Palmer St. Podcast: Acts 27

No one can accuse Paul of having it too easy. At this point in his ministry he’s a prisoner of the Roman government and about to board a ship to take him to Rome to face trial. Not long into the voyage a storm will come upon them. By the end of the chapter the ship will be destroyed.  Compare this to storms and shipwrecks in your own life.

Acts27.mp3

Acts27.pdf

Palmer St. Podcast: Acts 25-26

Any time that any person is confronted with the truth about Jesus, it demands a personal response. Two of the most common are to respond very negatively or try to avoid a response altogether. This section of the book of Acts allows us to closely examine these common responses to the gospel.

Acts25-26.mp3

Acts25-26.pdf

Religion in Rome

I recently stumbled upon this and thought it sounded a lot like the USA.  It’s from Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. I, ch. II:

“The policy of the emperors and the senate, as far as it concerned religion, was happily seconded by the reflections of the enlightened, and by the habits of the superstitious, part of their subjects. The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher as equally false; and by the magistrate as equally useful. And thus toleration produced not only mutual indulgence, but even religious concord.”  (Emphasis added.)

In the yet-to-be-written The History of the Decline and Fall of the American Empire, vol. I, ch. II, it will state:  

“The average American was vaguely religious believing that it didn’t matter what one believed as long as one was sincere.  The devotee of science was convinced that all religion would become unnecessary if only people knew better.  Most politicians identified themselves as, ‘Christians who support Israel’ (but didn’t always give convincing evidence of either), and knew that Islam was undeniably a ‘religion of peace’ (while uncertain that religious knowledge even existed).  These points of view (though on the face of it contradictory) actually harmonized well enough in the public mind that the diverse population managed to somehow get along with itself.”