Who was Constantine the Great?

I do not believe Constantine the Great (ca. 272 – 337) started the Catholic church. I think that might have been Jesus Christ a few centuries before Constantine was even born! And by the way, Mary is not worshiped in the Catholic church. In Biblical terms, to do that would be "to put other gods before the Lord". She is prayed to, in order to ask for assistance in petitioning God the Father. The thought being, "Well, if I can’t approach Christ, I will approach his mum who will put in a good word for me to Christ." And so people would begin to pray to Mary who would pray to Christ who would intercede with the Father. Mary is not worshipped, but reverance and respect as the mother of God the Son, is paid.

Samuel Miller Are you Catholic? I was, and as such, we were taught to pray TO her, not to WORSHIP her. You even contradicted yourself while quoting the Hail Mary wherein we ask her to PRAY FOR US, much the same way wè all pray TO GOD for each other. If she is praying FOR US, she is praying TO GOD on our behalf. She cannot grant anything to us. Only God can, so SHE IS NOT WORSHIPED. She is NOT God. She holds an exalted position in the church, much the way the saints do, but Catholics DO NOT WORSHIP HER! As to Constantine, yes, he helped facilitate the Church taking hold, but he did not START the Church. Its beginnings were in the final 3 years of Christ's life. Had Constantine not aided in its progress, you cannot say to any degree of certainty that the Church would not exist today. The word of Christ was spreading. Yes, he gave it a boost, but unless you are God Himself, it is impossible to say the Church would not have existed today without his help. Perhaps Christ's teaching would have been slower to spread, but to say the Church would not exist today is pure speculation.

Samuel Miller I think your personal attacks are a thinly veiled attempt to deflect my arguments because you have no valid arguments to make yourself. I do not defend the Vatican. I left the church years ago for personal reasons and have many political objections to the conduct of the church in general. I merely tried to explain what I was taught through catechism class as a Catholic in my youth. As to worshipping Mary; it is forbidden. Your argument tells me you know very little about the church and are most likely not and never have been a Catholic. You do not even quote the prayers correctly and that just might be the cause of your misinterpretation of dogma. You said, "or something like that". When you get your facts straight, go back to see if your argument still holds water. Arguing misconceptions and misinterpretations is pointless. As to repeating lies often enough that they are accepted as truth; yes, that was indeed a tactic of Hitler's and often repeated by Drumpf, who keeps a copy of Mein Kampf by his bedside and has actually expressed the same philosophy in his own book, The Art of the Deal. These are conservative, Fascist tactics, not liberal ideology. If you would like to discuss these issues further, I would be happy to engage you, if you can keep a civil tongue and refrain from personal attacks and name-calling. Remember, actual facts and civility matter.

Geez simple questions start a riot here lol. Asking Mary to intervene is like asking mom to ask dad

The trouble with all religions is the they spend so much time and effort on themselves and lose the objective of their own existence. You can actually live a good life in the Faith of the teachings of Christ without practicing a religion. Try it, it is enlightening, refreshing and good for your soul

I have studied the 5 major religions currently on the planet. Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism covers over 5 Billion people.

Kelvin Donalds I believe you may be misinterpreting either that passage or what I said. John 14:6 states, Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." I believe I said we ask Mary to pray to Jesus to intercede with the Father. That is as the scripture reads. If you have a problem with that, it is not with me, it is with the Church itself and some of its basic doctrines.

Samuel Miller I do not defend the church. You misunderstand my position. I merely explain the lessons taught me as a Catholic in my youth. I think it's important for those taking a position on a subject, to have their facts straight before rattling on proving themselves uninformed in the process. I do not try to pigeon-hole myself or others with labels, but if you must, I would most likely be considered an atheist.

williamrlaughlin, Jesus did not start the Catholic Church. That bastardisation of his message was started by man. Indeed Jesus was a Jewish 'rabbi' who came to fulfill OT prophecy. He would be horrified at what so-called Christians have done in his name over the centuries.

Ben Totuous The Bible was written by no one that had "First Hand" Knowledge of any of the Caracters of the Bible. So it's not so much as not being real, It's just so very hard to confirm truth from fiction.

Chris Luna, But of course.

TCHAH! All this back and forth over the false religions when we Pastafarians KNOW there is but One True God, The Creator of the Universe, The Flying Spaghetti Monster. Never forget - He boiled for your sins.

William Laughlin, ... Oh my God!!! You KNOW what book is on the night stand next to the presidents bed?

The Roman Empire changed into the Roman Catholic Church.

He was a byzantine emperor

Picture gave it away.

Goodness I have nothing to add to these discussions I got the answer right 😁👏

William Laughlin, you are wrong then Hus religious people were basically the popes. He took all his info and gave it to them and then his Mom went back to the area of the crucification took place. She gathered what was supposed to be remains of the Cross. So it's in the pages of History of the Roman Catholics and history itself.. Look it up the answers are out there.. I grew up in this religion as my Irish were Catholics.

Got it

Got it!

William Laughlin, gods are complicated narcissistic blokes...

William Laughlin, Jesus didn't start any church institution. All church instituitons are started by humans. And the Roman Catholic Church institution was started by Constantine and completely contradicts all that the church is supposed to be. That is, that the church is the people who follow Jesus, that these people are ALL priests and saints and ALL of equal status and ALL can approach God directly. Hebrews 4 - since Jesus is our High Priest we can boldly approach the throne of God to find mercy and grace in our time of need. 1 Peter 2 - you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a people belonging to God..

Not in the list of Roman Emperors I memorized; I guess did not include Christian ones

He had an unhealthy infatuation with chickens.

williamrlaughlin, Jesus Christ certainly didn't start the Catholic church himself - earliest mention of 'universal' or Catholic church was 80 odd years after his death, and it was another 250 years before Saint Cyril and Theodosius I (between 350 and 380 AD) used it in the sense that the term catholic was an understood quantity. Constantine was essentially a pagan - he only converted to Christianity on his deathbed, so although he was tolerent to Christians, and called the first Council of Nicaea in 325 (from which the Nicene Creed derived) he could hardly be regarded as the father of the church on the facts.