Seminar 1: "Between the Testaments"

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RELIGION

All religions were considered alike, none to be taken too seriously.
"All roads lead to Rome," was said but all religions lead equally to
nowhere.  All real belief in life after death had long since departed
with the ideas of their favorite philosophers replacing it.

The proliferation of gods, oracles, divination, dreams, astrology,
magic, necromancy, and emperor worship all contributed to the moral
and spiritual decay of the Roman Empire.  The only religion that Rome
insisted on was the deification and worship of the emperor. Mingled
with this godless society were superstitions and witchcraft which
reached their lowest ebb. It was in this vacuum that Judaism found a
home. It offered hope for the hopeless, and life beyond the grave, and
a reason for morality and living.

The common people worshipped a plethora of gods bordering on animism,
or the worship and veneration of gods in all nature.  There were 12
major deities, many adopted from Greek mythology.  There were
literally thousands of lesser gods, including such as Vesta, the
goddess of the home, Ianus, the god of the door, the god of coins, the
god of the storehouse, the table, etc. At every meal they would offer
part of the food to these family gods.

When Paul observed that Athens was totally given over to idolatry he
was not exercising hyperbole. It was true!  Such was the case in Rome
as well.








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Part 2: EMPEROR WORSHIP
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The cult of emperor worship began innocently with the honoring of dead
Julius Caesar. The origin of emperor worship came primarily from the
Egyptians who deified their Pharaohs.  The Ptolemies were considered
successors of the Pharaohs, the Caesars were successors to the
Ptolemies.  These heroes appeared to the common man to be godlike in
power and authority. In Rome itself the myth of a deified ruler
evolved around 4 B.C. under Greek influence and thought.  Augustus
encouraged the idea of altars being set up in his honor, although he
came short of allowing temples in his name. Each succeeding Caesar
seemed to more firmly adopt the idea to cement his fear and favor with
the common people.  The Greeks had no qualms about hero worship and
spread the cult far and wide throughout the Mediterranean world.

The biblical mention of Pergamos in the book of Revelation refers
to the Caesar worship as the place "where Satan's seat is..."

"...These things says he who has the sharp sword with two edges.
I know your works, and where you dwell, even where Satan's seat is;
and you hold fast my name, and have not denied my faith, even in
those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among
you, where Satan dwells."  (Rev. 2:13)

Satan's seat was in reference to emperor worship in the city of
Pergamos, which had built no less than three different temples to the
Caesars, and where sacrifices were offered to them.  Only the first
temple had been built at the time of the apostle John's Revelation,
but Caesar worship was sufficiently oppressing to Christians as to
provoke martyrdom of faithful Christians who refused to confess the
ritual litany, "Caesar is lord."

Early in the second century Pliny writes concerning the effect that
Christianity was having on the temples, cult shrines, and butchers
guild which was finding its commerce affected by the Jesus way.

Pliny wrotes to Caesar, "Those who denied they were, or had ever
been, Christians, who repeated after me an invocation to the gods, and
offered adoration, with wine and frankincense, to your image, which I
had ordered to be brought for that purpose, together with those of the
gods, and who finally cursed Christ -- none of which acts, it is said,
those who are really Christians can be forced into performing -- these
I thought it proper to discharge.  Others who were named by that
informer at first confessed themselves Christians, and then denied it;
true, they had been of that persuasion but they had quitted it, some
three years, others many years, and a few as much as twenty-five years
ago. They all worshipped your statue and the images of the gods, and
cursed Christ."  (Pliny, Letters, 10.96,97)



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Part 3: ROMAN PHILOSOPHY
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It is proved true under Roman rule that where there is no God there is
no need for morality either. If there is no life after death, no
hereafter, no judgment to come, no god who tries men in the balance,
then there is no ethic or morality. Therefore, "Let us eat, drink,
and be merry, for tomorrow we die."  Remove God from His throne and
his rightful place in society and all society goes to Hell.  The
degeneration of Roman morality could clearly be traced along the lines
of its philosophers.

Without question the philosophers contributed to the moral decay of
the Roman society. There were two opposing philosophical positions in
Rome, the Stoics and Epicureans.

"One flattered pride the other gratified its sensuality; the one was
in accordance with the original national character, the other with its
own decay and corruption...One turned selfward, the other fleshward;
the one to self-deification, the other to indulgence of every passion
and worship of matter... Both ultimately led to atheism and despair"
(Edersheim, p 178)

The Stoics believed that the human spirit was the greatest good, and
happiness was to be found in pursuing reason, and freeing themselves
from passions, concentrating on controlling the world around them.

The Epicureans believed that death should not be feared since it
simply ends all sensations, and that deities did not concern
themselves with mankind, therefore should not be feared. Hence
their lifestyles were exemplified by the gratification of man's baser
appetites and passions.

Both philosophies led to atheism and despair. Thus Roman society was
forced into a godless despair of life. For what then did they live?
Suicide was considered an alternative, as was abortion and even
euthanasia. Life became cheap and the meaning of life even cheaper.
Despair reigned in the ranks of the wealthy.


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Part 4: ROMAN IMMORALITY
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"It has been rightly said, that the idea of conscience, as we
understand it, was unknown to heathenism. Absolute right did not
exist. Might was right.   The social relations exhibited, if possible,
even deeper corruption. The sanctity of marriage had ceased. Female
dissipation and the general dissoluteness led at last to an almost
entire cessation of marriage.  Abortion, and the exposure and murder
of newly-born children, were common and tolerated; unnatural vices,
which even the greatest philosophers practiced, if not advocated,
attained proportions which defy description..."

"It would be unsavory to describe how far the worship of indecency was
carried; how public morals were corrupted by the mimic representations
of everything that was vile, and even by the pandering of a corrupt
art."

(from Edersheim's Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, p179)

We understand now that the description of a debase society described
by Paul in the first chapter in his letter to the Romans was not a
make believe literary scenario, nor a straw man, but a vivid chronicle
of Roman society.  (Read Romans 1:19-32)