Geaux Therefore

By Rex Butler

这是一系列文章的第五篇，旨在研究早期基督教殉道者的故事，并根据内容将它们与当代迫害的描述进行比较, themes, players, and actions. 在过去的一百年里，广泛的全球迫害是在教会早期几个世纪开始的迫害的延续.

            Toward the end of the first century, 多米提安皇帝颁布了一项法令，要求帝国的所有人都要敬拜他为“上帝”.“帝国的居民被命令到公共广场来, burn a pinch of incense, and speak the words Caesar kurios, “Caesar is lord.与皇帝的神权和对臣民的仁慈相比，这种虔诚的行为似乎微不足道. 拒绝可能导致监禁、没收财产、流放，甚至死亡. Christians, however, did refuse. They confessed a higher allegiance: Iesous kurios, “Jesus is Lord,” recalling Paul’s admonition, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’并且心里相信神叫他从死里复活了, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9). 

            In western Asia Minor, known today as Turkey, emperor worship was embraced, so Domitian’s edict was strictly enforced. In 17 AD, 一场强烈的地震摧毁了那个地区的许多城市, including Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea, and Smyrna. 因为提比略皇帝用帝国的资金重建了这些城市, 市民们感激皇帝，并宝盈集团bbin好崇拜任何占据皇位的人. 任何拒绝崇拜皇帝的居民都会受到严厉的惩罚.

            多米提安的迫害是《宝盈集团bbin》的背景，可以在给七个教会的信中看到. To the church in Smyrna, 耶稣口授了这段信息:“我知道你的患难和贫穷(但你是富足的)。, 并那些自称是犹太人，其实不是犹太人的人所说的亵渎的话, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. 你务要至死忠心，我就赐给你那生命的冠冕. 2:9-10). 公元96年，多米提安去世，基督徒的苦难就此结束, 但在接下来的几个世纪里，对皇帝的虚假崇拜的要求仍然是基督徒遭受迫害的根源.

The Acts of the Scillitan Martyrs

In 180, twelve Christians from the rural town of Scillium, North Africa, were brought to trial in Carthage. The court records are preserved in The Acts of the Scillitan Martyrs, the earliest record of Christianity in North Africa, appropriately so, 因为北非教会被称为“殉道者教会”."在审判期间，总督审问了被告，被告的首领是斯庇拉图斯. 诉讼的关键是总督坚持要求基督徒“以我们的主，我们的皇帝的天才起誓”.斯佩拉图斯回答说:“我不承认这个世界的帝国。. 我所事奉的神，是人未曾看见，用眼睛也不能看见的.”

帝国崇拜是一种建立在对罗马皇帝崇拜之上的宗教, 它凝聚了这个幅员辽阔的帝国公民的忠诚. 只要遵守对皇帝的崇拜，帝国众多民族的各种宗教都是可以容忍的. 这个仪式主要包括向天才奉献和祈祷, or the divine spirit, 这赋予了皇帝权力，让他在神的庇佑下统治.

For Christians, 尽管他们愿意在民事事务上服从皇帝, such religious devotion was impossible. To further complicate the situation, the Latin concept of genius was expressed by the Greek word daimon, or “demon.” Therefore, 无论何时何地，虚假的帝王崇拜都被强制执行, Christians were persecuted, as seen in the martyrdom of the Scillitan men and women. When each one confessed, “I am a Christian,” and refused to worship the emperor, they were sentenced to immediate beheading. They gave thanks to God, for “Today we are martyrs in heaven!”

False Worship and Persecution in North Korea

古罗马并不是唯一一个要求对国家统治者进行虚假崇拜，基督徒受到迫害的地方. 朝鲜被描述为“世界上最好战的无神论国家”和“世界上最严重的宗教迫害者之一”.“这种绝对的独裁统治是在1948年金日成统治下朝鲜半岛分裂之后形成的, a former Soviet army officer. After Kim-Il Sung died in July 1994, power passed to his son Kim Jong-Il, who died in December 2011, and then to his grandson Kim Jong-Un. When Kim Il-Sung took power, 他追随共产主义无神论思想，试图消灭一切宗教信仰. In place of Buddhist, Christian, and other faiths, Kim Il-Sung established an alternative religion, a personality cult built around himself and his son, Kim Jong-Il. 朝鲜人被教导要认为这些人是“绝对可靠的”, godlike beings and progenitors of the Korean race.” Since the beginning of Communist rule, 用法与例句:“在过去的五十年中，基督徒几乎被消灭，并继续遭受政权的可怕迫害”(马歇尔), Gilbert, and Shea, Persecuted, 52-4).

尽管鲜有文献记载宗教迫害的全部程度, a few testimonies have been recorded. 这两位受访者所报告的北韩的情况，与西利派基督徒在北非受审时所面临的情况有些相似.

受访者10:在墙上挂金日成和金正日的照片是一种义务. 挂画的目的是为了崇拜金日成和金正日. There is a ritual done before the pictures. (我们)崇拜金日成，这位把我们从死亡中拯救出来、把我们从奴役中解放出来的伟大领袖…….

INTERVIEWEE 37: When a person is caught carrying the Bible, 他给朝鲜带来了外部影响，将受到严厉的惩罚. A person caught carrying a Bible is doomed. When a person is caught [worshipping], he will be sent to kwanliso [集中营]…整个家庭可能会消失(马歇尔，吉尔伯特和谢伊， Persecuted, 54).

Communist atheistic governments, like North Korea, have attempted to eradicate religion, but in its place, they have exalted human godlike dictators, who, like the Roman emperors of the early Christian centuries, 要求崇拜，以痛苦和死亡威胁不服从. In both ancient Rome and modern North Korea, 许多忠心的信徒都承认:“我是基督徒.”

Dr. 雷克斯·巴特勒是教会历史和教父学教授，目前在约翰T. Westbrook Chair of Church History.