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Spiritual Metamorphosis

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Submitted By tsaheed01
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The Spiritual Metamorphosis

Summary:
The chapter explains the changes in religious attitudes during the second and the third centuries. It describes the hardship the Christians experienced in the second and third centuries.
Theory/Concepts:
The Romans had many gods, and they had their executive deities. The Greek and the Romans had parallel gods with different names. An example is Jupiter identical to Juno and Minerva correspondent to Athena in Greek (216:2). None of these gods claimed single domination on truth and individuals were allowed to serve several of them at the same time. The worship of these gods increased loyalty of different groups of people and not a lot of people disagreed to addition of new gods (216:17). The Jews, later identified as Christians did not condone the act of worshipping other gods apart from God. The Romans knew this, and they excused Christians from participating in other cults (217:2). The Romans worshiped the gods mainly due to social and political influence; most of the cults did not guarantee anything against death, sickness or any sort of liberation after life (217:21). The Egyptian philosopher Plotinus made the principle of a “single one” known to most people. He described the single one as “the infinite, unknowable, and the unapproachable except through a mystical experience” (218:3). The Christians were able to help some Romans convert in the period of increased receptivity in religion. The Christian God was not comparable to the Greek or Roman gods, their God was the one God, and the founder and savior of the religion, Jesus, lived and died a Jew. Jesus preached loving of neighbors and devotion to God. He also condemned the wicked ways of the Kings, and claimed to speak with authority. He was arrested and accused of naming himself King (219:17). According to the Romans, one of the miracles of Jesus was his

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