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                               Tacitus Accussation against Early Church

Like Josephus, Tacitus was a historian. But Tacitus was a famous Roman historian who also confirmed that Jesus was real and
not fictional. Yet Tacitus, from the perspective of the Roman anti-god culture, wrote down some exact accussations against the
early church which were sexual in nature. They tried to pin the burning of Rome on Christians, but it wasn;t true, and yet the
Christians did seem to practise 'love feasts' in secret as part of their sacred worship services or cermonies. But you decide for
yourself whether or not, it was a true sexual accussation.

  Lets first examine, who Tacitus was and then why he said what he did about the early church.
From .. http://gear.dyndns.
org/~spencer/Bible/canyoutrustyourbiblept3.html, :

       b.    Roman Historian, Cornelius Tacitus (Born ... AD 55)

A contemporary of Pliny, Cornelius Tacitus is considered the greatest historian of Imperial Rome.  Michael Green explains:

"He tells us how the Christians, hated by the populace for their `crimes' (alluding no doubt to the Christian emphasis on `love'
which was given a sinister twist by the pagans and construed as incest) were made scapegoats for the Great Fire of AD 64 by
the Emperor Nero. `The name Christian,' he writes, `comes to them from Christ, who was executed in the reign of Tiberius by
the procurator Pontius Pilate; and the pernicious cult, suppressed for a while, broke out afresh and spread not only through
Judea, the source of the disease, but in Rome itself, where all the horrible and shameful things in the world collect and find a
home.'"[18] … 18. Ibid., p. 29, from Tacitus' Annals, 15.44...The entire Latin text to Tacitus Annals 15.44:

Then Tacitus went on in the original text of Latin and wrote ...
From http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/tacitus/tac.ann15.shtml#44,
Tactus: Annales XV: P. CORNELI TACITI ANNALIVM LIBER QVINTVS DECIMVS, “44�:

[44] Et haec quidem humanis consiliis providebantur. mox petita [a] dis piacula aditique Sibyllae libri, ex quibus supplicatum
Volcano et Cereri Proserpinaeque, ac propitiata Iuno per matronas, primum in Capitolio, deinde apud proximum mare, unde
hausta aqua templum et simulacrum deae perspersum est; et sellisternia ac pervigilia celebravere feminae, quibus mariti erant.
Sed non ope humana, non largitionibus principis aut deum placamentis decedebat infamia, quin iussum incendium crederetur.
ergo abolendo rumori Nero subdidit reos et quaesitissimis poenis adfecit, quos per
flagitia invisos vulgus Chrestianos
appellabat. auctor nominis eius
Christus Tibero imperitante per procuratorem Pontium Pilatum supplicio adfectus erat;
repressaque in praesens exitiablilis superstitio rursum erumpebat, non modo per Iudaeam, originem eius mali, sed per urbem
etiam, quo cuncta undique atrocia aut
pudenda confluunt celebranturque. igitur primum correpti qui fatebantur, deinde indicio
eorum multitudo ingens haud proinde in crimine incendii quam odio humani generis convicti sunt. et pereuntibus addita ludibria,
ut ferarum tergis contecti laniatu canum interirent aut crucibus adfixi [aut flammandi atque], ubi defecisset dies, in usu[m]
nocturni luminis urerentur. hortos suos ei spectaculo Nero obtulerat, et circense ludicrum edebat, habitu aurigae permixtus plebi
vel curriculo insistens. unde quamquam adversus sontes et novissima exempla meritos miseratio oriebatur, tamquam non utilitate
publica, sed in saevitiam unius absumerentur. (End of original text)

And now notice that, 'According to Lewis & Short’s Latin dictionary, “flagitia� means “Esp., a shameful or
disgraceful act done in the heat of passion,â€� “dissolute.â€�  And Latin “
vulgus� does mean “vulgar� in
English, and the word after is Christians (
Chrestianos).Notice also that within the text where Tacitus mentions Ponius Pilate.
(
Pontium Pilatum) executing Christ (Christus)

And then reading onward, you can discern the very accussation against these early Christians was "pudenda confluunt
celebranturque"
. So lets figure out what 'pudenda confluunt celebranturque' means.

"pudendus", -a, -um 1 adi i.q. turpis 2 subst. n.pl. de genitalibus
 â€œGenitalibusâ€� means “About the reproductive / genital organsâ€�  (http://www.quicklatin.com/)
         . Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 1997, p. 944,
 â€œpudendumâ€�: the external organs of a human being, especially a woman
"confluunt� means “They flow / flock / come together / abundantly�
“celebranturque� means “They are celebrated�

So put it together, what was the accussation against the early church, but their free sex ceremonies or secret rituals late at night
among initiates, that involved, them coming together and celebrating their genital organs. This was their original Communion, that
they carried out for three hundred years after getting the instructions for such from the Lord himself. They had 'love feasts' after
they symbolically ate the Lord's Body and drank the Lord's Blood.

Don't believe it, then study more and ask the Lord yourself about what the real Communion of the early church was. And why
Tacitus and the Romans accussed them.


David  

For further details, research with wisdom and discernment from
http://www.the-goldenrule.name/Orgy_Tacitus-Nero.htm  and follow the hyperlinks

See also
     
Christian Love Feasts
     Love Feasts or feasts of Charity
     Love One another means ....