The tactics of Demetrius, who was afraid of this nice business making silver trinkets and calling them idols would dry up are remarkably similar to a twitter storm. There must be a point of offence, and then a tweetstorm will occur. Which should lead to a ritual apology.
Jeremy Corbyn refuses to condemn IRA for terrorist atrocities http://t.co/hHLzjIlbys pic.twitter.com/qYn5aZhxXV
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) August 6, 2015
The Ancient Pagans knew this: that the mob could be stirred up and would riot in defence of their cultus. And they needed to be shut down — the town councillor is reading the equivalent of the riot act to these people.
But we are not as noble as the ancients. We now fear the twitter storm, and consider the voice of the mob the voice of God, even when we know the mob was stirred up by marketers.
Now after these events Paul resolved in the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.” And having sent into Macedonia two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while. About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way. For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen. These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods. And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.” When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul's companions in travel. But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him. And even some of the Asiarchs, who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater. Now some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward. And Alexander, motioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the crowd. But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours they all cried out with one voice, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from the sky? Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash. For you have brought these men here who are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess. If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. But if you seek anything further, it shall be settled in the regular assembly. For we really are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.” And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly. (Acts 19:21-41 ESV)
We think that the pagans of the Roman and Greeks were noble. In part because their nobles wrote the history. But they had problems with the populace, for their Stoic philosophy did not satisfy: the poor prayed to their cultus, and rioting was feared. Besides, the best of the pagans (such as the Stoics and Confucians) are despised by this generation: we will not see them again, for when the word of God came to them they converted with joy.
Freud made the same mistake that the irrational atheists of today still make. They think that because they are influenced by centuries of Christendom's social inertia, that they possess a variant morality that is, if not necessarily better than Christian morality, at least equally valid. They don't. They possess the increasingly tattered remnants of Christian morality, that is all, and as it fades with each post-Christian generation, the Men of the West devolve into paganism, and not the high paganism that was so virtuous as to compete with early Christianity, but the low paganism of the Celt, the Viking, the Mongol, the Aztec, and the African cannibal.
Cable TV's signal gets shaky on Wall St. Shares this week:
Time Warner- down 14%
Discovery- down 15%
Viacom- down 23%
http://t.co/JDSesX7puz
— WSJD (@WSJD) August 6, 2015
In this time, The silversmithy is the media: like the idol maker they fear that their market is going. And it is. Consider last night: I was working on some reviews and then looking at the Norseman’s web site: one son was at a pub quiz and the other son was doing homework and then checking Tom’s Hardware and the PC Master Race. The TV and cable were abandoned. I still have it — for sports, particularly formula one.
But it could soon go.
And the more social justice passion that these fools can stir up the more power they think they have. Particularly if that meets their agenda of hating the gospel, and they will not consider how this move to rule by the mob will destroy their nation.
