Chapter 6 The
World
Part
1 Of Rome and Judea
O tempora! O mores!
Oh, the times! Oh, the
morals!
To the Romans and the rest of the
world, the Christians were still members of the kingdom of Judea. To
understand the relationship of Rome and the Christians, it is
important to understand the relationship of Rome and the Jews or even
Rome and the rest of the gentiles, or nations.
Christians were those who believed in Yeshua, a.k.a. Jesus, as the
Anointed, the Christ, the Messiah of Israel, the King of Judea.
Rome did not always expand its
influence of conquest with its army. The life expectancy of the Roman
soldier was greater than any other profession. The soldiers were more
builders than destroyers. They did bring order by their military
might and a system of law, but it was more profitable to maintain it
with a flourishing system of building and trade.
“Philosophy,
with the aid of experience, has at length banished the study of
alchemy; and the present age, however desirous of riches, is content
to seek them by the humbler means of commerce and industry.”
As with all mankind, wealth and
affluence brought with it apathy, corruption, and oppression. The
moral decline that comes when society loses track of the wisdom of
its own creation is seldom accompanied by a decline in appetite for
pleasure. The contrary is traditionally the case. The “haves’” desire for more is often appeased at the price of the “poor”.
Before the poor's anguish turns to rage, it is often pacified by the
promise of entitlements. In a society of rank, both rich and poor
will consume the working middle classes. It will become important,
even necessary, to expand by taking from a foreign neighbor.
The greatest assets to Roman conquest
was the legal entanglements of its diplomacy, commerce, and law. The
clever complexity of their commerce and the efficiency of their
armies and engineers were all essential parts of the Roman machine
that steadily marched them toward a new world order. The farther on
this road they continued, the more distant the wisdom of their own
beginnings became.
Rome had been a predominate influence
in the world for many years; while under its errant kings, Israel had
declined. Roman trade was prized and their ingenuity in constructing
roads, aqueducts, harbors, and ships was unsurpassed. Romans were
building ships larger than Noah’s ark in 400 BC..
Just one of these ships carried tons of cargo and thousands of
passengers including “4000
rowers, 400 other crewmen, and 2850 marines”.
The Romans built a vast system of
roads and poured concrete structures that are still in use today.
They even lined entire lakes with lead, built dams, and hydraulically
mined whole mountains out of existence. They were masters of trade
and commerce. The elaborate science of money-making, taught to
them by the Greeks, became a consuming passion. They even devised a
tax system that has not been rivaled until today.
Few nations did not honor and respect
the Roman achievements, acquisition, and affluence. It was generally
more profitable to agree with Rome than it was to argue with its
policy and sense of justice and law. They were more admired than
despised, more loved than hated. Only the most precipitous and ardent
lovers of independence and liberty or the foolish and ignorant dared
to resist their influence.
Rome had been in a process of moral
decline for centuries. That unavoidable descent accelerated as their
power centralized and apathy, sloth, and avarice flourished. “All
contributed to the general decay....” The social relations,
such as matrimony and the family, were the core of Roman success, but
now “the respect for mother and wife which had been so powerful
in the maintenance of the Roman standard of morals, was grievously
diminished.”
The “sanctity of marriage had
ceased… 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. As regards the Roman rule,
matters had greatly changed for the worse since the mild sway of
Augustus, under which, in the language of Philo, no one throughout
the Empire dared to molest the Jews.”
Something had changed. Was it
evolution or devolution of society through the abdication of rights
and responsibilities? Rome had moved from the principles of
individual independence, self- reliance, and the patriarchal family
rights of a republic to an indirect social democracy. Central
government with a controlling agenda seduced the people into apathy
and ignorance. Ups and downs of the economy and political opportunism
brought about Augustus’ Empirical powers which expanded under
each new chosen leader.
Today, in the United States, living
together out of wedlock, divorce, rebellious youth, abortion-
on-demand, and promiscuous lifestyles of the rich, powerful, and
famous are all tolerated, proclaimed, promoted, and even envied.
Money powers rule a vitiated leadership and independence is mocked
by the mercenary princes of government, the bureaucrat. The
superimposing of moral conditions of Rome, and those present in the
United States and the world in general, are a historical reminder if
not a prophetic warning of the future. Unfortunately, the similarity
continues.
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Thy Kingdom Comes
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