"I asked them whether they were Christians, and if they confessed, I asked them a second and third time with threats of punishment. If they kept to it, I ordered them for execution;" Pliny c.112, a Roman Govener and Historian.
Would you die for a lie?
2006-08-26 05:40:09 · 21 answers · asked by daniel 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
They did not die for a lie. They died for the truth. Jesus lived, died on the cross and rose again after 3 days. Hard to understand for non-believers, which is why the christians pray for all the lost souls. God Bless.
2006-08-26 05:46:04 · answer #1 · answered by Mom of 3 2 · 2⤊ 4⤋
It's not that hard to explain. If one doesn't know something is a lie and it's presented as truth they are willing to accept it. On top of this if what they are believing is somehow personally beneficial to them (or at least viewed as such) they will have a hard time letting go.
Let's take it one step further. If you've convinced someone that they're worthless (original sin) but someone loves them anyway and all they have to do is believe in this person (Jesus) and when they die they will enjoy a perfect existence (Heaven) that is something they will hold very dear. If they are consumed enough by this belief the self loathing part (original sin) becomes a basis to justify that life is bad, and the promise of something good (heaven) is very attractive. Throw in a threat, that if you don't believe you will not go to heaven, but you will spend forever in unimaginable pain (hell).
Since you hold this belief so dear would you be willing to easily part with it? If you believe that something better waits for you after death what would seem to be most rational choice for someone in this mindset? Especially since the alternative in their mind is hell.
People die for a lie all of the time... you can't seriously think that the 9/11 hijackers or other suicide bombers don't share a similar mindset. Unless you agree that they go to heaven too.
2006-08-26 13:01:30 · answer #2 · answered by ChooseRealityPLEASE 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Because they were worshipping the philosophy of Jesus much more than the mangod. Because Christianity of that time was very different from the supernaturalism of the 500AD and later period. Because they were duped. Besides the bible of today really dates from about 400 AD, the bible they read was probably very very different, and varied by area. There are so many reasons the Christians of the pre-400 AD period are unrelated to Christianity after 500 AD.
2006-08-26 12:47:54 · answer #3 · answered by Charles D 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
many Pagans were killed by christian fanatics, if you want to play the game of who killed the most then i whould say christians killed the most people hands down, nothings changed and they wont get any better. I was harassed by a christian last night and it sickens me to see that nothing has changed and nothing ever will, if youre there type of christian to burn someone at the stake go ahead, you will prove all the Pagans right for believing you are a threat to mankind
2006-08-27 00:51:11 · answer #4 · answered by badferret 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
All of the Apostles except for John the Beloved, died terrible deaths. All that they had to do to be spared was recant about Jesus.
No one goes to their death for a lie that they know to be a lie, yet all of them died with "Jesus is risen!" on their lips.
Here's an example: When Nixon's staff was investigated for their roles in the Watergate affair, they couldn't keep their lie straight for two weeks. And the worst that they were threatened with was prison. And the truth spilled out as a result.
Therefore, because of the testimony and example of the Apostles, those that followed could trust with certainty that they died for the Truth.
2006-08-26 12:48:58 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
Lots of people die for lies. In fact, quite a few have recently, over in Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, and Afghanistan.
If you meant to imply that this was evidence in favor of Christian beliefs, you're really scraping the bottom of the barrel.
2006-08-26 12:48:27 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
daniel d,
That's one of those things where the non believers fall apart. Did you see Charles D answer? Stated as if he knew something, when clearly he does not.
Judaism wouldn't have been around for very long if God didn't keep it going. It had laws against all the popular riyuals and beliefs of the day. The Children of Israel were consantly not wanting to do the things God said to do in it.
Now with Christianity, we have many martyrs. The first being these guys that ran away when Jesus got taken by the Sanhedrin. They couldn't hold together, as soon as troble showed up they fled.
But after the Resurrection and especially after Pentecost, they changed. They withstood beatings and imprisonment multiple times, but also died for what they believed:
XIII. Thomas Called Didymus, preached the Gospel in Parthia and India, where exciting the rage of the pagan priests, he was martyred by being thrust through with a spear.
XIV. Luke The evangelist, was the author of the Gospel which goes under his name. He travelled with Paul through various countries, and is supposed to have been hanged on an olive tree, by the idolatrous priests of Greece.
XV. Simon Surnamed Zelotes, preached the Gospel in Mauritania, Africa, and even in Britain, in which latter country he was crucified, A.D. 74.
XVI. John The "beloved disciple," was brother to James the Great. The churches of Smyrna, Pergamos, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea, and Thyatira, were founded by him. From Ephesus he was ordered to be sent to Rome, where it is affirmed he was cast into a cauldron of boiling oil. He escaped by miracle, without injury. Domitian afterwards banished him to the Isle of Patmos, where he wrote the Book of Revelation. Nerva, the successor of Domitian, recalled him. He was the only apostle who escaped a violent death.
XVII. Barnabas Was of Cyprus, but of Jewish descent, his death is supposed to have taken place about A.D. 73. And yet, notwithstanding all these continual persecutions and horrible punishments, the Church daily increased, deeply rooted in the doctrine of the apostles and of men apostolical, and watered plentously with the blood of saints.
- excerpt from Foxe's Book of Martyrs
2006-08-26 13:10:54 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
Amen!
I wouldn't die for a lie, but I'd die for Jesus. Praise the Lord we aren't asked to do that in most countries today, but there are still those that risk their lives to proclaim the name of Christ.
Those early Christians didn't just die, many times they were tortured in almost unimaginable ways.
2006-08-26 12:48:04 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
Who knows why they died. Sadly we have ample evidence these days that lots of people are prepared to die for certain beliefs. Once people have their minds made up (for whatever reasons) then rational thought and behaviour goes out the window.
2006-08-26 12:46:19 · answer #9 · answered by bonzo the tap dancing chimp 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Muslims die all the time for their beliefs. So do Buddhists, Hindus, and others.
The fact that they were willing to die for their cause is admirable, but it does not necessarily prove that they died for something that was "true."
2006-08-26 12:54:25 · answer #10 · answered by Colin 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋