If you want to have a historical discussion about this I would be more than open to that. I have spent many years studying abrahamic religions. The three sects of Christianity that I have mentioned are all prior to romanization of the church. The Catholic church is the foundation of almost all sects of Christianity, but the Catholic church is itself a splinter group from the original church that was a sect people who still thought of themselves as Jews and were not very open to outsiders. See the whole Jew versus gentile discussion in Acts. But the long of the short is that the Roman Catholic Church did not become a thing until roughly 200AD. And it was only after that point that it became the monster from the meme. Prior to that it was the religion of the poor and downtrodden because it promised a better life after you died. Which was in direct contrast to the Roman religions where you had to pay in to get to heaven.
Which was in direct contrast to the Roman religions where you had to pay in to get to heaven.
I’m about to go to sleep, but that’s not even close to correct.
Source?
The early Church would be gathering in people’s private houses and back rooms with no admission fee and food and drink would be freely sheared in common.
For most popular religions such as the cult of Mars or Jupiter or even Judasim you were required to either give to the temple or provide sacrifices to the temple sacrifices are not cheap.
Goddammit. I’ll elaborate when I wake up, but:
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Roman religion did not have a clear or consistent view of the afterlife, much less a specific heaven. Everything from reincarnation, to lingering as a spirit, to oneness with divinity, to one common afterlife, to multiple places of the afterlife (Elysium/Asphodel Fields/Taratarus) was floated, and none of the views predominated, much less agreement on HOW one was sorted.
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Sacrifices were very often done on behalf of the community, not as an individual matter, unlike “accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior”. Religion was a public affair, not a private and spiritual one, some eclectic cults and philosophies aside.
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Both individual and communal sacrifices were done to gain the favor of the gods for undertakings in the world of the living, not to curry favor for the afterlife
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Mars and Jupiter were part of the Roman pantheon, and insofar as there were cults to them, they would not and should not be regarded as separate religions or sects
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Christianity, and yes, this includes early Christianity, was very big on individuals giving up their worldly possessions to the Christian community.
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Sacrifices and feasts were provided by most pagan religions to their communities. Christianity is not special in that regard.