Current Events > Is Christianity the first form of activism?

(+) Yeah! (+)

The Christians would go around preaching about Jesus dying for your sins and the Romans would round them up and put them to death. They however believed the message was more important than even their lives and would refuse to denounce Jesus even when faced with hungry lions.

Elements of activism:
1. A civil police force using brutality to simply silence citizens being absolutely peaceful.
2. The idea that the message will change the world and it is a cause worth pain, hardship, suffering and even death to proclaim.
3. The fact that it actually worked and the efforts to silence the message actually helped it spread even more.

Seem extremely unlikely given that Christianity is only ~2000 years old.

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Jabodie posted...

Seem extremely unlikely given that Christianity is only ~2000 years old.

Maybe but at the same time most protests in ancient times were just kill everyone who disagrees.

Not even close. Theres records of Egyptian artisans refusing to work because the government was late in paying them.
The dispute was resolved when Pharaoh Ramses III(I think it was him) furnished them with their back pay and gave them a raise.
Buddhism can also be seen as a rejection of the Hindu caste system.

darkphoenix181 posted...

Maybe but at the same time most protests in ancient times were just kill everyone who disagrees.

its cute you think christianity didn't do that too...

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ElatedVenusaur posted...

Not even close. Theres records of Egyptian artisans refusing to work because the government was late in paying them.
The dispute was resolved when Pharaoh Ramses III(I think it was him) furnished them with their back pay and gave them a raise.

Not really the same. Refusing to work and getting employers to see your value and pay you more is a primitve union though.
But dying for a message is different (note, peacefully, not fighting back) Perhaps Bhuddism had that? Idk that history though.

Christianity isn't even the first form of Christianity

its heavily based on Zoroastrianism, which predates christianity, judism, and islam.

The prophet Zoroaster (c. 628551 BC) affirmed and proclaimed a monotheistic faith that identified Ahura Mazda as the almighty God. An ancient religion that reflects a moral dualism, the Parsi faith places a strong emphasis upon individual human choice and responsibility. The religious idea that heaven is an earned reward and damnation a just punishment...

https://reasons.org/explore/blogs/reflections/read/reflections/2017/05/23/how-does-zoroastrianism-compare-to-christianity .

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@monkmith posted...

its cute you think christianity didn't do that too...

Where did I say that?

At its inception though we see only the pattern of Martyrdom.

Later as it became adopted by Roman Statesmen it would not only use force to impose itself on others, but even slaughter other Christians with differing views.
There again we find Christians dying for a message as they got killed by the Christians who gained a military force behind them.

Mezcla posted...

Christianity isn't even the first form of Christianity

its heavily based on Zoroastrianism, which predates christianity, judism, and islam.

https://reasons.org/explore/blogs/reflections/read/reflections/2017/05/23/how-does-zoroastrianism-compare-to-christianity .

Did Zoroastians peacefully spread a message and get killed by the current government?
Seem your post is irrelevant to this thread unless that is your contention.

darkphoenix181 posted...

Did Zoroastians peacefully spread a message and get killed by the current government?
Seem your post is irrelevant to this thread unless that is your contention.

you're trying to make it sound like Christianity invented good will

im saying it did not, because christianity didn't "create" anything.

you know you're not being very christian right now.

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Mezcla posted...

you're trying to make it sound like Christianity invented good will

im saying it did not, because christianity didn't "create" anything.

you know you're not being very christian right now.

Good will and acrivism are not the same thing.

Op explains in key points the activist elements.

You are acting like I said Christianity invented giving money to the poor.

But why take offense anyways? Let us say Christianity did invent something like activism. Dors that make you upset? It sure seems like it does.
But why? Things have to be invented sometime to exist.

This is a strangely narrow definition of the word "activism." Activism does not require martyrdom, persecution, or even nonviolence. I'm not really sure why you even used the word itt.

Is Christianity the first religion in human history to
darkphoenix181 posted...

peacefully spread a message and get killed by the current government?

I guess it could be, but it seems pretty unlikely to me that similar philosophies and methods didn't exist before, but were successfully snuffed out of existence.

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Christianity certainly did not invent "activism," even by your weird narrow definition. There were other groups that did that first, likely very many.

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No, it's not the first. The Maccabees are definitely an earlier example and you could say Moses vs. the Pharaoh is another example, regardless of whether that story is a legend or factual... in fact that is true about basically every prophet.

I guess it's one of the earliest major examples of activism though. Activism as it is now didn't really exist until the Renaissance.

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because you sound like a religious nut trying to take credit for l i t e r a l l y activism.

everyone else in this topic says youre full of shit, and you are.

fuck off with this shitty as topic.

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Damn_Underscore posted...

No, it's not the first. The Maccabees are definitely an earlier example and you could say Moses vs. the Pharaoh is another example, regardless of whether that story is a legend or factual... in fact that is true about basically every prophet.

I guess it's one of the earliest major examples of activism though. Activism as it is now didn't really exist until the Renaissance.

Don't think Moses would count seeing how he gave Pharoah plagues and a ton of people died. Can't call that peaceful.

The Maccabees were a military group I thought? Rebels that is.

Mezcla posted...

because you sound like a religious nut trying to take credit for l i t e r a l l y activism.

everyone else in this topic says youre full of shit, and you are.

fuck off with this shitty as topic.

Literally just a shower thought and wanted to see if anyone could negate it.
So far only one person came close and that was the Egyptians unions.

A quick google mentions a group in china that were anti-war but I don't know much about them and they built fortifications used in war.

You seem to read Christianity, got your blood boiling, saw them maybe getting credit for something and then got really upset.

If you disagreed with the op, you could have said so but instead you went all,

"ChRiStIaNs CoPiED aNd dIdNt InVeNt NoThInG!"