The Da Vinci 's Theory on Constantine 's Baptism

With regard to the article written by the Da Vinci, pertaining Constantine 's baptism to Christianity,would it had been  the case that Constantine join Christianity to win majority of voters?.....well lets look into the Da Vinci 's theory to get an insight on this subject. 

However, another part of the Da Vinci Code is remarkably on target, pinpointing the outline of a vast conspiracy which did occur over hundreds of years, especially during the fourth century, the time of Constantine! When we separate the facts from the fiction, we find that the Da Vinci Code touches briefly on the outline of a real, true “vast conspiracy” which occurred in the Christian church about that time, which if fully understood would shock and stun every Sunday going Christian and church member of the mainstream churches, today!

Many Christian churches still remain in total denial about the Da Vinci Code, but the facts of history are sharp and on point. It is always rather to look on both sides of the coins before sticking to only one side.The great changes made in the fourth century, during the time of Roman emperor Constantine. The novel gives an intriguing glimpse into this other “mystery,” which it points out.

Dan Brown has one of his antagonists point out that Emperor Constantine was a wily, clever man, whose empire was threatened with open revolt and division, because of warring religious interests. The character says, “Constantine converted the sun-worshiping pagans to Christianity. By fusing pagan symbols, dates, and rituals into the growing Christian tradition, he created a kind of hybrid religion that was acceptable to both parties”


The character goes on, “The vestiges of pagan religion in Christian symbology are undeniable. Egyptian sun disks became the halos of Catholic saints. Pictographs of Isis nursing her miraculously conceived son Horus became the blueprint for our modern images of the Virgin Mary nursing Baby Jesus. And virtually all the elements of the Catholic ritual – the miter, the altar, the doxzology, and communion, the act of ‘God-eating’ – were taken directly from pagan mystery religions.”

Further reading is found from a pdf article entitled:
Beyond the
Da Vinci Code –
The Mystery Babylon
CODE

Here is a little bit of what encouraged  Constantine to baptism to as told by the great Historian Eusebius  Pamphilus:

Constantine 's conversion happened during a war against his brother-in-law and co-emperor, Maxentius. According to the historian Eusebius , bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, before the crucial battle of Milvian Bridge, Constantine was convinced that he needed divine assistance. While he was praying for such assistance, God sent him a vision of a cross of light at midday, bearing the inscription "in hoc signo vinces " ("in this sign you will be victorious"). That night he had a dream that reaffirmed his earlier vision. God told him to use the sign he had been given as a safeguard in all of his battles. Thus, Constantine converted to Christianity and ordered the symbol of his Savior's name (the intersection of the Greek letter chi and rho) to represent his army. Constantine was victorious in the battle of the Milvian Bridge, and he continued to wear the symbol for Christ against every hostile power he faced.

Some argue as to whether or not Constantine's conversion experience was authentic. Some hypothesize that the "vision" Constantine saw was nothing more than a form of the rare natural event called the "halo phenomenon." This is caused by the sun reflecting off of ice crystals instead of rain in a rainbow. However, most historians accept Constantine's statement since he gave the testimony on oath. Also, Constantine showed sound judgment many times over in other situations. Further, Constantine did not recount this vision toEusebius until long after that battle had been won and he was in power. Thus, he was not using the story as a tool to gain acceptance. There is no way to "prove" the event, of course, but what is important is that Constantine believed it to be true.

His conversion helped Christianity in many ways. Followers were safe from persecution, and Christian leaders were given many gifts by the Emperor. Constantine's adherence to Christianity ensured exposure of all his subjects to the religion, and he had no small domain. He also made Sunday an official Roman holiday so that more people could attend church, and made churches tax-exempt. However, many of the same things that helped Christianity spread subtracted from its personal significance and promoted corruption and hypocrisy. Many people were attracted to the Church because of the money and favored positions available to them from Constantine rather than from piety. The growth of the Church and its new-found public aspect prompted the building of specialized places of worship where leaders were architecturally separated from the common attendees, which stood in sharp contrast to the earlier house churches which were small and informal

Constantine believed that the Church and the State should be as close as possible. From 312-320 Constantine was tolerant of paganism, keeping pagan gods on coins and retaining his pagan high priest title "Pontifex Maximus" in order to maintain popularity with his subjects, possibly indicating that he never understood the theology of Christianity. From 320-330 he began to attack paganism through the government but in many cases persuaded people to follow the laws by combining pagan worship with Christianity. He made December 25th, the birthday of the pagan Unconquered Sun god, the official holiday it is now--the birthday of Jesus. It is likely that he also instituted celebrating Easter and Lent based on pagan holidays. From 330-337 Constantine stepped up his destruction of paganism, and during this time his mother, Helen, made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and began excavations to recover artifacts in the city. This popularized the tradition of pilgrimages in Christianity

As far as my point of view about both articles is concerned,i would agree with Da Vinci about Constantine 's idea of using the church as a tool to regain power and continue ruling the entire world as well as Rome.I believe Constantine exchanged the Christian 's freedom with their votes and support.

The question is...why would Constantine want the government and church to work together while such a predicament never happened?.Is it not that the Holy Bible articulates that one cannot serve two masters if she/he was of God?Constantine mastered His campaign  's strategy,understood His enemy and played his game in a way that at the end of it all he would win.