Why Early Christians Were Persecuted

● Roman history is stained with the blood of the early followers of Jesus Christ. Why? Philip Schaff answers this in his book History of the Christian Church:

“The conscientious refusal of the Christians to pay divine honors to the emperor and his statue, and to take part in any idolatrous ceremonies at public festivities, their aversion to the imperial military service, their disregard for politics and depreciation of all civil and temporal affairs as compared with the spiritual and eternal interests of man, their close brotherly union and frequent meetings, drew upon them the suspicion of hostility to the Caesars and the Roman people.”

Yes, the early Christians were “objects of hatred” because, in these matters for which they were persecuted, they were ‘obeying God as ruler rather than men.’​—Mark 13:13; Acts 5:29.