The Assyrians, Babylonians, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans had their many gods—gods of war, gods of industry, gods of agriculture, gods of cities, gods of towns, and various others. But in all of paganism’s galaxy of gods, there never was one called “god of hope.” That is scarcely surprising. For in that ancient world, hope had become a despised delusion, long before our Lord was born in Bethlehem.
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