The Growing Effects of Persecution

The Growing Effects of Persecution

Throughout the ages of Christianity, there have been many drawbacks to this cause. Many leaders among the Christian community were persecuted due to the disbelief of Christ being the Messiah among pagan worshipers, heathens, and even other credible religious leaders. This persecution more often led to death, or other horrifying results. But no matter what horrendous effects, there was always a brighter side causing the Christian faith to grow even stronger.

Because of Rome's strictness in following the laws and rules, they were very tradition bound. Many of the Pharisees were determined that the Old Testament was the only acceptable basis of religious law that the people of Rome should follow. The believed that Elijah was the Messiah, and they were waiting for his return. They also didn't expect a "Messiah" to act the way that Christ did, having anything to do with sinners was looked down upon. However, after Christ's death and resurrection, the disciples were told to go out into the world and spread the good news of their salvation. This didn't appeal to the Pharisees at all, and they immediately set out to stop this message of freedom. The religious officials continuously put Simon and Peter in jail, Stephen was stoned to death, and there have been accounts of John's attempted murder in boiling hot oil. Many Christians were flogged, stoned to death, skinned alive, fed to lions, and many more gruesome things. Nero burned half of Rome and then blamed the Christians, he even dipped some in kerosene and then lit them on fire so that there was light for the sporting events. Peter was even crucified, but he didn't feel he deserved to die the same way as Christ so he was crucified upside-down. Persecution was so bad that Christians were accused of having a "hatred for the human race," cannibalism, and incest.

The response of the Christians has a lot to do with the influence upon the church. The Bible states in the book of Acts that after being beat by the Roman officials, Peter and James went out celebrating that they had been punished for spreading the news of Christ. After this event, and several escapes from prison due to divine intervention, Peter and the other Apostles were able to bring salvation unto many people. These events helped make the church what it is today. The church at this point in time was growing because of the faith that two groups of people displayed. These people were martyrs (people who died for their faith) and confessors (people who were tortured for their faith), these men and women were also known as witnesses. It's because