n an amphitheater in Carthage. As the crowd jeered at the Christians that were about to be killed; the soon to be martyrs made signs to the crowd about the their upcoming ordeal, You, us; but God, you. (MacMullen 20).Ironically, the fact that the Christians were so exclusive and secretive might have helped to get some converts. The pagans who saw all these martyrs dying for something that they believed in, must have been curious why. There were some random Christians that would go out and drive out demons but these were seen as fools. And since the Christians were such a reclusive group, the only way the pagan could penetrate the group was by actually become one and learn from there. Most Christians would try to avoid attention as much as possible. They would not go to any public celebration or marry non-Christians. So pagans had no help from Christians about their doctrine. Most of the people could not learn for themselves from any gospel or apology; three-fourths of the population were illiterate. So all accounts of Christianity that a pagan learned were oral traditions of these magnificent stories of Jesus and his followers; the stories of hope and salvation, and to sacrifice oneself to God. The once pagan can also experience the brotherhood of being a Christian. All of these things must have been very attractive. To other people though, all the actions of the Christians must have been seen like the actions of a dangerous cult. Their (the Christians) injunctions are like this: Let no one educated, no one wise, no one sensible draw near. For these abilities are thought by us to be evils. But as for anyone ignorant, anyone stupid, anyone uneducated, anyone who is a child, let him come boldly. By the fact that they themselves admit that these people are worthy of the God, they show that they want and are able to convince only the foolish, dishonorable and stupid, and only slaves, women and little children. Moreover, we see that those w...
