Just Getting My Feet Wet

Hi! I'm Thanea Kelly, Warren's wife. He told me that he warned you I was coming, so please don't be too disappointed. He'll be back tomorrow with his usual great insight into all things theological.

In his introduction I'm sure he was kind. I'm sure he didn't tell you that I believe shows and books about ghosts are great. He might of mentioned my obsession with college football and basketball. (Go BUCKEYES!!) He probably didn't tell you that my idea of a great day involves sneakers and a battlefield. And I'm sure he didn't tell you that I'm a Trekkie. (Please don't hold any of this against him. I was like this long before he met me.)

Now, about the Trekkie thing... I don't go to StarCon dressed like a Klingon or anything like that. I would attend if I had the chance. Meeting Patrick Stewart would be really cool. But I've watched the original series since I was a kid. My dad watched it in college (at Ohio State) and watched the reruns after the news when I was four or five years old. I did whatever Dad did, so there we go.

By now, you're wondering where I'm going with all of this.

Yesterday, over lunch, Warren had one of those interesting conversation most people would think was strange. See, I'm a history teacher, so I do think differently than most. We were talking about the sermon which touched on the armor of God. We talked about the gladius, the short sword Roman soldiers carried for close combat. Warren mentioned that it had been adapted from the Iberian short sword Romans encountered in Spain. That's when I made the connection.

The Borg in Star Trek: The Next Generation (STTNG) were the Romans. They meet an alien race and "assimilate" them. The Romans offered most conquered people Roman citizenship. They took any technology they could use and adapted it to their own purpose. The Romans rolled over anything in their way. Except for one thing. In STTNG the Borg eventually run into the Federation. Sometimes it appears that the Borg will win, but the Federation stands firm and eventually finds a way to defeat the Borg. That is exactly what happened to the Roman Empire with the introduction of Christianity.

As long as Christians appeared to be a sect of Judaism, they didn't seem to be a problem. After all, the Jews had been relatively docile. Once the Roman authorities began to realize that Christians would be different, they tried to "assimilate" them. As long as they also bowed to Caesar, Rome didn't care who they worshipped. But the Christians wouldn't bow to Caesar. So Caesar tried to destroy them. That didn't work either. In fact, eventually Christianity would assimilate Rome. It became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Some believe that was Rome's final victory, because it became easy to be a Christian.

My question for you is this: Are you being assimilated by this world?

I pray you are not.