https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Culture-Wars.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\tby Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
Text: Ecclesiastes 1:3-11<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I. Some questions are hard to answer<\/p>\n
A. Not because the Bible is unclear on the subject<\/p>\n
B. But because there is a strong cultural bias against the correct answer<\/p>\n
C. Example of idolatry<\/p>\n
1. We have no difficulties denouncing idol worship today<\/p>\n
2. Even non-Christians understand that an idol is worthless – Jeremiah 10:14-15<\/p>\n 3. Yet it wasn’t always the case. Paul’s teaching upset people – I Corinthians\n8:4\n
4. The reaction in Ephesus – Acts 19:25-29<\/p>\n
5. The truth that idols are nothing has never been difficult to grasp. <\/p>\n
a. People understood the message when delivered by early Christians<\/p>\n b. What made the teaching difficult is that it went against the cultural\nnorm\n
II. Teaching against society’s beliefs is never easy<\/p>\n A. We forget that the world of New Testament was hostile to God – Ecclesiastes\n1:10-11\n 1. We read about the great sweeping acceptance of the Gospel and somehow\nthink it must have been easier back then – Ecclesiastes 7:10\n
2. Think of what it must have been like to teach in those days.<\/p>\n
B. Government<\/p>\n
1. The powers of the nations did not support religious freedom in any way.<\/p>\n 2. The Jewish authorities, both civil and religious, claimed to follow Moses,\nbut the truth was they were more interested in upholding their traditions –\nMatthew 15:1-9; 23:1-7\n a. The Sadducees, made mostly of the civil rulers, did not believe in\nangels, spirits, or life after death – Acts 23:8\n b. The Pharisees, the religious leaders, led the early persecution\nagainst the church – Philippians 3:4-6\n c. The chief court, the Sanhedrin council, issued orders against the\nteaching of Christ – Acts 4:15-18; 5:40-41\n d. The chief priests issued orders to kill people in the church – Acts\n26:10-11\n 3. It was no better in the Gentile cities. Provincial and city governments\nsupported idolatry and the belief of multiple gods.\n a. Magistrates in Philippi had Paul and Silas beaten and thrown into\nprison – Acts 16:19-24\n b. The Roman governor, Felix, delayed freeing Paul for two years in\nhopes of receiving a bribe. His replacement, Festus, kept Paul in\nimprisoned as a political favor – Acts 24:22-27\n 4. The Roman Empire was officially polytheistic and eventually demanded\nworship of its emperors.\n
a. Claudius demanded that all Jews leave Rome – Acts 18:2<\/p>\n b. Nero is believed to have burnt some of the slums in Rome and\nblamed the Christians for it. \n
(1) Paul alludes to the present distress – I Corinthians 7:26<\/p>\n c. Under Domitian, food could not be purchased without proof that\nyou worshiped the emperor – Revelation 13:16-17\n
C. Society’s ills<\/p>\n 1. In many ways the culture of the New Testament was far worse than our\nown.\n
2. People didn’t understand the idea of morality – I Peter 4:3-4<\/p>\n
3. Divorce was common place in Roman society and Jewish society<\/p>\n a. “According to the Roman writers of the first century BCE and first\ncentury CE, divorce became increasingly frequent after 200 BCE,\ninitiated easily by the husband or the wife. In addition, wives had\ntheir own property, which they could sell, give away or bequeath as\nthey liked. As a result, women became more liberated and less\ndependent on their husbands. In fact, by the late Republic a rich\nwife who could divorce and take her wealth with her had a real\nthreat against her husband and could wield influence over him. The\nsense of independence also showed up in increasing sexual\npromiscuity and adultery.” [Family Values in Ancient Rome <\/i>by\nRichard Saller]\n
4. Child Rearing<\/p>\n a. “Roman men deplored the fact that these rich women were more\nconcerned with their own figures and luxuries than with their\nfamilies. Unlike the good, old-time matrons, according to the\nhistorian Tacitus around 100 CE, these modern women did not\nspend time with their children and did not nurse their infants but left\nthem to slave wet nurses. Furthermore, children were handed over\nto be raised by child-minders, usually the most useless slaves of the\nhousehold. Roman authors don’t say much about daughters in\ngeneral, but they wrote about the moral decline of sons. In the age\nof degeneracy, sons in their youth no longer obeyed their fathers\nthe way they used to, they spent profligately on women and wine\nand they became increasingly sexually promiscuous.” [Family\nValues in Ancient Rome <\/i>by Richard Saller]\n b. “A standard character type in the comedies of Plautus, written not\nlong after 200 BCE, was the loose-living son who was smitten with\nlove, often for a prostitute. In the plays–ancient versions of\nsitcoms– there is a debate about whether fathers should be strict or\nindulgent toward the moral failings of their sons–usually they were\nindulgent in the end, just as in modern sitcoms. In fact, sons in these\nplays are never beaten for their disobedience, as slaves are. Plautus’\nerrant sons are not a fictitious type invented by his imagination but\nare characters that had their counterparts in reality. The historian\nPolybius, who lived in Rome around 160-150 BCE , described the\nlifestyle of his senatorial friend, Scipio Aemilianus. According to\nPolybius, Scipio was an unusual youth precisely because he did not\nindulge in the fast living of his peers.” [Family Values in Ancient\nRome <\/i>by Richard Saller]\n c. “Some Romans argued for the positive effect of corporal\npunishment of children, but in the surviving texts the more common\nview is that children should not be beaten. The advice to parents\nnot to hit their children sounds similar to advice about child-rearing\ntoday. For the Romans, however, the logic was a bit different,\nbecause it was part of an ideology of a slave society. An author of a\ntract on child-rearing written around 100 CE had this to suggest: \n‘Children ought to be led to honorable practices by means of\nencouragement and reasoning, and most certainly not by blows nor\nby ill treatment; for it is surely agreed that these are fitting rather\nfor slaves than for the freeborn; for so they grow numb and shudder\nat their tasks, partly from the pain of blows, partly also on account\nof the hybris. Praise and reproof are more helpful for the freeborn\nthan any sort of ill-usage, since the praise incites them toward what\nis honorable, and reproof keeps them from what is disgraceful.’In\nother words, in this slave society corporal punishment was regarded\nas fit for slaves, not for free citizen children. To beat free children\nrisked making them slavelike. Around the same time, another\nRoman author, the philosopher Seneca, suggested that corporal\npunishment be used as a last resort on children before they were of\nan age to understand reason.” [Family Values in Ancient Rome <\/i>by\nRichard Saller]\n
5. Infanticide and abortion<\/p>\n a. “As Will Durant stated, infanticide was so common in ancient\nRome that “birth itself was an adventure.” Caesar and Christ, page\n56. Indeed, so common was infanticide in ancient Greece that\nPolybius (205-118 BCE) blamed the decline of ancient Greece on\nit. (Histories, 6).” [Pagans, Christianity, and Infanticide by\nChristopher Price]\n b. “A chilling letter from a pagan husband to his wife captures the\ncasual nature of this practice among the pagans: “Know that I am\nstill in Alexandria…. I ask and beg you to take good care of our\nbaby son, and as soon as I received payment I shall send it up to\nyou. If you are delivered (before I come home), if it is a boy keep it,\nif a girl, discard it.”” [Pagans, Christianity, and Infanticide by\nChristopher Price]\n c. The Jews, at least, did not follow this practice. “Cornelius Tacitus\nwent so far as to condemn the Jews for their opposition to\ninfanticide. He stated that the Jewish view that “it was a deadly sin\nto kill an unwanted child” was just another of the many “sinister and\nrevolting practices” of the Jews. Histories 5.5.” [Pagans,\nChristianity, and Infanticide by Christopher Price]\n 6. Homosexuality, fornication, and adultery was prevalent, as can be deduced\nfrom the church in Corinth, but also support in history – I Corinthians 6:9-11.\n a. History documents that homosexuals and pedophiles were wide\nspread; even having rules governing the relationships.\n
7. Polygamy was also common<\/p>\nIII. Christianity was met with persecution and violence because it often contradicted the\ncultural norms of its day\n A. Yet, the message of Christ flourished in an atmosphere of violent opposition – Acts\n8:4\n
B. The conflict did not stop people from speaking the truth – I Thessalonians 2:2<\/p>\n
C. It was a message that the world, in general could not grasp – I Corinthians 1:27-29<\/p>\n
D. But it spread, turning the world upside down – Acts 17:5-6<\/p>\n
E. Does the message of the gospel need to be modified for a modern society?<\/p>\n
1. No, modern society is falling back along old pathways<\/p>\n 2. The sins of men remain the same and the solution remains the same – II\nCorinthians 10:3-6\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Ecclesiastes 1:3-11 I. Some questions are hard to answer A. Not because the Bible is unclear on the subject B. But because there is a strong cultural bias against the correct answer C. Example of idolatry 1. We have no difficulties denouncing idol worship today 2. Even non-Christians understand that an idol is worthless –…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[1264,199,38,536,451,188,609],"class_list":["post-45346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-culture","tag-ethics","tag-morality","tag-preaching","tag-teaching","tag-trials","tag-worldliness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":23953,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-cancel-culture-something-christians-should-be-involved-in\/","url_meta":{"origin":45346,"position":0},"title":"Is the “Cancel Culture” something Christians should be involved in?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Jeff, I've heard some refer to \"Cancel Culture\" and I have read things online but I am in need of what the meaning is from a Christian's view and what the Bible says about it. 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Part of my job is doing programming for celebrating different cultures with programs such as Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Arab Culture Month, etc. I just recently read your statement on Black Lives Matter, and I was wondering\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27325,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/pride-in-our-culture\/","url_meta":{"origin":45346,"position":3},"title":"Pride in Our Culture","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Garry Floyd \"And the LORD said to me, 'Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, \"Hear the words of this covenant and do them. 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