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Verses Compiled by :
Published On :
September 7, 2012
Last Updated :
October 5, 2024
The Disciples were first called Christians in Antioch: "And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch."
Acts 11:26, KJV
This was not a derogatory term. It simply meant -- and means -- one who follows Christ. King Herod Agrippa II likewise used the term, and it was not in a derogatory sense either: "Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian."
Acts 26:28, KJV
The Apostle Peter likewise used the term in addressing the brethren, as we see here: "Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf."
1 Peter 4:16, KJV
While Christians later became hated, despised, persecuted and killed by both the unbelieving Jews and the Romans, nevertheless, it still does not change what the word actually means. It is simply a precise, descriptive term to explain who and what we are. If we are ashamed to be called Christians, then consider this verse: "Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
Mark 8:38, KJV
Everyone is labeled as something in this world, good or bad. Don't you prefer to be known as a Christian? If you read "Pontifex Maximus: Pagan High Priest to Roman Catholic Pope", you will clearly learn that it was Emperor Constantine and the misguided Christian bishops of the 4th Century who set the groundwork for what would eventually become the state-enforced religion which we know today as Roman Catholicism. Catholic Christianity was not, and is not, true Christianity, as founded by Christ and the Apostles. Pontifex Maximus: Pagan High Priest to Roman Catholic Pope |