Dr. Nathan Leasure
One of the great mysteries of history concerns how 1st century people treated each other. After all, the Greek Empire was very enlightened; and the Romans followed the Greeks. Culturally, they were very knowledge based. They prided themselves on the philosophical wisdom, as our culture prides itself on its scientific knowledge. Morally, they were very sexually open. Divorce was widely accepted and encouraged. Prostitution was rampant. Homosexuality was embraced. Religiously, they were very polytheistic. In Greece and Rome there were thousands of gods and it didn’t matter which gods you worshipped - to each their own. What is more, they were very multi-cultural. Even on the day of Pentecost among the Jews there in Acts 2 there are at least 18 different nationalities.
Reflecting in this level of diversity and acceptance of conflicting understandings of morality, religious expression, and multi-cultural differences, one might assume these cultures would naturally be very kind, just, and loving too. One might assume that widespread acceptance and openness, as our western cultures aspire to, would lead to gentle and caring societies. Yet among the Romans in particular, despite their wide acceptance of cultural differences, cruelty reigned. Slavery was rampant. Women were treated as second class citizens. Not only was abortion accepted but infanticide was a part of the culture too. The Roman’s loved to go to the Coliseum and watch people kill each other for sport. It was an extremely violent culture while being an extremely inclusive culture.
Yet how can this be? Well, simply put, from a Christian perspective those ancient cultures attempted to build open societies apart from the consciousness that people are innately created in the image of God. Therefore, in spite of attempts to build diverse and accepting cultures, apart from a consciousness that saw individuals in light of their Creator, the Greeks and Romans descended into societies that produced and tolerated tremendous abuse and exploitation.
Today, it seems as though Western cultures are on the same trajectory. While our leaders attempt to build multi-cultural, open societies, we continue to struggle with violence, dissention, cruelty, and increased levels of disrespect towards each other. Yet, why would we be surprised? After all, any attempt to build diverse and caring cultures have historically collapsed if the cost of building them comes with the exclusion of God. While we talk about diversity far more than ever before, we seemingly talk about God far less. While we talk about tolerance and acceptance far more, we also talk far less about what it means to be created by God and for His pleasure. While we talk about the value of races and groups of people far more, we have also accepted a collective ideology based on evolution and “survival of the fittest.” Our most influential institutions promote an ideology that life emerged on this planet through a series of coincidences.
As G. K. Chesterton quipped: “As a politician, the secular person will cry out that all war is a waste of life, and then, as a philosopher, admit that all life is a waste of time. The secular person goes first to a political meeting, where he complains the natives are being treated as if they were beasts. Then he goes to a scientific meeting, where he proves that all human beings actually are beasts.”
What we are dearly missing is a collective understanding that all life is sacred - whether black, white, Hispanic, or Asian - whether in the womb or out of it - whether healthy or sick - whether young or old - whether male or female, because God says so. What we are collectively losing is Genesis 1:27, which reads: “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” What that means is that our attempts are likely to largely exercises in futility. It is time to return again to our God and a deep awareness of what it means to be created by Him.