User:Leadwind

Edit unto others as you would have them edit unto you.

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Leadwind means "weighty, deadly metal" and "breeze, breath, spirit of life"; thus yin and yang.

Leadwind means "a winding spiral made of lead," something too heavy and weak to be practical, yet pretty while it lasts.

Leadwind means "hot air about article intro," my WP style.

Leads

A lead should be able to "stand on its own as a concise version of the article." See wp:lead. Lots of leads are way too short. Let's make leads better, in accord with guidelines and policies.

A good lead does two opposite things: make it less necessary for the reader to read the rest of the article, and make the reader more interested in reading the rest of the article.

Purgatory controversy (my first WP war and still the fondest)

Purgatory was the first topic that got me working on WP back in 2006. Here are some things I learned while trying to get purgatory to NPOV.

Prayer for the dead

Holy Moly, the Catholics are right, prayer for the dead, especially requiem masses, existed in the early church. It might have been a 2nd century development. It's certainly scarce even in the Catholic Bible (Vulgate). It's practiced by the Eastern churches, too.

Unchanging doctrine

It's Catholic doctrine that Catholic doctrine has never changed. It's been added to and reinterpreted, but not changed. Thus, if anyone were to show that doctrine about purgatory has ever changed, they'd prove the whole RCC wrong, etc. But Purgatory as we know it is medieval, so how do they say the doctrine's never changed? By defining purgatory doctrine as broadly as possible. Fire was named at Lyon in the 13th century, but left out at Ferrera and Trent. Fire is now reinterpreted as metaphorical. "Place" was never specified, but never denied. "Fire" was omitted but not disclaimed.

The Catholic Church sets dogma very conservatively, generally only when they have to settle a dispute. Instead of actively setting out what happens to whom when they die, they commit to paper that which they need to. This Pope, since 1870, has had the authority to declare doctrine, but only one Pope's done it once, and on a topic with little political import (Mary's Assumption, I think).

Early Christian beliefs (not purgatory)

Early Christians mostly believed that the souls of the dead were kept in the underworld (called hades in Greek, infernus in Latin) until judgment day. There may be a division among the dead, with each soul inhabiting one area or another depending on their communion with the church, holiness, etc. This division might be two-way (Hippolytus, Lazarus and the rich man) or four-way (Enoch, Augustine, etc.). Or they may all be equally in the God's presence (joy to the saved and doom to the lost).

Council of Trent

The council of Trent, in making the final and current dogmatic statement on purgatory, said that the clergy were to hide certain details about purgatory from the uneducated because those details seem to be false. The less said about them, the better. Such discussions are not "edifying."

Eastern Orthodox

The RCC favors the Eastern Orthodox over the Protestants. It considers EO churches to be damaged but still real, apostolic churches. It considers Protestant churches to be denominations or associations, basically because they lack apostolic succession. They accept Protestant baptisms because they're at least honest attempts to baptize as the "real" Christians do. The EO provide an excellent PR opportunity for the Vatican, as the little guy who agrees with one of the two big guys. Without the EO, the RCC is 5 to Protestant 4. Overtures toward the EO demonstrate the open-mindedness of the Vatican, even while it discounts Protestant nonchurches.

Early church

Anti-Nicene Era	Notable events
Apostolic age c 30 - c 100	Apostles establish congregations in communities across the Roman Empire, including an early church in Rome. Paul founds Christian theology in his epistles. Evangelists write the four orthodox gospels. Apostles Paul, Peter, and James, are martyred, and the last of those who knew Jesus die.
Growth of Church c 100 - c 300	The church grows despite persecutions. Early church fathers defend the faith against pagans and heretics. Church structure is established. The Church of Rome asserts authority over other churches. Paul's epistles, the Gospels, and various other texts are accepted as scripture. The Roman Empire suffers invasion and civil war, and the pagans often turn on Christians during times of crisis. Martyrs are glorified.
Victory of the Church c 300 - 325	Constantine converts, unites the empire, and convenes the Council of Nicaea to establish church unity.