I think your above post is a pretty good one. Some honest questions in there, as well as some valid points being made.
Originally Posted by Willto
If you spend hundreds of years tying non Christians to a pole and setting them on fire then you are going to motivate a lot of people to be a Christian, at least in the lands under your control.
During the first 300 years of Christianity, the only people who were being tied to poles and set on fire were Christians themselves. Yet Christianity probably made its greatest strides during its first nearly 300 years, when following Jesus was more difficult than at any other time in history.
The original Jesus movement was clearly appealing, and in time it became contagious, and it swept the entire Roman Empire like an airborne disease. And against all odds, a tiny sect who worshipped a crucified rabbi, with no territory and no military and no authority and no political power and no cultural standing, whose message was built around the simple idea of loving others as God has loved you, not only survived, but thrived…when it should’ve easily been killed off by the powerful Jewish Temple and the mighty Roman Empire…like its leader had been.
Yet at the end of its first nearly 300 years, the Christianity described above had pretty much already replaced the pantheon of Roman, barbarian, and most Egyptian gods and was soon to become the state religion of the very Roman Empire that had tried to stamp it out.
