motiveless defense

On this week’s reflection, we watched a movie about how Constantine became a great Roman emperor, on how he came to be the most powerful and influential person of his time, and on how he gained the trust of others and made Christianity to be the most known religion during his reign.

            It all started at the moment he believed in the God of the Christians to be the only true God. It is very nice to see  how God works in his life, how his faith was tested and built up, and  how God used him to expand His kingdom here on earth. But, as I listened carefully to the lines or script of the actors like Lactantius who is a Christian and adviser of Constantine, I somewhat disagree to what he said to Constantine when he encouraged him to pursue his faith in God. It’s because, Lactantius made Constantine to look at the power that he would gain when he would fully believe to be the chosen one of God to rule the Roman empire. It’s somewhat like, Constantine just believed in God for the sake of power and not anymore to the living God who is the creator of everything.

            That’s why I think, as a believer and messenger of God’s word like Lactantius, I need to be careful of every word that will come out of my mouth especially in leading a person to Jesus Christ for salvation. That I will not make up stories or statements for the sake of a person to believe in Christ. That in bringing a person to salvation, I really have to say what they must believe and what they should do – to have faith in Jesus Christ.

The Motiveless Defense

Learning this week’s lesson about the history, beliefs, and practices of Christianity that is being challenged by the world is really nice because even though they were persecuted they still stood firm. I learned that the church today is a product or result of different cultures and influences. That it is greatly influenced first by the Jewish culture where Jesus Christ came from, having one God, and a synagogue or a place for worship and teaching of their beliefs. Second is the Greek culture which unified the language people used in writing and speaking. Third is the Roman culture which provided a government that produced peace, trade, and travel in the world. The last is the Geographical influence which makes the church or Christians to influenced many places and spread the Word of God. That these four were all set by God for the coming of Jesus Christ making Him to be effective in doing His mission. I also learned that the reason why the Roman Catholic church today has many pagan practices is because of the false teachings that infiltrated the church before by the groups of people like the Gnostics.

            Now knowing all these things, I must teach these to the people in the church where I am attending so that they will give importance to the church and its practices and beliefs. That in our Sunday class, I have to explain it to them one by one why the church exists, why we go to church and why we must give importance to it.