Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am curious about what prompted early Christians to follow the religion. I am not into the spiritual issues, but more the social side. What forces would make someone adopt the religion under the threat of death from the Romans. I have read some, but I have not found any objective discussion about it.
I know that before Christ, people were looking at Judaism as an option. Practices like circumcision and kosher food put many off, then along came Paul who "marketed" the faith in a simpler way
What was the need that Christianity filled?

The romans were open and welcoming to a variety of religions, including Judaism, Christianity and pagan religions. Things only got bad for the Christians when they demanded that they were the only true religion.

Not true. The Romans believed the emperor was God. The emperor also believed this. But Christians worshipped Christ as God and so were seen as a threat. The difference between the emperor and Christ, of course, is that Christ actually was God.

All the other religions that people believed in had their own god or gods and the Romans didn't care about them. But pp's attitude shows what bugged the romans -- the Christians insisted that theirs was the only "true" religion. 2,000 years later, pp is still trying to impose her god on others.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am curious about what prompted early Christians to follow the religion. I am not into the spiritual issues, but more the social side. What forces would make someone adopt the religion under the threat of death from the Romans. I have read some, but I have not found any objective discussion about it.
I know that before Christ, people were looking at Judaism as an option. Practices like circumcision and kosher food put many off, then along came Paul who "marketed" the faith in a simpler way
What was the need that Christianity filled?

The romans were open and welcoming to a variety of religions, including Judaism, Christianity and pagan religions. Things only got bad for the Christians when they demanded that they were the only true religion.

Not true. The Romans believed the emperor was God. The emperor also believed this. But Christians worshipped Christ as God and so were seen as a threat. The difference between the emperor and Christ, of course, is that Christ actually was God.

Anonymous wrote:I am curious about what prompted early Christians to follow the religion. I am not into the spiritual issues, but more the social side. What forces would make someone adopt the religion under the threat of death from the Romans. I have read some, but I have not found any objective discussion about it.
I know that before Christ, people were looking at Judaism as an option. Practices like circumcision and kosher food put many off, then along came Paul who "marketed" the faith in a simpler way
What was the need that Christianity filled?

The romans were open and welcoming to a variety of religions, including Judaism, Christianity and pagan religions. Things only got bad for the Christians when they demanded that they were the only true religion.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The influence and impact of Jesus Christ. Early Christians followed his teachings. Read about Paul. He was a Roman. They believed. However, in Rome, in order to make Christianity more appealing to the pagans, rituals were added. And symbols.

Paul was a Jew not a Roman!

He was both

Yes, he was both. He recounts in Acts 22 how was being beaten by a Centurion, who became afraid when Paul pointed out that he was a Roman citizen. It would have been illegal to beat a Roman citizen without a hearing. It's right there. You can look it up.

Anonymous wrote:Why did Paul want to spread this faith?

Paul had a conversion experience where he heard the voice of Jesus telling him to stop persecuting Christians and instead spread the faith. So that's what he did.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The influence and impact of Jesus Christ. Early Christians followed his teachings. Read about Paul. He was a Roman. They believed. However, in Rome, in order to make Christianity more appealing to the pagans, rituals were added. And symbols.

Paul was a Jew not a Roman!

He was both

Anonymous wrote:The influence and impact of Jesus Christ. Early Christians followed his teachings. Read about Paul. He was a Roman. They believed. However, in Rome, in order to make Christianity more appealing to the pagans, rituals were added. And symbols.

Paul was a Jew not a Roman!

The apostles who were the first to spread Christianity -- Peter, Nathaniel, James, etc. (except John) -- were all martyred. These were the men who know Jesus, who served with Him for three years. They died rather than deny that Jesus was the resurrected Christ, God in the flesh. They would have known whether they were spreading a fable or not. Who would knowingly die for a lie?

The early Christian church was greatly persecuted. A great many of the early Christians were Jews who were despised by the rest of the Jewish people. They were hunted and persecuted by Jewish leaders and Romans alike. Yet they believed, followed and spread their faith regardless.

Why did Christianity spread and flourish in the early decades? Because Jesus Christ is the Messiah, God come to earth to die for our sins and rise again.

Why did Paul want to spread this faith?

The influence and impact of Jesus Christ. Early Christians followed his teachings. Read about Paul. He was a Roman. They believed. However, in Rome, in order to make Christianity more appealing to the pagans, rituals were added. And symbols.

Anonymous wrote:It was a period of dissent within Judaism. Jesus was one of many populists speaking out and attracting followers. It was tough to be under the Romans, and the Pharisees were very rigid. They were in the pockets of the secular rulers. I recommend the book about the Jews by the guy who wrote "how the Irish saved civilization".

But what about the non Jews who took to Christianity, and the ones who took an interest in Judaism right before Christianity got going?

It was a period of dissent within Judaism. Jesus was one of many populists speaking out and attracting followers. It was tough to be under the Romans, and the Pharisees were very rigid. They were in the pockets of the secular rulers. I recommend the book about the Jews by the guy who wrote "how the Irish saved civilization".

There is no explanation outside the spiritual. There were no advantages to being a Christian in the first couple of centuries after the death of Christ. They became Christians after profound encounters with God. Par Lagerkvist, an atheist and Nobel prize winning author, wrote a novel which might be of interest to you called Barabbas. Despite the author's claim to atheism, the book lays open the depth of the spiritual relationship which the early Christians had with Christ.

I advise you to travel back in time to pagan Rome and ask them.

I am curious about what prompted early Christians to follow the religion. I am not into the spiritual issues, but more the social side. What forces would make someone adopt the religion under the threat of death from the Romans. I have read some, but I have not found any objective discussion about it.
I know that before Christ, people were looking at Judaism as an option. Practices like circumcision and kosher food put many off, then along came Paul who "marketed" the faith in a simpler way
What was the need that Christianity filled?