From my understanding the word did not mean 'Hick' but a citizen who was not in the military, though to the romans a citizen not in the military my very well have been considered a ‘Hick’. Later one of the roman emperors, I can not remember which, decreed that all Soldiers must join the Christian faith. After which anyone who was not, a Christian, was referred to as a paganos, since all military personal where Christian.

Originally posted by shmick25
I think the idea of one God appearing makes a little more sense.

What do you think?

As long as it isn't the murderous mean spirited god from the old testament. Maybe buddha or something.

Originally posted by ChatholicGodBoy
From my understanding the word did not mean 'Hick' but a citizen who was not in the military, though to the romans a citizen not in the military my very well have been considered a ‘Hick’.

The latin term for village is something like 'pagus, so pagans were the villagers. Hick seems pretty accurate actually, especially from your bit about the soldiers being forced to be christianiazed.