HOW DID CHRISTIANITY TAKE ROOT IN THE BEGINING? WHAT DOES IT SAY

 

Today Christianity has the most number of followers in the world numbering about 2.3 billion. The crucifixion of Jesus happened sometime around 30AD, but only about 350 years later Christianity was accepted by the Roman Empire.  So why did it gain so much following and so much prominence? For that we have to check the background of the Roman Empire which controlled all of Europe then. Augustus Caesar was the Emperor of Rome till 14 AD and thereafter the Emperor was Tiberius Caesar. Jesus Christ received no royal patronage as long as he lived.

The Roman Empire was built on blood and battle. War was an accepted part of life then and spared no one including the families. The families of those losing the battle and the other men who survived the war were either employed by the Romans as slaves or were sold as such. There was total oppression of the people. By the time of Christ, the so called Roman senate became redundant and was ignored by the Emperors. A slave’s life had no value and they are treated more like cattle than humans. They were forced to fight each other to death in order to provide entertainment to the people.

It is estimated that in the 1^st century AD at the time of Jesus the Roman Empire had a population between 50-60 million of which roughly about 10 million were enslaved.  

Even among the freemen there was a distinction. If they belonged to newly taken areas despite being freemen their rights are restricted. Only their children had the real rights freemen enjoyed. These were the conditions at the time of Tiberius Caesar. So the slaves faced utter repression and lived without any hope and even the newly added freemen too had restricted rights.  

So for about 25% of the Roman population life was not good at all and for the slaves it was sheer misery. Such a state of affairs does bring forth a reaction and that reaction came in with Christianity. Jesus’s father Joseph was only a limited freeman as he was a Jew.

From the absolute oppression at that time Christianity preached exactly the opposite; There is but one God and Jesus was the son of God, leave all violence and bear with anyone who oppresses you with calm and faith in God. Never raise a finger against those men and if they hit you on one cheek, then show them the other. Always help others and spread the word of God to them.  Love everyone despite whatever they do to you.

So Christianity is an extremely pacifist religion which does not know anything called aggression. It believes that everyone is equal before God and only by doing good deeds, preaching the people about the greatness and the kingdom of God a Christian would be pardoned by god for his sins. All the first `12 disciples of Jesus were Jews and therefore not full free men.

It is a great irony that followers of such a religion which preaches to love others unconditionally could go into the crusades on a killing spree. By doing that they have completely violated all the precepts set down by Jesus.

FOLLWING ARE SOME OF THE MAIN TEACHINGS OF JESUS

There are some important teachings of Jesus that may be difficult to follow for Christians but they form the core of his teachings:

1.       Luke 16:13-You cannot serve both God and money. Jesus makes it clear that it is not possible for us to fully love and serve God and money at the same time. 

2.       Luke 6:27-28, 35-Love and pray for your enemies-Jesus encourages and commands that his followers both love and pray for those who actively oppose what he and his followers stand for, and practice. 

3.       Luke 6:29-Turn the other cheek-When someone hurts you or insulted you, then simply take the beating or hurt and respond with kindness and love. 

4.       Luke 9:23-Deny Self, take up Christ-like suffering-His followers must deny themselves, take up the suffering for Jesus and follow him. Suffering brings life, denying self brings life, losing  life means finding it. 

5.       Luke 9:57-62, 14:26, 21:16-17-Following Jesus is more important than family. Jesus says “ If you want to be my disciple, you must by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and yes even your own life, Otherwise you cannot be my disciple”.

6.      Mathew 7:12, Luke 6:31-Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This is perhaps one of the greatest sayings of Jesus. Just treat others as you yourself would like to be treated. This psalm gives a perfect moral standing on which to base ones actions on others. We would not like any harm to come to us, so never harm anyone, we want to be happy, so make others happy and so on.      

7.       Mathew 7:13, 13:50, 25:46-Hell is real and most people are headed there. Jesus says “Do you pray every day for the unbelievers? Do you talk about God with them often and purposefully? Do you actually share the good news with them? 

8.       Luke 21:17-We cannot be loved & accepted by both Jesus and the World-Jesus said Everyone would hate you because you are my followers which means as per Paul “I am not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal I would not be Christ’s servant”. 

9.       Mathew 5:14-15-Forgive others, or God would not forgive you. Jesus said “If you forgive others who sin against you your heavenly father would forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others your father would not forgive your sins. 

10.   Luke 12:8-9, Mathew 10:32-Deny Jesus before men, get denied by him before God-Jesus says “ I tell you the truth , everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, the Son of man will also acknowledge in the presence of Gods Angels.