✪✪✪ How Did Greece Express Humanistic Values?

During the week Paul apparently labored as tentmaker "by trade The Importance Of Health Care were tent-makers" How Did Greece Express Humanistic Values? for in his first letter to the Thessalonians he reminded them The text seems to imply that they did no evangelism in either city. Humanism: Beliefs and Practices. These philosophies and mystery How Did Greece Express Humanistic Values? were totally humanistic, full of voluptuous and degrading sexual practices which left these women devastated and filled with self-loathing. Ellis, God Quotes In The Color Purple 30 March

The Contributions and Legacy of the Ancient Greeks

The conscience demands that forgiveness should be consistent with righteousness. It was necessary, therefore, if Jesus was to bring us forgiveness, that He should be prepared to make reparation and atonement for sin. He must shed his blood, that He may cleanse his people from their sins: He must be willing to be their scapegoat; He must offer Himself without spot to God, that He may cleanse our consciences from dead works to serve the living God.

It behoved Him, that He might reign for evermore. He who can stoop most profoundly can rise to reign most gloriously. As is the descent, so is the ascent. In proportion to the submission to take the form of a servant is the exaltation to the right hand of power. Acts And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large number of the God-fearing Greeks and a number of the leading women. Some of them - Jews and God-fearing Greeks Gentiles. Paul's mention of the Gentile conversions in 1 Th substantiates that most of the converts in Thessalonica were Gentiles.

The majority of Jews stayed in their unbelief, for religious people are the hardest to reach for Christ. This is also true even today. The minority believe in Christ, the majority will not. Were persuaded peitho means literally to persuade or induce by words to believe Acts , Mt , Ro In short, some believed. The preacher is not responsible for the fruit, only for the sowing of the seed of the Word.

Are you sowing the pure Word? If not why do you wonder why you see no conversions, no transformed marriages, no personal revivals, no new baptisms? They were persuaded particularly by kind words Ro note or motives. Some were persuaded to receive a belief--They were convinced, ultimately the job of the Holy Spirit 1Pe note ; 2Th , John Now don't forget, while Paul did his part to present the evidence that Jesus was the Messiah, he did so in reliance of the power of the Holy Spirit and so too must we when we present the Gospel.

It is not our persuasive arguments that will win anyone to Christ, but God's powerful Spirit and powerful Word! We are simply players in His grand plan of redemption and have a once in a lifetime privilege to share the Gospel with men and women who otherwise will spend eternity in torment away from the presence of the Lord! We must have a sense of urgency about eternity, something I fear the church in America as sadly lost! As Paul affirms "my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom , but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Acts , 50; , Joined proskleroo is used only here and means to give or assign by lot, such as one's destiny. They attached themselves to or ''threw in their lot'' with Paul and Silas -- they "won the lottery" so to speak!

Eternal life in Christ! Along with a large number - Literally "not a few" so is translated as "quite a few" which is the actual meaning of the expression in the context. Clearly the Gospel message crossed class lines from low to high in society. And it still does. It is a myth that the Gospel is only for the poor and uneducated. It is for those who have hearts to hear and heed the Word of the Cross 1 Cor ! Jack Arnold on large number of leading women - The gospel had a real appeal to women, especially women of the upper classes who were prominent citizens in the Greek cities.

There is a reason for this magnetic appeal Christ had to women. These were educated women who knew the Greek philosophies and had been in the religious cults. They knew that these man-made philosophies were empty, vain and dead, offering nothing for the inward spirit. These philosophies and mystery cults were totally humanistic, full of voluptuous and degrading sexual practices which left these women devastated and filled with self-loathing. They were disgusted with free sex and they turned to Jesus Christ for forgiveness, who, in turn, gave them a sense of self-worth and value as human beings.

Paul was the ideal evangelist because he knew how to reach people where they were and to bring them to the Living Christ for new life. Vincent on leading woman - The position of women in Macedonia seems to have been exceptional. Popular prejudice, and the verdict of Grecian wisdom in its best age, asserted her natural inferiority. The Athenian law provided that everything which a man might do by the counsel or request of a woman should be null in law. She was little better than a slave. To educate her was to advertise her as a harlot. Her companions were principally children and slaves. In Macedonia, however, monuments were erected to women by public bodies; and records of male proper names are found, in Macedonian inscriptions, formed on the mother's name instead of on the father's.

Macedonian women were permitted to hold property, and were treated as mistresses of the house. These facts are borne out by the account of Paul's labors in Macedonia. In Thessalonica, Beroea, and Philippi we note additions of women of rank to the church; and their prominence in church affairs is indicated by Paul's special appeal to two ladies in the church at Philippi to reconcile their differences, which had caused disturbance in the church, and by his commending them to his colleagues as women who had labored with him in the Lord Philemon , Philemon Acts 17 - Vincent's Word Studies.

It is noteworthy that here, as in Philippi, leading women take a bold stand for Christ. In Macedonia women had more freedom than elsewhere. It is not to be inferred that all those converted belonged to the higher classes, for the industrial element was clearly large 1 Thessalonians In 2 Corinthians Paul speaks of the deep poverty of the Macedonian churches, but with Philippi mainly in mind. Ramsay thinks that Paul won many of the heathen not affiliated at all with the synagogue. Certain it is that we must allow a considerable interval of time between Acts , Acts to understand what Paul says in his Thessalonian Epistles. As an aside when Paul was in Thessalonica, he received financial support from the Christians in Philippi.

They helped with this successful work among the Thessalonians. You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone; for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs. Acts But the Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the market place, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar; and attacking the house of Jason, they were seeking to bring them out to the people.

KJV - But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. CSB But the Jews became jealous, and when they had brought together some scoundrels from the marketplace and formed a mob, they set the city in an uproar. Attacking Jason's house, they searched for them to bring them out to the public assembly. ESV But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd.

KJV But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. NET But the Jews became jealous, and gathering together some worthless men from the rabble in the marketplace, they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar. They attacked Jason's house, trying to find Paul and Silas to bring them out to the assembly. NIV But the Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city.

They rushed to Jason's house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. NLT But some of the Jews were jealous, so they gathered some troublemakers from the marketplace to form a mob and start a riot. They attacked the home of Jason, searching for Paul and Silas so they could drag them out to the crowd. YLT And the unbelieving Jews, having been moved with envy, and having taken to them of the loungers certain evil men, and having made a crowd, were setting the city in an uproar; having assailed also the house of Jason, they were seeking them to bring them to the populace,.

But - Always pause and ponder this term of contrast , asking how is the writer "changing direction. The Jews felt strong envy and resentment against Paul and his message. As happened in Pisidian Antioch Acts , 50 , Iconium Acts , 5 , and Lystra Acts on the first missionary journey, here Paul is again opposed by a mob incited by jealous Jews. While this is undoubtedly true, this phrase is not found in the modern transcripts so most modern translations lack this phrase. Jack Andrews observes these antagonistic Jews "were moved in a wrong way in the wrong direction.

Whenever we are overcome with envy and jealousy we are always going in a bad direction. G Campbell Morgan observes that "the work in Thessalonica was not one of triumph only. It was one of trial, springing out of the jealousy of the Jews. The word" jealousy" is a very awkward word here. It should read springing out of the zeal of the Jews; for it is the very word that Paul used concerning them in his Roman letter, "I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. It can be used commendably to refer to a striving for something or showing zeal. As Paul explained in Romans his hope was that the salvation of Gentiles would provoke the Jews into studying the Scriptures and discovering their promised Messiah "But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles.

Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them. That is another way of saying the same thing as here. The success of Paul was entirely too great in both places to please the rabbis. So here is jealousy of Jewish preachers towards Christian preachers. It is always between men or women of the same profession or group.

In 1 Thessalonians Paul hints at some of the slanders spread against him by these rabbis deceivers, using words of flattery as men-pleasers, after vain-glory, greed of gain, etc. Barclay - As usual Paul began his work in the synagogue. His great success was not so much among the Jews as among the Gentiles attached to the synagogue. This infuriated the Jews for they looked on these Gentiles as their natural preserves and here was Paul stealing them before their very eyes. The Jews stooped to the lowest methods to hinder Paul.

First they stirred up the rabble. Then, when they had dragged Jason and his friends before the magistrates, they charged the Christian missionaries with preaching political insurrection. They knew their charge to be a lie and yet it is couched in very suggestive terms. The Jews had not the slightest doubt that Christianity was a supremely effective thing. Glover quoted with delight the saying of the child who remarked that the New Testament ended with Revolutions. When Christianity really goes into action it must cause a revolution both in the life of the individual and in the life of society.

Acts But the high priest rose up, along with all his associates that is the sect of the Sadducees , and they were filled with jealousy. Comment - Remember that what " fills " you will end up controlling you! Yet God was with him,. John MacArthur one of the best modern expositors of the Word and one who has experienced the conflict writes "Those who courageously proclaim the right message and win converts will face conflict. Success will be accompanied by opposition. Paul and his companions were no exception. The unbelieving Jews at Thessalonica were enraged by the success of the gospel.

They "loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil" John Jack Andrews - The people in opposition to the work of God were unbelievers. That is always the case. Those who do not believe are always trying to hinder those who do believe. John G. Hence, we should not be surprised that unbelief motivates to strong action against the work of God. Furthermore, all of this reveals to us that those in church who are a continual pain in the neck to the work of the church are probably unbelievers. Such may be deacons, Sunday school teachers, or holders of other important offices of leadership in the church. But their cantankerous spirit nullifies their claim of being a true believer. Merrill Unger has an interesting on on the marketplace men - Loungers of the type employed here by the Jews to attack Paul and Silas were common in the agora or forum of Graeco-Roman cities.

They invariably assembled around the rostrum where an orator was speaking, and applauded or heckled according to who paid them. Historical Research and the Church at Thessalonica. Jack Arnold - The Jews were jealous of the success Paul was having among the attenders at the synagogue. These angry Jews went to the marketplace where the loafers, hoods and social misfits and outcasts hung out. The Jews probably paid them to incite a riot in the city against Paul and his missionary band. The devil never gives up. When he is defeated by Scripture and logic, he turns to violence to stamp out Christianity. These young radicals knew how to manipulate a crowd to irrational actions. The crowd, at a fever pitch and emotional high, went to the home of Jason where Paul was staying.

Some wicked men from the marketplace - "The agora or market-place was the natural resort for those with nothing to do Matthew like the court-house square today or various parks in our cities where bench-warmers flock. The church in Thessalonica caught some of these peripatetic idlers 2 Thessalonians The Romans called them subrostrani hangers round the rostrum or subbasilicari. Probably right in the agora itself where the rabbis could tell men their duties and pay them in advance. We might call them loafers or bums! They were usually unemployed and loitered about the marketplace and they were looked down upon by the Greco-Roman society as worthless people.

Also used with a different sense in Acts where it means the days when courts of justice are in session court days, sessions. Cleon Rogers - The agora was originally an open place where the king met the people; it later became the open place where the citizens gathered; then it indicated the open place around which important government buildings were located, as well as stores, where one could buy the necessities of life, it corresponded to the Latin Forum. Business was usually carried from A. Poneros denotes determined, aggressive, and fervent evil that actively opposes what is good giving us a good picture of these men. Poneros is not just bad in character like kakos , but bad in effect injurious!

They were the type of men who would not hesitate to inflict harm. The Jews knew exactly what they were doing! In the middle voice it has a different sense meaning to make a noise or disturbance, especially the noise made in lamenting the dead Matt. The cognate thorubos is used in Acts ; ; Thorubeo - 4x in NT - make a commotion 1 , noisy disorder 1 , set 1 , troubled 1 , uproar 1. Campbell Morgan rightly declared that "the measure of our triumph in work for God is always the measure of our travail.

No propagative work is done save at cost; and every genuine triumph of the Cross brings after it the travail of some new affliction, and some new sorrow. So we share the travail that makes the Kingdom come. The idea is a sudden arrival, often with hostile intent as in this context cf similar sense in Lk ; Acts ; ; ,. Seeking zeteo they were repeatedly imperfect tense trying to find the location of the missionaries. They sought to persecute the preachers. This is always Satan's aim. As one godly preacher once told me "Preach the Word and duck! Bring them out - Who? Paul and Silas - a veritable old-time "lynching party! The people demos means people, populace, crowd, "the mass of the people assembled in a public place. Friberg - 1 as the population of a city people, populace; 2 as the populace gathered for any purpose mob, crowd Acts Demos - only 4x - Usage: assembly 2 , people 2.

When they did not find them - This implies that they made a careful search for them. They looked but to no avail. Paul and his associates were not to be found. For some reason God sheltered them at this time. Jack Arnold - Paul and the missionaries were gone. God providentially protected them from the lynch mob. Perhaps they had received word of this mob action and went into hiding or perhaps God just had them step out for a moment to miss the action. They began dragging Jason and some brethren before the city authorities - Similar to the scene in Acts 16, Satan stirs up the crowd to seek to silence the saints. Things have not changed much in years No prayer before sporting events, you can't teach the Bible in schools, etc, etc. Today the enemy is silencing the Gospel proclamation from many pulpits for they have substituted the message of a "social gospel" that deals with temporal, physical needs but tragically largely many times totally ignores the eternal, spiritual needs of men and women dead in their trespasses and sins and under God's imminent judgment cf Eph , Jn , 36, Ro Robertson on began dragging - imperfect active, vivid picture, they were dragging literally.

If they could not find Paul, they could drag Jason his host and some other Christians whom we do not know. Jack Andrews - This word began dragging gives the picture of leaving a trail behind where the person had been dragged through. This word lets us know that Jason did not volunteer to go with the mob and stand before the rulers. He was not asked to go, he was made to go. He was not given a formal invite, but he was forced to go! Dragging suro means to draw, pull, draw, drag away, lead by force against their will , "as moving someone or something along by force drag away , pull along , draw Acts Of dragging a heavy object with great effort. John But the other disciples came in the little boat, for they were not far from the land, but about one hundred yards away, dragging the net full of fish.

Acts But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison. Acts But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. Acts When they did not find them, they began dragging Jason and some brethren before the city authorities, shouting, "These men who have upset the world have come here also;. Revelation note And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. Dt "crawling things" 2 Sam. It is found in Josephus and other Greek literature along with some compound forms with the literal meaning.

Brethren 80 adelphos means literally of the same womb, and in this context presumably refers to Christians, those who were born again. Shouting boao means crying for help or as in this context crying out in a tumultuous way with a high, strong voice. The word Politarch was a special title used by Macedonians for chief magistrates here and in a few other cities. Only found in Acts and Acts BDAG on politarches - No precise job description is extant, but administration of security measures, as indicated Aeneas Tact. A number of p.

At this point the historicity of Acts has been attacked on the ground that the city authorities at Thessalonica were not called " politarchs. The inscription begins "In the time of the politarchs Wikipedia - One of the earliest extant inscriptions to use the term "Politarch" was located on the Vardar Gate in Thessaloniki see picture. The Gate was unfortunately destroyed in but the inscription, which dates to the 2nd Century AD, can now been seen in the British Museum in London. Cleon Rogers on politarches - ruler of the city.

Used mainly of the Macedonian title for the non-Roman magistrates of a city generally five in number , whose duties were, among other things, to confirm decisions made by the Demos, and to maintain peace and order in their city. Apologetic note by Blaiklock - Since the term politarches was unknown elsewhere, the critics of Luke once dismissed it as a mark of ignorance. Sixteen epigraphical examples now exist in modern Salonica, and one is located in the British Museum on a stone which once formed part of an archway. It was evidently the Macedonian term. It was Luke's general practice to use the term in commonest use in educated circles.

Hence he called the officials of Philippi 'praetors', and an inscription has similarly established the fact that this was a courtesy title given to the magistrates of a Roman colony. Vincent on rulers of the city - Another illustration of Luke's accuracy. Note that the magistrates are called by a different name from those at Philippi. Thessalonica was not a colony, but a free city see on colony, Acts , and was governed by its own rulers, whose titles accordingly did not follow those of Roman magistrates. The word occurs only here and Acts , and has been found in an inscription on an arch at Thessalonica, where the names of the seven politarchs are mentioned. The arch is thought by antiquarians to have been standing in Paul's time. In short the Gospel is not politically correct!

Indeed the Gospel of salvation upsets lost sinners destined from eternal torment , because it confronts them head on with the choice to choose death or choose life, to be eternally cursed or eternally blessed read Dt So yes this "upsets the world! Unless you are in a "holy huddle" you will almost certainly upset your audience! The irony is that these Gospel proclaimers were actually turning the world right side up! When Adam and Eve sinned in the perfect garden, the world was instantly turned upset down!

Sin is deceiving Heb and sinners think their version of the world is right-side up when in fact is upset down in the sight of a holy and righteous God! A believer lives right-side-up in a topsy-turvy world. These men - Who? The proclaimers of the Gospel. Today that should apply to every saint, for we should all be proclaiming the Gospel with our lives and our lips. The world is flailing around in a stormy sea and going to hell and we sit comfortably and apathetically in the Ark of the Covenant with life preservers named "Gospel" and refuse to through them to those around us who are drowning in their sins and will soon cease breathing and sink to the dark, dreary bottom of the sea so to speak!

Ruth Graham said saints are those who. Pascal on these men as "upsetters" - The serene beauty of a holy life is the most powerful influence in the world next to the might of God. The men that move the world are the ones who do not let the world move them! Who have upset the world - KJV has a vivid picture "these that have turned the world upset down" They were lying! A false accusation! On the other hand, in another sense the Gospel was certainly "upsetting the world" but it was doing so in a good way for those who received it by faith!

Indeed, the recipients of the good news did change kingdoms - from darkness to light, from the dominion of Satan to God Acts note! Gilbrant adds that "The accusation that Paul and Silas had turned the inhabited world upside down has been a thrill and a challenge to true believers ever since. The world turned upside down is at last right side up. The Romans used "the world" [the inhabited world] to mean the Roman Empire. Complete Biblical Library Commentary. The action is most commonly applied to a state of mind as is the case in the papyri of the Koine Greek period. See Galatians ,9; ; ; He was no doubt relieved to learn that Paul was not the troublesome Egyptian insurrectionist whose revolt had been so destructively unsettling for Rome.

It is possible that news had come to Thessalonica of the expulsion of the Jews from Rome by Claudius note. There is truth in the accusation, for Christianity is revolutionary, but on this particular occasion the uproar Acts was created by the rabbis and the hired loafers. It occurs also in Harpocration a. But in an Egyptian letter of Aug. Oxyrhynchus Pap. It is a vigorous and graphic term. The Romans used oikoumene in their secular writings to refer to the Roman Empire, for to them their empire equated with the whole world.

When they said that these men were turning the world upside down, that is exactly what they meant. When Christianity penetrated that old Roman Empire it was a revolution. It had a tremendous effect. William Barcla y on upset the world - 'Those,' they said, 'who are upsetting the civilised world have arrived here. Jack Andrews - The missionaries and early church had the power of God upon them and God used them to shake up the world.

Why does God not use us like he did these missionaries? The Lord has been so deeply grieved by the refusal of the church to faithfully proclaim the whole counsel of His Word in the power of the Holy Spirit that He has largely withdrawn from the church and left her to her own devices. Souls were saved, people took sides, feelings were stirred, decisions were made, the lines were drawn. Paul did not slip into town, hold a few quiet meetings, enjoy some good home cooking, pick up a generous honorarium, and slip back out of town again without the city knowing or caring that the gospel had been preached at all. Everybody knew when Paul came to town. Passions were stirred, things happened, the place was turned upside down.

Guzik - God willing and blessing, people would say such things about the effectiveness of Christians today!. Jesus did not come only to be our teacher, but to turn our world upside-down. The powerful and the eminent of this world are at the top of the power pyramid and look down on the weak and insignificant; but Jesus comes and turns that pyramid around and says, If you want to come to Me, you have to come like a little child. As Paul says, God has chosen the foolish and weak things of the world to confound the wise 1Corinthians , and so God turns the world's power-pyramid upside down.

Jesus gave a great example of this upside-down thinking when He spoke of a rich man who amassed great wealth, and all he could think about was building bigger barns to store all his wealth. We would make the man a civic leader or recognized him as a prominent man; Jesus turned it all upside down and called the man a fool, because he had done nothing to get his life right with God. Luke , 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 Actually, God was working through Paul and Silas to turn the world right side-up again.

But when you yourself are upside-down, the other direction appears to be upside-down! John White, a psychiatrist and minister in Canada, said, "It would be foolish of us to assume that our present luxurious freedom will continue indefinitely. Freedom is the delayed end result of the Reformation, with its biblical view of man. As the biblical influence wanes, it is likely that freedom will not continue. There are signs that the conditions necessary for tolerance and freedom are already being eroded. Democracy is a fragile flower of late bloom it was in its present form completely unknown to the Greeks liable to be withered by scorching winds of impatient hate.

It is therefore important that we all ask ourselves: Am I willing to risk imprisonment and death for Christ? Many professing believers are not willing. If you are faithful in little things while freedom lasts, chances are that you will be faithful when the big tests come. There is valuable training in faithfulness where you are now. If you are open and honest--true to yourself and true to Christ--your life will provoke hostility in some and will powerfully attract others. I do not wish to be an alarmist about what it costs to be faithful to Christ yet I feel I must point both to Scripture and to the course of church history. I want to awaken the Western Church with the blast of a trumpet, warning her that the normal conditions under which the Church bears witness are not those we now experience, but are conditions inimical to Christian witness.

I believe that the darkness may be descending again, and I fear that few of us are prepared for it. We belong to a long tradition of martyrdom, but we have become soft and ill-prepared. There is a story told of an eccentric English evangelist who took that text for one of his open-air sermons in a new place. Second, the world must be turned upside down. Third, we are the men to set it right. Robert Morgan - The first Christians were walking torches who weren't afraid to share their faith, spread their news, praise their Lord, and set their world on fire. They'd discovered a secret that had turned them inside out.

Gone were their inhibitions, failures, sins, and temporal concerns. The risen Christ was living within them, walking among them, and working through them. They were filled with the Spirit and they shared the Word with boldness, though it sometimes brought the lash down on their backs and the government down on their heads. They didn't expect to be here long, so they made the most of every opportunity. It was said of them, "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too. There are still Christians like that, but the majority of us are content with being middle-of-the-roaders whose lukewarm Laodicean faith won't even cause the world to tilt a little.

The gospel isn't going to turn the world upside down until it turns us inside out and right-side up, and we'll not set others on fire until we ourselves become walking torches. The Christians who have turned the world upside down have been men and women with vision in their hearts and the Bible in their hands. When life gets heavy, humor lightens the load. I have heard, for example, that in Russia peasant farmers enjoy telling this story: A commissar came to a farmer one day and inquired about the year's potato crop. With a scowl, he said, "But comrade, this is a communist state and we are atheists.

You must not forget, there is no God! No God—no potatoes. A deep truth lies hidden in this humorous tale. God is the source of all things—whether we admit it or not. The apostle Paul went so far as to tell his pagan audience, "For in Him we live and move and have our being" Acts Without Him, we could not draw a single breath, our bodies could not function, and we would have no provision for our daily sustenance. Atheists may have convinced themselves that God does not exist. Yet we who are His children through faith in His Son know otherwise. But do we show it by the way we live? That is the key question. Each day we must depend on Him, so that we recognize every blessing as coming from His gracious hand.

De Haan. The same thing occurred with the Apostles. The Christians have done this. And you will remark, that to this day the world still lays its ills at the door of the Christians. Was it not the foolish cry a few months ago, and are there not some weak-minded individuals who still believe it, that the great massacre and mutiny in India was caused by the missionaries. Can it be true, that he whose gospel is love should be the fomentor of disturbance?

And have not his followen at all times been a peaceful generation? We believe that what these Jews said of the Apostles, was just a downright wilful lie. They knew better. The Apostles were not the disturbers of states. It is true, they preached that which would disturb the sinful constitution of a kingdom, and which would disturb the evil practices of false priests; but they never meant to set men in an uproar. They did come to set men at arms with sin; they did draw the sword against iniquity; but against men as men, against kings as kings, they had no battle; it is with iniquity and sin, and wrong everywhere, that they proclaimed an everlasting warfare.

But still, brethren, there is many a true word spoken in jest, we say, and surely there is many a true word spoken in malice. They said the Apostles turned the world upside down. They meant by that, that they were disturbers of the peace. It was the wrong way upwards before, and now that the gospel is preached, and when it shall prevail, it will just set the world right by turning it upside down. Acts and Jason has welcomed them, and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another King, Jesus. The idea is to receive one hospitably and kindly.

The Jews despised Rome and the rule of Caesar but saw the fact that the missionaries proclaimed Christ as King to be to their advantage. What hypocrites these antagonistic Jews were! Larkin notes "The charges are threefold: public disturbance—causing trouble all over the world; harboring disturbers of the peace; and defying Caesar's decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus. The forties had been a turbulent decade for Rome in dealing with the Jews. Though the Jews themselves had caused the uproar at Thessalonica, their trumped-up charges of public disturbance made sense within the Empire's current political climate.

They all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar - Basically they are proposing a charge of treason. It was not just political but religious treason because of the Roman imperial cult. Caesar - Family name of Julius Caesar assumed by following emperors as a title. Some Pharisees and Herodians asked Jesus about the propriety of paying taxes to Caesar. In reply, the Lord said that those things pertaining to Caesar should be rendered to Caesar and those things pertaining to God should be rendered to Him Matthew In this passage, the name Caesar is virtually a symbol for civil authority. Originally, Caesar was the family name of the founder of the Roman Empire.

Julius Caesar was assassinated on March 15,44 B. Philosophy is fascinating as there is only a certain much that we know about things that it is hard to what is true and what is. In The Republic, Socrates has some interesting views on the idea of what it means to be just and what a perfect and just society would look like. To me, some of his ideas made sense, while others seemed ridiculous. Socrates seems to place wisdom, justice, and goodness above all other virtues, and he repeatedly comes back to these themes when he describes the perfect state and people who should live in it.

Socrates did not overtly challenge the gods and their word, however he did encourage people, especially young people, to make their own opinions based on various information, and, in the end, follow their own thoughts. I feel as though the types of questions Socrates was asking were not harmful because he was only testing Euthyphros on how he knew all of his facts, and wanted proof of his opinions. In my opinion chivalry is a good behavior even if some companies want to nobble it in wrong way. I claim that if someone wants to use a good thing in a wrong way we have to train that person to use it correctly and clearing that thing is not a.

When a rhetorician abuses the power of rhetoric, his teacher should not be blamed because he teaches the knowledge to be used correctly. When Gorgias is finished, Socrates asks him whether he wants to continue. He does this because he feels Gorgias has made some claims that are not. The world we live in is filled with crime, evil, and injustice, but do people have the desire to do bad things knowing that they are bad, or do they do them thinking that they are good?

If Socrates were right, it would mean that it is impossible for someone to perform a bad action based on their desire for that bad thing. Instead, all bad desires result from the ignorance of the person performing the action in falsely believing that the action is good. Though Socrates presents a compelling argument, I argue that it is possible for someone to act badly, all the while knowing that what they desire is bad. Personally, I think this to be true. What my beliefs of love are may not be the same beliefs of others. In my eyes, my love can be a good love, and in others, my love could be an obsessive love that leads to badness. This is why for Socrates, a lover searches for what is good for them, because each person has their own meaning of love; this is called the ladder of love.

Love seeks wisdom and one cannot desire wisdom if we find it unnecessary. Humanism is defined as a champion of human freedom and dignity but it is linked to oppression through it being a byproduct of modernity. According to Hook, humanists are opposed to the imposition of one culture in some civilizations, do not belong to a church or established religion, do not support dictatorships, do not justify violence for social reforms or are more loyal to an organization than their abstract values.

Hook also said humanists support the elimination of hunger and improvements to health, housing, and education. Blackham said humanism is a concept that focuses on improving the social conditions of humanity, increasing the autonomy and dignity of all humans. Fowler said the definition of humanism should include a rejection of divinity, and an emphasis on human well-being and freedom. She also comments there is a lack of a shared belief system or doctrine but, in general, humanists are aiming for happiness and self-fulfillment. In , prominent humanist Andrew Copson attempted to define humanism as follows:. According to the International Humanist and Ethical Union :. Humanism is a democratic and ethical life stance, which affirms that human beings have the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to their own lives.

It stands for the building of a more humane society through an ethic based on human and other natural values in the spirit of reason and free inquiry through human capabilities. It is not theistic, and it does not accept supernatural views of reality. Dictionaries define humanism as a worldview or life stance. According to Merriam Webster Dictionary , humanism is " Pre-Socratic Greek philosophers were the first Western philosophers to attempt to explain the world in terms of human reason and natural law without relying on myth, tradition, or religion. Thales of Miletus led this demythologization in the 6th century BCE along with the rest of the Milesian school. Thales' pupils Anaximander and Anaximenes said nature is available to be studied separately from the supernatural realm.

Another pre-Socratic philosopher Protagoras , who lived in Athens c. Only some fragments of his work survive. He made one of the first agnostic statements; according to one fragment: "About the gods I am able to know neither that they exist nor that they do not exist nor of what kind they are in form: for many things prevent me for knowing this, its obscurity and the brevity of man's life". Philosopher Friedrich Schiller defended Protagoras against charges of relativism, noting he used the word "man" to refer to humankind rather than separate individuals. Socrates spoke of the need to "know thyself"; his thought changed the focus of the contemporary philosophy from nature to humans and their well-being.

Socrates, a theist who was executed for atheism, investigated the nature of morality by reasoning. Epicureans continued Democritus ' atomist theory—a materialistic theory that suggests the fundamental unit of the universe was an indivisible atom. Human happiness, living well, friendship, and the avoidance of excesses were the key ingredients of Epicurean philosophy that flourished in and beyond the post-Hellenic world. The philosophy of Confucius — BCE , which eventually became the basis of the state ideology of successive Chinese dynasties and nearby polities in East Asia , contains several humanistic traits, placing a high value on human life, and discounting mysticism and superstition, including speculations on ghosts and an afterlife.

Without religious appeals, Confucius advised people to act according to an axiom that is the negative mirror of the Western golden rule : "Is there one word that one can act upon throughout the course of one's life? Analects After Confucius' death, his disciple Mencius — BCE centered his philosophies on secular, humanistic concerns like the nature of good governance and the role of education rather than ideas founded on the state or folk religions of the time. Ancient Greek literature , which was translated into Arabic during the Abbasid Caliphate during the 8th and 9th centuries, influenced Islamic currents with rationalism. Many medieval Muslim thinkers pursued humanistic, rational, and scientific discourses in their search for knowledge, meaning, and values.

A wide range of Islamic writings on love, poetry, history, and philosophical theology show medieval Islamic thought was open to the humanistic ideas of individualism , occasional secularism , skepticism , liberalism , and free speech; schools were established at Baghdad, Basra and Isfahan. The one who can make good decisions about his faith is the person himself.

Nobody is allowed to decide for you how to think. It depends on your human beliefs". Other philosophers also advanced rational discourse in Islamic literature; among them were Ahmad Miskawayh — , Ibn Sina Avicenna — , and Ibn Rushd Averroes — Along with the trespassing from Middle ages to Renaissance, an intellectual movement appeared firstly in Italy that transformed western culture and was later named as "renaissance humanism". Petrarch's enthusiasm for ancient texts led him to discover manuscripts that were influential for the history of the Renaissance, such as Cicero's Pro Archia and Pomponius Mela 's De chorographia.

Petrarch wrote poems such as Canzoniere and De viris illustribus in Latin, in which he described humanist ideas; his love for antiquity was evident. His list relied heavily on ancient writers, especially Cicero. Revival of classicist authors continued after Petrarch's death. Florence chancellor and humanist Coluccio Salutati , made his city a prominent bastion of humanist values. Vittorino da Feltre and Guarino Veronese created schools based on humanistic principles, their curriculum was widely adopted and by the sixteenth century, humanistic paideia was the dominant outlook of pre-university education.

In philosophy, Angelo Poliziano , Nicholas of Cusa , Marsilio Ficino contributed furthering the understanding of ancient classical philosophers and Gianfrancesco Pico undermined the dominance of Aristotelian philosophy with revitalizing Sextus Empiricus skepticism. Religion was not untouched with the increased interest of humanistic paideia, Pope Nicholas V initiated the translation of Hebrew and Greek biblical and other texts to Latin. Humanist values spread outside of Italy through of books and people. Individuals moving to Italy to study, returned to their homelands and spread humanistic messages. Printing houses dedicated in ancient text established in Venice, Basel and Paris.

By the end of fifteenth century, the center of humanism was shifted from Italy to northern Europe, with Erasmus of Rotterdam being the leading humanist scholar. Humanists insisted on the importance of classical literature in providing intellectual discipline, moral standards, and a civilized taste for the elite—an educational approach that reached the contemporary era. During the Enlightenment, humanistic ideas resurfaced, this time further from religion and classical literature. Divinity was no longer dictating human morals, and humanistic values such tolerance and opposition to slavery started to take shape.

Life-changing technological discoveries allowed ordinary people to face religion with a new morality and greater confidence about humankind and its abilities. Some thinkers rejected theism outright and various currents were formed; atheism , deism , and hostility to organized religion. Baron d'Holbach wrote the polemic System of Nature , claiming religion is built on fear and helped tyrants through the ages. Also during the Enlightenment, the abstract conception of humankind started forming—a critical juncture for the construction of humanist philosophy. Previous appeals to "Men" now shifted towards "Man"; this is evident in political documents like The Social Contract of Rousseau , in which he says "Man is born free, but is everywhere in chains".

Likewise, Thomas Paine 's Rights of Man uses the singular form of the word, revealing a universal conception of Man. French philosopher Auguste Comte introduced the idea of a " religion of humanity "—which is sometimes attributed to Thomas Paine —an atheist cult based on some humanistic tenets that had some prominent members but soon declined. It was nonetheless influential during the 19th century, and its humanism and rejection of supernaturalism are echoed in the works of later authors such as Oscar Wilde , George Holyoake —who coined the word secularism — George Eliot , Emile Zola , and E.

Beesly , further re-enforcing and popularizing the concept of humankind. Paine's The Age of Reason along with the 19th-century Biblical criticism of the German Hegelians David Friedrich Strauss and Ludwig Feuerbach —both of whom discuss the importance of freedom—created forms of humanism. Advances in science and philosophy further eroded religious belief. Charles Darwin 's theory of natural selection offered naturalists an explanation for the plurality of species, weakening the previously convincing teleological argument for the existence of God. Utilitarianism, a moral philosophy, centers its attention on human happiness, aiming to eliminate human and animal pain and, in doing so, giving no attention to supernatural phenomena. Ethical societies were formed, leading to the contemporary humanist movement.

Even in liberal countries, however, discrimination against non-believers still exists. In the ongoing social debate, humanists are constant supporters of civil liberties. The rise of rationalism and the scientific method was followed in the late 19th century in Britain by the birth of many rationalist and ethical associations such as the National Secular Society , the Ethical Union , and the Rationalist Press Association. In , the British Humanist Association evolved out of the Ethical Union and merged with many smaller ethical and rationalist groups. Elsewhere in Europe, humanist organizations also flourished. In Norway, the Norwegian Humanist Association also gained popular support.

In the US, humanism evolved with the aid of significant figures of the Unitarian Church. The American Ethical Union emerged from newly founded, small, ethicist societies. Early 20th century naturalists, who viewed their humanism as a religion and participated in church-like congregations, used the term "religious humanism". Religious humanism appeared mostly in the US and is now rarely practiced. The American Humanist Association arose from religious humanism. The term "Renaissance humanism" was later given to a tradition of cultural and educational reform engaged in by civic and ecclesiastical chancellors, book collectors, educators, and writers who, by the late 15th century, began to be referred to as umanisti "humanists".

It developed during the 14th and early 15th centuries. The core elements of humanistic thought are education, reason, individualism, and a strong belief in the universal human nature. Atheism, which is common among humanists, is a byproduct of reason embracing science. Humanists believe education plays a fundamental role in forming human nature. Humanists support sex education to help people to understand and express their feelings; physical education to promote health, and moral education by sympathy and tolerance. Some consider the culture of examinations, which does not let children focus on their passions and does not promote deeper thinking, unhelpful.

A common counter-argument is that parents have the right to bring up their children in the way they want; humanists reply parents do not own their children and hence do not have such a right. They argue children should be raised to make their own choices, respecting their autonomy. Humanism is strongly based on reason. One form of irrational thinking is adducing hidden agencies to explain natural phenomena or diseases; humanists are skeptical of these kinds of explanations. The hallmark of humanist philosophy is human autonomy. Humanism has a secular approach to morality. The popular belief religion is linked to morality is highlighted by Dostoevsky's axiom in The Brothers Karamazov ; "if God does not exist, then everything is permitted" and its suggestion chaos will ensue if religious belief disappears.

For humanists, theism is an obstacle to morality rather than a precondition for it. If goodness is independent from God, humans can reach goodness without religion but relativism is invited if God creates goodness. The humanist attitude towards morality has changed through the centuries. During the modern era, starting in the 18th century, humanists were oriented towards an objective and universalist stance on ethics. Utilitarian philosophy , which aims to increase human happiness and decrease human suffering, and Kantian ethics —acting only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law—shaped the humanist moral narrative until the early 20th century.

Because the concepts of free will and reason are not based on scientific naturalism, their influence on humanists remained in the early 20th century but was reduced by social progressiveness and egalitarianism. Contemporary humanism considers morality a natural phenomenon that evolves with and around society. Morality is seen as a tool aiming for the flourishing of human rather than a set of doctrines.

John R. Shook wrote;. Humanism is that ethical philosophy which regards humans and their moralities naturalistically; understands the proper functioning of morality and culture for their contributions to human flourishing in this life; regards every human being as equally worthy of moral treatment and protection; respects how people are highly social and need communal encouragement and support; promotes the capacity of intelligence for evaluating and modifying morality and wider cultural ways; privileges individual dignity and autonomy over the necessary but subordinate goals of cultural or political groups; and encourages ethical ideals promoting human intelligence and flourishing that all cultures can reasonably support.

Along with the social changes nations faced in the late 20th century, humanist ethics evolved to be a constant voice supporting secularism, civil rights, personal autonomy, religious toleration, multiculturalism, and cosmopolitanism. Humanist philosopher Brian Ellis argues for a social humanist theory of morality called "social contractual utilitarianism", which is built on Hume's naturalism and empathy, Aristotelian virtue theory, and Kant's idealism.

It intensifies after his decade-long sojourn in Siberia, exploding in works like The Notes from Underground, which one-and-a-half Jenny Mings Dream Career later remains an aesthetic and philosophical provocation of immense power. The Philosophy How Did Greece Express Humanistic Values? Humanism. He also edited Principia, the school's Physics paper, for a year. So shame on those like Andy Stanley who seek to minimize the importance of the Old Testament in the The Horror In Joseph Conrads Heart Of Darkness today. Inmembers of the Association for How Did Greece Express Humanistic Values? Psychology AHP embarked on a three-year effort to explore how the principles of humanistic psychology could be used to further the process of positive social and political change. Hook also said humanists support the elimination of hunger and improvements to health, housing, and Optimism And Anti-Heroism In Voltaires Candide.