R
Randy_Carson
Guest
Dalcent-
I’ll take a shot at answering your question; I’m going to quote scripture and appeal to reason.
First, please consider that the Jews who converted were steeped in a culture that revolved entirely around their faith in God. They KNEW the prophecies better than we do; it was only necessary to explain how the prophecies were fulfilled by Christ. Baptism could have followed quickly because they were better candidates for conversion than your average man on the street today who knows the statistics of the NFL better than he knows the ten commandments.
The Gentile believers who were baptized quickly are a different matter. I would speculate that these people were “simpler” in the sense that life itself was not as complex as it is today, and they made choices with far fewer “what if’s” detracting from the decision they made. Again, this is pure speculation on my part. However, I am convinced that even the Roman citizens - with their pantheon of gods - would have been fertile soil for the seed of the gospel because they BELIEVED the gods existed. They were pre-disposed to believe the true faith and they lived in a culture that accepted worship as a part of life. We really don’t.
Finally, it appears to me that the early Church was in a state of hypergrowth necessary for its survival (persecution broke out soon led by a young man named Saul) made possible by the Holy Spirit. Thousands joined the Church on the day of Pentecost alone. God continues to draw people to Himself through the Catholic Church, but not in “revival tents” or in big coliseums.
Consider the following parable of Jesus taken from Matthew 13:
1That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9He who has ears, let him hear.”
18"Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. 22The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. 23But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."
Over time the Church realized **from experience **that some of those baptized sprang up quickly, but because they had no root, they quickly fell away. so she prepares the soil by removing the rocks and stumps and adding nutrients. She seeks those who will produce “a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown” after baptism, confirmation and reception of the Eucharist.
To use another analogy drawn from a different parable., it takes a little longer to build a house on a bedrock foundation, but when a storm blows in, it will stand while the house built upon sand will not.
I hope you will agree that laying a firm foundation is a Very Good Thing.
but the Catholic priest was having none of it. Anyway, the last I heard was he was on the road to the Orthodox priesthood.