Thread 17767333

Was conversion to Christianity peaceful for most of Europe?

>>17767333 (OP)
No it was mass rape and murder by Roman soldiers under the instructions of the the jews

>>17767344
Pretty sure Rome was long gone by the time Christianization was happening for most places

>>17767333 (OP)
What christians did was appropriate many pagan customs into their own religion making it easier for pagans in Europe to convert. Later on the aspects of paganism the Christians didn't like were attributed to our current understanding of the devil. The cloven hoofs and tail and horns from Pan, the trident from Poseidon, the underworld/Hell from Hades.

>>17767356
indeed.
Its funny how over time christians raise 'Satan' to godhood

For most it was pretty easy because Christianity was synonymous with the Greco-Roman world and wealth and civilization.

>>17767435
After subversion, yes. Damn Constantine forever to the pits of Tartarus.

>>17767333 (OP)
By women

>>17767443
Yeah the religion that would torch women at the stake, drown em in a lake, and over all do heinous shit to them was spread by the women.

>>17767446
what the hell are you talking about? this is not true. it is an enlightenment myth. women have never had so much influence and power than christianity, the conversions of wives and missionary women were the main point

>>17767450
>than
With*

>>17767333 (OP)
No. Though it depends where, when, who. But it wasn't a mostly peaceful process. There was a lot of violence and a lot of people were forced to abandon their traditional faiths. This includes Greco-Roman Pagans.
There were some funny episodes though. A slavic Tribe once aceeded to being baptized in their entirety, including their ancestors and their God Svetovid. The priest had a Conniption and refused to baptize anyone.

>>17767356
The Bible itself contains multiple places referenced as the afterlife, sheol (old testament), hades (new testament), gehenna (new testament), and arguably separate from gehenna the "lake of fire".
I personally think sheol=hades and gehenna=lake of fire
The KJV translates all of these words as "hell" which is pretty interesting in itself, and is just another layer of confusion.

>>17767435
yeah one of big attractions of Christianity is that you could actually read and write and people were like hey this is cool for keeping records and other useful stuff. because my nation didn't have literacy or any written records until Christian era.

>>17767435
that's what Varg's beef is btw. he thinks Meds corrupted his snow barbarian paradise.

>>17767535
Well after 500ad or so they reconquered their lands so I don’t even know what the problem is

>>17767450
Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft

>>17767457
Master tier trolling

>>17767553
Fuck was it that retarded? What is your problem with it?

>>17767565
I am complimenting those slavs.

>>17767570
Ah. I am retarded after all.
The gesture could have been genuine, maybe. Knowing slavs its a toss up.

>>17767518
>The KJV translates all of these words as "hell" which is pretty interesting in itself, and is just another layer of confusion.
Except it's really not when you actually study it.

The New Testament in Acts 2:27 has a translation of the Hebrew "sheol" as the Greek word "hades," proving that those two are connected.

Also, if you compare what it says in Mark and Luke, it's very clear that both Greek words also refer to hell as well. In the first of these references, the Greek "gehenna" is used, and in the second "hades" is used. This collectively shows that, biblically, all three words refer to hell.

"And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."
(Mark 9:43-44)

"And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame."
(Luke 16:22-24)

I am not sure how many more times I am going to encounter people making up false theories about the Biblical doctrine of hell, or how many more times I am going to need to post these references, but I will continue to post these Scriptures again and again each time I run into this for the rest of my life as long as I live.

>>17767708
COPE, the KJV is a joke.

Also, didn't read.

>>17767333 (OP)
It was deceitful.

>>17767446
Women are oddly self-destructive.

>>17768867
Sure sure and men are perfect angels.
I do not partake in the jewish gender war.

>>17767518
gehenna was literally a valley outside jerusalem that was seen as a cursed place by 1st century hebrews. it wasn't some special "version" of hell, it was a place everyone in jerusalem knew about so jesus could say "hell is kinda like gehenna, that horrible evil place you all know about"

As for religion in general, organized, codified, centralized religions tend to replace disorganized and ill-defined religious/spiritual culture. Before the three Roman-Jewish wars, something like 10% of the Roman empire was some denomination of Judaism, Jewish populations mostly concentrated in the east (Judaea, Galilee, Anatolia, Greece, Egypt.) Judaism was far more varied back then and many of these factions were often at each other's throats, but it shows just how well Judaism could organize and spread, being a people of the book who're obsessed with what's canonical and what's not.

Christianity took off in Rome because it was organized, had (relatively) clear chains of command, coordinated missions across borders, and made conversion to it very easy. Once Christianity took over the Roman state, it was essentially over for Paganism, since Paganism depended on the Roman state for survival (there is no "Pagan" church.)

iirc Rodney Stark made the argument that Christianity won because it was just better for society, but this was kinda nonsense. Charity wasn't unknown amongst Pagans, and caring for the sick during times of plague didn't win Christians many honors (Christians, especially those in cities, died in higher numbers than Pagans, and most people thought flouting the practice of getting the hell away from the sick was foolish.) Christians are also perfectly capable of understanding the danger of disease, as Italians in Milan did during the bubonic plague by immediately walling the sick up alive so they'd die without spreading the contagion.

So if Christianity didn't immediately improve things on all fronts, how come it won? Sometimes a movement wins not because it innovates things and brings immediate benefits (although Christians eventually would as mankind became increasingly intertwined,) but simply because it's more persistent, more organized, and refuses to give up no matter what catastrophic setbacks it experiences. Paganism lacked that resilience