Friday, July 1, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Moral Courage Blog
This is the text of a podcast I recorded. It is from the perspective of somebody who did not exhibit moral courage in the times of Ancient Rome and offers an explanation as to why.
" It was 155 A.D., and I had not praised a Roman God in decades, I stopped praying to Jupiter, Mars and Ceres, shortly after my wicked father passed, and I haven't looked back to my former religion or late father since. But when Polycarp was sentenced to crucifixion for saying he believed in the word of Jesus, a fear boiled over inside of me. I couldn't imagine being strung up and nailed by my hands simply for repeating something that I could easily lie about. I didn't want to have to look at my mother weep as I died on that wooden stick, especially for going against the exact thing my father practiced and preached to us everyday of his life. He spent many of his days condemning Christians, sending them to the lions' den, all in an attempt to kill a belief that had already spread far beyond the Romans control. Christianity was a threat to their synthetic, borrowed culture because it created a choice for people of this society. By having no choice in the religion they practiced, the emperors had ultimate control of the people. The Roman population naturally saw the church and state as one, and many lived their lives in accordance to those rules. Christianity offered many the opportunity to think for themselves and make their own decisions on what was right, and the government harshly acted out against such behavior. I never truly believed Romans hated Christians, I always told myself they were simply scared to lose control. I knew they wouldn't go down without a fight, but I never thought it would come to murder."
" It was 155 A.D., and I had not praised a Roman God in decades, I stopped praying to Jupiter, Mars and Ceres, shortly after my wicked father passed, and I haven't looked back to my former religion or late father since. But when Polycarp was sentenced to crucifixion for saying he believed in the word of Jesus, a fear boiled over inside of me. I couldn't imagine being strung up and nailed by my hands simply for repeating something that I could easily lie about. I didn't want to have to look at my mother weep as I died on that wooden stick, especially for going against the exact thing my father practiced and preached to us everyday of his life. He spent many of his days condemning Christians, sending them to the lions' den, all in an attempt to kill a belief that had already spread far beyond the Romans control. Christianity was a threat to their synthetic, borrowed culture because it created a choice for people of this society. By having no choice in the religion they practiced, the emperors had ultimate control of the people. The Roman population naturally saw the church and state as one, and many lived their lives in accordance to those rules. Christianity offered many the opportunity to think for themselves and make their own decisions on what was right, and the government harshly acted out against such behavior. I never truly believed Romans hated Christians, I always told myself they were simply scared to lose control. I knew they wouldn't go down without a fight, but I never thought it would come to murder."
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