We’ve been talking about loopholes that people use to get around the spirit of laws. My favorite is Constantine the Great, the first Christian Roman emperor and a saint in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Byzantine Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches.
Constantine didn’t get baptized until he was dying because baptism wiped away all one’s previous sins. He was a violent man…for instance he had one of sons killed with a slow poison and left his wife to die in an overheated bathtub…and he worried about going to hell. He wasn’t about to change his lifestyle so he waited until it was clear he could sin no more. He did manage to get the timing right. I don’t know if he made it to heaven, but he was awarded those sainthoods. 🙂
Woe is me. I was baptized as a baby.
How COULD all those churches have made Constantine (The Great) a saint?
bikehikebabe,
Because Constantine gave Christianity his blessing. He stopped Christians from being persecuted and supported the Church financially, built Christian basilicas, exempted the clergy from some taxes and promoted Christians to high offices. He made it respectable to be a Christian.
The other tidbits I remember were that all of Constantine’s children died violently(?), and Constantine was a supporter of Arianism, which was eventually condemned by all those groups you listed. He was certainly one to squeeze through the loopholes!
Later it was not baptism but extreme unction that was delayed until near death – it became known as the last rites.
Looney,
Apparently Constantine also supported some of the pagan cults even though he considered himself to be a Christian. As for the Christians he apparently was trying to stop inter-Christian rivalry and called the Council of Nicea so the church could decide what the official orthodoxy would be. That’s when they decided against Arianism. Constantine exiled believers in Arianism for a couple of years then relented. I find it hard to believe he really cared about the theology involved, he was mainly interested in social stability. Christianity was the state religion by then and he didn’t want fighting to tear the state apart.
As it turns out he was baptized at the end by an Arian bishop, which is presumably one reason the Latin Rite Christians didn’t canonize him.
Evan,
I’m not sure when they started baptizing babies so they wouldn’t go to hell because of original sin. If Extreme Unction had been available to Constantine when he was alive he presumably might have been baptized earlier.
Jean,
Let me try to write a simple definition of religion like this:
The rules framed by so called “religion”, to be followed by individual or societies, so that the individual and the societies can grow and have faith in the Almighty.
If you are trying to dig more deeply then I guess you will find a lot of loopholes in this worldly life. None is perfect!
I am totally lost and so shall refrain from commenting.
W-E-R Y I-N-T-E-R-E-S-T-I-N-G (Say with a German accent. 60’s TV, Laugh-In)
tikno,
Yes, examples of people exploiting loopholes are easy to find. And some are downright funny.
Rummuser,
It’s not that complicated if you don’t get mired in the details. Constantine wanted to go to heaven but his lifestyle was inherently sinful. He couldn’t go to heaven if he was burdened with sins. Baptism would wipe away all of his past sins so he had to get baptized as he was dying, before he could sin again. Timing was everything. Changing his lifestyle was not possibility for him. That’s probably not what Christianity was supposed to be about.
About the inter-Christian conflicts. Christ taught brotherly love but as soon as the Romans stopped persecuting the Christians they started persecuting one another…about arcane details. Again, probably not what Jesus had in mind. 🙂
bikehikebabe,
Yes, interesting and funny, I think.
completely confused here but don’t worry – it is not going to affect me any more than some other things 🙂
Cathy,
I think your confusion is great. That just means you weren’t taught as a kid that you and all humans are inherently sinful and in danger of being severely punished in the afterlife. You didn’t miss anything. 🙂
Jean, let’s forget about your and my interest in history (including Constantine) for a minute. Actual loopholes are currently of far greater importance to me. Where to find them when you need them. Nowhere. That’s where.
Baptism. Thanks for reminding me. Forgot birthday of one of my godchildren. Marvellous. Never mind. I am sure his parents didn’t choose me for my virtues.
U
Ursula,
A lot of people have no trouble finding them. I mostly don’t look for them so I have no idea if I could or couldn’t find them. Interesting.
My favorite loophole is when a wealthy Asian moves to the US and buys a million dollar house in an upscale neighborhood. The wife files as a single mom with an indigent level of income and then gets the heavily tutored kids preferred admission to top universities along with scholarships as a hardship case. Don’t think that is quite what Ursula was looking for …
Looney,
I hadn’t heard that one. If they’re really married it’s clearly fraud, not really a loophole.
Apparently about one half of all American adults don’t have to pay income taxes because of legal exemptions and deductions. Unfortunately my husband and I aren’t in that favored group. We’re no better than Ursula in working the system, and don’t want to be. Life is too short. 🙂