a religion until it was the approved religion of the Roman empire some 400 years later?
2006-12-26 09:37:26 · 26 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
A few reasons really:
a) those thousands that saw him do miracles - all written after the fact. Could have been two people there and whoever wrote it embellished the truth....
b) up until 400 CE, Christians where an excellent source of protien for lions in the arenas.
2006-12-26 09:40:27 · answer #1 · answered by YDoncha_Blowme 6 · 5⤊ 0⤋
Christianity really took off when the story was circulated that Jesus had risen from the dead and appeared to his disciples later. The only reason why the Roman empire adopted Christianity was because the Christians were more wealthy, powerful and brutal than the Pagans. Christians were slaughtering Pagans all over the empire, so Rome had to go with the scariest group. Not the better group, the pushiest and most violent one. There is no proof that anyone saw Jesus perform any of these miracles...the fact that the stores were written does not make them true, and even if they were true, it would not follow that this was the cause of the growth of Christianity.
2006-12-26 17:42:32 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Miracles have never converted people. Not then. Not now. P.S. Christianity "took off" on the Day Of Pentecost 50 days after the Resurrection. It totally conquered the Roman Empire and spread throughout the world in less than 300 years. Check your facts.
2006-12-26 17:46:42 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I took off long before it was the approved religion of the Roman Empire. The spread of Christianity beyond Palestine was due to Paul. "Christians" was a derogatory term that eventually took on a positive connotation when Christianity became the "official" religon of the Roman Empire. During Paul's time, followers of Jesus were called followers of "The Way."
2006-12-26 17:42:30 · answer #4 · answered by morahastits 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The first century Christians would take offense to that.
Jesus did pretty well, he started with twelve men, and some of his gatherings had 3000 to 5000 people in attendance. That is some feat for a nation like Israel, when the leadership of the temple were in direct opposition with what Jesus was preaching.
The church suffered at every turn by the Jewish leaders, and then in Macedonia and Greece, and Rome.
2006-12-26 17:46:37 · answer #5 · answered by Theophilus 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In a dictatorship, people live in fear of the authority in power. Christianity was not an established 'religion' until an authority in the form of Constatine made it the official religion of the day. But that did not stop it from growing in the meantime. People were persecuted and it kept the faith growing and strengthening. Right now, in places were there are little or no persecution, the faith grows weaker and weaker. When persecution comes, those who truly believe grow stronger and stronger spiritually. It is not the miracles that made them believe. It was the man, and the death and resurrection that caused them to believe.
2006-12-26 17:46:16 · answer #6 · answered by rejoiceinthelord 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, the NT didn't get written down until a few decades after his death, and the cannon for the Bible didn't come about until Constantine requested it. The reason that Christianity blossomed was after Constantine converted, it made being a Christian okay, and then it was later the state religion. (People were required to follow this religion instead.)
2006-12-26 17:40:45 · answer #7 · answered by Mrs. Pears 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mass media wasn't so good back then. Not that it had improved much by the time it was made state religion, but look at the Roman Empire--it spanned three continents. Huge.
2006-12-26 17:39:23 · answer #8 · answered by angk 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Miracles are something attractive only to primitive people.
If they saw guns, airplanes, computers...in those days, they would be more impressive.
The real miracle from Christ is not the feeding of poor people, but of His selfless love for all mankind. Selfless love is really difficult to perform and more difficult to see. That is why, up to this day, still millions of people don't see His selfless love.
2006-12-26 17:49:59 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The pharisees were a very powerful group. I'm sure that the pharisees made things that Jesus did seem evil and most ppl went with the majority. It was after Jesus was crucified and the apostles were carrying on Jesus' works that ppl began to open their eyes to what Jesus did for them
2006-12-26 18:00:04 · answer #10 · answered by julie 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋