Notes
Slide Show
Outline
1
 Why you think
 the way you do
  • From Rome to Home
  • By Dr. Glenn Sunshine
2
Worldview Video Clips
3
Worldview in Practice
  • 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
4
Western Worldview & Christianity
  • Religion is essential to understanding worldviews
  • In Western history this means Christianity
  • Western worldview is the interaction of Greece & Roman civilization with Christianity
5
Worldview of Ancient Rome
  • 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
6
The Roman Empire
7
The Dark Side to Rome
  • 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
8
Life in the Coliseum
9
Religion in the Roman World
  • 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
10
Status was Everything
  • 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
11
The Outcome of This
  • Urban residents in the Empire lived in appalling squalor in disease-ridden tenements
  • A life expectancy 30
  • Wealthy & poor practiced abortion & infanticide


12
How the Empire Fell
  • 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


13
What We Can Learn from This
  • 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
14
Worldview in Action
15
In Closing
  • 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?