Church History

It is about the middle of the semester, so midterms have begun. I had my first one last night in Systematic Theology. I should find out in a week or two how I did. This coming Monday is a test in Church History. I must say that I thoroughly enjoy the church history class. I've always enjoyed history and it is really interesting to see how everything formed into what it is now. More than that though, studying these early days of Christianity has given me so much to think about and contemplate. Here are a few of the things I've been thinking about because of this course:

We are studying the early period of the church and are around the 400s right now. As I've been studying for this test, I have been thinking about the persecution of Christians. One of the early churchmen, Tertullian said "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church," which certainly seems to be true as the church grew from about 1,000 people in 40AD to 33.8 million around 350. I was especially struck by the rule of an emperor named Galerius who ruled in the early 300s. He was really the last great persecutor of Christians before Christianity became a legal religion. He seized property and other belongings of Christians, destroyed churches, burned scripture and gave confessing Christians the option of sacrificing to the Roman gods or suffering torture, at times leading to death and other times causing people to severly maimed. What is most striking to me is that when Galerius became ill and was dying, he issued an edict ending the persecution of Christians and asking them to pray for his health. Wow! What was it about these men and women who were willing to suffer and die that caused this emperor to ask them to pray for him. I want to be that kind of Christian. I want to be the kind of person that someone who wishes ill on me would recognize the power of my God to such an extent that given a difficult situation, they would realize that prayers to my God is their only hope. May God in His mercy make me that kind of person.

Something else striking to me is the different outlook between that era and our own. Many of the emperors who launched persecutions did so because they saw the steady decline of the Roman empire and believed it was being caused by the loss of Roman culture. Specifically, they believed the gods were angry with them because the Christians and Jews refused to worship them. Many of the persecutions began in the name of ridding the Roman empire of those who were angering the gods. Even in the case of Galerius, he seems to have recognized the power of the Christian God. In 259, the emperor at the time, Valerian was defeated in battle by the Persians. They killed, skinned and stuffed him and made him into a footstool. Many Romans saw this humiliation as a judgement from the Christian God because Valerian had church elders and deacons killed and Christianity experienced a short time of peace as a result.

I say this because the idea that the gods or that God would be angry and that some type of event could be caused by God's judgement is not a popular thing today. If an earthquake struck a city in the ancient Roman empire, the Romans would say "What have we done to anger our gods?" If an earthquake strikes America today, many would say "Where is your God? If there is a God, why would He allow this evil to come upon us?" What a difference in the response! I want to be careful with this because I want to try not to be misundersood. I am not saying that if everyone just followed the rules there would never be another earthquake or flood. We live in a world that has been dramatically affected by sin such that everything is not as it was in the beginning when God declared it to be good. Part of this world scarred by sin is storms and wicked acts by people. I am saying though that God does not owe us anything. Without God's hand of protection upon us, we would perish in every sense of the word and God would be absolutely just in allowing this to be so. Salvation is a gift. Each day He allows us to live is a gift. I do not think it is unreasonable that when we are faced with a disaster and are calling upon God for His mercy in dealing with us in that situation, that we consider our own hearts and repent of any sins in our lives. We are very human-centered as a society. It isn't just in how we respond to trouble, it's in our focus at many churches, it's in our goals and aims in life. The first question in the Westminster catechism is "What is the chief end of man?" and the answer is "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." Practically, this means that as a Christian when I contemplate what I want out of my life, my answer should be that I want to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Not to be happy or to have enough of anything or to feel personally fulfilled. These aren't necessarily bad things, but they are all lesser things. My goal at church should not be to feel good when I leave or to have five steps to greater self esteem. My goal in my personal life, my goal in worship at church, my goal in my classes and my goal at work should be to glorify God and enjoy Him. The medieval reformers said it well Soli Deo Gloria - To the glory of God alone.

God, please forgive my wicked heart for seeking after other things when I should be seeking after You. May You be all I seek, to Your glory alone.