Excerpts From The Past

EXCERPTS FROM THE PAST

The following compiled excerpts are to remind us that truth has always had its battles.

WORLDLY ENTERTAINMENT

ROMAN R-RATED ENTERTAINMENT 260-330 AD

Lactantius "I am inclined to think that the corrupting influence of the stage is even worse [than that of the arena]. The subjects of comedies are the deflowering of virgins or the loves of prostitutes....

Similarly, the tragedies parade before the eyes [of the audience]the murder of parents and acts of incest committed by wicked kings.... Is the art of the mimes any better? They teach adultery by acting it out. How do we expect our young people to respond when they see that these things are practiced without shame and that everyone eagerly watches." (Lactantius Institutes bk. 6, chap. 20, paraphrased)

140-230 AD

Tertullian "The father who carefully protects and guards his virgin daughter’s ears from every polluting word takes her to the theater himself, exposing her to all its vile language and attitudes." He asked rhetorically, "How can it be right to look at the things that are wrong to do? How can those things which defile a man when they go out of his mouth not defile him when going in through his eyes and ears?" (Matt. 15: 17-20).

(Tertullian The Shows chaps. 21, 17)

260-330 AD

Lactantius "He who finds it pleasurable to watch a man being killed, even though the man has been legally condemned, pollutes his conscience just as much as though he were an accomplice or willing spectator of a murder committed in secret. Yet they call these ’sports’ where human blood is shed!

... When they see men placed under the stroke of death. Begging for mercy, can they be righteous when they not only permit the men to be killed, but demand it? They cast their cruel and inhuman votes for death, not being satisfied by the mere flowing of blood or the presence of gashing wounds. In fact, they order the [gladiators] although wounded and lying on the ground to be attacked again and their corpses to be pummeled with blows, to make certain they are not merely feigning death.

The crowds are even angry with the gladiators if one of the two isn’t slain quickly. As though they thirsted for human blood, they hate delays.... By steeping themselves in this practice, they have lost their humanity.... Therefore, it is not fitting that we who strive to stay on the path of righteousness should share in this public homicide. When God forbids us to kill, he not only prohibits the violence that is condemned by public laws, but he also forbids the violence that is deemed lawful by men.

(Lactantius Institutes bk. 6, chap. 20, paraphrased)

ABORTION NOT A 20TH CENTURY PHENOMENON

170-215 AD

Mark Felix "There are some women among you who by drinking special potions extinguish the life of the future human in their very bowels, thus committing murder before they even give birth."

(Mark Felix, Christian Lawyer, Octavius chap. 30)

150-190 AD

Athenagoras, a Christian apologist who wrote around 170 A.D., answered those charges with these words: "When we say that those women who use drugs to bring on abortion actually commit murder and will have to render an account to God for this, how could we possibly murder [infants]? It would not make sense for us to regard the very fetus in the womb as a created being, and therefore an object of God’s care, and then when it is born to kill it."

(Athenagoras Embassy chap. 5)

140-230 AD

Tertullian explained to the Romans, "In our case, since murder is absolutely forbidden in any form, we may not destroy even the fetus in the womb.... To hinder a birth is merely a speedier form of killing. It matters not whether you take away a life that is born or destroy one that has not yet come to birth."

(Tertullian Apology chap. 9)

EVOLUTION

EVOLUTION BEFORE DARWIN!!! 170-215 AD

Mark Felix "Some men deny the existence of any Divine power. Others inquire daily as to whether or not one exists. Still others would construct the whole fabric of the universe by chance accidents and by random collision, fashioning it by the movement of atoms of different shapes."

(M. Felix Octavius chap. 30 [Notice the term "atom" isn’t a twentieth century invention, but a term coined by Greek philosophers.])

260-330 AD

Lactantius "Some people teach that the first men lived nomadic lives among the woods and plains. They were not united by any bond of speech or laws. Instead, they lived in caves and grottos, using leaves and grass for their beds. They were prey to the beasts and stronger animals. Eventually, those who had escaped, having been torn [by wild beasts] ... sought out the company of other men for protection. At first they communicated to each other by nods; then they tried elementary forms of speech. By attaching names to various objects, they