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Question 7
The Decian persecution required people to sacrifice and obtain certificates; the class reads an example from a 72-year-old man who “poured out a drink offering and eaten meat offered to the gods.” If early Christians saw this as apostasy pressure baked into ordinary citizenship, what present-day equivalents might expose where our allegiance actually lies (even without violence)?
Another way to ask: If sacrificing to the gods was seen as a normal part of being a citizen, what pressures today might reveal what we truly worship (even without violence)? What everyday situations could test our loyalty to Jesus?

Direct Answer Based on Dean’s example, the pressure was not just private belief but public compliance—proof-of-loyalty practices tied to belonging in society. Present-day equivalents would be any ordinary “citizenship” expectations that demand symbolic compromise, making us choose between social acceptance and faithfulness.

Support from Transcript:

  • Dean describes Decius beginning the first “worldwide persecution” by requiring people “to sacrifice… and then have a certificate for it.”
  • He shows an actual certificate (251): “I’ve always sacrificed to the gods… I’ve sacrificed again, poured out a drink offering and eaten meat offered to the gods.”
  • He notes this caused some to “apostatize from the faith,” showing it was viewed as a real betrayal.
  • He links the certificate language to Scripture themes (“drink offering,” meat offered to gods), showing how ordinary rituals become allegiance tests.
  • He later describes similar pressures under Diocletian: people “throw the incense in” or bishops hand over “the scrolls.”
Discussion Follow-ups What are today’s “certificates”—not paper necessarily, but public acts that signal our ultimate loyalty? Where do we feel the strongest temptation to comply just to keep our place, job, or reputation?

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