Be Hated

The greatness of Christianity lies in its being hated by the world, not in its being convincing to it.
- The Letter of Ignatius to the Romans, ca. 110 AD

Don't know how much I agree with Ignatius here. It seems one could definitely go the wrong way here by intentionally acting in a manner worthy of being hated - i.e., drawing hatred for being a jerk rather than drawing hatred for being faithful.

He does run against the grain of virtually all current church growth theories, though. And that's probably why the early church didn't grow much or have any lasting effect on the Roman empire.

May 31, 2005 11:24 PM
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3 Comments

classic...very good post.

my friend Adam and I have been doing a lot of conversing on how consumerism, and the church's adoption of a consumeristic marketing scheme has hurt the church at large. I think this is one major way.

Pondered by mo at June 1, 2005 01:33 PM

Read A Christian Boom

Pondered by David Gerstman at June 2, 2005 06:21 AM

Whoops, the URL didn't come through
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/979

Pondered by David Gerstman at June 2, 2005 06:22 AM