What did the Romans think about early Christians?

@RedBaron Why is it important to you that Judaism is monotheistic? I can accept that sociologists think Christianity is polytheistic, but that doesn’t make my religion any less valid.

@Theyitis "You shall not make yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything in heaven above or on earth beneath or in the waters under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God and I punish a parent's fault in the children, the grandchildren, and the great-grandchildren among those who hate me;"

-- Exodus 20:4-5

The ban is on both carved images and likeness in drawing. Not all Jews follow that law to the letter but many still do. You are actually going to fault the ones who do for not forcing their religion on others? I lived half my life as a Christian, but never once did I try to murder somebody for committing adultery. Would you conclude that adultery is not against Christian rules?

I have heard the theory that the many Hindu gods can be traced back to one god. It's actually quite intriguing to watch. It sort of mirrors what the Israelites did long ago, combining Yahweh, Asherah, Ba'al and others into one god. And also the cult of Amum-Ra combining two gods. Heck, even the god of Zoroastrianism is an amalgamation of earlier gods. And closer to the point, this whole thing has already been done in Sikhism, an offshoot of Hinduism. Then there is also Mahayana Buddhism, where the many gods of Hinduism are replaced by a single god.

We can debate what we each think about all these things ad nauseam. But what would be the point? Your claim is that sociologists say there is only one monotheistic religion. I proved that they do not claim this with a Google search that took less than a minute:

https://study.com/learn/lesson/what-is-monotheistic-religion.html

https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociology_(Boundless)/14%3A_Religion/14.02%3A_Types_of_Religions/14.2C%3A_Theism_and_Monotheism

https://easysociology.com/sociology-of-religion/monotheism-an-introduction/

https://docs.iza.org/dp3116.pdf

@Theyitis Because it’s the truth, and truth is important.

Without the truth being known, we get people like you spreading ignorance like your post here.

@NativePortlander1970 That's it? That's your entire reply to what I wrote? I would like to reply with something exactly as relevant, but will have to settle for something 100 times more relevant: The price of tea in China has gone up.

It is historical fact atht the Jewish religious leaders saw early Christianity as apostasy and sacrilege, and persecuted its adherents. It is historical fact that the Romans generally didn't give a rat's rectum about the religion of their subjects, but did begin to persecute Christians because Nero scapegoated them in 64 AD.

It is not historical fact that Yeshuah of Nazareth even existed, let alone Mark or Paul. Most historians agree that Jesus himself was real and said and did some of what's written about him, but it is not fact. All one has to do is read the canonical gospels with a little bit of common sense and without a mind that has been closed by church doctrine to recognize that they have much early apologetics in them. My referencing Mark was just showing an example of that.

Whether Jesus was real or not, whether he said not to pay or taxes or not, people were saying that he was. Mark constructed a narrative in which some folks tried to trick him into saying that and then failed.

Assuming he was real, all four canonical gospels were written too late to have been written by anyone who had met the man. In spite of this, John claims its author to be "the disciple Jesus loved." Parts of that same one read like transformative fiction based on the widely discredited apocryphal epic of Enoch. Matthew and Luke are clearly based on Mark, which is in turn based on the Q Gospel. The Q Gospel could have been written by someone who knew Yeshuah. Complete manuscripts have not been preserved, but we have enough to establish it as source material for Mark.

Mark could have been intending to write a fantasy story for profit, wanting his readers to enjoy it but not believe it. It doesn't matter. I made a brief reference to his book as an example because that part of the story demonstrates how important people of the time viewed Roman taxes. You could be a member of (monotheistic) Judaism, or a doomsday cult based on Judaism, or even the cult of Isis, the Romans didn't give a crap as long as you paid your taxes.

@AllycatAD Little Boots was a tyrant for sure

@NativePortlander1970 Does this sound ominously familiar?

@Dave1955 Almost four years of it since January 20, 2021.