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How much do you value truth?
Sep. 9th, 2006 11:32 pmIf you knew something was true, something that made you live your life completely against the current, would you be willing to die for it? What if by simply paying lip-service to a lie you could avoid death, what then? What if, by simply uttering a single phrase you knew was a lie, you could continue living, would you? More importantly, if you chose to accept death, could you do so cheerfully?
I find myself pondering such questions after reading accounts of christian martyrs. So many christians have died for their faith. In the roman days alone, where worshipping the emperor as a god, if only in speech, so many brothers and sisters died brutal, agonizing deaths rather than even for a moment denounce Jesus. Moreso, many died with a supernatural calm and joy, often causing numerous observers to believe, even to the point of their own deaths. Some would die singing. Some would pray for their forgiveness even as they were being literally torn apart. One man in the audience of a particular christian's execution was so blown away by the christian's faith and words that he jumped down into the arena that he might be likewise die, as a new believer.
There are so many tales, both past and present, of christian believers whose faith simply blow me away. Incidentally, the word martyr in the greek meant simply "witness", or one who knows and proclaims truth. It only gained the definition it has now due to so many christian witnesses dying for their witnessing of the truth at all odds.
I find myself pondering such questions after reading accounts of christian martyrs. So many christians have died for their faith. In the roman days alone, where worshipping the emperor as a god, if only in speech, so many brothers and sisters died brutal, agonizing deaths rather than even for a moment denounce Jesus. Moreso, many died with a supernatural calm and joy, often causing numerous observers to believe, even to the point of their own deaths. Some would die singing. Some would pray for their forgiveness even as they were being literally torn apart. One man in the audience of a particular christian's execution was so blown away by the christian's faith and words that he jumped down into the arena that he might be likewise die, as a new believer.
There are so many tales, both past and present, of christian believers whose faith simply blow me away. Incidentally, the word martyr in the greek meant simply "witness", or one who knows and proclaims truth. It only gained the definition it has now due to so many christian witnesses dying for their witnessing of the truth at all odds.
