SLR: Church History Part 1: Persecution, Heresies, Famous People, and Deterioration of Faith

Background

I have always liked History, perhaps because there is this intricate feeling of reliving the past, the feeling of being a visitor experiencing the very lives of people hundreds of years ago. Talking about church history, it is full of tragedies and victories, all the extremes of human life vividly displayed in a kaleidoscope. This article acts as the summary of few takeaways I got from the recent course: The Church: From Pentecost to the Reformation.

By the way, the concept of history could have at least two meanings. 1st, it could refer to the events that happened in the past; 2nd, it could refer to the study of the past. Being lazy as I am, I usually want to simply enjoy the findings of more diligent historians and just read about the past. However, it is vital also to understand the process of producing these findings and know, that the history we read are mostly assumptions and logical deductions. The course teacher provides a perspective on the study of history: “In determining historical cause, the historian must carefully consider the impact of God’s divine control and human freewill” (Smeeton 2015, 304). In other words, factual events in history might be divine interventions of God, or they might happen due to some extempore burst of human action without any reasonable cause.

Now, let us revisit some historical moments from the past.

Persecution of Early Christians

The history of the Christian church begins after the crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. During the Jewish festival of Pentecost, something extraordinary happened. After these events, the Christian community in Jerusalem grew steadily, accompanied by miracles and wonders. However, these were not easy times. Jewish religious leaders felt that their authority and dominance had been challenged, so they arrested Christians and tried to condemn them. The first Christian martyr was Stephen, and there arose “a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem”, which forced Christians to spread widely, taking the Good News about Jesus everywhere they went (Acts 8:1-8).

Again and again there were persecution of early Christians recorded in the book of Acts, as well as in the books of history. Not only Jewish religious folks persecuted Christians, soon also the Roman officials, including the emperor himself, began to persecute Christians. There are few reasons:

• Christians did not worship the emperor --> their loyalty was questioned
• Christians did not commit to Roman ways of expressing loyalty, such as declaring “Caesar is lord”, or offering incense to the emperor.
• Christians did not worship any visible images or artifacts --> they were thought to be atheists, because at the time Roman gods had visible images and statues
• Christians talked about eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus --> they were thought to be cannibals
• Christians spoke of love for their brothers and sisters --> they were thought to practice incest and hold sexual orgies
• Christians threatened the privileges of rich and powerful, because they believed that all men are equal

The persecution meant mostly death: they were arrested and taken to colosseums, or killed on the cross, or burned at the stake etc. Such severe consequences intimidated many, but the courage and commitment shown by Christian martyrs had even stronger influence on more people. Many new converts confessed their faith in Jesus, and Christian church grew rapidly through persecutions. This growth is called by Sell (1998, The Church in Victory) as “one of the marvels of history”. It is well concluded by Schaff (1992, 14), that this growth “furnished striking evidence of its divine origin”, and regarding persecution: “every genuine martyr was a living proof of the truth and holiness of Christian religion”.

Heresies Through the Centuries

In the early days of Christianity, apostles and church leaders faced many questions regarding the exact doctrine of this new religion. In the books of New Testament, Paul of Tarsus provided a comprehensive telling of fundamental Christian doctrines: all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23); Jesus sacrificed Himself to pay for the sins of everyone (John 3:16-17, Romans 5:6-9), and everyone can be saved/justified by God through receiving/believing in this gift of Jesus (John 1:12, Ephesians 2:8-9). In addition, New Testament tells about bodily resurrection, return of Jesus, condemnation of sinners and Satan, and eternal glory with God for Christians.

However, there are numerous details regarding Christian life that are not defined: should Christians be living in seclusion or gain wealth in this world? Should church have temporal power (political, social, juridical, etc.)? Should there be only one church organization, or can there be many churches? Etc.
There are also numerous theological details left unstated: what is the nature of Jesus? How can God be one if Jesus is also God? Are the wine and bread really blood and flesh of Jesus? Cannot man live a good life and be fully acceptable to God?

Below is a table presenting the major heresies faced by the early church, and most of them have had continued influence throughout centuries until our days!


The heresies and pagan influences forced early Christian leaders to define orthodoxy doctrines regarding all aspects of life. Through the guidance and help of the Holy Spirit, the church emerged victorious from one heresy after another. However, human impact also accumulated, and the medieval church went far away from the way it was supposed to be.

Famous People

History is full of people we do not know, because most men lived and died without being acknowledged by any historian. This does not give credit to these men and women, because they certainly left their marks in the history! Though no human historian has recorded their lives, the divine Historian certainly has all the things in his famous book (Revelation 20:11-15). In the space below, I present few of the well-recognized historical persons, who had tremendous impact on the life of Christian church.

Polycarp (ca. 70-156) was the church leader in Smyrna (nowadays Izmir, Turkey), who knew apostle John personally. The description of the last words of Polycarp is touching: “The Proconsul continued insisting and saying, “Swear, and I release you; curse Christ.” And Polycarp said, “Eighty-six years have I served Him, and He has done me no wrong: how then can I blaspheme my King who saved me?”” (Smeeton 2015, 60). Then he was burned to death.

Tertullian

Tertullian (ca. 160-220), a.k.a. Father of Latin Theology, spoke out against the increasing worldliness in the church, and defended orthodox faith against Gnostics and Docetists. Tertullian provided theological definitions regarding Christ and Trinity, and he eventually joined Montanist movement as a protest against corruption of church.

Already back in the third century, Origen (ca. 185-254) developed the exegetical study of the Bible. Emperor Constantine the Great issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which made Christianity a legal religion. The first pope is often held to be Leo I of Rome (440-461), who established papal primacy with the support from emperor.

Benedict of Nursia (ca. 480-547) founded the Monte Cassino monastery in 529, which started the Benedictine Rule, balancing the lives of monks between work, study, worship, and healthy living (Smeeton 2015, 119). Patrick (389-461) evangelized Ireland, which became predominantly Christian at his death. Theodore of Mopsuestia (350-428) introduced the grammatical historical method of interpreting the Bible. Jerome (ca. 345-419) translated the whole Bible from original languages to Latin, which became the official church Bible for the next thousand years!

Augustine of Hippo (354-430) is well known to modern scholars and students of theology: his books Confessions and City of God are classics, and his theology has impacted the church life in many ways. Augustine wrote against the various heresies at his time, and contributed to theological areas such as the doctrine of church, doctrine regarding human sinfulness and salvation, and doctrine regarding the grace of God.

Then few missionaries: the “apostle to the Germans” Boniface (680-754), the “apostle to the North” Ansgar (801-865), and the “apostles of the Slavs” Cyril and Methodius. There were also many reformers, who saw the spiritual decline of the church and wanted to change that trend: William of Occam (ca. 1290-ca. 1349) attacked superstitious aspects of Catholic religious life; Meister Eckhart (ca. 1260-1327) and other Christian mystics sought personal experience with God; Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) emphasized personal devotion and social involvement; John Wycliffe (ca. 1328-1384) translated the Bible into English; John Hus (ca. 1369-1415) highlighted the Bible as the absolute authority.

Medieval Church Map

These and many more testified for the vitality and power of Christian faith in the dark periods of Christian history. Many paid the price with their lives. Was it worth it? These brilliant men and women did not seek worldly glory, but they trusted their Lord to reward them justly, and they shall not be disappointed.

Deterioration of Christian Faith

The Christian faith has deteriorated since its beginning all the way through the 16th century. The church stayed united within the Roman church all the way until year 1054, when the Greek Orthodox church fully separated. From outward aspects, the overall Christian church continued its growth all this time, evangelizing and converting more and more pagans from surrounding areas. But internally, the quality of faith rotted away to give way to wealth and power.

This trend was mainly due to the increasing material wealth and political power yielded by papacy and church, which caused clergy to focus on wealth of this world instead of spiritual things. Despite the negative overall trend of secularization, the severe inquisitions showed that there were always those committed to Christ and wanted reform in the church.

Catholic theology also contributed to the spiritual decline, because it began to emphasize clergy as the necessary middle man between man and God, and it declared that there is no salvation outside of Roman Catholic church. Popes began to issue papal decretals, which were letters with binding authority similar to decrees of emperors. The climax of papal status and at the same time papal erroneous doctrine took place when pope Gregory VII (1073-1085) wrote the Dictatus Papae, which essentially gave papacy the authority and role of God on earth. How lost and blind these “holy men” were!

Selling of Indulgences

Catholic theology also supported the selling of indulgences to allow people to receive forgiveness of sins, and in their greed, the clergy popularized this practice and gained much wealth. The continued misuse of ecclesiastical power and abuse of the trust of people lead to growing discontent. As nation-states began to gain power and Renaissance began to sweep over Europe, the stage was set for the Protestant Reformation. That is the beginning of a new era, which will be discussed separately.

Conclusions

It is obvious that this article only scratches the surface of all the events between 1st and 16th century. Each event, person, and time deserves a longer study of their own. The failures of Christian church include immorality, the sale of grace of God, focusing on wealth and power instead of love and service, cruelty, crusades, and overall hypocrisy. The success of church lies on the God who created it, who calls people to follow Him, and leads the events in history.

My learning from this part of history is that God can use ordinary people in extraordinary ways. Another fact emerges also: the Christian church is founded on Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit actively protects, guides, and helps it to grow. The universal church does not refer to church organization but to the invisible body of truly committed followers of Christ, this should also teach us to not overlook other Christians. Most importantly, would this church history convince you about the faithfulness and goodness of God? It is because of His faithfulness that church has survived until now. History is very helpful in providing perspective, may God help you to see His deeds in the past, and trust in Him with your life for the future.



References:

Eckman, P. James. 2002. Exploring Church History. Wheaton: Crossway.
Schaff, Philip. 1992. History of the Christian Church: Volume II – Ante-Nicene Christianity A.D. 100-325. Grand Rapids: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

Schaff, Phillip. 1994. History of the Christian Church: Volume III – The Middle Ages: From Constantine The Great to Gregory The Great A.D. 311-600. Grand Rapids: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

Sell, Henry T. 1998. Studies in Early Church History. Willow Grove: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing.

Smeeton, D. Donald. 2015. The Church: From Pentecost to the Reformation, an Independent- Study Textbook, 3rd Edition. Springfield: Global University.

Sproul, R. C. 2005. The Unexpected Jesus: The Truth Behind His Biblical Names. Fearn, UK: Christian Focus Publications.

Sproul, R. C. 2011. What Is the Trinity?. Orlando: Reformation Trust.

SLR: What I Learned About Islam?

Background

Islam as a religion has existed nearly 1400 years, but only in recent decades its influence has reached a new height. The oil resources controlled by Islamic countries are great assets, which in their own ways steer the politics and economics of the whole world. Worldwide migration of people has formed Muslim minorities in traditional Christian countries, and also Christian minorities in traditional Islamic countries. Wars and famines are also causing great migrations, bringing cultures together for better and for worse.

I have not had extensive cooperation or dealings with Islamic culture, and I have not really had any Muslim friends. I have not dealt with the “folk Islam”, which is effectively guiding the behavior of majority of Muslims. I have not needed to. However, nowadays Finland has also a populous Muslim minority, who are being watched by the media and suspicious eyes of phlegmatic Finns. How should I face this new situation? What can I learn about Islam? It turned out that there are plenty I could learn and do.

Religious Essentials

I took a course named “Introduction to Islam”, and thought it to be interesting and contemporary. It provided a lot of information regarding the history, essentials, and many facets of Islam. Here I am listing few items which were new to me or otherwise made an impression on me:

• Qur’an is the holy book of Islam, and it is recited everywhere in Arabic, which is held as the divine language.
• By reciting Qur’an in Arabic, Muslims experience the connection with God
• There were no diacritical marks nor vowels in written Arabic Qur’an, allowing for some degree of ambiguity in interpretation
• Prophet Muhammad had a rich life, and was a capable leader who cared for the poor, the weak, and the needy
• The Arabic culture prior to Islam was full of scattered idol worship, and in general not held in high esteem
• Islam means submission, practically submission/obedience to God and His prophets
• Muslim denotes a person who submits and yields his life to God according to Islam
• Hadith denote the whole collection of the actions and sayings of Muhammad, which are to be followed precisely
• Sunna means the conducts of Muhammad as a man
• Together, the Qur’an, the Hadith, and the Sunna mark the detailed ways of life all Muslims are to follow
• The 5 pillars of Islam are the creed (shahada), prayers (salat), fasting (sawm), alms (zakat), and pilgrimage (hajj)
• Umma denotes the “Islamic community” as one single nation, similar as Christian concept of church as the body of Christ. In this definition, Islamic view of the world is simply divided into the House of Islam and the House of War, basically Muslims and non-Muslims
• The concept of Jihad and power of Islam are rooted to the very beginning of Islam, when wars were fought and won and the House of Islam was quickly expanded to become a world power
• Folk Islam is a concept which describes the beliefs and practices of majority of Muslims, which are not according to orthodox Islam, but which are the way these Muslims live out their religion. Fold Islam contains such things as e.g. superstition, amulets, talisman, the evil eye, and various spiritual things.

There are of course more to Islam than above list. For example, a big surprise for me was how Christians are seen by the Muslims.

Christianity in the Eyes of a Muslim

Just as I did not know about Folk Islam, the Muslims are seldom aware about liberal theology or so called nominal Christians. Most of Muslims think that Christian West really means that all the people in Christian countries are Christians. No wonder Muslims have really low appreciation for Christianity.

Another major tenet I did not know was that Qur’an speaks very positively about Jesus, and that Muslims hold Jesus in very high honor! Connected to this, the deity of Jesus is refuted by Islam, but this relates to their understanding about Christianity: Jesus had the message from God, but Christians replaced/corrupted it by changing the content to the “gospels” in New Testament. In the same line, the concept of Trinity of Christianity is idol worship, where three gods are worshipped: God the Father, Mary, and Jesus. Huge misunderstandings!

Another major issue seems to be the crucifixion of Jesus. I did not know that Qur’an actually talks about this: “but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, …, for a surety they killed him not – Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself” (Sura 4:155-158). So, Islam has interpreted this text to mean that Jesus was NOT crucified at all, but a substitute was crucified, which Jews thought was Jesus. There are other theories also, but this is the majority view. Islam cannot understand, how God could give an innocent man like Jesus to be crucified on others behalf, it is against Islamic understanding of justice of God.

There seems to be many conflicts regarding who Jesus was, did He really die, and who is right about God: Islam or Christianity? At this point, I would like to consider, whether it is possible to find harmony between these two groups?

How to Live in Harmony?

When studying the course Introduction to Islam, at times I had difficulty to breathe: the tight grip of Islam on its adherents took my breath away. There are social, economic, and cultural implications for a Muslim to convert to another faith. The worldview built into Islam is totalistic and requires absolute submission, which the term Islam means. The division of House of Islam from House of War automatically puts non-Muslims into a secondary position, and any amount of oppression seems to be justified.

How does Christianity respond to this? All I can think of is Love. The Agape -love of God that Christians keep on talking about, it encompasses all people on earth, including Muslims. If there are wrongs done to them, Christians would love back, as Jesus taught in New Testament (Matthew 5:43-48). Of course, back in the history there has been plenty of violent responses from Christians to Muslims, but were those done in the spirit of God or in the spirit of man? There has been many a dark moment in human history, when men have erupted against other men and killed, tortured, wronged them, simply because they were somehow different.

Despite the history, I believe there can be harmony. The harmony of Love, which “keeps no record of wrong”, “always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (1^st Cor. 13:5, 7). Though it IS unfair, the Love of God is able to take all the beatings, humiliation, tortures, and offences. All this, because “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth” (Job 19:23). God will have his fair and just judgement, and by trusting Him in Jesus Christ, anyone can learn to Love.

Without Love, it is impossible to reach harmony, because hate and vengeance are never-ending cycles. Despite the possible absolute submission to Islamic teachings about what is orthodox, in the deep heart of every man and woman, adult and child, there is the need to be loved. So, regardless are you a Christian or a Muslim, I call you to surrender to the Love. It is not blind, it is not cheap, it does not change your circumstances nor history, but it will change you! The Love of God was demonstrated: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). And through Jesus: “to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12)!

How Do I Choose to Live?

Now in everyday life, how should this Love be seen? How it should affect my life? What I have come to understand is this:

1. Recognize my prejudices and repent about them
2. Pray and ask for Love from God
3. See Muslims first of all as men/women loved by God, and then as friends God has put into my life
4. Spend time together, do something fun, learn language, help with daily chores…
5. Share the Love of God via warmth, actions, and words.

There is always a risk of becoming hurt or deceived, if one chooses to Love. Then again, we are not called to love dumbly, but there are wise principles and safe limits that help us to Love consistently. To Love is not to forget rationale, but an attitude of life.

Conclusions

What has this blog text brought to your mind? Do you agree or do you object strongly? Your feedback is more than welcome! Our lives are always undergoing processes, because we are human, tied in time and given only each moment we live in. Fortunately God has put eternity in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11), so it is not only a meaningless ride, but every moment really counts! Make your words and actions count, not towards worldly and passing things, but towards eternal and meaningful things.

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1^st Corinthians 10:31)

This Lady is 99 This Year!

Congratulations to dear Finland, who turned 99 this year, today. Of course Finnish history extends long before that, but this is to celebrate the founding of the Republic of Finland.

Finland is an unique country, just as unique as any country in this world, but some more. The last 100 years of Finnish history contains a huge leap from rural farming society to modern IT society. The Finnish people have changed from Sweidish speaking aristocrats and cursing farmers to "civilized" Westerners, ranking among the top nations in the world for literacy and higher education. Finnish economy has evolved from forestry and farming to high-tech and service industry. Finnish culture has changed from God-fearing and hard-working to God-less and individualistic. Family values have degenerated, but somethings have not changed: sarcasm, irony, over-consumption of alcohol, and unmovable determination a.k.a. sisu.

It is well known that Finnish people are not easy to befriend with, but it is also very true that Finnish friends prove to be very good friends, often friends for life! There are so many great things about Finland that the world has not discovered, but will these things stay the same if the world discovers them?

One interesting fact: when Finland faced Soviet Union in Winter war between 1939-1940, the president of Finland declared nationwide prayer for the country. And people prayed indeed. Many say that this fear of God was what saved Finland from losing the war, as it was really a miracle that such a small army could withstand the attack of Red Army for so long time. Nowadays the nation of Finland is far away from the atmosphere of prayer or fearing God, history is written by the conquerors, and modified as time passed...

Couple of literary pearls by Finnish author Väinö Linna:
The Unknown Soldier
Under the North Star trilogy

Happy Independence Day, Finland!

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