This may be part 2 of "Authority and God." You may need to read that first towards understanding.
In
the Early Church, there ended up being Five Holy Sees. These Sees were
coequal to Rome. There was Alexandria, Jerusalem, Antioch, and
Constantinople. What happens behind closed doors? Some people, they
have a public face. They may have been an actor, and worked to build a
perception in the public eye. Privately, they may have been something
else totally.
Given a Nation was more right with God, it may
have been blessed and fruitful. There were some growing pains in the
early Church, and some oppression and martyrs. Rome became Christian
with Five Holy Sees. What happened to those Five Holy Sees and why?
Eastern
Rome and Persia, it had a slugfest of a war. There was a major War,
Famine, and Plague event where a lot of the infrastructure was
destroyed, and a lot of people died. For there to be this type of War,
Famine, and Plague event, there may have been a history over the two
hundred years or so, of Christians doing wrong, and an
institutionalization of something evil.
Talking about history, a
lot of people lose scope. The United States is 248 years old. An
American may be able to reflect back to the World War I or the Civil
War, or further back, and they understand scope. Sometimes people lose
scope talking about history. The Byzantine-Sassanian War happened
between 602-628. The Muslim Conquest of Egypt started in 639. Given we
are subtracting 248 from 628, we come up with roughly 380. What types
of things were happening in Christianity in-between?
The Muslim
conquests happened to a Rome and Persia who were spent. They had
destroyed each other, and suffered through War, Famine, and Plague.
God's Judgement of War, Famine, and Plague has happened. (Ezekiel
14:21) God is judge of Nations. What things may have lead up to God's
Judgement?
The Holy See of Alexandria and Antioch were
oppressed by Islam, and never really rebounded. What was going on in
those Holy Sees that they became obscured and overshadowed by Rome?
Given Alexandria and Antioch were more right, they may have been
blessed, and more on an equal footing.
There is a lot of study
of theology and history someone could put in here towards seeing God's
Hand in history. This may help provided a loose framework together with
some other blog posts the last few months.
Question: Could God's Judgement of War, Famine, and Plague be sparked by a single event?
ReplyDeleteNo.
God is slow to anger.
God takes no pleasure in his judgement.
God would like repentance.
Overtime, there may have been a falling away, and an institutionalization of bad ideas, and bad leadership. To remove that institutionalization, God has used War, Famine, and Plague.
Some Christians became blind and deaf in various conflicts for authority. Christians should be of "One Mind." (Philippians 2:2) ....or working their way there. Given there was major conflicts over who was to be the next Patriarch or Bishop......someone was doing something wrong, and some wrong people may have ended up in authority, or were there already.
Notice how God references The Kingdom of Judah as Jerusalem and The Kingdom of Israel as Samaria in Ezekiel 23. Around that time, there were many city states rising like the Greek City States. Fast Forward to The Book of Revelations, and we are talking about particular Churches in particular cities who had slow lines of communication. These Churches may have developed their own culture, their own problems or issues. Cities, and Churches in Cities, may have been projecting power of influence. This delves into Cultural Geography.
ReplyDeleteSomething like God's Judgement may have taken a few hundred years of corruption to manifest. Abraham was being blessed by Melchizedek, King Priest of Salem one year. About 430 years later, the City of Salem had fallen away so bad that it was in the crosshairs of God's Judgement being brought by The Hebrews.
Mass Media, and its effect on culture, has sped up the process where God's Judgement may happen. What may have taken a couple hundred years, has been sped up to the point where it may happen in over several decades.
Reading this and reflecting, is someone looking to fight God or judge God?
ReplyDeleteInstead, they should humble themselves, and seek understanding. Those thoughts where someone was looking to fight or judge God, that was a demon.