Thanks to everyone who came out for the first week of this 10-week Focus Group! We had five total, a good group as it is, though we may add another one or two in the coming weeks.
The week's topic was the Roman Age, and we were quite struck with the parallels between the Roman Empire and its demise and our own day here in the U.S. Prosperity leading to comfort leading to laziness leading to apathy? Check. Relativism? Check. Lack of respect for life? Check. Numbed sensitivities leading to greater appetites for sexual sin and violence? Check. Not too subtle.
The Roman Empire had military might but no lasting, universal absolutes on which to build a society. As our society strays away from its Christian foundations (yes, many of the founders weren't Christian but they accepted Judeo-Christian absolutes), our foundation becomes more and more porous.
We prayed for an opportunity to present Truth to someone this week. Truth in a loving but non-compromising manner. Many moderns (post-moderns) have lost the belief in Truth and we, as Believers, need to be light in our world by speaking Truth.
As an aside, Schaeffer's video series is challenging and interesting but is very intellectual stuff. One caveat I offered the first night comes from John Bunyan's
The Pilgrim's Progress, "It is possible to learn all about the mysteries of the Bible and never be affected by it in one's soul. Great knowledge is not enough.” While we do want to "be transformed by the renewing of our minds," we don't want the process of sanctification to stop there. We want God to have access to and impact on every aspect of our beings.
Week Two we'll be looking at the Middle Ages. Week One had a themed snack of biscotti. Rome...Italy...biscotti...not too much of a stretch, though I suspect biscotti's a very recent creation. I'll have to do a little research and figure out what the folks of the Middle Ages dined on...
