Among the Romans, we would add to the above: Emperor worship … and especially the worship of the gods that protected the Empire. To\u00a0refuse<\/strong>\u00a0such worship was treason because to insult such gods would bring their anger and cause destruction and mayhem in the empire.<\/p>\n Society tolerated the Jews not acknowledging such gods because that was their ethnic and national religion. They had always been obstinate like that.\u00a0But<\/strong> many Christians came from their own people, their own cities, and their own families. Just the other day they would have acknowledged such gods, but\u00a0now<\/strong>\u00a0they refuse. While you could excuse the Jews for such, these converted friends and family were without excuse for\u00a0no longer<\/strong>\u00a0worshiping and referencing the gods. Thus, Christians were persecuted as atheists – unbelievers in the gods.<\/p>\n Jews\u00a0also<\/strong>\u00a0persecuted this new cult of Christians. Because of the\u00a0new<\/strong>\u00a0covenant – no circumcision, no priesthood or temple, no sacrifices, no Sabbath and holy days; Jewish believers were persecuted as apostates and false teachers. Add to this, the fact that they\u00a0now<\/strong>\u00a0accepted Gentiles into their number.\u00a0Hence<\/strong>, much of the early persecution came from the Jews. Because of their new religious stance, believers were hated by all. So much for tolerance!<\/p>\n It is interesting that the pluralism of our modern world begins to look more like the first century in this regard. There is a widening of people’s world understanding of all the other religions, peoples, and cultures. There is now the widening of acceptance of all<\/strong>: an acceptance of pluralism and a denial of the narrowness of truth. Believers in\u00a0one God<\/strong>\u00a0are now considered to be narrow-minded and judgmental.<\/p>\n Yet, “for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him<\/em>” (I Corinthians 8:6). For us, “there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved<\/em>” (Acts 4:12). The teaching and instructions in I Corinthians 8 – 10 are beginning to have much more meaning and application to our current world situation. We need to have the faith of our fathers. Do you?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Hugh DeLong We live (lived, past tense, as our world is quickly changing), in a time when Christianity (the basic principles) is the majority belief. The concept of one god is accepted. Such was\u00a0not\u00a0true back in the first century. The pagan world was\u00a0full\u00a0of gods. Such were woven into the very fabric of the lives…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[726,304],"class_list":["post-53065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-church-history","tag-idolatry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":29630,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-satan-called-the-god-of-this-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":53065,"position":0},"title":"Why is Satan called the god of this world?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 7, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I just found your website and am so excited to see that the gospel is being spread in Omaha! I have wondered why it is generally accepted that Satan is the god of this world, based on 2nd Corinthians 4:4. Would God, who says there are no other gods,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18583,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wasnt-the-conversion-of-the-samaritans-proof-that-god-wanted-gentiles-saved\/","url_meta":{"origin":53065,"position":1},"title":"Wasn’t the conversion of the Samaritans proof that God wanted Gentiles saved?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Cornelius and his family was proof that the Gentiles were also accepted by God without the law or becoming a Jew, but Samaritans (Acts 8) were already being baptized into Christ before Acts 10. Was that not proof or were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20352,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/ye-are-gods\/","url_meta":{"origin":53065,"position":2},"title":"Ye Are Gods","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Joe R. Price via\u00a0Guardian of Truth\u00a0XL: 3 p. 6-7, February 1, 1996 In the last year of Jesus' life, during the Feast of Dedication (present-day Hanukkah), unbelieving individuals confronted him and demanded of him a plain declaration that he was the Christ (John 10:22-24). Like ravenous wolves, the Jewish\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/top_28_bmp-242x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":43089,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/no-other-gods\/","url_meta":{"origin":53065,"position":3},"title":"No Other Gods","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 13, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Isaiah 40:12-26 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Ten Commandments formed the prologue to the Law of Moses \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They were the foundation of the Old Law \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Even though the Law of Moses ended, nine of those ten commandments are still in effect today. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Understanding these basic laws can help\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88744,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/god-talks-to-god-but-not-to-himself\/","url_meta":{"origin":53065,"position":4},"title":"God Talks to God but Not to Himself","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 18, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton How can God talk to God but not be talking to Himself? God is triune (three in one), which is what He revealed about Himself. In the beginning, God said, \"Let Us (plural) make man in Our (plural) image (singular)\" (Genesis 1:26). Who was God talking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20690,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-christians-have-similar-religious-freedoms-under-rome-as-the-jews\/","url_meta":{"origin":53065,"position":5},"title":"Did Christians have similar religious freedoms under Rome as the Jews?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 31, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: During Jesus' generation and the Roman Empire, how much freedom did a person have under the Roman law to worship, conduct business and personal affairs? And, can you give references? Some treat\u00a0the Romans\u00a0as bullies and dictators, and some Caesars were, but the Bible puts many in a good reference.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53065\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/GreekGods-300x210.jpg\")
Such gods were\u00a0all<\/strong>\u00a0accepted: just add another to your agenda. We find it strange that they would even have an altar unto “the unknown god” (Acts 17:23). We are accustomed to the idea that one would pick a god and give undivided allegiance to it, but that wasn’t the way it worked.\u00a0All<\/strong>\u00a0gods were worthy of respect, honor, and worship. The whole household would worship the family god in the home. If you went to another city, you would acknowledge, respect, and even worship their gods. To\u00a0not<\/strong>\u00a0do so was a great insult. Well, actually, such simply was not done — except by Jews and Christians.<\/p>\n