Jesus wasn't God when/if he was crucified. In fact, he was voted to be deified in 325 AD. His deification was patterned after Sol Invictus.
THE COUNCIL OF NICAEA ~ Edited by Hugh Fogelman
The Council was to have taken place at Ancyra, but on the orders of the ex-pagan Constantine who had his residence at Nicaea the venue was changed so that he could personally control the proceedings. The Synod took place between June l9th and August 25th. The Emperor summoned all Church leaders with the aim of reaching a consensus over the status of Jesus. (it appears no one really knew)
The number of bishops who attended is not known. The traditional figure is 318, which goes back to the late writings of Athanasius of Alexandria; possibly a symbolic figure based on the number of Abraham's servants [Genesis 14.14]. The correct figure is still probably around 300. In the version of events presented in the New Catholic Encyclopedia, almost all were from the Eastern half of the Empire; more than 100 from Asia Minor, about 30 from Syria- Phoenecia and less than 20 from Palestine and Egypt.
Constantine regarded the religious question exclusively from the angle of political expedience. His interest was to secure peace rather than any theological verdict. He had already adopted the Sol Invictus as the state deity, so if Jesus could somehow be deified he would be more easily compatible with Sol Invictus.
As the parties were in conflict, the task of deciding the fate of Jesus was deferred unto Constantine who was theologically incompetent and was inclined to making decisions on inadequate grounds. To him the deification of a man would not have seemed important. He had his father Constantius deified on his death and expected to be granted the same honor on his demise.
He ruled in favor of Jesus' deification, and demanded that the delegates should sign acceptance to what became known as the Nicene Creed. This Creed is the first dogmatic definition of the Church and has served as a backbone of Christian orthodoxy through the ages. It defined the relations of Jesus to the Father within the Godhead as homoousion tot patri (of one substance with the Father) designed specifically to exclude Arianism. Eusebius of Caesarea writings makes it explicit that the Emperor himself proposed this term. The delegates that gave assent to the Creedal statement were to be invited to stay on at Nicaea as Constantine's guests for his 2Oth Anniversary celebrations, while those who rejected the Creed would be banished.
The repercussions of the Nicene Creed are immeasurable as Ian Wilson writes:
'Merely to enumerate the ways in which the original concepts of Jesus and his teachings were adulterated as result of Constantine's actions and the consequences of the Council of Nicaea would take a book in itself.'
Rome became the official center of Christian orthodoxy, Trinity the accepted doctrine and deviation from this view was now considered not as a different opinion, but as punishable heresy.
There had been earlier instances of compromise. After Constantine's edict of paganism, Christians, with their new found freedom and scope and association with Constantine, were willing to compromise themselves to maintain that position.
In 321 AD, Constantine in honor of the Sun God, enacted that on the venerable day of the Sun, the law courts and all workshops were to be closed, so Christianity, which had previously observed the Sabbath on Saturday, took on Sunday as its day of rest.
Today Christianity breaks the 4th Commandment weekly and does not even knowing it sadly thinking Jesus changed the Sabbath to Sunday....in honor of the worship of the Sun. Rome did this! Similarly, Jesus' birthday used to observed on January 6th (as it still is in parts of Eastern Europe.)
However, for both Sol Invictus and Mithraism, the religious day or Natalis Invictus was celebrated on the midwinter solstice, December 25th, so the Western Church adopted this day also. The aureole of light crowning the sun god's head became the Christian halo.
With so much of the original faith given away, Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln write:
"Christian doctrine as promulgated by Rome at the time, had much in common with the cult of Sol Invictus anyway; and thus it was able to flourish unmolested under the sun cult's umbrella of tolerance. Christianity as we know it, is in many respects actually closer to those pagan systems of belief than its to its own Judean origin."
The distorted formula of faith promulgated at Nicaea laid the ground work for the classical development of Christian Trinitarian theology, disseminating far and wide the seeds of ignorance and error.
In closing if you want to do further research into these areas whereby you can see for yourself how the faith of Jesus was altered and changed into “a faith about Jesus” then besides this ministry's websites this short book list should be beneficial:
1.. The Encyclopedia of Religion. (Macmillan 1987); vol. 4 p.125
2.. New Catholic Encyclopedia. (Mc-Graw Hill 1979); vol. 10, p. 432-433
3.. Constantine and the Conversion of Europe. Penguin Books, A.H.M. Jones; p. 137
4.. The Early Christian Church. P.G. Davis, p. 176
5.. Jesus: The Evidence. (Pan Books), Ian Wilson
6.. The Messianic Legacy. (Corgi 1986), M. Baigent, R. Leigh & H. Lincoln
02/28/04
THE COUNCIL OF NICAEA ~ Edited by Hugh Fogelman
The Council was to have taken place at Ancyra, but on the orders of the ex-pagan Constantine who had his residence at Nicaea the venue was changed so that he could personally control the proceedings. The Synod took place between June l9th and August 25th. The Emperor summoned all Church leaders with the aim of reaching a consensus over the status of Jesus. (it appears no one really knew)
The number of bishops who attended is not known. The traditional figure is 318, which goes back to the late writings of Athanasius of Alexandria; possibly a symbolic figure based on the number of Abraham's servants [Genesis 14.14]. The correct figure is still probably around 300. In the version of events presented in the New Catholic Encyclopedia, almost all were from the Eastern half of the Empire; more than 100 from Asia Minor, about 30 from Syria- Phoenecia and less than 20 from Palestine and Egypt.
Constantine regarded the religious question exclusively from the angle of political expedience. His interest was to secure peace rather than any theological verdict. He had already adopted the Sol Invictus as the state deity, so if Jesus could somehow be deified he would be more easily compatible with Sol Invictus.
As the parties were in conflict, the task of deciding the fate of Jesus was deferred unto Constantine who was theologically incompetent and was inclined to making decisions on inadequate grounds. To him the deification of a man would not have seemed important. He had his father Constantius deified on his death and expected to be granted the same honor on his demise.
He ruled in favor of Jesus' deification, and demanded that the delegates should sign acceptance to what became known as the Nicene Creed. This Creed is the first dogmatic definition of the Church and has served as a backbone of Christian orthodoxy through the ages. It defined the relations of Jesus to the Father within the Godhead as homoousion tot patri (of one substance with the Father) designed specifically to exclude Arianism. Eusebius of Caesarea writings makes it explicit that the Emperor himself proposed this term. The delegates that gave assent to the Creedal statement were to be invited to stay on at Nicaea as Constantine's guests for his 2Oth Anniversary celebrations, while those who rejected the Creed would be banished.
The repercussions of the Nicene Creed are immeasurable as Ian Wilson writes:
'Merely to enumerate the ways in which the original concepts of Jesus and his teachings were adulterated as result of Constantine's actions and the consequences of the Council of Nicaea would take a book in itself.'
Rome became the official center of Christian orthodoxy, Trinity the accepted doctrine and deviation from this view was now considered not as a different opinion, but as punishable heresy.
There had been earlier instances of compromise. After Constantine's edict of paganism, Christians, with their new found freedom and scope and association with Constantine, were willing to compromise themselves to maintain that position.
In 321 AD, Constantine in honor of the Sun God, enacted that on the venerable day of the Sun, the law courts and all workshops were to be closed, so Christianity, which had previously observed the Sabbath on Saturday, took on Sunday as its day of rest.
Today Christianity breaks the 4th Commandment weekly and does not even knowing it sadly thinking Jesus changed the Sabbath to Sunday....in honor of the worship of the Sun. Rome did this! Similarly, Jesus' birthday used to observed on January 6th (as it still is in parts of Eastern Europe.)
However, for both Sol Invictus and Mithraism, the religious day or Natalis Invictus was celebrated on the midwinter solstice, December 25th, so the Western Church adopted this day also. The aureole of light crowning the sun god's head became the Christian halo.
With so much of the original faith given away, Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln write:
"Christian doctrine as promulgated by Rome at the time, had much in common with the cult of Sol Invictus anyway; and thus it was able to flourish unmolested under the sun cult's umbrella of tolerance. Christianity as we know it, is in many respects actually closer to those pagan systems of belief than its to its own Judean origin."
The distorted formula of faith promulgated at Nicaea laid the ground work for the classical development of Christian Trinitarian theology, disseminating far and wide the seeds of ignorance and error.
In closing if you want to do further research into these areas whereby you can see for yourself how the faith of Jesus was altered and changed into “a faith about Jesus” then besides this ministry's websites this short book list should be beneficial:
1.. The Encyclopedia of Religion. (Macmillan 1987); vol. 4 p.125
2.. New Catholic Encyclopedia. (Mc-Graw Hill 1979); vol. 10, p. 432-433
3.. Constantine and the Conversion of Europe. Penguin Books, A.H.M. Jones; p. 137
4.. The Early Christian Church. P.G. Davis, p. 176
5.. Jesus: The Evidence. (Pan Books), Ian Wilson
6.. The Messianic Legacy. (Corgi 1986), M. Baigent, R. Leigh & H. Lincoln
02/28/04