The doctrine of hell was, according to theconversation.com, “In traditional Christian doctrine, hell was conceived as a place, generally beneath the earth, where the wicked would be punished for eternity. There would be both psychological torment – at our knowing we had lost the opportunity for salvation – and physical ones inflicted by the Devil and his demons.” Now, hell is a very real place and people can go there if they die, but it is not a place that you would like to go to. It is full of death, destruction, calamity, and so much more. That is why Christians take hell very, very seriously.
The martyrs were Christians who died for there beliefs in Jesus Christ, God, and Christianity. According to merriam-webster.com, the definition of martyr is “a person who voluntarily suffers death as the penalty of witnessing to and refusing to renounce a religion”. So, martyrs are really people who died because of their belief in a religion. Many martyrs tried teaching other people about their religion and died because of it. Their were even martyrs in the Bible. Ten of the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ were martyrs. So martyrs were even that far back in history, and maybe even farther back than that!
How important was the doctrine of hell to the martyrs? It was pretty serious. The Christian martyrs taught people about Jesus, and were killed because of it. Some were even Christians and did not try to preach Christianity to other people, and they were martyred. After a Christian has been caught to be executed, he/she is given one chance to save themselves. The way they do that is they have to deny Jesus. If they do, they will be spared. If they do not, they will die. Some are not even given this chance. Some are just killed without being brought to the court to be trialed. They are just killed then and there. Some were killed in terrible, horrifying ways. Some were stoned to death, crucified, burned alive, beheaded, and much more. It was just horrifying. If you were a martyr, and you were given the choice to deny Jesus and live, or to not do so and die, which one would you chose?
The martyrs that died that were given the choice to deny Jesus did not deny Jesus because they knew that if they denied Jesus, they would have to answer to Jesus himself for it and probably go to hell, so they chose death on earth and everlasting life in heaven over limited life on earth and everlasting death in hell. What choice would you make?
The martyrs were people who died for their belief in God and His Son, Jesus Christ. They have helped influence people throughout history and are probably still doing it. Martyrs are very influential people. Some people even wish that they die by being martyred! Here is my final question. If you were to die by martyrdom or by old age, which would you chose?