Was their decision to show the world and us, the people in it that we must stand up for our faith even if it means a certain and horrific death or did they decide to die for their own glory?
2007-08-05 15:06:00 · 23 answers · asked by johnnydominic 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
"Was their decision to show the world and us, the people in it that we must stand up for our faith even if it means a certain and horrific death?"
the answer is YES.
2007-08-05 15:09:53 · answer #1 · answered by Perceptive 5 · 5⤊ 1⤋
The question revolves around should we die for our beliefs? I guess if we believe people do, we might, and if we don't believe they would, we might feel, beliefs must not be that important. Only we can decide in the end. I guess the idea is if we would die for them then we would live for them. It's the willingness and not the doing. Hopefully we wouldn't be put in a position. Emotions are funny, Maybe to control them we have to be willing to die and then they pass. If we're not, then we may let them drive us to risky acts where we will die of acts. Fortunately we're not killed for preaching so much today. In that day it was more of a risk. We can't judge their motives, because we're not to judge as we can't read their minds. Theoretically the motive is that they so loved the world that they risked their lifes to help get people to take a stand for a better world or it will never be as we have dominion over the earth and are commisioned to make it better, but we can't do it alone. It's a co-operative effort, one person at a time. etc.
2007-08-05 15:25:30 · answer #2 · answered by hb12 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
People are martyred for their belief in God.
Most are not given a chance to make a decision.
A few are given the choice of dying or denying Christ, but not many. A true Christian thinks only of giving glory to God, not themselves.
With love in Christ.
2007-08-06 17:15:42 · answer #3 · answered by imacatholic2 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
What catholic martyrs???
The papacy persecuted any and all Christians, if you owned a Bible you were burned at the stake, only the church and the priest could read and own a Bible, the Inquisition, villages and families destroyed...priests and educated theologians that understood the prophecies of the Bible and the danger of the papacy to the world....
those people were the ones martyred for their faith in Jesus Christ.....
2007-08-05 19:19:58 · answer #4 · answered by coffee_pot12 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
A martyr, by definition, is voluntarily sacrificing him/herself for a faith or a cause. So, ostensibly, it is not for themselves, but for something or someone else. In the case of catholic martyrs, and other christians too, they are martyred for Christ.
However, I'm sure that we all know at least one person who we could describe as having "a martyr complex". That is someone whose purpose is to make sure everyone knows how they are putting themselves out for you by hanging guilt trips on you. The goal is to gain admiration or glory, and to make a name for themselves. I'm not sure these people would ever go so far as to lay down their lives for that purpose though.
Having said that, if such a person actually took that last step of submitting to death rather than recanting to save their own life, I would be willing to forgive them their petty pridefulness, and acknowledge them as a martyr.
There is a difference between sincerity and being right. Many throughout history have laid down their lives in the sincere belief that their cause is justified and their death would serve a purpose, but in reality they were sincerely wrong. Either they were deceived by someone who manipulated them to serve their selfish purposes, or they reasoned themselves into an illogical conclusion (pun intended).
Everybody realizes that we are each going to die eventually, but we all have to decide for whom or for what we are willing to die sooner. Catholic/christian martyrs had faith in the bible's message of eternal life of the soul after death of the body, so it was worth devoting their life to the missionary purpose of Christ in spite of the oppression and suffering inflicted upon them by others.
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose." Jim Elliott - martyr for Christ
2007-08-08 02:42:54 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I don't know. There were a lot of martyrs and different circumstances.
Joan of Arc was one. There was a lot more to what she did than just talking about her faith.
I can imagine that people living in times of religious persecution would usually have kept quiet about what they really thought and believed. It would have taken special circumstances for someone to risk his or her life.
2007-08-05 15:15:40 · answer #6 · answered by Pascha 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well I’ve never heard of a “catholic” Martyr, but the martyrs I have heard about mostly did it to show that we should fight for what we believe in.
2007-08-06 03:12:07 · answer #7 · answered by nhprodigio 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
St. Peter was crucified upside down....I doubt he thought it would be fun!
Yes, they were showing us their faith. That they knew it was true and they would never deny it. St. Peter and many of the early Martyrs were there when Jesus taught and was crucified. They saw the miracles. Their faith was easy for them because they saw it with their eyes...all I have to go on is words in a book...but I still have faith because of what the went through.
2007-08-05 15:10:59 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
Maybe a little of both. People who set out to "martyr" themselves usually have their personal interest in mind -- see 72 virgins and Muslim martyrs. Some people get "martyred" without intending or expecting it of course.
2007-08-05 15:10:21 · answer #9 · answered by BAL 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
They didn't decide to die, they were murdered because they stood up for what they believed in.
If anyone went against what the catholics were trying to shove down peoples throats they would murder them very very cruelly.
you should read Foxes book of martyrs...unbelievable what was done to them wonderful Christians....
2007-08-06 09:24:30 · answer #10 · answered by Bridget 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋