Really, where would christianity be without Nero?
Back in the ancient Rome pagans found Christians to be as irritating as people today consider scientologists to be irritating, but once Nero started persecuting Christians for burning Rome (whether they really started the fire or not) pagans started feeling sorry for them and, needless to say, Christians exploited it beyond any measure creating whole culture of a "persecuted Christian" with myriads of invented martyr saints and other myths like catacombs where Christians would go down to worship during periods of persecution. Which still goes on in the minds of many Christians even today - they feel persecuted by communists, Jews, muslims, atheists, aliens, scientists - you name it.
So if there wasn't that period where Christians were persecuted pagans wouldn't feel that allure of forbidden religion do you think that christianity would just die long time ago?
Back in the ancient Rome pagans found Christians to be as irritating as people today consider scientologists to be irritating, but once Nero started persecuting Christians for burning Rome (whether they really started the fire or not) pagans started feeling sorry for them and, needless to say, Christians exploited it beyond any measure creating whole culture of a "persecuted Christian" with myriads of invented martyr saints and other myths like catacombs where Christians would go down to worship during periods of persecution. Which still goes on in the minds of many Christians even today - they feel persecuted by communists, Jews, muslims, atheists, aliens, scientists - you name it.
So if there wasn't that period where Christians were persecuted pagans wouldn't feel that allure of forbidden religion do you think that christianity would just die long time ago?
