For a long time, we hear the
Christian story of Christian been persecuted by the evil Roman, for doing the
work of god. But is it real? Well, there are increase evidence suggest, not
only is it a lie. Instead, Christians were the one who were the real trouble
makers.
We
all hear of things such as Inquisition and Crusades during the era where the
Catholic Church rule the western world, but evidence suggest these problems
exist even in the Roman era, only then the Roman was more powerful, thus,
Christian fanatics only get to act like terrorists.
According
to academic Cailian Davenport whose research is funded by the Australia
Research Council, there are 0 evidence of Roman persecuting Christians. Roman
Emperor Trajan which the Christian world accuse of killing Christians for not
worshiping Roman gods, actually once wrote an Imperial decree saying if
Christian is not to worship Roman gods, they are not to be punished. In fact,
the Roman Empire was known to be an Empire with many different religions and
different part of the world, yet, not even once did the Romans every persecuted
anybody for not worshiping the religion of Rome. The accusing of Roman throwing
Christians into the arena to be eaten by lions, but there are no evidence of
that, instead, as we know, people of the ancient days, tend to be more brutal
in their execution, the idea is to make such a brutal death a public display,
to set an example, to the rest of the people saying "If you committed a
crime, you would die via such a brutal method also", And in ancient Rome,
get eaten by hungry lions, is simply a form of death penalty, for certain
crimes and just because somebody is a Christian, it doesn't mean, he won't be a
criminal, conducting crimes such as theft, murder, rape etc.
With
greater reform to the Catholic Church today, since pope Francis took over, even
on a Catholic news website, there is a paper published by Charles Mercier
questioning whether Emperor Nero really persecuted Christians?
A
paper published by Princeton University Professor Brent D. Shaw, also talk
about there are no evidence of Romans persecuting Christians, especially, not
by Emperor Nero, whom Christianity accused of been the biggest butcher of Christians. Although there were
cases of Emperor Nero executing some Christians for causing the great fire of
Rome, it is important to note Emperor Nero never say to execute Christians,
instead it said to execute those who cause the fire, if amount those who cause
the fire is a group of Christians, naturally they would be executed, but that
is not to say Nero executed all Christians. To say that is like saying, Obama
bombing ISIS and Taliban today, is Obama bombing and persecuting Muslims.
So,
where did this whole idea of Roman persecuting Christian come from. First, the
problem could be within the bible and Christianity itself. Let's take a few examples,
[Thou
shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits and of thy liquors: the
firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me] (Exodus 22:29)
[The
Lord said to Moses "You and Eleazar the priest and the family heads of the
community are to count all the people and animals that were captured. Divide
the spoils equally between the soldiers who took part in the battle and the
rest of the community. From the soldiers who took part in the battle, set apart
as tribute for the Lord one out of every five hundred, whether people, cattle,
donkeys or sheep. Take this tribute from their half share and give it to
Eleazar the priest as the Lord's part. From the Israelites' half, select one
out of every fifty, whether people cattle donkeys, sheep or other animals. Give
them to the Levites, who are responsible for the care of the Lord's tabernacle.
So, Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses. The plunder
remaining from the spoils that the soldiers took was 675000 sheep, 72000
cattle, 61000 donkeys and 32000 women who had never slept with a man. The half
share of those who fought in the battle was 337500 sheep of which the tribute
for the Lord was 375, 36000 cattle of which the tribute for the Lord was 72,
30500 donkeys of which the tribute for the Lord was 61 16000 people of whom the
tribute for the Lord was 32.] (Number 31:25~40)
So,
despite there are many Christians who claim and believe Christianity is anti-human sacrifice, it
is not true, in fact, human sacrifice is an important part of traditional
Christian ritual. The idea that Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice to substitute
for all sacrifice of all past and future, isn't added into the religion later
and it was most likely added by the Romans, in an effort to end human
sacrificing amount those early Christians. Rome on the other hand by the era of
Juliet Cease, has already outlawed human sacrifice. In Roman paintings there
were images of Christians sacrificing their first-born child to the god of
Christianity, for many faithful Christians, this have traditionally to be
thought of as anti-Christian lies and propaganda, created by the Roman, yet, we
are finding within the bible, of Exodus 22:29, where the bible word by word,
order Christians to sacrifice their first-born child, to the god of
Christianity, upon their birth. This would naturally have led those Christian
who sacrifice their first born, to be arrested and punished to the full extent
of Roman laws, which, could involve, getting eating by lions in the gladiator
arena.
Let's
take another example from the bible
[But if this charge is true (that she wasn't a virgin on her
wedding night) and evidence of the girl's virginity is not found, they
shall bring the girl to the entrance of her father's house and there her
townsman shall stone her to death, because she committed a crime against Israel
by her unchasteness in her father's house. Thus, shall you purge the evil from
your midst.] (Deuteronomy 22:20~21)
Now,
Rome was an era of sexual liberation, even today in the 21st century, we find
it outrage to persecute women for pre-marital sex, let along the extremely
sexually liberal Roman Empire. So, is it hard to image, the outrage of Romans,
when they see Christians executing women, for having pre-marital sex, in the
exact same way, we people today, would be outrage by it? Probably more outrage
then we are? So, what would happen to those Christians, who killed the unwed
none virgin woman? They will be given the death penalty, thus nail onto the
cross or thrown into the gladiator arena to be eaten by lions.
Let's take another passage from
the bible as example
[They entered into a covenant
to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul; and
everyone who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be put to
death, whether small or great, whether man or woman] (Chronicles 15:12~13)
Image a Muslim walk down the
streets of the US and killed people for not been a Muslim, would we not execute
them. So, what would the Romans do to a Christian who kill people for not been
a Christians. The death penalty style, is probably worst then eaten by lion or
nail to the cross. According to written record, the people who caused the great
Roman fire, Emperor Nero order for them to be skinned alive, before been fed to
the lions.
So, why the Christians still
say Romans are persecuting Christians? This is within an important Christian
value, Christianity believe the god of Christianity is always right, so, these
Christians extremists do not see what they are doing to be evil, but doing
something good and just, so, when Romans kill them for doing such evil thing,
in their views, the Romans are killing them for doing something good and just,
thus, persecution of Christians. In addition, it is important to note, within
the bible there are multiple passage that talk about Christians would be
persecuted for doing the work of the Christian god. Most Christians, today,
thought that is just spreading the religion, but, considering what the bible
teach, is it not surprising there are Christians who see killing none
Christians, killing non virgins and child sacrifice to be doing the work of the
Christian god back then, even today in the 21st century, what about all those
Christians fanatics who goes on angry protests saying "god hate fags"
and "kill all gays" don't they think what they are doing, to be doing
the work of the Christian god and doing something good and just?
It can also be propaganda, much like how in modern China, the Communist propaganda claim it is the Communist party who defeated Japan in WW2, in the face of the Republic government tyranny and persecution, despite all evidence and people who went through WW2 in China, would tell you it is a lie. And despite we cannot denier during the 19th century, Europe did lots of bad thing, in China the Communist Party fixation on it, a great deal, to create anti western feeling in China. When the Catholic Church was in power, they also need to construct an evil tyrant for the Christians to struggle against and that they chose, was the Romans and Emperor Nero.
It is also important to note, unlike most ancient countries, where the King or Emperor hold 110% of all legislative power, Roman legislative power compose of both Emperor and Senate, which is where the modern democracy's legislative system is model after. So, Emperor Nero, cannot possibly outlaw Christianity and sentence all people to death for been Christians, even if he wanted to, due to he needed Senate approval, to pass any laws, which make Nero mass murder Christians, even less likely.
So, what happened in ancient Rome, was not a case of Romans persecuting Christians, it is Christian fanatics doing major act of evil and horror to others, such as mass murder and terrorism and were executed for it and they accuse Romans for persecuting Christians for it.
It can also be propaganda, much like how in modern China, the Communist propaganda claim it is the Communist party who defeated Japan in WW2, in the face of the Republic government tyranny and persecution, despite all evidence and people who went through WW2 in China, would tell you it is a lie. And despite we cannot denier during the 19th century, Europe did lots of bad thing, in China the Communist Party fixation on it, a great deal, to create anti western feeling in China. When the Catholic Church was in power, they also need to construct an evil tyrant for the Christians to struggle against and that they chose, was the Romans and Emperor Nero.
It is also important to note, unlike most ancient countries, where the King or Emperor hold 110% of all legislative power, Roman legislative power compose of both Emperor and Senate, which is where the modern democracy's legislative system is model after. So, Emperor Nero, cannot possibly outlaw Christianity and sentence all people to death for been Christians, even if he wanted to, due to he needed Senate approval, to pass any laws, which make Nero mass murder Christians, even less likely.
So, what happened in ancient Rome, was not a case of Romans persecuting Christians, it is Christian fanatics doing major act of evil and horror to others, such as mass murder and terrorism and were executed for it and they accuse Romans for persecuting Christians for it.
It is much like how Islamic
fanatics today, are getting bomb by the US and its allies, for September Eleven
attack and all their terrorist actions, but, in their view, they did nothing
wrong and is accusing the US and its allies for persecuting Muslims for it.
In fact, prior to been defeated, ancient Israel is well known for again and again invading nearby nations for worshiping other gods. This series of brutality was only ended, when ancient Israel try to invade its neighbor Kingdom the Babylonians, for worshiping the goddess Ishtar and instead, was defeated and conquer by Babylon and become a Babylonian colony, until Babylon was defeated by the Persians and become a Persian colony and when Romans defeated Persians, become a Roman colony.
In fact, prior to been defeated, ancient Israel is well known for again and again invading nearby nations for worshiping other gods. This series of brutality was only ended, when ancient Israel try to invade its neighbor Kingdom the Babylonians, for worshiping the goddess Ishtar and instead, was defeated and conquer by Babylon and become a Babylonian colony, until Babylon was defeated by the Persians and become a Persian colony and when Romans defeated Persians, become a Roman colony.
http://theconversation.com/mythbusting-ancient-rome-throwing-christians-to-the-lions-67365
http://vridar.org/2015/12/17/the-myth-of-neros-persecution-of-christians/
https://cruxnow.com/commentary/2016/12/18/maybe-nero-didnt-persecute-christians/
