I was going to use the word “persecuting” rather than killing, but killing Christians (whether emotionally or physically) seems to fit better. People kill with theological and psychological purposes as well as physically. The community of people who immediately proclaimed “Jesus is Lord” (after His resurrection) went from the simplistic, “I baptize you in the name of Jesus”, to fall in line with the established orthodoxy or die! All in less than 400 years!

The early, early Christians felt that Jesus was coming back soon! Well, soon has come and gone for nearly 2,000 years now. The intense expectation of His immediate return having been twarted, brought a degree of sadness and sorrow. However, the community of believers remembered His commands- LOVE ONE ANOTHER. And so they did!

As the years passed there was felt a need to record and identify what it was that they “believed” and so simple manifestations of “beliefs” were propogated. But as Hans Kung wrote, “The original confessions of faith were in no way concerned with dogmas in the present-day sense: they were not doctrinal LAWS. Rather, they were free confessions of the faith community.”

But then religious leaders developed “councils” that were to formulize those minimal beliefs. Most people didn’t understand the complexities of what was soon to become othodox, and to part from the orthodox became an increasing problem. The highly complex trinitarian concpet was not of any important to the common lay person, but of utmost seriousness between the warring religious parties and groups.

The trance of separation was now on!

Finally, Theodosius the Great (what a play on words) made Christianity the state religion, the Catholic church the state church, and of course all who departed from any such newly formulated beliefs were HERETICS and that would now be a crime against the Roman empire (state). And now the real war was on- the religious war(s).

All gnositic works had to be destroyed.

Christians who 350 years earlier simply loved each other (in the name of Jesus), were now killing other Christians who believed differently- who had a difference in faith, though both somehow following the same man. Of coruse that led to the killing of those pesky Jews which still goes on today.

And while it’s a crime for a Christian today to physically kill another Christian, it’s fair game to call all those who have a different view than theirs (can you san fundamentalists) as: heretics, cults, unsaved, or any number of edifying words. We need to get back to “God is love” and any form of hatred is not God!

And we need to do it quickly!