The Roman Problem

What makes our modern world better than that which existed two thousand years ago? Why are we any better than those Romans who watched the Christians killed for sport?

I maintain that we are not, for three reasons.

The first is violence.
Just like every human civilizations before this one, we enjoy violent entertainment. TV has become a virtual blood bath, particularly in the last 20 years or so. Can you imagine a film like SAW being so popular in 1980? MacGyver and Chuck Norris can't hold a candle to shows such as CSI and Law & Order. Yet the A-Team probably would have appalled viewers of early John Wayne films. However, I digress.

The point is this, more than ever people love violence, just take a look at the primetime lineup. Is SUV so very different from what the Romans enjoyed in the coliseum? The people aren't actually dying but is it so very different at it's heart? What about sports like MMA? Again, no one dies, but it's still two people beating the crap out of one another in a ring for thousands to enjoy. Maybe people don't die but the lust for blood remains. If our love of such "entertainment" continues to intensify, who's to say where it will end?



Secondly, Slavery.
The slave trade abolished along time ago you may say, brought to it's knee's by men like Wilberforce and Lincoln. No, it's still going strong. Instead of Africans it's Asians and Latin Americans. It goes on everywhere. You may think America doesn't have any slaves, but do a little digging and you'll quickly discover that the US has more slaves now than it ever did during the 18Th and 19Th centuries. I'm not making this stuff up. Slavery has been around almost since the dawn of man and it's still going strong today all over the world.


Finally, Sex.
I'm not gonna go into a lot of detail, I don't need to. It's a topic which mankind is always obsessing over.



All of these reasons relate back to one central cause. SIN. The choice Adam and Eve made in Eden brought death into a the world. It brought sin into what had been a perfect world.
Now all people are inherently evil.

David says in the Psalms, "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me."

The good news is the bible, also says this in John,

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.


So there's my solution to the problem, though I can't say it was my really my idea.


Levi

Dante didn't jump

Dante didn't jump.

Dante didn't jump because he was scared. He was afraid of that unknown darkness called death, the sleep from which no one ever returns to share their dreams.
Dante didn't jump because he clung to the vestiges of an all but dormant hope. A longing for human connection, for love.

It was this second reason which weighed upon Dante's mind as he walked away from the bridge and towards his house.
A house devoid of love, at least the kind for which he longed so desperately. Houses are just buildings, somewhere you eat and sleep. Conversely a home is not built by human hands, it has neither walls nor roof. Because a home needs only one component to exist, love. Earthly conditions have no bearing on a home, its walls are stronger than iron.

Rain beat down in a slow, steady fashion, keeping time with Dante's heart, both, cold and relentless.

Reaching the front door of his small suburban house, Dante shook the water from his curly black hair and slipped the backpack off of his sore shoulders.
With a reserved sigh, he pushed open the front door....