Silts,
What I think Annaeus Seneca was referring to with "common people"
was as it were, the ordinary man and woman of the street; people
without high office or special station, today, working and middle
class.
What chriistians do or do not deem to be wise and famous is far more
likely applicable to the unwise and infamous.
I feel it incumbent upon me however to address fairly what was
originally intended, and or seen as wise by christianity who adopted
what Philo Judaeus (a Jew) taught and it was he that beleived that
gods become partly intelligible to men by way of the Logos, or
Rational principle referred to by the Greeks. He calls this Logos the
first-born son of god, the highest archangel and the high priest. It
is
also the spirit of wisdom, the creative word of god by which all
things
are formed out of chaotic matter. Man he says is a two-fold being,
spiritual soul and material body. His ideal should be to escape from
the body and its evil influences and to rise again to god. This the
WISE man strives to do and he succeeds to some degree with
devine help.
So you see Silts being wise and having wisdom bears no relation to
worldly wisdom, or the wisdom of the philosopher, according to the
original christians; you were wise only if you sought a life with god.
I am an atheist and have absolutely no belief in gods, but I doubt
very much that any christian on this site could have told you that.
As to Aurelius Augustine, (Hippo) I could say a lot but for brevity
will confine myself to saying he was unpredictable, controversial
and most unwise, full of doubt even about gods, and himself. He
claimed that the only thing, the one thing he was most certain of,
was his own uncertain state of mind. It was perhaps surprising that
it was his doctrine that became the theoretical basis of the papacy's
claim to authority. But then had I related more perhaps not so
surprising.
NO! Augustine was not wise in the way you mean wise and the
opposite is true as I have explained from an original christians
point of view. But few christians know that. His conversion it
would seem made him wise in the eyes of his god.
On Aug 27, 3:17 pm, Silts <siln...@gmail.com> wrote:
> "Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false,
> and by the rulers as useful." (Seneca the Younger, 5 BC – 65 AD)
> Could anyone share his thoughts about his definition of "common people" from
> the above quote in relation to what Christians claim to be famous "wise"
> skeptic St Agustin of Hippo converted to Christian. St Agustin is
> considerably "wise" right? correct me if otherwise, so does this mean his
> conversion takes away this "wiseness" and turned him into one of the "common
> people"? If yes, please elaborate how. Thanks.
