Chapter 14: The Problem with Doctrine Anity. In the aftermath of Nicaea, Jesus' words, "Follow me," were no longer the focus of the institutional church. It was now, "Study me." And that is a real problem. For Doctrine Anity requires no real relationship with Christ and no fruit. It requires only a change in our heads, not a change in our hearts. A Pharisee can easily embrace Doctrine Anity, but he will never be able to embrace Christianity without a thorough change of heart.
Although the Catholics and Arians waged bitter war against each other with both verbal and physical swords, in reality, they both embraced the same religion, the religion of Doctrine Anity. By their actions, both sides showed themselves to be devoid of the Spirit of Christ. The 18th-century Christian writer, William Law, made a perceptive observation about Catholics and Protestants in his day. Catholics and Protestants have hated, fought, and killed one another for the sake of their different opinions.
Yet they have been in the highest union and communion with one another as to the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. This is why Christendom, full of the nicest sayings about faith, grace, works, merits, satisfactions, heresies, schisms, and so on, is also full of all the evil tendencies that prevailed in the pagan world when none of the things of God were ever thought of.
William Law could have just as accurately written the same thing about the Catholics and Arians, for both sides had been converted to Doctrine Anity. Although they disagreed on the eternal begetting of the Son, they were in utmost agreement and communion when it came to wickedness, total ignorance about the kingdom of God, and lack of godly fruit. Both the Catholics and Arians were in complete agreement that they knew more than the faithful Christians who had preceded them.
They were of one mind that the essence of Christianity was theology, not an obedient love-faith relationship with Christ. They were in complete agreement that church and state should be unified and that it was right to persecute and murder heretics. Dog meat for children. During the mid-4th century, while the great theological brawl was at its height, a man named Ulfilas brought Christianity, or rather Doctrine Anity, to the pagan Goths, a Germanic tribe that lived beyond the river.
History books often erroneously state that he was an Arian. However, we have the statement of belief that he brought to the Goths, and it is certainly not Arian. The problem is that Athanasius, the great defender of Nicaea, labeled everyone who wouldn't accept the Nicene Creed as Arian, even though they had no connection with Arius. The truth is that Ulfilas and tens of thousands like him were neither Arian nor Nicene, but held to an independent understanding of Christ's nature that was biblical.
However, ultimately, it hardly matters, for the religion of nearly everyone in the 4th century who professed Christianity was actually Doctrine Anity. The following episode makes this clear. In the summer and fall of AD 376, tens of thousands of displaced Christian Goths and other tribes arrived at the banks of the Danube River in great need. The armies of the Huns were devastating their lands and slaughtering tens of thousands of them.
They asked their Christian brothers, the Romans, for permission to cross the Danube and settle within the boundaries of the Roman Empire. The Huns had no boats with which to pursue them once they crossed the river. The Roman Emperor Valens allowed them to settle within the Roman Empire if they would serve as confederates to the Romans, to which the Goths agreed. The Emperor promised the Goths farming land, food, and protection.
Although the Roman commanders overseeing the migration of the Goths into the Roman Empire were professing Christians, they would not let the weak, old, and sickly cross the Danube. Instead, these helpless people were left to starve or else be slaughtered by the Huns. Contrary to their word, the Christian Romans provided the Christian Goths with neither sufficient food nor adequate land to grow their own foods. Before long, the Goths were facing extreme starvation.
Instead of helping them, the Romans herded the Goths into a temporary holding area surrounded by the Roman armies. Because there was only enough food to feed the Roman soldiers, the Romans heartlessly forced the Goths into cruel alternatives. Either they could starve to death or they could sell their children as slaves to the Romans in exchange for dog meat. When even more treacherous events followed, the Goths rose up in desperation against the Christian Romans.
At the Battle of Adrianople in AD 376, the Goths decisively defeated the Roman tormentors, slaughtering Emperor Valens along with most of his Roman army. After their victory, the Goths roamed at will throughout the Roman countryside, plundering towns, villages, and farms. Although these Goths later entered into a temporary peace with the Romans, eventually the armies of other Christian Goths ended up sacking Rome. Yes, these so-called barbarians who overthrew the Roman Empire were nearly all professing Christians.
At that point in time, it made little difference whether someone was Catholic, Arian, or something in between. The religion they all embraced was Doctrine Anity. It was a religion that placed great emphasis on head knowledge, but little emphasis on the indwelling of Christ. Call them what you like, but please don't call them followers of Jesus. His followers don't leave the sick and elderly to die. They don't force others to sell their children in exchange for dog meat.
And although I'm very sympathetic to the Goths, I must also say the followers of Jesus don't retaliate against their oppressors by slaughtering and plundering them.