First Christian Voices: Practices of the Apostolic Fathers

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First Christian Voices

experience such indignities! Let any one of you endure such things being done to himself! But not a single human being will, unless compelled, endure such treatment since he is given sense and reason. Yet, a stone endures it because it is unaware. Certainly, do you not prove that it is possessed of awareness? So as to the fact that Christians are not accustomed to serve such gods, I might easily find many other things to say. However, even if what has been said does not seem sufficient to anyone, then I deem it pointless to say anything further. Superstitions of Jews And next I imagine that you are most interested in hearing something about why the Christians do not observe the same forms of divine worship as the Jews. Indeed, if the Jews were to refrain from the kind of service described above and deem it proper to worship one God as being Lord of all, then they understand. However, if they were to offer Him worship in the way which we have described, then they greatly err. For while the Greeks provide an example of madness by offering such things to those that are devoid of sense and hearing, the Jews, by thinking to offer these things to God as if He needed them, could rightly consider it an act of folly rather than of divine worship. For He who made heaven and earth and all that is them, who also provides us all the things for which we are in need, certainly does not require any of those things which He Himself has provided us as if to think they provide Him something. But those who imagine that by