In all of the 200,000 years humans have been on Earth, it is possible for a single mass of people to make an impact on the way we live our lives to this day. “There are causes worth dying for, but none worth killing for” (Quotes about Martyrdom 1). Those people who stand up for the good instead of laying back and watch the evil triumph, can be only one of the many causes why we live the way we do now. Martyrs, as these people are called, made a great impact on one of the world’s biggest religions, Christianity.
In certainty they are humans like you and I that would much rather die than to watch their faith trampled over by an idea they do not believe in (“Early Christian Martyrs” 2). A martyr affirms a border that leaves them out, leaves them to be chosen for being different, a target, just like Germans felt about Jews when they began exterminating them. The Christians became a huge population but not all in one place, they were scattered around all over the place (“Why did Christianity Succeed” 1). People around them who were not Christian began to suspect that they performed acts of anti-social events like incestuous sexual relations and cannibalism, judging them because they were different (“Why Did Christianity Succeed?” 2). For people around them, martyrs became like heroes, strong and willing to fight for others who denied their faith and were not willing to fight for their own faith (“Early Christian Martyrs” 1). They are well known among thousands and thousands of people. We do not have hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people being killed, we only have few amounts of those who were willing to be martyred that is why they were admired and loved (“Why Did Christianity Succeed?” 4). “So in that sense, like any extre...
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...had been terribly hurt, Perpetua went and helped Felicitas instead of thinking about herself and her own wellbeing. Her actions shows Christians that in times of needs it is not always about yourself, it is about the people in need around you. Those who are weaker and more fragile need the help of others to keep them motivated and pursuing in what is right.
All in all, Christianity has been highly impacted on the works of these loyal martyrs. Their love and friendship with God drove them to seek what was right even when they had to put their lives at risk. “We found this man perverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor; and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king” (“Famous Trials” 13). Jesus was accused unjustly but still accepted His fate that God had for him. Martyrs taught Christians many things making it the religion that it is today.
A major part of the fighters in the crusades were untrained and unqualified peasants who went out to get back the holy lands for the church from the ?evil Muslims? (Medieval Europe 164-167). This was called the Peasants Crusade. In order to get these peasants, who knew no better, to go and fight the church told them that if they were to go and fight these ?horrible Muslims? then they would automatically get admission into heaven. Of course this automatically appealed to the peasants being that they were so god-fearing. They thought that if they helped the church then they would go to heaven and so they jumped at such an opportunity to get a get-into-heaven-free card. These people in all their religious glory went in and attacked the city of Nicaea (TWW, 104), and got killed. The city of Nicaea was a well fortified city controlled by Seljuk Turks. The peasants went in and attacked and literally got slaughtered. Only 2000 peasants survived their hasty attack. Unfortunately most of the crusades went this way(TWW)
For the author, the fact that Perpetua is a woman strengthens her sacrifice for her faith. This is due to the societal norms and customs she disobeys and overcomes to become a martyr. In ancient Rome, they lived in a patriarchal society. This will make her disobedience of her father more noteworthy as it violates the cultural custom. In her writing, Perpetua talks of her father coming to her in the prison. She says “He came up to me to cast down my faith saying: Have pity, daughter, on my grey hairs; have pity on your father, if I am worthy to be called father by you” (The Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas 5). Multiple times, her father comes to her in prison, begging that she say she is not a Christian so she may live. Through this interaction with her father, we can see his fatherly love as he tries to prevent her death. We also see a sort of disgrace that comes from a daughter’s disobedience, she writes that her father says “give me not over to the reproach of men” (The Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas 5). This show of direct disobedience of her father portrays Perpetua as a stronger martyr. She is not only giving her life for her faith, but going against society and customs, saying her beliefs are more important than both. This is a strong example to encourage conversion to Christianity. When Perpetua is in prison, her father tells her to “look upon your son, who will not endure to live after you” (The Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas 5). This leads to another point concerning Perpetua as a woman. If she dies for her faith, she will abandon her child and give up being a mother. In ancient times, much of a women’s identity was in her ability to be a good mother. With her martyrdom, Perpetua will choose faith over this key part of her life and legacy. This, yet again, shows why, by being a woman, Perpetua is a strong example in the author’s purpose to convert
...he shows us her character, not by how she gives herself respect, but by the continued respect that she gives to others: even her tormenters. Her secret shame was kept inside, and it was an impossible burden to bear. She was brave.
This was enough to convince about 60,000 Europeans, many of them peasants to start on the First Crusade to the Holy Land ("THE CRUSADES TO THE HOLY LAND”). Many of the soldiers who went on the Crusades also hoped to acquire land and riches and return a war hero. This was the first time the Catholic Church had seen penitential warfare- “warfare in the service and defense of the Church for the ‘remission of your sins’”("THE CRUSADES TO THE HOLY LAND”). The whole mentality of the Crusades was to destroy any other beliefs including paganism and Judaism, which lead to all kinds of violence and persecution, with Jews becoming a common target, even entire Jewish communities were slaughtered ("How Christianity Rose to Dominate Europe."). Even the Christians were not safe, as many were killed in settlements along the way. Pope Urban was the one who brought out this idea that it was okay to kill non-Christians, and, even beyond that, IF you went to the Holy Land on a Crusade, you received a free ticket to heaven even if you died there. Does this sound a little bit familiar? Perhaps a little like those who truly believe that they’re gaining salvation by blowing up a group of innocent people along with themselves? Or flying a plane full of passengers into building full of people? Well, the First Crusaders marched to Jerusalem leaving death and
Much as we later learn that she is a mother, she purposefully abandoned all that makes her a mother and assumes the position of a girl (Martydon of Perpetua and Felicitas 50). This further demonstrates that all she wants to invest her energy on, is Christ. Upon being baptized, Perpetua is sent to prison together with other several Christian companions and her infant so (Martydon of Perpetua and Felicitas 49). Here, we are able to infer that her relationship with the family is ambiguous and complex. This strained relationship is evident in the way Perpetua presents her own father, whom she views as a devil (Martydon of Perpetua and Felicitas 50). However, by receiving comfort from the brother and mother, she distinguishes herself as a lady who is up to embrace only those who grant her support to serve Christ. By being tormented even by taking care of her son, Perpetua gives the image of a devoted Christian who is ready to devote her whole time, life, and body to Christ (Martydon of Perpetua and Felicitas 51). This implies that she is not ready to take the naturally ties lightly. Also, based on the first half of her story that builds up to the vivid public break with her family roles as a mother and a daughter, Perpetua stands out as a real martyr ready to sacrifice anything for the sake of serving
Justin Martyr was a Christian who believed that Christianity was not about the religion, but it was the reasoning or philosophy behind it. Although there is no evidence of him actually saying that philosophy goes with Christianity. In the First Apology he uses philosophy to argue why his belief is right. It was his duty to show Emperor Titus Aelius Adrianus Antoninus Pius Augustus Caesar, that it would be easier and safer for him and his peers to just deny their faith in God when they were asked. He then says, “But we scorn to purchase life at the expense of a lie.” Their value of life would mean nothing after denying God, they might as well consider themselves as evil as those who killed the martyrs for accepting God to be their ruler.
Most people think that one person cannot make a difference. If more people would have taken a stand, then quite possibly more Jewish people would have been saved. One person does make a difference, Oskar Schindler proved.
Surprisingly, the Christian martyrs did not care that they were sentenced to death. They believed that by dying for what they believe, it would only bring them closer to God and the Gates of Heaven. The document states, “For this cause have we devoted our lives, that we might do no such thing as this; this we agreed with you” (para. 18). To the martyrs, nothing was more important than fulfilling God’s duties.
These courageous people were not afraid of being persecuted and were willing to die for their faith in order to prove that they really did believe in God. They wanted to set an example for others so that they too may believe and spread the word to others. The narrator believes that martyrs were "truly called and chosen for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ" (9). The narrator also believed that martyrs were important in that they were "examples for the building up of the Church" (9). While this may first appear to be referring to building a physical church, the church actually has a more symbolic meaning. Since the people are considered to be the Church, the building of the Church is referring to building up the faithful and spreading the word to others. They wanted anyone who was willing to honor and adore God in all His glory to be members of the
Martyrdom helped to spread Christianity because when people heard about the deaths, they realized that Christianity was important enough for people to die for. For example, Perpetua, a Christian martyr was killed because she went against the Roman emperor’s law in order to be baptized and convert to Christianity. Since she sacrificed her life and died a terrible death in order to join the religion she believed in, many decided to convert to Christianity. Additionally, she wrote about her belief that she would go to
...o Pilate, JesusÆ main enemy, or trouble, was the Roman Empire. Their religion was polytheistic; they had, among many others, a god of war, (Mars), a god of wine, (Bacchus), and a goddess of love, (Venus). They also believed that their Emperor, at the time Caesar, was a living God. This included Jesus, one of his titles being "King of the Jews". At the time of JesusÆ death, this number was sizeable, and as the early church grew, after the resurrection, the followers grew in number too. Literally. All of the people who attended these secret meetings, to tell or listen to the tales of Jesus Christ, were disciples. They were risking their lives to spread the good news. Stephen was viciously stoned to death after his great speech at the Sanhedrin (Acts 7), and Peter was crucified. There are many examples of modern day disciples around. Oscar Romero was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of El Salvador. Endangering your own life by fighting oppression, injustice, and going up against bigger powers, or giving your life to helping others. There are still some people today who take the faith as seriously as the first Christians do, but not many. TodayÆs society is too materialistic.
Throughout the novel “a prayer for Owen Meany,” by John Irving, the main character is portrayed as a very religious martyr. In the Christian faith Jesus Christ is a martyr as well. Although there are many differences between the life of Jesus, as depicted in the bible and Owen Meany, there are many similarities as well, so many in fact, that the reader is forced to ponder if these similarities are intentional.
In order for the crusades to begin, the Christians needed to gather an army to travel and fight the forces of Muslims. With all the power being held by monarchies at this time, the church needed to be cleaver in order to gain troops to put their lives on the line. To gain the support of these warriors and dedication of men, Pope Urban II (1088-1099) challenged those morals of men by telling them to grab their weapons and join the holy war to recover the land of Jerusalem. It was not the challenge that convinced men to take part in this war. The promise of “immediate remission of sins” attracted the men to stand up for their religion and beliefs while at the same time, promising them a trip to heaven when life comes to an end. With this statement, men instantly prepared for battle which in a very short period of time gave the church power which has been held by the monarchies. Men of rich and poor prepared for battle, some wearing ...
A martyr is a person that defends a principle, even though it means giving up everything that is important to that person (Webster 236). Some martyr's are put in jail for standing up for Jesus Christ or God. Most martyrs are killed because of their beliefs. Martyrs are the strange ones who challenge society with a different way of thinking. They are the rebels and heretics of today (dc Talk 6). For some, standing up for Jesus actually means dying for Him (dc Talk 7). In John 15:13 NIV Jesus says, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." Today some people refer to martyrs as Jesus Freaks. The very nature of Jesus Freaks is to thrust away from the mob mentality, away from the things that society tells us to care about (dc Talk 8).
Essay: The Bible says Jesus of Nazareth was a teacher who used miracles to help people. In reality he was a wandering man whose simple tricks and healing remedies were mistaken for miracles. He wandered Judea preaching about the validity of the jewish laws. This gained him a large following. Roman officials caught wind of this and were scared of an uprising. So they had him executed; however this had the opposite effect. The jewish sect that followed Jesus was pacified for some time but emerged again as Christianity, with a larger following than before. Eventually, and ironically, it ended up surviving the Roman Empire.