What It Was Like Being An Early Christian In The Roman Empire

Imagine a world without Christianity: It’s next to impossible, right? But everything needs to start at some time, and for Christianity, that was during Roman rule, an era of history synonymous with bloodlust, human suffering, and gladiatorial games. Not the most expected moment for a religion that emphasizes “love thy neighbor.”
Being an early believer wasn't just a matter of talking theology and spreading love — it also meant convincing people that their long-held belief system was wrong. And within the Roman Empire, that could lead to a very horrible death. Here’s what it was like being an early Christian in the Roman Empire.

#RomanEmpire #Christianity #Religion

These sandals? Made for walking. | 0:00
They weren't always called "Christians" | 1:21
Relaxing the rules | 2:16
Persecution came swiftly | 3:08
Physical churches weren't a thing | 4:11
Close-knit communities | 5:08
Second-class citizens | 5:51
Life might be short-lived | 7:00
Religious arguments could be confusing | 8:09
Kind of getting along | 8:55
The gladiatorial arena | 9:45
Problems of going mainstream | 11:00

[GrungeHQ]

What are your thoughts on life in the Roman Empire?

[joseywales]

Some of these scenes are from a movie named 'Risen'. Great movie I highly recommend it!

[ivomac]

well done summery of early Christians evolution & Romans response

[jazzqun]

Wonderful video 👍😁 but please slow down

[toneriggz]

In other words, they used to say “This Is The Way”?

[edydon]

Wonderful video - only a slight correction / question. The Roman empire had periodic resurgences of traditional i.e. pagan values. During these periods, pretty much everyone who didn't adhere to the Roman pantheon of Gods caught grief. So many of the "Christian" persecutions were directed at all non-pagans. This may somewhat mitigate the Roman empire's culpability.

[elvintorres]

The name Christian wasn't given by the Church leaders.

[Tomas-tokz]

Very good video. Thank you. Bad form, however, using a scene from "The Last Temptation of Christ"...a very blasphemous movie.

[DavidKissinger-cmlh]

it is not correct to say the disciples of Yeshua were first called Christians "by the leaders" of the ecclesia in Antioch. the scripture says nothing about who called them by that name but says "THEY WERE FIRST CALLED CHRISTIANS " etc. it is way more probable that it was people outside of the faith who first called them by that name. it was a "nick name". during what was called "the Jesus movement" in the early 70's those outside the faith gave these disciples of Yeshua the nick name "JESUS PEOPLE or JESUS FREAKS" the name Christian was eventually adopted by the disciples of Yeshua in the first century but there is no portion of scripture where disciples of Yeshua are referred to as Christians and Yeshua never used that word as a designation for His followers. Yeshua called people to " be something " not merely to call themselves something. to this day being a Christian requires nothing more than to call yourself that. being a disciple of Yeshua requires your whole life. it's far more than just a name, it's a life. and it's a life that begins "after you have been reborn and raised from spiritual death by the power and working of the Holy Spirit of Yeshua. He is still raising people from the dead. He is still calling people to a daily walking, talking relationship with Him, by faith, because the form of this world is passing away. AMEN MARANATHA

[jamesfiaco]

it's a simple concept basic logic if life is not free why the hell would death be any cheaper it's not. So the question one may wonder is the spiritual cost to one's own soul and spirit for having lived and died to the lowest standards of quality for so many years now global pollution has diminished the quality of life to the point where today's people are living, dying and yielding the worst spiritual kickback that has ever been manifested since the beginning of life only getting worse. The polar opposite extreme to that is today's people should be living and dying to the highest standards of quality which would make each and every moment physically, mentally, financially and spiritually beneficial. S.R.F.

[junesilvermanb]

SAINT Constantine the Great, please pray for us...

❤️

[OneAllahOneMessage]

Sounds like Jesus teachings were changed

[garyhobbins]

Look! It has always come down to the evolving understanding of our psychology, that is, our evolving Union between knowing (mind) and feeling (heart) of what we are and what we are doing. We are evolving in understanding our Universal Self. Mind merging with heart is the "small self" part of ego merging with Presence or Image or Atman inside us (?) individually and this awareness becomes clearer collectively. Hindus convey the meaning the best by using the word Atman for Presence and Image and Hindus mean that Atman is the Universal Self or the same Self of all. Language use is of the intellect. Language only takes us so far in reasoning and logic and then higher intuition combined with intellect comes into play to comprehend. WORDS ARE TRAPS Words have different senses that are used in different contexts to convey an intuitive understanding. A developed Intuition usually knows the meaning being conveyed in phraseology and overrides intellectual interpretations of literalists and fundamentalists. For example, the word "saint" used in this video has different senses of meaning. I have stated before that Louise Hay is a modern-day saint. I make this proclamation because of the way she helped me understand the dynamics of our interconnectedness. Hay's book, YOU CAN HEAL YOUR LIFE, helps us to realize that we should be careful with each other because we may contribute to our own individual sicknesses and the sicknesses of each other. God bless you!

[Magik]

You have serious flaws in your interpretation of early Christianity. The original Christians did not even call themselves Christians. They were a Jewish sect of zealots that called their sect "the Way". They strictly observed Jewish law. James the Just was the leader of the sect following the death of the "Teacher of Righteousness". Paul was in open conflict with James and with the Jewish "Christians". The original Christians were Jewish and the Dead Sea Scrolls tells their whole story in untainted fashion. Saul of Tarsus was a murderer and was obviously a sociopath. Paul, who never met Jesus, created orthodox Christianity, which wasn't really even an established religion and had no creed until the Council of Nicea in 325AD. The entire New Testament is Roman propaganda.