At the Dinner Table - My Parents Said - "We Are Going the Way of Rome!"

Once they start...

 Step One - 1950s

My parents were raised on the farm and went to country schools, where my mother first began teaching - at a one-room schoolhouse. They talked about Rome because they were trained in the history of the Roman Empire and took Latin as students, without any emotional or psychological damage. The four of us children were expected to take two years of Latin, because "You won't get into a decent college without Latin."

Step Two - 1960s

Once the siblings began college, only one of us took more Latin, added Greek, and became engaged - a graduation wedding. Relatives wondered why I had avoided learning a vocation (accounting, law, etc) during those 3+ years. Christina and I headed for Ontario, where I paid $150 a year for tuition. My friend from Salem Lutheran Church in Moline said, "Greg, this newspaper article says you won't have a church to serve in a few more years." He laughed long and hard and went, as many of my friends did, from Barry Goldwater fan club to socialism and worse. I loathed Goldwater for being a phony and it was later revealed that he was directly connected with the Mafia in Phoenix - and pro-abortion.

Step Three - the 1970s

I was sitting in the District President's office in 1972, the MDiv completed and a discussion about getting a pastoral call interrupted. Christina was on the line, insisting that I talk. The DP was reluctant to interrupt, but she said, "Put him on the phone." She said to me, "You are accepted at Yale Divinity for the STM." The DP became quite animated and shook my hand. I only went back to Ontario to visit, eh?

Step Four - Onward and Downwards - the 1980s

1. YDS was just starting the radical changes. Only one faculty member was a woman, and she was a Lesbian. What began as a way of opening the door to every Left-wing cause turned into an avalanche exit in every possible way. We have arrived at the basics of the Roman Empire:
2. Paganism celebrated in the worst and most obnoxious way. No details needed.
3. Men who want to be women, and women who demand their male. Ha!
4. Children used throughout America and the world - trafficking.
5. Unborn left to die - a Roman said a letter to his wife - "If it is a boy, keep him. If a girl, expose her (in the wilds)." Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East. Co-inky-dink - DEI.
6. Escapism in the form of alcoholism and drugs.
7. Charlatan "physicians."
8. Corrupt leaders from the top down, the President little more than one of the drunk and abusive lower rulers.

Linn Tonstad

Yale Divinity Professor of Theology, Religion, and Sexuality.
I would not recommend YDS or any Lutheran seminary.

The little kitties seem so harmless, one at a time. I once took away a pork bone from one of them. I sat in my chair, some distance away, at the big table. Soon I felt the tiny teeth of the kitty sunk into my big toe, with energy and enthusiasm. A warning!