Athens

Today we woke up to sunshine and warm weather. A welcomed change from the past couple weeks spent in Czech and Hungary. We walked the streets around the Acropolis. Mariella was more interested in all the shops as I was drawn to the historical sites. It is exciting for me to visit this area because Mariella and I did a year long Bible study on the book of Acts with our teen friends from Community Bible Study (C.B.S.) in Fullerton. On our way to Athens we stopped briefly in Thessalonica. In the New Testament in Acts 17, Paul writes about his visit to the people in Thessalonica. He went there and preached in the Jewish synagogue where he explained that Christ had to suffer and raise from the dead fulfilling what was written in the scriptures about the coming Messiah (Emanuel-meaning God with us). Some people believed and others chased him out of the city. Soon after this, Paul went to Athens. Today we browsed around what is left of the Ancient Agora. Acts chapter 17 verse 17 says, “he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.” The Agora was the chief meeting place of the city, where orators spoke, where business was discussed and gossip exchanged. Socrates also spent time here expounding his philosophy. We also walked to the Areopagus (also known as Mars Hill), which is located next to the Acropolis. It was here where Paul preached the “Sermon on an Unknown God.” This hill was the site of the council nobles and the Judicial Court under the aristocratic rule of ancient Athens. It is clear from looking at the ruins and reading the historical literature that Athens used to be a place of worship to many Gods constructed out of metal, wood and stone.

Paul told the people about Christ’s death and resurrection. He told them that he saw an alter with an inscription: TO AN UNKOWN GOD (maybe they wanted to make sure they didn’t offend any God’s they may have left out). The Unknown god was not so much a specific deity, but a placeholder, for whatever god or gods actually existed but whose name and nature were not revealed to the Athenians and the world. Paul told the people, “what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.” I like how Paul acknowledges that their spiritual and intelectual pursuits were legitimate.

So many of us are searching and yearning for something connected to the mind and heart of the Living God. This connection must be met so God redeems and satisfies our longing for life to the full and peace that surpasses understanding.

C.S. Lewis once said that all vices are virtues gone wrong.

The rest of the story can be found in Acts 17.

I wish I could post pictures, but our camera died. We hope it will be resurrected as it was a month or so ago when it stopped functioning. Tomorrow we plan to visit the Parthenon. We saw large parts of the Parthenon in London at the British Museum. The parts of the Parthenon were taken by Lord Elgin in 1810-11. Maybe the Museum will send the vast collection back to its home one day.