About 1700 years ago Constantine called a meeting of bishops and their presbyters to the small city of Nicea. When the council finally met there were approximately 300 Bishops from both the eastern and western parts of the Roman Empire. Constantine was fed up with the divisiveness and bloodshed. The major issue was two differing doctrines which had emerged in the Church at Alexandria. St. Alexander (of Alexandria) and Athanasius held that Jesus was the literal Son of God, while Arius (father of Arianism) regarded Christ as the figurative Son of God. When Constantine gave his opening remarks there was an underlying theme – remove the dissension and establish peace. Unfortunately, despite the Council’s decision to burn all of Arius’ works, exile and excommunicate those who disagreed, the Arian way of thought thrived in many towns for some time. Battle lines within the church had been drawn..

Other differences were also addressed. They were: the first part of the Nicene Creed; settling the calculation of the date of Easter; and promulgation of early canon law. The council closed on July 25^th of 325 AD without addressing the issue of the Biblical Canon, even though the concept of it being addressed was popularized by the movie The DaVinci Code.  Today’s canon was mentioned in Athanasius’ letter of 367, but not recognized until 393 AD at the Synod of Hippo. The two Councils of Carthage (397 & 419 AD) validated the canon under St. Augustine’s direction. Since then, there have been a countless councils addressing issues like: Sunday as the new “Sabbath,” prayers for the dead and purgatory, ordination of women as deacons, decrees on the Crusades, replacing the papal monarchy with a government, and more recently whether or not to ordain admitted homosexuals as priests.

I hope you understand the vast difference between the business of church and religious institutions verses the spiritual relationship between you and the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Institutions identify and thrive on their differentiation factors. Relationships are identified their unifying factors. The God family, or Godhead is the perfect example of unity, that’s why they are considered “one.” There should be harmony among believers, as illustrated in Acts 2, while we are here on earth. I am not saying that the institutions in themselves are good or bad – just divisive. The reality is they have their reasons for defining their stances on every ideology they embrace. Those differentiators often form the basis for one person being a member or not.

Christ did not identify Himself as a Sadducee, Pharisee, Essene, Zealot, Herodian, Scribe, or any of the other groups common during His day. He described Himself as the Son of Man or Son of God. He described a relationship, not a membership. He used that relationship to govern His choices and the way He dealt with other people. He did not use his relationship with God to make himself look better than others, but to define the necessity of right standing with God. You will have to study and be convicted of your doctrinal stances. Over the years, I have done my best to help you identify what scripture says and does not say on certain issues.

You get to choose whether you prefer to be relationship or institutionally oriented. Personally I prefer people rather than being institutionalized.

Love Dad