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| Roman Baths with Abbey in background |
(One good proof for there being such a thing as a human nature that sits on top of both the nature provided by the physical brain and the nurture provided by upbringing and environment, is the constancy of certain human traits wherever we find humans in all time and all cultures. Christians believe that biology and culture are not enough to explain human beings, and that we possess a soul, or spirit, which includes a common and universal human nature).
Curse tablets
Bath has three geothermal springs which the Romans thought were supernatural gifts of the gods. In one sense they weren't wrong - all good gifts are from God. Folk would come to these springs to "spiritually bathe" in the warm waters. The bathing was more than bodily enjoyment to them but a religious experience too.
They would come to Aqua Sulis, Bath's ancient name, and pray to Sulis Minerva, the local god.
What's interesting is the way they so often prayed against their enemies! Dozens of "curse tablets" have been found, each with a prayer to harm someone who had - for the most part - stolen something from them.
Here are a few examples:
"Docimedis has lost two gloves and asks that the thief responsible should lose their minds and eyes..."
"May he who carried off Vilbia (a girl) from me become liquid as the water..."
"...so long as someone, whether slave or free, keeps silent or knows anything about it, he may be accursed in (his) blood, and eyes and every limb and even have all (his) intestines quite eaten away if he has stolen the ring or been privy (to the theft)."
Human inability to forgive is as old as the hills, and sets the command of Jesus in stark contrast - "Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us." Forgiveness is truly a divine thing.
Unforgiveness is as old as the hills...and so is boasting.
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| Dining Room @ Number 1 Royal Crescent Bath |
At another museum in Bath there is a whole house decorated in the style of a Georgian family - and it shows us how the Georgians used to boast.
Take the dining room. This was the place where the (mainly men) would entertain their (mainly men) guests. The room would be lavishly decorated and the walls hung with family portraits to tell everyone about their fine lineage and pedigree. Unusual and expensive foods would be served to prove how wealthy they were.
They were trying to send a message to the guests to impress them. Perhaps a bust or two would show how important they or their ancestors had been. In effect, through the careful decorating of their houses they were exercising Image Control.
The family may have been close to bankruptcy, the home may have been at war, the lineage may have included a few dodgy characters - all that was masked and hidden behind a veneer of greatness.
Modern boasting
Exactly the same happens today. People use social media to portray whatever image they wish to put forward to the world. They put on smiling photos of a happy couple, for example, even if their marriage is a mess. They put happy family pics up even if their kids are at war. They boast about their qualifications, their kids achievements, and so on, even if they sweep the roads (a very noble occupation).
They leave out all the mess to give the impression they wish to give, to control the image.
The Georgians used posh food, posh homes, busts and paintings; today we use Social Media.
Human nature does not change!
Three things flow out of this observation....
Don't believe everything you see on social media
It would be very unwise to draw any conclusions about a person's marriage, family, material or spiritual lives from social media - it could all be false. Indeed it could even be a deliberate twisting. Someone wanting to cover up an abusive marriage might, for example, put on smiling photos of the said two people, hoping that the impression they wish to give suppresses the ugly reality friends may have good reason to suspect.
One of the reasons I dislike Christmas letters is that they are simply vehicles for boasting and false image management and manipulation (which, let's be honest is telling lies).
Don't judge anyone by worldly things
We are never to think little of a poor man or much of a rich man. Replace "poor" by education/status/etc. and repeat the sentence ad infinitium.
Don't boast
But more importantly, Christians should not boast about anything. We should keep "under our hats" any qualifications, achievements, abilities, wealth, possessions, and anything else that we may think puts us in a good light and might impress others.
More importantly we must learn to not love these things, for they are "worldly." Material possesions and earthly status will play no role whatsoever in heaven. They will be unknown in that world of light. The things the world loves and boasts about we should despise and put away, and "love not."
The apostle John says this about worldliness old and worldliness new:
"Do not love the world or anything that is in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." (1 John 2:15-17)
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