Catholic Help

[Oik]

Okay, look, I need some help now! Several people I talk to about Catholicism keep telling my that it was something that wasn't defined until the Nicea council in 325 and that before then things were all over the place, doctrinally speaking. Things like The Trinity and the solid set in stone doctrine of the Church and that Rome pretty much got involved and set everything up the way it is today, while other christina pretty much believe several different things (or at least the was little unity among them). PLEASE help.

Thanks

[Pio Nono]

JMJ
7/15 - St. Bonaventure

Oik,

One of the beautiful things about Holy Mother Church is that she assumes that her members believe the same things (this is what [i]catholic[/i] means in the Greek sense), and she typically doesn't step in unless things have really started to go astray. This is exactly what happened with Nicaea. Until near that time, people had pretty much agreed to the same things - problems were taken care of on a local level ([i]cf.[/i] I and II Corinthians, when Paul speaks of expelling members). However, people started believing some pretty whacked out stuff about the Divinity of Christ, and thusly the Trinity, so the Church felt the need to step in and call a council.

By the way, this wasn't the first time Holy Mother Church decided to do this - [i]cf.[/i] Acts 15. Therein is recorded the Council of Jerusalem. Some were teaching one thing, others another, so the Church had to step in and define the matter. Hope this helps.

Yours,
Pio Nono