Teresh said:
Of course you don't. I suppose that means you don't accept Torah as the Word of God to be taken 100% literally? Or do you?
Yes. And if you notice, not every passage of Scripture is addressed to or applies to every person. Much of the OT/Torah is written specifically to the Jews, for them. For example, regulations applying to the priestly Levite tribe don't apply to other people.
Oh, no. No one 'forced' anyone to believe in Christianity in Rome. They did, however, kill anyone that didn't. When all of the non-Christians were dead, obviously Christianity would be the dominant religion.
What history books are you reading?
"..The Roman authorities were at first indifferent to the new religion, yet very soon, incited also by the people showed themselves hostile to it, because the Christians refused to worship the ancient pagan deities of Rome, as well as the emperor. ..
The Christian religion was proclaimed "strana et illicita - strange and unlawful" (Senatorial decree of the year 35); "exitialis - deadly"(Tacitus); "prava et immodica - wicked and unbridled" (Plinius); "nova et malefica - new and harmful" (Svetonius); "tenebrosa et lucifuga - mysterious and opposed to light" (from "Octavius" by Minucius); "detestabilis- hateful" (Tacitus); therefore it was outlawed and persecuted, because it was considered the most dangerous enemy of the power of Rome, which was based upon the ancient national religion and on the emperor's worship.
The first three centuries constitute the age of Martyrs, which ended in 313 with the edict of Milan, by which the emperors Constantine and Licinius gave freedom to the Church. ..
http://www.catacombe.roma.it/en/persecuzioni.html"
"The Roman Persecution of Christians
By Neil Manzullo February 8th , 2000 Persuasive Writing
It is a time of trouble in the Roman world. .. In the midst of this sea of chaos, a religion springs forth which is virulently, or so it seems, against the things which Rome has always stood for. .. This religion is Christianity. The Romans attempt to halt its rapid insinuation of itself among the common people by persecution and oppression. .. The only chance of slowing its rapid growth lies in persecution, which the Romans readily apply. Despite the persecution, Christianity flourishes.
This is the background of the Roman persecution of Christians. From the perspective of a typical Roman emperor, Christianity threatened to lay waste to traditional Roman values and practices, to sabotage the very basis for Roman power, to pervert what was Rome. Because of this, the Romans tried to halt its spread by persecuting Christians. They justified their persecution by accusing Christians of breaking the peace of the gods, corrupting public morals, not following their ancestors, and many other things. Even though this persecution was legal and, from the perspective of a typical Roman official, necessary to the survival of the Roman state, it was completely immoral.
The Roman view of Christians from the outset was not good. Suetonius, a famous Roman historian, called Christians "a sect professing a new and mischievous religious belief" (Suetonius, p. 221). His contemporaries denounced it as superstitio parva (‘perverse irrational religious awe'), immodica (‘immoderate'), nova (‘new'), malefica (‘harmful'), among many other accusations.
There were three basic periods of the persecution. The first was from the death of Christ until right before the Great Fire of 64 A.D., which Nero falsely blamed Christians for. However, this first persecution "was a mere afterthought, and did not result in any general proscription" (Cary and Scullard, p. 487). The second period lasted from the end of the first until around 250 A.D., and the final one spanned the years from 250/251, the persecution under Decius, until 313. Up until 250, the persecution was sporadic and localized. However, from 250-251 the Emperor Decius instituted what Michael Grant, an eminent classical historian, calls a "systematic persecution of the Christians" (Grant, p. 157).
...
The Emperor Valerian instituted the state-sponsored persecution, which lasted for about three years, from 257-259. The final, and longest,
state-sponsored persecution had its inception under Emperor Diocletian, and it lasted, in the western portion of the empire, for around two years, 303-305, and around eight years in the eastern portion, 303-311. Concerning this persecution, Michael Grant remarks: "As never before, the motive of the Great Persecution which began in 303 was the total extirpation of Christianity: it was a struggle to the death between the old and new orders" (Grant, p. 208). Eusebius, a famous Church historian and eyewitness to the persecution of Diocletian, speaks about it thus when he writes:
'This was the nineteenth year of the reign of Diocletian in Dystrus [March] when the feast of the Saviour's passion was near at hand, and
royal edicts were published everywhere, commanding that the churches [should] be razed to the ground, the scriptures destroyed by fire, those who held positions of honor degraded, and the household servants, if they persisted in the Christian profession, be deprived of their liberty.
And such was the first decree against us. But issuing [other] decrees not long after,
the Emperor commanded that all the rulers of the churches in every place should be first put in prison and afterwards compelled by every device to offer sacrifice. (Medieval Sourcebook: Diocletian: Edicts Against The Christians)'
But in 250 the precarious safeguards of the Christians were swept away by the emperor Decius. .. Decius expressly commanded all Christians to abjure their faith and to take part in the pagan worship of the Empire...
http://patriot.net/~carey/afa/latinclub/persecution.htm"
"
The Early Christians of Rome
Who were the early Roman Christians? Most of them came from the large community of about 50,000 Jewish merchants and slaves who had strong ties to their mother city of Jerusalem. Even before Peter and Paul arrived in Rome, Jewish-Christians, clearly identified as followers of Jesus Christ, were found among the city's Jews. Indeed, these were the founders of the church at Rome; the apostles were among its foundation stones.
By the time of the fire Rome's Jewish-Christians had become alienated from the larger Jewish community and were beginning to separate from it. Where they lived and met was well known. The authorities, following the usual procedure, seized some of them, brought them to the Prefecture and forced them by torture to give the names of others.
"First, Nero had some of the members of this sect arrested. Then, on their information, large numbers were condemned -- not so much for arson, but for their hatred of the human race. Their deaths were made a farce." (Tacitus)
Mass Executions
Instead of executing the Christians immediately at the usual place, Nero executed them publicly in his gardens nearby and in the circus. "Mockery of every sort accompanied their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired." (Tacitus)
http://www.cptryon.org/compassion/sum00/martyrs3.html"
