History – facts are the foundation of stories
Eusebius:
The History of the Church
Eusebius, bishop of
Caesaria, mid 200’s to 300’s: born 265, died 339
Timeline:
Eusebius:
Timeline: 300 to 600 AD
Polycarp:
Timeline: 1 to 300 AD
From Eusebius: the story of Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna:
pages 117-119 and to 123: born
69AD, died 155AD
1.What are
your thoughts?
2.Do you
believe the story of his death?
3.Why do
you think the Jews and others, Romans, Greeks hated the Christians?
4.Could
Christians ever in our time, our country face danger that might lead even to
death?
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“Early
Christians”
Homework:
·
Take out a gmail account and create a simple
blog
·
Bring notebook and binder to class every time; I
will collect and grade notebooks/binders for content and order
Project: I will assign an
historical person to each of you. You will research your person, incorporating
different materials on a blog. Each of you will do a brief presentation to the
class about your character. I will have explicit instructions for you: sources,
questions to be answered, length, due dates asap—definitely by the end of this
week.
10 comments:
1. I think the story of Polycarp was a really amazing story. He had no fear and God gave him the courage and wisdom to speak the right words. God also protected him from the fire. Polycarp was a great example to other believers.
2. I believe the story of his death. If Jesus can rise from the dead, then Polycarp can be spared from the fire.
3. I'm not exactly sure why the Jews, Romans, and Greeks hated the Christians. But if I had to guess, I'd say that they didn't like the fact that the Christians wouldn't worship their emperors. Maybe they thought that the Christians assumed themselves to be high and mighty and that offended them.
4. I'm sure that Christians in our country will eventually face danger that might lead to death. Definitely when the Anti-christ in the end times comes to power there will be lots of Christian deaths in this country.
I think that the story of Polycarp was very interesting. I never thought that anyone could ever die the way he did. It is amazing to read the story of someone so faithful to God in the midst of persecution. I think that the way he died was possible, although I think that some of it got exaggerated over the years. It is strange to think that he did not get burned by the fire, but anything is possible with God. I am not entirely sure what made the other people hate the Christians. Perhaps they were jealous of our hope that we have in Christ, and our happiness. Whatever it is, they sure hated Christian enough to subject them to the worst types of deaths. It is very possible that Christians today in Canada will be persecuted. Christians are persecuted to death in many other countries, so I am sure that Christians in Canada will one day be persecuted, maybe not to the point of death, but certainly in some way.
1. I think that this is a crazy story, not crazy as in impossible, but crazy as in mind-blowing. I think that stories like this are what encourages Christians. This encourages Christians to be courageous and to trust in God. This man was not completely without fear, he just decided to trust God rather than let his fear overtake him. This is an example to us all.
2. Yes. God can do anything.
3. I think that the pagans hated the Christians because not only did they believe in a different God, but also, the Christians had obvious responses from their God. The pagans were jealous. When a pagan god “saves” someone, that salvation could be mistaken as a coincidence. There is no coincidence of an invisible wall forming to stop someone from being burned alive.
4. Yes. Just because we have come into a time of relative “peace,” this does not mean that the devil is not still at work in peoples lives.
1. I think that the story of Polycarp was very interesting and his firm belief in the Lord was something that we should all look up to and try to imitate. He definently had a firm belief in his faith, but I'm a little skeptical about the story of his death.
2. I have not really decided whether or not I believe in the story of his death. I am still a little skeptical as to whether or not it is true. There is certainly a possibility because nothing is impossible with the Lord, but those kinds of things seemed to happen in the Old Testament, not after the apostles.
3. I think that the Jews, Greeks, and Romans hated the Christians because they were so adamant in their beliefs and because Christians just acted differently than all of the other people. Also they were persecuted because the Bible says that we will be persecuted.
4. I think that it is very possible that Christians can be persecuted to the point of death even in today's society. I don't think that there will be a huge crowd watching, but I do believe it can happen in secret and has happened in the past. However, people are becoming so accepting of all religions and Christianity sometimes just blends in with the other ones. This should not be the case because Christians are supposed to stand out.
1. I think that Polycarp was very brave because he was willing to die for Christ and he did so without fear. I wonder what he was thinking when the fire wouldn't touch him like his vision said. I hope that his death impacted the people who killed him and brought them to the Lord.
2. I believe the story of Polycarp's death because the account of his death is so incredibly detailed that it believe that it has to be true. Furthermore, there are stories of Christians in the past who had miracles happen to them when others tried to kill them such as Daniel's friends when they could not burn in the furnace or John the Apostle who survived being boiled alive.
3. I think that the Jews, Greeks, and Romans hated the Christians because the Christians would not worship their gods. Additionally, as it says in Esebius' church history the Romans called the Christians godless because they did not worship their gods. Furthermore, the Jews hated the Christians because they did not believe that Christ had come and they thought that all the Christians were blaspheming against God.
4. I do not believe that in our time Christians will face death in Canada because Canada greatly values tolerance. Even though Christians are mocked and persecuted now, Canada still claims that it is tolerant of all religions even though it is not. Therefore, I do not believe that Christians will face death for Christianity.
1. Sometimes, we can’t comprehend the hatred and maliciousness of the people back then because it is such a privilege where we live to have our freedom. It is hard for us to imagine to not be able to speak freely about the gospel. I respect martyrs for their courage, because I know that even in our lives we are sometimes embarrassed of our faith, and back then they would get killed for their faith for just trying to witness.
2. I am quite skeptical of this, number one, because this is a miracle, and we only hear of miracles in the Bible. Number two because we don’t know if Eusebius is inerrant, whenever we know that the Bible is inerrant. So I would need to do further research to fully believe whether it is true.
3. I think these cultures and nationalities because they believed in so many other Gods that they might have been afraid that they would learn that they were wrong. Or maybe because they didn’t want all the rules that Christians have or maybe because they thought Christians thought they were so holy, and they were mad or jealous at this.
4. I think it is very possible that Christians may be persecuted, because already we are required to have permission to witness on the street. We are being persecuted in china, so I guess why would it be different here. With a minority liberal government in our midst anything like that could be possible, and we should be prepared at any time to have this privilege taken away from us. Also, people in Toronto do not want to be “offended” or told or admit to themselves that they are wrong in their thinking. (Think of homosexuals- the mentality that I can be whoever I want to be) I think that also we could be over taken by the Muslim religion that is rapidly growing here in Canada.
1. I was very interested in the martyrdom story of Polycarp. Furthermore, his faith during his walk to death was astonishing, and how much he loved and trusted God. It was a very intriguing story.
2. I do believe the story of his death because God can do anything he wants, including preventing Polycarp from burning. Some parts of it could be exaggerated, like what the proconsul said to him, but overall, it makes sense and I wouldn't deny it.
3. The Christians were opposed to their views and they didn't agree with them either. The Christians were preventing their religion from growing and growing theirs instead. The Romans got very offended if you didn't believe in their gods and would kill you if you didn't, until the Edict of Milan.
4. I think very soon we could start seeing major persecution against Christians. We are already seeing 'hate speech' against Christians which is acceptable, only against us of course. Organizations are killing us, political parties are refusing association with us, and our morals are quickly being wiped away from the law. My guess is that in a few decades, Christians will be prevented to do certain things that we would normally do. We might be restricted to even buy groceries. In the distant, near future, I think Christians will face criminal penalties, leading up to the death penalty, for not conforming to them. I think we are already headed on a slippery path. The average secularist dislikes Christians. And when people don't like something, they get rid of it.
1. I think that Polycarp was very brave because he was willing to die for Christ and he did so without fear. I wonder what he was thinking when the fire wouldn't touch him like his vision said. I hope that his death impacted the people who killed him and brought them to the Lord.
2. I believe the story of Polycarp's death because the account of his death is so incredibly detailed that it believe that it has to be true. Furthermore, there are stories of Christians in the past who had miracles happen to them when others tried to kill them such as Daniel's friends when they could not burn in the furnace or John the Apostle who survived being boiled alive.
3. I think that the Jews, Greeks, and Romans hated the Christians because the Christians would not worship their gods. Additionally, as it says in Esebius' church history the Romans called the Christians godless because they did not worship their gods. Furthermore, the Jews hated the Christians because they did not believe that Christ had come and they thought that all the Christians were blaspheming against God.
4. I do not believe that in our time Christians will face death in Canada because Canada greatly values tolerance. Even though Christians are mocked and persecuted now, Canada still claims that it is tolerant of all religions even though it is not. Therefore, I do not believe that Christians will face death for Christianity.
1. This was very interesting. The part when Polycarp actually predicted his own death three nights before his arrest really stuck out to me. Not only did God reveal Polycarp's "death" God also, in a way, sparred him from it.
2. I do believe that Polycarp died the way that he did. There are multiple accounts of miracles that allowed Christians to avoid an early death. A whole town had tried to beat Paul to death. They had technically succeded but God wasn't finished with Paul yet, so He brought Paul back. The story with Paul was in the Bible and the Bible is inerrant, so it is not impossible for this story to be false. I'm not saying that this story is inerrant, but it isn't very hard to believe either.
3. The Jews hated the Christians because they hated Jesus, Jesus says in the Bible that "If they hate you, remember that they hated me first (John 15: 18)." The Romans hated Christians because of their growing numbers. They tended to blame many things on the Christians because the Christians did not believe in the Romans' gods. I am guessing that the Greeks' reasons for hating Christians were very similar to the Romans.
4. I do believe that a lot of Christians nowadays would definitely die for their faith but in general, I do not think that most Christians would die for their faith. The type of world we live in is so different than before, people aren't as dependent on God as they were before. People make money, have fun, and "live life" without God in their heart.
I think that Polycarp was pretty amazing and I wish I had the same faith as him. He also way a living miracle and showed others around him the glory of god.
I do believe that died that way and that he really didn’t get hurt by the fire. There are also many people at the scene of the death to see and the witnesses told many people about this. His death truly was a great sight.
The Jews, Greeks and Romans hated the Christians because they didn’t worship who they wanted the Christians to worship. They hated that the Christians were not abiding to their rules and even dieing for their faith
I think that there would be some Christians who would die for their faith but there are many people who claim they are Christians but are really not and if it came to death they would leave their faith
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