Why Christians were persecuted at first?

Answer 1

Christian tradition holds that Emperor Nero (54-68 CE) began the official Roman persecution of Christians, even having the two greatest apostles, Peter and Paul, executed. However historians say that, apart from blaming the Christian residents of Rome for the Great Fire, he seems not to have persecuted the Christians at all. And there is no real evidence that either Peter or Paul was executed on his authority.

The correspondence between Pliny and Emperor Trajan (98-117) indicates that there were no general laws or decrees of the senate in force against the Christians and that neither Trajan nor any of his predecessors had publicly declared their intentions concerning the new sect. It is generally agreed that there was no organised, general, centrally directed persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire before the edict of Emperor Decius in 249. This remained in effect until 251 CE.

While there were localised and isolated instances of persecution of Christians prior to Decius, he was the first emperor to seriously persecute the new faith. Even so, the learned Origen, who from his experience as well as reading was intimately acquainted with the history of the Christians, declared that the number of martyrs was not great.

Answer 2

Rome hated all Christians even feeding them to lions as a spectator sport. There were several reasons for Rome's hatred of Christians. 1. First century Christians refused to worship the emporer. 2. They refused to get involved in politics. (For example they won't join the senate.) 3. They would not join the miltary. Roman boys were required to join the military when they came of age. Young Christian men refused military service choosing instead to face death by being torn and eaten by lions. Those faithful men, women and children were determined to follow Jesus' command to 'keep themselves separate from the world.' They were fully aware of the risks in taking this stand knowing that the world of human political systems would hate and might kill them as it did their examplar Jesus. Many modern day Christians who follow this command have experienced similar hatred from their countries governments. It was only after Christians stopped obeying this command that they gained Rome's favor.

Answer 3

Christians have always been persecuted and still are today. The Bible explains why in the book of Revelations. Satan the Dragon wants to be god. Satan attempted to annihilate Jesus Christ since His birth, but God the Father always watched over Jesus and delivered Him from Satan's hand clear up to the point where Jesus went back to heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father on the throne and reign. Since this is a position Satan always longed for, he became extremely angry and took out his hostilities on Jews and Christians, focusing all his energy on annihilating them now.

Satan works through world political and religious systems. Persecution will come from any place where Christians recognize Jesus Christ as the one and true God, and refuse to bow down to Satan or any of his empowered authorities.

Answer 4

This question requires two answers, as the question itself can have two meanings.

Roman persecution of Christians There is no real evidence of the Romans persecuting Christians before at least 97 CE, and only sporadic periods of persecution even after that. A Christian tradition holds that Nero persecuted the Christians living in Rome because he blamed them for the Great Fire, but historians have been unable to find any evidence of such persecution or even a reason for Nero to want to blame them unjustly. The alleged persecution of Christians following the great fire was never even mentioned by Christian commentators for the next several centuries.

Professor Keith Hopkins (A world full of gods: the Strange Triumph of Christianity) says that although in its early years Christianity was both illegal and at loggerheads with the state, it was largely ignored until the three purges of 250, 257 and 303- 311. When it occurred, persecution was usually because Christians refused to worship the gods, thereby risking divine wrath. Some Romans felt that the gods could be appeased by punishing Christians who overtly refused to worship them. Christian

persecution of pagans

Christian persecution of pagans Emperor Theodosius I made Christianity the official state religion of Rome in the 380s. Worship at pagan temples was outlawed in 391 and the Christian church, with state support, began to destroy, pillage and expropriate pagan temples. The Church also began a program of destroying books and all sources of knowledge and art that may destract the population from the worship of God. The great library at Alexandria, said to have contained over 700,000 scrolls, was burned down in 391 CE. The period now known as the Dark Ages would commence within the next century.