Facebook in the 3rd century b.c.e.

I giggled to myself and then outloud as I read for my History of Christian thought class on Wednesday night.  It occured to me that the same arguments that Christians have with each other today have been going on since the beginning of time.  I read and reread the paragraph as though I were experiencing dejavu.  My Uncle Stan is my mentor.  He is the one who helped me as a teenager get beyond the knowledge of the Bible and to the application of what the stories teach us.  Many would call him a bleeding heart liberal.  I call him one of the finest Christians I know who truly lives with the most integrity of anyone I have ever come across.  He writes a daily blog at www.inourelements.com.  Frequently a long debate will follow on facebook following the sharing of one of his blogs.  As I read the paragraph again from

Ferguson, Everett (2009-08-30). Church History ,Volume One: From Christ to Pre-Reformation: The Rise and Growth of the Church in Its Cultural, Intellectual, and Political Context (Kindle Locations 2642-2644). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

I told my cousin that I just had to share this with her because it read so much like a Stan facebook debate.  If there were face book in the 2nd or 3rd century B.C.E the above referenced passage would read like this:

Hippolytus:  (labeled a rigorist)  certain sinners such as mrderers and adulterers can not be reconciled to the church, some sins only God could forgive.
 
     comment:  Calistus (labled a laxist) the church is able to forgive such and readmit them to the fellowship of the church.

     comment:  Hippolytus:  How could you conive to condone adultery and murder. 

Here we are some 2010 years later having the same kind of rigorist vs. laxist arguments.  Makes me wonder if we will ever have true kingdom "on earth as it is in heaven."