Regarding the Apostles' Creed:
The Apostles' Creed may have started around 500 AD but appears to be very similar to the Old Roman Creed which may date back to around 340 AD. It is similar to the Athanasian Creed which may date back to 415 AD. It has been argued that at least part of the Old Roman Creed was based on Arianism which is attributed to Arius who lived around 256-336 AD. Arius is believed to have been a student at the exegetical school in Antioch, where he studied under Saint Lucian the Martyr (240-312) who was a Christian presbyter, theologian. I think a presbyter is an elder or a priest in the Presbyterian Church.
Presbyterianism may trace back to John who was with Jesus.
Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism is not Catholicism. But then again, Catholicism has two meanings. So, when you say Catholicism, I may not know which meaning you are using. If you are using one meaning, then you might be right. But if you are using the other meaning, then you would be wrong. I don't remember if I told you what those two meanings are.
Catholicism Versus Christianity
Catholicism can mean the universal body of Christ. That is the general definition of the term which would mean Catholicism and Christianity and Christendom are one and the same. However, when I say Catholicism, I'm using a more specific definition to mean specific doctrines and practices which came out of the Roman Catholic Church which was created by the Roman Empire which adopted the religion of Christianity and fused it with Paganism and a variety of traditions, practices. So, they forced the religion on everyone living in the empire. You had to be a Christian or actually a Catholic. And again, Catholicism has two meanings at least. But when I say Catholicism, I am talking about the Pope and the Roman Empire and Paganism and a variety of things which was added to the religion that the empire adopted and forced onto citizens. You were required by law or alleged law that you had to be Catholic. Catholicism became a state religion of the empire. They hijacked Christianity and called it Catholicism. And yes, the general definition of Catholicism means Christianity. But the specific meaning and application of what the empire did with it changed things gradually over many years.
An Influence Upon the Apostles' Creed
Arius was influenced by the writings of Origen of Alexandria (184-253 AD). who wrote On First Principles which I think was later translated into English. I downloaded the PDF of what I think is a translation from the Greek and also the Latin. So, it offers two translations into English in the PDF.
The Old Roman Creed
The Apostles' Creed appears to be a newer version of the Old Roman Creed (340 AD apx) which is similar to the Nicene Creed which was adopted in 325 AD by the First Council of Nicaea which met in what is now Turkey by the Roman Emperor Constantine I. The council was meeting partly to resolve a debate within the Church of Alexandria which was probably founded back in 49 AD by Mark the Evangelist who was probably one of the disciples of Christ.
First Council of Nicaea
Constantine had invited to the council all 1,800 bishops of the Christian church within the Roman Empire (about 1,000 in the east and 800 in the west), but a smaller and unknown number attended. Eusebius of Caesarea counted more than 250, Athanasius of Alexandria counted 318, for example.
Different Groups
I say that to say different groups went to the council. It wasn't simply Roman Catholics. I say that to say a diverse group of people from different denominations and sects came together to create the Nicene Creed which was probably an inspiration behind the origin of The Apostles' Creed later on. There were probably over 300 bishops, pastors, priests, etc, at the council. It wasn't just one group of people who all believed in the same exact doctrines and such.
The Sasanian Empire
Some of the Christians who attended the council came from the Sasanian Empire which was an empire of Persian or Iranian people. It was probably the last empire in that region before the rise of Islam and the Muslims.
Middle East Christians
Christian churches spread all over the Middle East before the rise of Islam. Christianity was spreading all over the place into Europe, Africa, Asia, Russia.
Centuries of Wars With Jihadism
You mentioned the wars between Catholics and Muslims. Yeah, it went on for hundreds of years on and off it seems. History books will sometimes call the Muslims as barbarians. Sometimes, there were wars with Muslims and sometimes it may have been not Muslims or a combination of different groups. Some history books may say it was Catholics and some may say it was the Christians. Sometimes, history books will use the two interchangeably. In other words, some people will call Catholics as Christians. I try to make a distinction however.
Soteriology
The Soteriology of Christianity is on the doctrine of Faith Alone but Catholicism are against Faith Alone.
The Lord's Prayer
Burning Books
For many centuries now since Rome stole Christianity, they would go all around the world burning books about early church history and other things too. They kept some of the books and other things in a giant super secret underground library under the Vatican City where they keep thousands if not millions of books and historical artifacts and many different things as their way to hide and lie about world history and many different things. The Vatican (Pope) is not the only group burning books and history and everything.
Freemasons
The Freemasons might be doing things like that and they probably or kind of go back to King Solomon around 1000 BC or something as in 3000 years or maybe not exactly that long but maybe in some ways. There is also the Illuminati and the Jesuits and probably other groups that probably go back many centuries or longer and some of them may be burning books and stuff too.
That is one of the reasons I write about history, because I want to save it before more people try to delete more of it.
RE: 2022-02-06