Pertanyaan: 822. Apakah Nubuat-Nubuat Kristus tentang Penindasan Telah Terpenuhi?
Penindasan terhadap umat Kristen bermula sejak awal mula keberadaan agama Kristen. Menurut McClintock dan Strong, terdapat sepuluh penindasan pagan terhadap Gereja Kristen, yaitu: Di bawah pemerintahan Nero (74 M), ketika banyak sekali orang tewas; di bawah pemerintahan Domitianus, di mana dalam satu tahun (95 M) 40.000 orang menjadi martir; di bawah pemerintahan Trajanus dan penerusnya Hadrianus, di mana banyak sekali orang dituduh dan dieksekusi, sebagian besar tanpa adanya proses pengadilan yang sah; di bawah pemerintahan Antoninus, ketika penindasan meluas. Kemudian datanglah penindasan di bawah pemerintahan Severus, Maximinus, Decius, Valerianus, Aurelian, dan Diokletianus. Pada dekade terakhir periode yang kejam ini, ratusan ribu orang tewas, 140.000 di Mesir saja, sementara 700.000 orang tunduk pada kesulitan dan kelelahan yang mereka hadapi. Penindasan oleh umat Katolik mencatat sejarah yang panjang dan kelam. Di Jerman, Polandia, Lituania, Hungaria, Bohemia, dan Belanda, korban-korbannya hampir tak terhitung. Jumlah martir Belgia yang meninggal karena iman mereka diperkirakan mencapai 100.000 orang. Di Prancis pada masa pemerintahan Charles IX, pembantaian Hari Santo Bartolomeus, diperkirakan memiliki 30.000 hingga 100.000 korban. Namun, semua kekejaman sebelumnya tampaknya terlampaui oleh penindasan mengerikan terhadap umat Protestan di Prancis pada masa pemerintahan Louis XVI. Hampir tidak ada negara yang terbebas dari kunjungan semacam itu. Inggris, Irlandia, Skotlandia, Spanyol, Italia, semuanya mengalaminya bergantian, beberapa negara lebih parah daripada yang lain.
Question: 822. Have Christ's Prophecies of Persecutions Been Fulfilled?
The persecution of Christians dates from the beginning of Christianity. According to McClintock and Strong, there were ten pagan persecutions of the Christian Church, viz. : Under Nero (A. D. 74), when great multitudes perished; under Domitian, when in one year (A. D. 95) 40,000 suffered martyrdom; under Trajan and his successor Adrian, when vast numbers were accused and executed, mostly without even a pretense of legal trial; under Antoninus, when the persecutions took a wide range. Then came the persecutions under Severus, Maximinus, Decius, Valerian, Aurelian and Diocletian. In the last decade of this inhuman period hundreds of thousands were slain, 140,000 in Egypt alone, while 700,000 succumbed to the hardship and fatigue they were compelled to face. Persecutions by Catholics form a long and dark record. In Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Hungary, Bohemia and Holland the victims were almost innumerable. The Belgic martyrs who died for their faith are estimated at 100,000. In France in the reign of Charles IX the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, it is variously estimated, had from 30,000 to 100,000 victims. But all previous atrocities seem to have been eclipsed by the hideous persecution of Protestants in France in the time of Louis XVI. Few countries were free from such visitations. England, Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Italy, all experienced them in turn, some much more heavily than others.
