{"id":37281,"date":"2024-04-07T23:26:10","date_gmt":"2024-04-08T06:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=37281"},"modified":"2024-04-07T23:26:10","modified_gmt":"2024-04-08T06:26:10","slug":"the-cost-for-christianity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-cost-for-christianity\/","title":{"rendered":"The cost for Christianity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction <\/strong><\/p>\n

The great cost of Christianity is clearly described in this captivating book by Tom Holland. I have found an incredible source of information and I intend to continue reading as the Blinkist gave me a quick summary of the book. \u201cWhether or not you believe that Jesus was the son of God, Christianity has probably touched your life in some way. This religion has been an incredible force in shaping the world.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

As ancient international relations went, no love was lost between the Athenians and the Persians. The Athenians viewed the Persians as brutal, bloodthirsty barbarians.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

They were horrified by Persian methods of execution \u2013 in particular, the gruesome practice of crucifixion. A criminal was attached to a stake, with nails driven through his feet and hands, and then he was left to expire while crowds jeered.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

Holland shared a detailed description of the brutal punishment meant for criminals. Jesus and his followers were to face brutal death as well, which was a costly process to establish Christianity, a religion like no other that continues to attract multitudes of people from all over the world.<\/p>\n

Paul was traveling to Damascus when he suddenly saw a blinding light. To him, it could only be one thing: a sign that Jesus was indeed the son of God. Paul would devote the rest of his life to spreading the news despite the danger \u2013\u00a0and even physical punishment \u2013 of promoting a new religion. The only thing that mattered, Paul wrote time and time again to scholars in cities around the Mediterranean, was love.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

Paul finds the courage and strength to continue his ministry even inside the prison walls one would wonder where such zeal and courage to face the most challenging trials. The answer is clear as he explains, it is love and selfless love.<\/p>\n

Nothing new under the sun \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Originally, he said he supported Christian ideas. But by 1933, Hitler began to see Christianity as a challenge to his totalitarian mission. He thought Germans would never fulfill their racial destiny while adhering to Christian compassion.\u00a0As Nazi power spread throughout Europe, Christians had a choice to make. Would they go along with the Nazi program of exterminating the Jews and other so-called \u201cundesirables?\u201d Or would they adhere to their Christian values and stand up against evil? There was no universal answer.[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

The timing of this book was correct; Easter has just been around the corner, and Christians and nonChristians alike have been celebrating the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

This week also kicks off the genocide commemoration for the Tutsi in Rwanda. During this commemoration time, wounds and traumas of the Genocide from 30 years ago are visible again as the people of Rwanda continue to pledge Never Again to the Genocide.<\/p>\n

Conclusion <\/strong><\/p>\n

Like in many other challenging world events, as seen in recent history, God has brought excellent results from whatever challenges we go through. Look at Christianity today and what people have endured, yet Christianity is powerful and attracts many new believers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Tom Holland, \u201cDominion,\u201d accessed April 7, 2024, https:\/\/www.blinkist.com\/en\/nc\/reader\/dominion-en.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Tom Holland.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Tom Holland.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Tom Holland.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Tom Holland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction The great cost of Christianity is clearly described in this captivating book by Tom Holland. I have found an incredible source of information and I intend to continue reading as the Blinkist gave me a quick summary of the book. \u201cWhether or not you believe that Jesus was the son of God, Christianity has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2649],"class_list":["post-37281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-tom-holland","cohort-dlgp01"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37281"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37282,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37281\/revisions\/37282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}