Christians and Romans
Misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman
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What Was Going on Under Nero?
In the year 64, Nero was the emperor of Rome. He did a lot of good things for Rome and there were also problems with Nero. And so he picked scapegoats and he chose the Christians because everyone knew that they hated the human race. But even as Tacitus describes it, Nero was not persecuting Christians for being Christians. He was executing them for committing arson. They maybe didn't do it, but that's what he said. So it wasn't a charge of being Christian. And moreover, he never declared Christianity illegal. It was only in Rome, just in the city of Rome that has happened.
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