Who Is Persecuting Who?

Last night, I was at a Bible study group that is working through the book of Acts.

We were looking specifically at a situation in which some of the early Christians were being persecuted. Someone spoke up and noted that it's interesting that Christians have moved from being a group who were being persecuted to a group that is persecuting, through the laws some Christians are trying to pass and the things they are trying to do to keep certain groups of people down, to, in a sense, oppress them.

The fact is that Christians actually began persecuting others many years ago, at least 1,700 years ago, when Christianity became the official religion of Rome, if not before. But the message does ring true: what gives us the power or the reasoning to oppress others? As Christians, nothing gives us that. Nothing.

I have heard it said that God always sides with people who are being oppressed. I couldn't agree more. Sort of turns things upside down when people claiming to be God's people are the ones doing the oppressing.