irgin Mary, purgatory, sacraments, and the priesthood were taught long before the 4th century when Constantine legalized Christianity in Rome. These doctrines were believed by the same Christians who were disciples of the first apostles; the same ones who mixed paganism into the Church. Despite the many heresies and schisms in the 2,000 years of history, any accurate, historical, scriptural, or theological document will ever be found to support the lost fundamentalist underground church. It is for this reason that fundamentalists will run when you say the words "early church fathers". Fundamentalists will never take the time to examine the works of the first Christians after the death of the apostles for the simple reason that their argument will quickly be smashed. The fundamentalist "convert the pagan" crusade is driven by both a common prejudice against the church from a lack of knowledge, and the thought that paganism is still mixed within the Catholic Church. Fundamentalists will most often quote that such doctrines as The Immaculate Conception, the Eucharist, purgatory, and the Assumption as a few of the pagan rituals invented by the Catholic Church. The root of the problem lies with a misunderstanding of terminology: doctrine and practice. Doctrine is a set of infallible law disclosed by the Holy Spirit, and found in the Bible. Practice is changeable, and is the carrying out of such doctrines. While practices are a stem of doctrine, they are not doctrines themselves. The practices of the Catholic Church are the worship styles of the Catholic Church. The prayers of the mass, clerical vestments, holy water, incense, and speaking in Latin are all the forms of worship within the Catholic Church, while a drum set, guitars, and a choir may lead the congregation of a non-denominational church in praise and worship. Each church has a different practice for its service. Most main-line Protestant churches are not to different from the Cath...
