Today I learnt that the Catholic Church has held 20 meetings between (60AD - 1962??) known as Ecumenical Councils the implications of which dictate modern day worship and practices notably:
Recognition of Jesus as God i.e. as being equal to God, despite him being a Son of God. The debate was whether the Son can be equal in all ways to the Father and at the same time be the Father.
Prohibition of Nuns and Priests to marry. This was not always the case in the early church immediately after Christ. Some Bishops sat in a convention and decided it should be that way.
Prohibition of church members questioning the authority of appointed Priests.
Prohibition of the use of bows and arrows against Christians during war. - I swear I am not making this stuff up.
Set dates for when the holidays of Christmas and Easter would be celebrated.
Religion = fear. Not just Christianity. The more you learn about Islam and Christianity, you get a feel that Muhammad was simply plagiarizing Christian teachings and claiming them as revelation from God.
Historical revisionism and loony conspiracy theories will not help anybody. Start from the documented historical facts. Jesus the founder of Christianity was crucified by the Romans. His followers and apostles were persecuted by Romans and even fed to wild beasts in Roman circuses. The gospel overcame Roman idolatry by the blood of the martyrs.
You have the order reversed. First Christianity became widespread by its own merits. And then ambitious politicians saw its political potential and corrupted church leaders for political clout. The church leaders got a taste for power and then began to abrogate temporal powers unto themselves contravening the principle of separation of church and state. All those councils you mentioned were the machinations of the Roman Catholic Church to secure her supremacy. Observe how many centuries the Catholic church spent persecuting Christians who did not recognize her illegitimate supremacy.
I actually agree, yes there were many other religions. The one that arose to ascendacy was a political mixture Christianity with other religions to make it more acceptable to the pagans. Like literally baptizing heathen deities and promoting them to worshippable “saints” and adding their religious festivals to the Christian calendar of events e.g. easter and Christmas whereas Christ and the apostles had no such observances. So Catholicism is not Christianity and thus her deceptions must not be blamed on Christianity.
This is quite true. It is also what happened when Paul required gentiles not to start circumcising their men or give up taboo foods. Conditions for acceptance into the Jewish community of Christ were watered down.
There is no true religion. Mine, yours, his, hers; they are all corrupted. Your responsibility is to gather knowledge and discern that which is good for man kind and that which is not.