Pax Romana Remix

The world we live in seems to be racing into uncharted waters. Changes in how we do business, communicate, and wage war have come so quickly. It’s never been like this before…or has it?

We learn history so that we can understand today. I think that the modern world looks more like the Roman Empire than ever before.

Almost the whole world lived in one system. Latin was widespread, as was Greek for literature. A trader from Gaul could haggle with a ship owner from Tyre with neither knowing the other’s mother tongue. Today, school children in Finland and the Philippines have to learn English to graduate. It is the language of international trade. With internet protocols and work-flow technologies, even our computers can talk to each other.

Jesus never traveled more than a hundred miles from where He was born. He was executed in Jerusalem around 33 AD, on the backside of civilization.  That he was crucified, not stoned, attested to the fact that all these things took place under Roman occupation. Conversely, there were no national borders to keep His movement from spilling over the Empire.

Paul’s missionary journeys never took him over international borders. Every local area had their own gods and religions, customs and traditions. But they had something else-Roman roads, Roman language, and the all-important Pax Romana.

Pax Romana, or Roman Peace, was often at the tip of a sword and under threat of execution. One way or the other, they kept order. We are seeing something similar now. Sure, there are military operations against terrorists and a lot of posturing between nations, but China is not going to war with the U. S. anytime soon. Why? If we do not buy their goods, their economy is shot. The nations that are connected with international trade or that form the supply lines for American manufacturing will go to great lengths to avoid war. Not the threat of swords, but just as effective. Even twenty years ago, the cold war restricted half the world from traveling to the other half. Now, anyone in the world has access to travel anywhere else.

This is why Christianity is exploding worldwide. More than anytime since the fall of Rome, the world is one huge community. We can more easily connect with one another than ever before. Interestingly, this is not the sort of imperialist missionary endeavor of past European powers. It is more a free market exchange of ideas, with Christians from Korea and Argentina sharing as much as they receive. I recently became aware of a vast church building campaign for India, where churches here in the U.S. will partner with their Indian brothers to construct 25,000 churches. Half of the money is coming from India. The plan was initiated in India and the pastors of these churches are Indians. I learned of it by listening to a great Indian pastor telling us ( in English) his vision on a video played in our auditorium here in Louisiana via an Apple computer. No big deal. Just part of the new Pax Romana.