The Myth of the Persecuted Church

[Amarok]

I thought the myth was he played the fiddle while Rome burned.

There are several things that make me think perhaps the Christians WERE persecuted at some point. One is the NT. It's almost like there was a concerted effort to advise followers to endure persecution as best they could. Why would so many writers think it was a point that needed to be addressed?

This isn't to say that the persecution went on for centuries or anything. And I think its plausible that later on, some Christians were encouraged to offer embellished stories of persecution BECAUSE OF WHAT WAS WRITTEN IN THE NT. But still, it seems reasonable to assume the Christians were genuinely persecuted at one point in history.

Yup that's a myth too . 

Were the Christians persecuted or did they merely perceive themselves as such.