Saturday, October 8, 2022

Early Christianity vs. Modern Christianity

Read the following information concerning the early Christians, the early Congregation (or "Church"), and compare these words with your "Christianity." Quite the vast difference between the two, do you not think? Why do you suppose that is?


Justin the Martyr describing Christian love:

"We who used to value the acquisition of wealth and possessions more than anything else now bring what we have into a common fund and share it with anyone who needs it. We used to hate and destroy one another and refused to associate with people of another ethnicity or country. Now, because of Christ, we live together with such people and pray for our enemies."


Clement of Alexandria describing the person who has come to know God:

"He impoverishes himself out of love, so that he is certain he may never overlook a brother in need, especially if he knows he can bear poverty better than his brother. He likewise considers the pain of another as his own pain. And if he suffers any hardship because of having given out of his own poverty, he does not complain."


Consider this attitude of the early Christians:

A pagan actor became a Christian, but he realized he had to change his employment because most plays encouraged immorality and were steeped in pagan idolatry. Furthermore, the theater sometimes purposefully turned boys into homosexuals so they could better play the roles of women on stage. Since this newly-converted actor had no other job skills, he considered establishing an acting school to teach drama to non-Christian students. However, he first submitted his idea to his congregation for their counsel.

The congregation told him that if acting was an immoral profession then it would be wrong to train others in it. Nevertheless, since this was a rather novel question, they wrote to Cyprian in Carthage for his thoughts. Cyprian agreed that a profession unfit for a Christian to practice was also unfit for him to teach, even if this was his sole means of support.

How many of us would be so concerned about righteousness that we would submit our employment decisions to our congregation? How many congregations today would be so concerned about offending God that they would take such an uncompromising position?

But that isn't the end of the story. Cyprian also told this neighbouring congregation that they should be willing to support the actor if he had no other means of earning a living— just as they supported orphans, widows, and other needy persons. Going further, he wrote, "If your congregation is financially unable to support him, he may move over to us and here receive whatever he needs for food and clothing." Cyprian and his congregation didn't even know this actor, yet they were willing to support him because he was a fellow believer. As one Christian told the Romans, "We love one another with a mutual love because we do not know how to hate." If Christians today made such a statement to the world, would the world believe it?


Modern-day "Christians" should promptly meditate on this and weep despairingly:

"When a devastating plague swept across the ancient world in the third century, Christians were the only ones who cared for the sick, which they did at the risk of contracting the plague themselves. Meanwhile, pagans were throwing infected members of their own families into the streets even before they died, in order to protect themselves from the disease."

Compare that to the events of 2020 and beyond. If "COVID" had been real, how many "Christians" behaved exactly in the manner of the pagans described above? Churches divided their own people, segregating them and persecuting those who refused to receive an experimental medical injection. They rejected their own family members from attending family gatherings if they had not injected themselves with these toxic chemical bio-weapons. Professing "Christians" today behaved exactly as the pagans of the past.

All these words are a great indictment against modern day "Christianity" and the "Church"! We are a far cry from imitating our Lord and King, and it seems most "Christians" are content with this. Great indictment indeed...