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In a town known for its work, the church was known for its deeds: love that expresses itself in serving others, and faithfulness that has expressed itself in endurance. That’s a fantastic reputation. They are nailing the orthopraxy (righteous actions). The problem is their foundational orthodoxy (righteous teaching/belief). That’s going to need to stabilize, because a shaky foundation cannot sustain even the best deeds. John is going to make this point by referencing the presence of a Jezebel (likely not her real name) in their church. Here’s the backstory of Jezebel.
* * * * * *
Write down My words, and send them to the messenger of the church in Thyatira. “These are the words of the Son of God,[1] the One whose eyes blaze like flames of fire[2] and whose feet gleam like brightly polished bronze: “I know your deeds: love, faithfulness, service, and endurance. Your labors greatly increase in quality as you travel along this journey.A period of great prosperity was beginning for Thyatira. There were more trade-guilds in Thyatira than in any other Asian city at that time: wool and linen workers, garment manufacturers, tanners, potters, bakers, slave dealers, and bronze smiths.[3]
In a town known for its work, the church was known for its deeds: love that expresses itself in serving others, and faithfulness that has expressed itself in endurance. That’s a fantastic reputation. They are nailing the orthopraxy (righteous actions). The problem is their foundational orthodoxy (righteous teaching/belief). That’s going to need to stabilize, because a shaky foundation cannot sustain even the best deeds. John is going to make this point by referencing the presence of a Jezebel (likely not her real name) in their church. Here’s the backstory of Jezebel.
Jezebel married Israel’s King Ahab and got him to worship Baal; over 800 prophets of Baal were under her care. Most of the prophets of God were murdered at her request. At one point, she set up the murder of vineyard owner just because she wanted the vineyard. Elijah prophesied to Ahab that Ahab and all his successors would be slain and that dogs would devour Jezebel. Eventually, Ahab, Jezebel and her two sons, and Ahab’s 70 sons died as Elijah had predicted.[4] John is going to use this well-known Old Testament event to make a point about Thyatira’s version of Jezebel.
Like the Nicolaitans in general, it appears Jezebel is promoting participation in the guilds where the activities mentioned took place, which would mean at best flirting with idolatry and at worst embracing it.[11] I’m not sure how to best interpret the language of judgment here. I think (?) it’s best understood as simply making the point that just as judgment followed the original Jezebel (physical affliction and death in her case) judgment will follow this Jezebel (physical or spiritual? Commentators are uncertain). Whatever conclusions you reach from that, the consequences will be serious.
This is the third time in the first four churches in Revelation that the Nicolaitan urge has shown up. One uncomfortable implication is that this is a common problem, not an isolated or unique one. Practically everyone is wrestling with this, and there appears to have been room to wrestle.[12]
But let’s this more uncomfortable. Don't forget: in Thyatira they were flourishing in “love and faith and service and endurance," and getting better at it. These Nicolaitans of Thyatira, with Jezebel as their leader, were still active and unwearied members of the Church, full of good works, and respected by the congregation and probably by the community for their general character and way of life.[13]
“However, I have this against you:[5] you have tolerated that woman Jezebel, who is a self-anointed prophetess and who misleads My followers to commit immoral sexual acts and to eat food prepared for idol worship. I have provided her enough time to turn away from her indecency,[6] but she refuses to turn from these immoral acts".
Watch; I will throw her back into her sickbed with those who committed adultery with her, and I will make them a bed of great affliction[7] if they do not abandon her indiscretions and turn to follow Me. I will punish her[8] by striking her children dead.[9] Through this all the churches will know I am the One who relentlessly explores the mind and heart,[10] and I will deal with each of you as you deserve according to your acts.
Like the Nicolaitans in general, it appears Jezebel is promoting participation in the guilds where the activities mentioned took place, which would mean at best flirting with idolatry and at worst embracing it.[11] I’m not sure how to best interpret the language of judgment here. I think (?) it’s best understood as simply making the point that just as judgment followed the original Jezebel (physical affliction and death in her case) judgment will follow this Jezebel (physical or spiritual? Commentators are uncertain). Whatever conclusions you reach from that, the consequences will be serious.
This is the third time in the first four churches in Revelation that the Nicolaitan urge has shown up. One uncomfortable implication is that this is a common problem, not an isolated or unique one. Practically everyone is wrestling with this, and there appears to have been room to wrestle.[12]
But let’s this more uncomfortable. Don't forget: in Thyatira they were flourishing in “love and faith and service and endurance," and getting better at it. These Nicolaitans of Thyatira, with Jezebel as their leader, were still active and unwearied members of the Church, full of good works, and respected by the congregation and probably by the community for their general character and way of life.[13]
It’s a deceptive spot: “I am helping so many people, I am respected in the church and in the community, so not only is what I am doing with the guilds okay, I must be okay.” But John is here to challenge that. Let’s look at a likely argument that Christians could join a guild and participate in its feasts without compromising the faith.[14]
But that’s the problem. Endless justification of that which ought not be justified. How do we do that? I think it starts when we begin to make categories about what God cares about[16]:
”Things God Cares About” “Things God Doesn’t Care About”
My Sexuality My Budget
Not being lazy Workaholism #moremoney
Your Slander My gossip #prayerrequest
Meanness Memes #butitwasfunny!
Trust/Faith My need for control
Loving Others Well, not that person…
Our faith is intended to permeate everything we do. When we are baptized (baptizo) we are marinated, spiritual cucumbers turned into pickles when our lives have been immersed in Christ. There is no part of us that gets carved out as if it were untouched. Everything is under the lordship of Christ. Abraham Kuyper famously said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!”
If this doesn’t happen, we will be under the lordship of something else. In Revelation, you either get the seal of the Lamb or the mark of the Beast. Either a heavenly kingdom or an earthly empire will lay claim to your soul.[17]
There will be times when Christians can accept the existing forms, structures, perspectives and practices of society. It’s not all bad thanks to common grace.[18] There is plenty of room for legitimate discussion about how to be in the world but not of it. But there will be a lot of times when Christians must declare spiritual war against values, structures and practices of the empire.[i] Here’s why we have to keep our antennas up on this.
"Gallup and Barna hand us survey after survey demonstrating that evangelical Christians are as likely to embrace lifestyles every bit as hedonistic, materialistic, self-centered, and sexually immoral as the world in general." (Theologian Michael Horton)[19]
African Christian and missions scholar Professor Lamin Sanneh told Christianity Today recently that "the cultural captivity of Christianity in the West is nearly complete.”[20]
I was at a gym for a while where we would have a ‘buy in’ before the main workout. You had to do ‘X’ before you could start the workout. I’ve been thinking of that in light of what the Christians in Thyatira were facing. There was a “buy in to fit in.”There was an entrance fee, a price for doing business, a price for being accepted, a price for living comfortably within the Empire.
So my question is, what’s the price point for us? When is the buy in acceptable, and when is it too much? We don’t have literal business ceremonies in pagan temples in the United States; the push toward idolatry and compromise is not so obvious. So I’m trying to think of what this deceptive 'buy in' might look like for us today.
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[1] Considering how Psalm 2:9 is quoted in verse 27,and Psalm 2:8 in quoted verse 26, "Son of God" is probably riffing off Psalm 2:7, "Thou art my Son…” Also, Thyatira had two gods worshipped as the son of Zeus.
[2] Daniel 10:6
[3] The reputation of this bronze may be why this letter is voiced by the one whose feet are like burnished bronze.
[4] Read 1 Kings 18-2 Kings 9 for the full story.
[5] Ephesus had much zeal for orthodoxy, but little love; Thyatira had much love, but a carelessness about doctrine.
[6] Interesting that Jezebel's deceptive teaching (as bad as it was) would have been forgiven; doing it was not as serious as refusing to repent.
[7] “So often in his dealings with man, the instrument of wrong doing is made the instrument of punishment. The bed of sin becomes a bed of suffering.” (Pulpit Commentary)
[8] “In some ways the judgment of Jezebel prefigures Babylon in chapter 18: fornication (2:20-21; 18:3, 8-9), deception (2:20; 18:23), the command not to participate in her sins (2:22-23; 18:4, 8), and that God judges everyone according to their deeds (2:23; 18:6).” https://biblicalscholarship.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/commentary-on-revelation-218-29/
[9] Compare the fate of Jezebel's followers of Baal, and Ahab's sons, 1Kings 18:40; 2Kings 10:6, 7, 24, 25. ‘Kill with death’ is a reminder of "dying thou shalt die" (Genesis 2:17), which probably carries the implication of spiritual death. See 1 Corinthians 5 for Paul talking about giving someone over to the “destruction of the flesh” and consigning them to the kingdom of darkness just by putting them out of the church.
[10] “That I am he which searcheth. Compare Psalm 7:9, [10], Psalm 26:2; Jeremiah 11:20; Jeremiah 17:10; Jeremiah 20:12; also 1 Chronicles 28:9; 1 Chronicles 29:17. But the closest parallel to this phrase is Romans 8:27, which suggests that this epithet was almost proverbial in the Apostolic age, whether applied to the Father as there or to the Son as here.” (Cambridge Bible For Schools And Colleges)
[11] “It is probable that by fornication here is meant idolatry merely, which is often its meaning in the Scriptures.” (Adam Clarke) Beale agrees with this, seeing the language of immorality as representing adultery. He notes that references to porneia and related words in Revelation occur 13 times; 10 of them are metaphors for idolatry.
[12] See 1 Corinthians 8 and 10. It seems likely (though not certain) that in chapter 8, Paul is talking about eating meat in a temple that was likely served during civic celebrations. Chapter 10 focus on eating meat that one would buy in a market that had been sacrificed to a god.
[13] It actually seems like her personal character might have been solid – but this made her the more dangerous, because her character gave authority to her words. This might have been one of the roots of the problem: “that men should have confidence in their own character and judgment, [which] set them free from a hard law, while they were in reality enticing back to lascivious enjoyment the young converts...’”(Ramsay)
[14] From T. Scott Daniels’ Seven Deadly Spirits: The Message Of Revelation’s Letters For Today’s Churches
[15] There is good reason to believe this letter is equating sexual immorality with idolatry, as that is a common comparison in the Old Testament. However, the idolatrous rituals were almost always associated with immorality. I suspect it would have been easy to justify sexual indulgence once the justification train got rolling. Since other passages of Scripture addressed those in the church who were trying to say that you could do what you want to with your body because its only the soul that matters, I think it’s safe to assume this was a problem here as well.
[16] This list could change quite a bit depending where, how, and if you were raised in the church.
[17] “When the question is thus put in its full and true implication…we recognize that the whole future of Christianity was at stake over this question… We can now understand why St. John condemns that very worthy, active, and managing, but utterly mistaken lady of Thyatira… she was fumbling about with questions which she was incapable of comprehending, full of complacent satisfaction with her superficial views as to the fairness and reasonableness of allowing the poor to profit by those quite praiseworthy associations which did so much good and misusing her influence, acquired by good works and persuasive speaking, to lead her fellow-Christians astray. If she were successful, Christianity must melt and be absorbed into the Greco-Roman society, highly cultivated, but over-developed, morbid, unhealthy.” (William Ramsay)
[18] William Ramsay offers a helpful overview: “It was accepted on all hands that they were to continue to live in the world, and were not to seek to withdraw entirely out of it (1 Cor 5:10). There were certain accepted customs, rules of politeness and courtesy, ways of living and acting, which were recommended by their gracious, refined, elegant character, and other ways which without any special gracefulness were recommended simply because they were the ordinary methods of behavior… In many cases, where the idolatrous connection was not obvious, but only veiled and remote, the Christian might… comply with the usual forms, unless his attention was expressly called by any one of the guests to the idolatrous connection.”
[19] "Every day, the church is becoming more like the world it allegedly seeks to change. We have very little time, he believes, to reverse these trends..." (Pollster George Barna)
[20] https://www3.dbu.edu/jeanhumphreys/SocialPsych/evangelicalmind.htm
[21] This is true of any nation….I’m not picking on the U.S.
[22] If you want me to solve them like a Marxist instead of as a Christian, that's too high of a price too.
[23] I read an article on townhall.com two years ago that celebrated the fact some Christians on the political Right were using Saul Alinsky's book Rules for Radicals (a book popular on the political Left) as a way to fight their political battles. The author acknowledged that Alinsky dedicated the book to Lucifer and called it a “book of pure evil,” but quite gleefully embraced ‘good guys’ now using the tactics of the bad guys to defeat the bad guys. That's too high of a price.
[i] “The Roman soldier, marching under the colors of his regiment, was marching under the standard of idolatry… Moreover, he was frequently required, standing in his place in the ranks, to take part and idolatrous acts of worship. Here, again, the rule of practice of the church seems to have been that an ordinary circumstances the converted soldier should remain passive and as far as possible silent during the ceremony at which he was compulsorily present, but should not actively protest. A similar practice was encouraged by the church in other departments of life and work. But in every case, and in every profession, the Christian who an ordinary circumstances might remain passive was liable to be pointedly challenged as to whether he would willingly perform this act of worship of the deity whom he considered false. In case of such a challenge there was only one course open. The Christian could not comply with the demand which was expressly made a test of his faith [and] must have no part or lot, and could not accept membership or even be present. Here the Nicolaitans took the opposite view, I could defend their opinion by many excellent, thoroughly reasonable and highly philosophic arguments. To illustrate this class of cases, we may take an example of a meeting which was permissible and one which was not according to the opinion of those early leaders in the church. A meeting of the citizens of a city for political purposes was always inaugurated by a pagan ritual, and according to the strict original theory the citizens in this political assembly were all united in the worship of the patron national deity in whose honor the opening ceremonies were performed. But the ritual had long become a mere form, and nobody was in practice conscious at the condition of presents in the assembly lay in the loyal service of the national deity. The political condition was the only one that was practically remembered. Every member of the city tribe had a right to be present and vote. The Christian citizen might attend and vote in such a meeting, ignoring and passing and silence the opening religious ceremony. But on the other hand, there were numerous societies for a vast variety of purposes, the condition of membership and which was professionally and explicitly the willingness to engage in the worship of a pagan deity, because the society met in the worship of that deity, the name of the society was often a religious name, and the place of meeting was dedicated to the deity, and thus was constituted a temple for his worship. All are agreed: the true Christian cannot be a member of such clubs or societies." (William Ramsay)
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- The rituals of the guilds aren't really even meaningful to the pagans. They are simply empty rituals, more political than religious.
- Although the pagan guild members may believe that the gods exist, Christians know that the gods are nothing. (1 Corinthians 8) When believers participate in these cultic practices, they're not worshipping a false god because there is no god there.
- If believers do not participate in the guild events they will not only be persecuted and excluded, they will lose all relevance to the city and to the economy, and that doesn’t do any good for anybody. Participation in the guild meetings gave Christians the opportunity to be witnesses to, or positive influences on, others.
- Others might use the opportunity to indulge in sin, but Christians certainly don’t have to.[15]
But that’s the problem. Endless justification of that which ought not be justified. How do we do that? I think it starts when we begin to make categories about what God cares about[16]:
”Things God Cares About” “Things God Doesn’t Care About”
My Sexuality My Budget
Not being lazy Workaholism #moremoney
Your Slander My gossip #prayerrequest
Meanness Memes #butitwasfunny!
Trust/Faith My need for control
Loving Others Well, not that person…
Our faith is intended to permeate everything we do. When we are baptized (baptizo) we are marinated, spiritual cucumbers turned into pickles when our lives have been immersed in Christ. There is no part of us that gets carved out as if it were untouched. Everything is under the lordship of Christ. Abraham Kuyper famously said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!”
If this doesn’t happen, we will be under the lordship of something else. In Revelation, you either get the seal of the Lamb or the mark of the Beast. Either a heavenly kingdom or an earthly empire will lay claim to your soul.[17]
There will be times when Christians can accept the existing forms, structures, perspectives and practices of society. It’s not all bad thanks to common grace.[18] There is plenty of room for legitimate discussion about how to be in the world but not of it. But there will be a lot of times when Christians must declare spiritual war against values, structures and practices of the empire.[i] Here’s why we have to keep our antennas up on this.
"Gallup and Barna hand us survey after survey demonstrating that evangelical Christians are as likely to embrace lifestyles every bit as hedonistic, materialistic, self-centered, and sexually immoral as the world in general." (Theologian Michael Horton)[19]
African Christian and missions scholar Professor Lamin Sanneh told Christianity Today recently that "the cultural captivity of Christianity in the West is nearly complete.”[20]
* * * * *
I was at a gym for a while where we would have a ‘buy in’ before the main workout. You had to do ‘X’ before you could start the workout. I’ve been thinking of that in light of what the Christians in Thyatira were facing. There was a “buy in to fit in.”There was an entrance fee, a price for doing business, a price for being accepted, a price for living comfortably within the Empire.
So my question is, what’s the price point for us? When is the buy in acceptable, and when is it too much? We don’t have literal business ceremonies in pagan temples in the United States; the push toward idolatry and compromise is not so obvious. So I’m trying to think of what this deceptive 'buy in' might look like for us today.
- If the ‘buy in to fit in’ with a group means I must align myself with a political party or a community group or a civic organization that detracts from my ability to talk about Jesus with those who are far from Christ, that's too high of a price.
- If the ‘buy in to fit in’ with a group means unquestioning loyalty for a nation[21] in a way that does not leave room for a prophetic voice to speak righteous truth to power and call every leader at any level to appropriate repentance, that's too high of a price.
- If the ‘buy in to fit in’ with a group means exercising my constitutional freedom in a way that overrides the biblical responsibilities I have as a follower of Jesus, that's too high of a price.
- If the ‘buy in to fit in’ with a group means I have to fight with the weapons of the Beast to win battles for the Lamb, that's too high of a price.[23]
[1] Considering how Psalm 2:9 is quoted in verse 27,and Psalm 2:8 in quoted verse 26, "Son of God" is probably riffing off Psalm 2:7, "Thou art my Son…” Also, Thyatira had two gods worshipped as the son of Zeus.
[2] Daniel 10:6
[3] The reputation of this bronze may be why this letter is voiced by the one whose feet are like burnished bronze.
[4] Read 1 Kings 18-2 Kings 9 for the full story.
[5] Ephesus had much zeal for orthodoxy, but little love; Thyatira had much love, but a carelessness about doctrine.
[6] Interesting that Jezebel's deceptive teaching (as bad as it was) would have been forgiven; doing it was not as serious as refusing to repent.
[7] “So often in his dealings with man, the instrument of wrong doing is made the instrument of punishment. The bed of sin becomes a bed of suffering.” (Pulpit Commentary)
[8] “In some ways the judgment of Jezebel prefigures Babylon in chapter 18: fornication (2:20-21; 18:3, 8-9), deception (2:20; 18:23), the command not to participate in her sins (2:22-23; 18:4, 8), and that God judges everyone according to their deeds (2:23; 18:6).” https://biblicalscholarship.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/commentary-on-revelation-218-29/
[9] Compare the fate of Jezebel's followers of Baal, and Ahab's sons, 1Kings 18:40; 2Kings 10:6, 7, 24, 25. ‘Kill with death’ is a reminder of "dying thou shalt die" (Genesis 2:17), which probably carries the implication of spiritual death. See 1 Corinthians 5 for Paul talking about giving someone over to the “destruction of the flesh” and consigning them to the kingdom of darkness just by putting them out of the church.
[10] “That I am he which searcheth. Compare Psalm 7:9, [10], Psalm 26:2; Jeremiah 11:20; Jeremiah 17:10; Jeremiah 20:12; also 1 Chronicles 28:9; 1 Chronicles 29:17. But the closest parallel to this phrase is Romans 8:27, which suggests that this epithet was almost proverbial in the Apostolic age, whether applied to the Father as there or to the Son as here.” (Cambridge Bible For Schools And Colleges)
[11] “It is probable that by fornication here is meant idolatry merely, which is often its meaning in the Scriptures.” (Adam Clarke) Beale agrees with this, seeing the language of immorality as representing adultery. He notes that references to porneia and related words in Revelation occur 13 times; 10 of them are metaphors for idolatry.
[12] See 1 Corinthians 8 and 10. It seems likely (though not certain) that in chapter 8, Paul is talking about eating meat in a temple that was likely served during civic celebrations. Chapter 10 focus on eating meat that one would buy in a market that had been sacrificed to a god.
[13] It actually seems like her personal character might have been solid – but this made her the more dangerous, because her character gave authority to her words. This might have been one of the roots of the problem: “that men should have confidence in their own character and judgment, [which] set them free from a hard law, while they were in reality enticing back to lascivious enjoyment the young converts...’”(Ramsay)
[14] From T. Scott Daniels’ Seven Deadly Spirits: The Message Of Revelation’s Letters For Today’s Churches
[15] There is good reason to believe this letter is equating sexual immorality with idolatry, as that is a common comparison in the Old Testament. However, the idolatrous rituals were almost always associated with immorality. I suspect it would have been easy to justify sexual indulgence once the justification train got rolling. Since other passages of Scripture addressed those in the church who were trying to say that you could do what you want to with your body because its only the soul that matters, I think it’s safe to assume this was a problem here as well.
[16] This list could change quite a bit depending where, how, and if you were raised in the church.
[17] “When the question is thus put in its full and true implication…we recognize that the whole future of Christianity was at stake over this question… We can now understand why St. John condemns that very worthy, active, and managing, but utterly mistaken lady of Thyatira… she was fumbling about with questions which she was incapable of comprehending, full of complacent satisfaction with her superficial views as to the fairness and reasonableness of allowing the poor to profit by those quite praiseworthy associations which did so much good and misusing her influence, acquired by good works and persuasive speaking, to lead her fellow-Christians astray. If she were successful, Christianity must melt and be absorbed into the Greco-Roman society, highly cultivated, but over-developed, morbid, unhealthy.” (William Ramsay)
[18] William Ramsay offers a helpful overview: “It was accepted on all hands that they were to continue to live in the world, and were not to seek to withdraw entirely out of it (1 Cor 5:10). There were certain accepted customs, rules of politeness and courtesy, ways of living and acting, which were recommended by their gracious, refined, elegant character, and other ways which without any special gracefulness were recommended simply because they were the ordinary methods of behavior… In many cases, where the idolatrous connection was not obvious, but only veiled and remote, the Christian might… comply with the usual forms, unless his attention was expressly called by any one of the guests to the idolatrous connection.”
[19] "Every day, the church is becoming more like the world it allegedly seeks to change. We have very little time, he believes, to reverse these trends..." (Pollster George Barna)
[20] https://www3.dbu.edu/jeanhumphreys/SocialPsych/evangelicalmind.htm
[21] This is true of any nation….I’m not picking on the U.S.
[22] If you want me to solve them like a Marxist instead of as a Christian, that's too high of a price too.
[23] I read an article on townhall.com two years ago that celebrated the fact some Christians on the political Right were using Saul Alinsky's book Rules for Radicals (a book popular on the political Left) as a way to fight their political battles. The author acknowledged that Alinsky dedicated the book to Lucifer and called it a “book of pure evil,” but quite gleefully embraced ‘good guys’ now using the tactics of the bad guys to defeat the bad guys. That's too high of a price.
[i] “The Roman soldier, marching under the colors of his regiment, was marching under the standard of idolatry… Moreover, he was frequently required, standing in his place in the ranks, to take part and idolatrous acts of worship. Here, again, the rule of practice of the church seems to have been that an ordinary circumstances the converted soldier should remain passive and as far as possible silent during the ceremony at which he was compulsorily present, but should not actively protest. A similar practice was encouraged by the church in other departments of life and work. But in every case, and in every profession, the Christian who an ordinary circumstances might remain passive was liable to be pointedly challenged as to whether he would willingly perform this act of worship of the deity whom he considered false. In case of such a challenge there was only one course open. The Christian could not comply with the demand which was expressly made a test of his faith [and] must have no part or lot, and could not accept membership or even be present. Here the Nicolaitans took the opposite view, I could defend their opinion by many excellent, thoroughly reasonable and highly philosophic arguments. To illustrate this class of cases, we may take an example of a meeting which was permissible and one which was not according to the opinion of those early leaders in the church. A meeting of the citizens of a city for political purposes was always inaugurated by a pagan ritual, and according to the strict original theory the citizens in this political assembly were all united in the worship of the patron national deity in whose honor the opening ceremonies were performed. But the ritual had long become a mere form, and nobody was in practice conscious at the condition of presents in the assembly lay in the loyal service of the national deity. The political condition was the only one that was practically remembered. Every member of the city tribe had a right to be present and vote. The Christian citizen might attend and vote in such a meeting, ignoring and passing and silence the opening religious ceremony. But on the other hand, there were numerous societies for a vast variety of purposes, the condition of membership and which was professionally and explicitly the willingness to engage in the worship of a pagan deity, because the society met in the worship of that deity, the name of the society was often a religious name, and the place of meeting was dedicated to the deity, and thus was constituted a temple for his worship. All are agreed: the true Christian cannot be a member of such clubs or societies." (William Ramsay)
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