How should we then live? This is the title of a book and a film documentary by one of the great thinkers of our time and in particular a Christian scholar, Francis Schaeffer. In these works Dr. Schaeffer provides a unique view of history that enables us to better understand the significance of the era in question. By understanding what has taken place in history, Schaeffer guides us to seeing how armed with this knowledge we are better able to answer the problems that have arisen in our own times. 
The ultimate conclusion is that our only hope lies in the Christian world-view, the truth that is based on a biblical foundation and revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. No matter how hard man tries, we cannot make this world all about us - but let's let Dr. Schaeffer paint that truth on the tapestry of history as only he can. This is the first part of twelve part series studying "How Should We Then Live? " - "The Roman Age."
One might want to argue the point but today we are living in what could best be called "shameless times. When I was young " . . . public drunkenness, filing for bankruptcy, having an abortion, the birth of a child out of wedlock, drug addiction, hitting a woman, looting stores, using vulgar language in public, being on the public dole (what there was of it), or getting a divorce, was enough to make you hang your head. Want to feel shame today? Wear a fur coat, smoke in public, grow fat, have breasts too small or a nose too big, don't recycle, eat meat. Somehow things have changed." ("For Shame" by James Twitchell, page1)
If things have changed then it is not only things that have changed but it is the way we see those things that have changed. For Schaeffer, the way we see things are based on our presuppositions, the basic way we see life. This may also be called our "world-view." Our world-view is like the lens of a pair binocular through which we see the world. Schaeffer tells us "People have presuppositions, and they will live more consistently on the basis of these presuppositions than even they themselves may realize. By presuppositions we mean the basic way an individual looks at life, his basic world-view, the grid through which he sees the world. Presuppositions rest upon that which a person considers to be the truth of what exists. People's presuppositions lay a grid for all they bring forth into the external world. Their presuppositions also provide the basis for their values and therefore the basis for their decisions." Presuppositions come from what a person believes to be the truth about what exists.
This can be best understood by looking at the profound statement: "As a man thinketh, so is he." Man is not simply a product of the forces around him. As a being with a mind, and the ability to think, man can influence the world by his actions. Schaeffer recognizes that a man's "inner thought-world" will determine his outward action. "How Should We Then Live" uses this understanding as the starting point for the investigation of man's world view. In this book Schaeffer suggests that while there are many variations of world views "there are not many basic world-views or basic presuppositions." World views or presuppositions are background beliefs that determine how we see and act in the world. Schaeffer warns us the "most people catch their presuppositions from their family and surrounding society the way a child catches measles."
Historian Jeremy Jackson summarizes Schaeffer's master theme in "How Should We Then Live?" as one might a controlled experiment. 1) He takes the history of the West since the time of the Romans, and considers what world-view gave strength to the Christians of the Roman Era. This strength rested on God's being an infinite-personal God and on his speaking in the Old Testament, in the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, and in the developing New Testament. 2) He examines the impact of this world view upon men's lives and thus upon the form and conducts of society as a whole. This involves consideration of how the distinct Christian world view was able to survive and spread in the alien Roman world and the ups and downs of the movement in the formally Christian West up and till early modern times. 3) Then when this world view is removed ( by looking at the last two centuries where the Christian world view is rapidly disappearing) what changes have taken place in the life of the individual and society.
Ultimately as great as the Roman Empire was, like the Greeks before them, the empire had no real answers for the problems that its citizens faced. The Greeks attempted to use the concept of the city-state as the foundation of their society. In time the city-state failed to provide a proper foundation to support Greek society. Subsequently, the Greeks and then the Romans used gods as an attempt to provide a suitable foundation for their society. But as Schaeffer tells us these finite gods were not the answer either. "The Greeks and later the Romans also tried to build society upon their gods. But these gods were not big enough because they were finite, limited. Even all their gods put together were not infinite. Actually, the gods in Greek and Roman thinking were like men and women, larger than life, but not basically different from human men and women." The gods were just "amplified humanity" and so the Romans' system of values could not support the reality of life for either the individual or the state. The Romans' gods depended upon the society that created them and were unable to bear the weight of a crumbling culture. Without an infinite reference point as a foundation for the basis of values and society, the collapse of the culture and its limited ideals was inevitable.
With the beginnings of collapse, came civil unrest and disorder. This ushered in the authoritarian rule of Julius Caesar as the people looked to the emperor to provide them with protection and peace. Caesar was made dictator for life and his power now "was not only absolute, but perpetual, too." Later, the grandnephew of Caesar, Caesar Augustus, came to be seen as a divinely appointed leader.
With the rule of Augustus the emperor became the head of the state religion. On the surface his rule brought peace and the fruits of peace to the empire. And he maintained the outward forms of constitutional government. This resulted in the people willingly giving him absolute power in return for "peace and prosperity." From here it was a short step from being emperor, to the emperor as God.
Today, many of us fail to realize the importance of a world-view and the impact that your world-view has on how you will react to the pressures of life. In Ancient Rome, it was not the Romans but "the Christians who were able to resist religious mixtures, syncretism, and the effects of the weaknesses of Roman culture" and that speaks volumes of the strength of the Christian world-view. This strength of the Christian world-view did not rest on the accomplishments, ideals, or values contrived by man. The Christian world-view was rooted in the infinite-personal God of the Old Testament, in the Son of God made flesh, his life and teachings and the new body of writings surrounding his life that we know as the New Testament. God's revelation in the written word and in the word made flesh provided Christians with answers to basic questions - questions about how the world came to be and how it fell and what it would take to fix it. God's revelation gave them a "rule," an absolute value system, by which they could live and they weigh and judge the values and actions of the culture and the state in which they lived.
If you contrast the world-view of the Christians with that of the Romans it is easy to see why the Christians were able to deal with the pressures of their time while the Romans collapsed. Weak foundations can survive only when the pressure on it is not too great. If the pressure is great and the foundation weak, buildings, societies, cultures or empires will collapse. Schaeffer says "A culture or an individual with a weak base can stand only when the pressure on it is not too great. Culture and the freedoms of people are fragile. Without a sufficient base, when such pressures come only time is needed - and often not a great deal of time - before there is a collapse."
Even in the face of persecution, faced with death in the arena by either wild animals or at the hands of battle hardened mercenaries, the world-view of the Christians enabled them to remain steadfast in their faith. The Roman Empire was tolerant of most religions. Christians were killed not for their religious beliefs but because they were seen as rebels. First, they worshiped one God only and not Caesar. If they had only agreed to worship both God and Caesar they would have been allowed to live. Secondly, they had an absolute (God's revelation) by which they lived and by they judged the state and its actions. No totalitarian state can allow itself to be judged by an absolute. As enemies of the totalitarian Roman Empire the Christians were destroyed in the arena.
As Rome began the slide to disaster, the culture became more jaded. Violence became a way of life and satisfying one's needs and desires were paramount. Blatant sexuality, sharply increasing apathy, rapidly growing government with increasing government control and authoritarianism designed to curb the apathy, and the lack of work by the people brought about an oppressive, heavy-handed government. Few existed that thought that the empire, the once great Roman Empire, was worth saving. A Growing taste for violence, rampant sexuality, cultural wide apathy, economic decline, bigger government, more government control, invaded by barbarians from the outside – collapse from the inside was inevitable.
Rome fell because its foundation was not capable of withstanding the pressures of this world. The Christian world-view enabled its followers to survive and thrive in the midst of persecution, chaos, and destruction. The viability of a presupposition or a world-view is proved not under ideal conditions but rather under difficult social and political pressures. The early Christians' dependence upon God, His Son, and His Word, allowed them to remain strong under the greatest of pressure. They stood firm while all around them society broke down under the external pressure of barbarians and war and internal cultural rot and decay. In the end the great Roman Empire was nothing but a fragile shell whose world-view was without saving power.
What is your world-view like? "As a man thinketh, so is he."
