Rome was famous for its tolerance in the ancient world. As this quote from J B Bury states,
"The general rule of Roman policy was to tolerate throughout the Empire all religions and all opinions. Blasphemy was not punished. The principle was expressed in the maxim of the Emperor Tiberius: “If the gods are insulted, let them see to it themselves.”[i]
Of course
who was Emperor when Jesus was crucified? Tiberius. Why was Jesus crucified?
"Blasphemy."
Beware the
tyranny of the tolerant society, it hates claims of exclusivity, and it is easily
stirred up by the servants of the devil to persecute the righteous. Even the perspective of simple things, like our Lord's prayer stand against this sinful world's ideals.
The Lord's
prayer begins,
"Our
father who are in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven."
We are to pray to the only God, that he would come, rectify this world and establish his rule.
How did the Romans view the theology behind this prayer?
"The populace felt a horror of this mysterious Oriental sect which openly hated all the gods and prayed for the destruction of the world."[ii]
The overly tolerant pagans recoil in horror at the exclusive claims of Christianity that there is one God and that he will judge the earth and establish his reign. This terrifies and angers those who don't want to do things God's way. To the Christian this is a benign, simple and beautiful prayer, to the system of this world it is a challenge that must be stamped out.
They are right, this is a challenge. It is a statement that the god of this age, the spiritual ruler of the air who fills the world with his ways is not the true ruler of this world, and his reign will end. This prayer is asking for this process to happen quicker.
This might
help you understand why there are so many calls from unbelievers to get the Lord's Prayer out of
schools, parliament and more. This prayer offends them, it agitates them.
The
so-called tolerance of our modern society is a charade for a culture that says,
“Anything, but Christianity, is good, and any morality except Christian morality,
should be propagated.” Beware the tyranny of the tolerant.
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