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- From Rome to Home
- By Dr. Glenn Sunshine
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- You may think we have a particular worldview when in fact we do not
- Worldviews operate below the
radar
- behind the scenes
- guiding our thoughts, words, and
actions
- only rarely being examined or
analyzed
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- Religion is essential to understanding worldviews
- In Western history this means Christianity
- Western worldview is the interaction of Greece & Roman civilization
with Christianity
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- The Roman Empire is a paradox
- It dominated Western ideas about what makes a great civilization
- Within the Roman world, peace and prosperity reigned
- Trade, literature, arts, efficient government & rule of law were the
hallmarks of Roman civilization
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- Roman economy and all its engineering feats were products of slave labor
- People were killed regularly as public entertainment
- Treachery, poisoning, and assassination were common among the elite
- Roman decadence, gluttony and sexual perversion are legendary
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- Roman Empire had a bewildering array of religious options
- Gods were feared, not loved
- Emperors were considered gods
- Any non-Jew who refused to worship the emperor was tortured and killed
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- Slaves were considered inferior to free people
- Aristotle ranked them as “living tools”, little better than animals
- Elites gave themselves over to refined living and debauchery
- Virtually the entire economy
- depended on slave labor
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- Urban residents in the Empire lived in appalling squalor in
disease-ridden tenements
- A life expectancy 30
- Wealthy & poor practiced abortion & infanticide
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- Rome stopped expanding
- The supply of slaves from prisoners of war dried up and no new workers
came in
- Birthrates dropped
- Germanic immigrants made of the gap
- Result was a major cultural change which
eventually led to its demise
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- Everyone needs to be more aware of what is behind the way they think and
operate
- To change the world we need to alter their worldview and allow them to
see Truth
- Roman Empire is a great example of how a real worldview works with pagan
gods
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- http://paulasay.indstate.edu/faith
- Consider the book from Dr. Sunshine
- Ask yourself: Am I 100% committed to the Christian Worldview, if not,
why not?
- Do I understand how to live based on the words of Jesus?
- Is my Worldview the same on Friday night as it is on Sunday morning?
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