Did the ancient Romans have conscience?

A few nights ago, I was watching a special on TBN – God of Wonders. It’s a wonderful video about God’s awesome creation. It included testimonies from scientists insisting that the complexities of our earth and its inhabitants can only lead to the conclusion that there is a Creator – an Intelligent Designer. When the program got to man, it said that God created man in His image with Free Will and a conscience — the conscience being the knowledge of good vs. evil. The guilty feeling when you do something wrong that bugs you until you right the wrong.

 That got me to thinking. In researching the ancient Romans and how early Christian evangelists tried to reach them, the main concept they had to work with was that there was only One God. The ancient Romans could not understand “atonement of sins.” This leads me to the conclusion that they didn’t have a conscience. Or they just didn’t listen to it. They were a pleasure and power-seeking society. The government had laws set by the senate or the emperor and they had a justice system, but it was sins like adultery, stealing, murder, greed, slavery etc. that were generally accepted by society.

 So, God create all people with a conscience, but if a person has no concept of atoning for his sins and evil doings, then Satan controls the person’s will and the person pays no attention to “that guilty feeling.”

That brings me to the topic of this past Sunday’s sermon at my church (a recording of the sermon should be available around Wed. of this week) – Why Jesus? To quote part of the sermon: “To say that ‘all religions are paths leading in the same direction’ is nothing more than a lame excuse to do whatever you want…” In ancient Rome, as long as you didn’t anger the gods, you were ok.

 One of the lessons that I use in my novel is from Acts 17: 24-31. It’s when the Apostle Paul meets the Greek scholars in Athens.

In the past God overlooked such ignorance [gods and idols], but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed [Jesus]. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead. ~ Acts 17:30-31 [author inserted]

 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ~ Romans 5:8

 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but ave eternal life. ~ John 3:16

 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me…”  ~ John 14: 6

Nuff said.
God Bless,
Giselle
E-mail: deovolente.love1@gmail.com
www.giselleaguiar.com

Christians should get back to basics

In researching the early Christian church for this novel, my goal was to feel like I was sitting in the midst of a church meeting. to know what it was like for a Roman girl, raised to believe that there was a god for everything and how she can come to understand that there is only One True God and he sent his only Son to earth to die for us so that we can live forever in paradise with God.

As I got to know what the early church was like, I came to realize that the simplicity of their service: praise God with songs (singing Psalms),  read letters of Paul and later read the Gospels, and then hear a message from the church leader on the meaning of the reading.  Until I started attending a Calvary Chapel when I first moved to Phoenix, I hadn’t experienced the simple praise and worship service like the early church. After I bought my house, I started attending First Christian Church of Phoenix — a non-denominational church. I love the music and the basic praise and worship. No rules and regulations (I grew up Catholic), no ceremony and traditions, just simple praise and worship.

That’s all God wants from us. All the pomp and circumstance are fine, if we don’t lose the basics. Praising God with all abandon — not just singing along and living what we hear in church. Not just on Sunday. You’re not just there to fulfill your weekly obligation — you’re there to praise and worship — to learn how God wants us to live. God gave us Jesus so that we could live and the Bible and church to show us HOW to live.

Even back in the Old Testament days, God had a problem with how the people of Israel were worshiping Him. It’s not much different now.

The Lord says:
       “These people come near to me with their mouth
       and honor me with their lips,
       but their hearts are far from me.
       Their worship of me
       is made up only of rules taught by men.” ~ Isaiah 29:13

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ~ Deuteronomy 6:5

We honor the Lord, not just by going to church each Sunday, but by how we live our lives.

Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him. Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.  Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy. For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. The LORD loves righteousness and justice;  the earth is full of his unfailing love. ~ Psalm 33: 1-5

God Bless,
Giselle
E-mail: deovolente.love1@gmail.com
www.giselleaguiar.com

Why I chose the setting of my novel

I’m a naturally curious person. I read something and start asking questions. My stories stem from the possible answers to those questions. In the book of Acts, after the Apostle Paul’s shipwreck he arrives in Italy:

After three months we put out to sea in a ship that had wintered in the island. It was an Alexandrian ship with the figurehead of the twin gods Castor and Pollux. We put in at Syracuse and stayed there three days. From there we set sail and arrived at Rhegium. The next day the south wind came up, and on the following day we reached Puteoli. There we found some brothers who invited us to spend a week with them. (Acts 28:11-14)

He spent a week there with believers. I’ve watched every movie and documentary on the Apostle Paul and not one of them fictionalizes what that week was like. Who were those believers? Did they start a church? Did Paul baptize anyone there?

Puteoli is located on the northern coast of the bay of Naples, south of Rome on the Via Appia. Though Ostia was Romes major port, many shipments came through Puteoli. Pompeii and Vesuvius lay southeast.

I attempt to answer these questions in my novel. It takes place in 69 A.D. Paul supposedly landed there in 65 A.D. and was executed by Nero in 67 A.D. In my novel, I have a flashback and my one of my main characters, Anthony, remembers what it was like meeting Paul and how Paul helped him convert and commissioned him to start the church in Puteoli.

Today, Puteoli is called Pozzuoli and its buildings are uninhabitable because of cracks in the foundations from frequent tremors.   Here’s a map. Note the close proximity to Vesuvius.

http://maps.yahoo.com/#mvt=m&lat=40.828101&lon=14.542312&zoom=10&q1=Pozzuoli%25252C%252520Italy

God Bless,
Giselle
E-mail: deovolente_love1@gmail.com
www.giselleaguiar.com