Higgins 1

Justin Higgins

Mr. Bayardi

Religion II

20 March 2017

Martyrs Essay

While they grow up, kids dream of being heroes that are willing to sacrifice their lives to

save someone or stand up for what they believe in. These kids often picture themselves fighting

villains or monsters, but there are thousands of heroes who die for something they believe in

every year. These people, called martyrs, die standing up for their faith as Christians. Martyrs are

some of the most influential people when it comes to evangelizing and getting others to join

Christianity.

Martyrs are those who have died for their faith as Christians. The first martyr was Saint

Stephen. He was stoned early in the book of Acts of the Apostles. Stephen is among many other

saints who became martyrs of Christianity. All of the Apostles, except John became martyrs, as

they were killed for spreading the word of Christ. Many early martyrs were killed in horrific,

painful ways, like being crucified or burned. Although martyrs are often thought of as living a

long time ago, there are still many martyrs today. Many Christians are martyred across the world

in many places, especially in the Middle East. According to the Vatican Spokesman, Archbishop

Silvano Maria Tomasi, Credible research has reached the shocking conclusion that every year

an estimate of more than 100,000 Christians are killed because of some relation to their faith

(qtd. in Alexander n.p.). This information says that over one hundred thousand people are being

martyred every year.

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Tertullian says that, The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church. He is saying that

the Church spreads the most when people are martyred for their faith as Christians. Christians

have been martyred throughout all of history. Other groups, emperors, and other religions have

martyred Christians to limit the number of Christians and scare people away from being

Christians. Although many people have tried this, it has never worked. Every time Christians

have been martyred, it has backfired on the persecutors. When Christians are martyred, it sends a

message to other groups of people. It shows that Christians have something strong and real to

believe in. Other people see the choice to give up ones life as inspirational. It gives off a

powerful message that draws others to the Christian faith. People who are not Catholic are drawn

to the faith through curiosity and wanted to belong to something with such strong beliefs. All

attempt to scare away and eliminate Christians have not worked because the net effect of this is

that a new cult of the martyrs appears in Christianity, which strengthens the church (Meeks

n.p.). This shows that martyring Christians has only strengthened and helped the Church.

I think the martyrdom of Christians throughout the centuries has been a good thing for

the Church. While the murder of innocent, faithful Christians is an awful thing, martyrs have

greatly helped the Church. I think martyrs have been almost necessary to the growth of the

church. Martyrs show the true love and power of God. They show the love and grace of God

through giving up their lives. Martyrs give up their lives for the Church, just like Christ gave up

his life for us. Martyrs show us that God can overcome even the biggest fear of humans, death.

God overcomes death by bringing martyrs to himself as true signs of his love and power. Martyrs

are very important because they bring others to the Christian faith and strengthen the faith of

others who are already Christians by showing that they do not even fear death because they have

the love of God.

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Works Cited

Alexander, Ruth. "Are there really 100,000 new Christian martyrs every year?" BBC News.

BBC, 12 Nov. 2013. Web. 19 Mar. 2017.

Meeks, Wayne A. "Why Did Christianity Succeed?" PBS. Public Broadcasting Service, Apr.

1998. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.