More Than One Winner
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"More Than One Winner" by Frank Ramirez
"North Pole Paradise?" by Frank Ramirez
More Than One Winner
by Frank Ramirez
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing -- 2 Timothy 4:8
The ancient Olympics were held every four years, as close as can be told, from 776 BC to 393 AD. That works out to one thousand, one hundred, and sixty-nine years. That’s almost five times as long as the age of the United States.
Greek city-states rose and fell, the Roman Empire conquered the Western World, and Christianity arose and finally became legal, during that time. And for over a millennium athletes gathered every four years to see who could run the fastest, jump the farthest, and out-wrassle everyone else.
Those ancient games were not for amateurs, despite the later myth-making of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Those prizes inspired athletes to train furiously for their events. There’s a little piece of papyrus that opens a window on that training. It’s only five and a half by seven inches and was found in the Egyptian desert. It’s a scrap from a second century wrestling instruction manual. There are holes here and there, but you can picture what training was like from what it says:
“Throw back your challenger and wrestle...with your right hand...toss, roll and suddenly throw into a different position and wrestle...toss...your foot...the hand, squeeze and wrestle...with your right then change positions...by the beard...and with the other alongside the middle of the head with the right, wrestle around and with your hand bend it back. Cross and wrestle. Bend him backwards with your right which you bend back and surprise him around the ribs and throw your honorable opponent. Throw off your honorable opponent, shifting his hand. Wrestle! Be quick. Use both hands. Wrestle. Throw your foot. Squeeze him. Bend him back. Bend his fingers upward and his...throw against...”(translation by the author)
When this manual was written wrestling had already been an Olympic sport ? for 900 years! Ancient wrestling was a lot like the modern sport. There was two minor differences to modern high school wrestling: First, infractions could lead to an immediate whipping! Second, you were allowed to bend your opponent's fingers backwards!
There were legendary wrestlers back then -- Milo of Croton once won a tournament because all his opponents forfeited. He triumphed at five straight Olympics from 532 to 516. And it was said of Nicophon, nicknamed the Milesian Giant, after he won in 8 BC, “Not even Olympian Zeus watched without trembling.”
No kicking or hitting, no eye-gouging or biting was permitted -- all of those were reserved for another sport called the Pankration which was a lot like the modern-day mixed martial arts. One of the most famous stories about that event concerns Arrhichion, who’d won the event at the 52nd and 53rd Olympiads in 572 and 568 BC. At the 54th Olympiad in 564 his opponent crushed his windpipe, but as he was dying he broke his opponent’s toe, causing pain so intense that the other surrendered, not realizing Arrhichion was only seconds from death. He was awarded the championship posthumously.
Another scrap of papyrus survives that lists the Olympic victors for the games from 480 to 468 and 456 to 448 BC. There are thirteen events listed for each Olympiad, and for each line the champion is listed. For instance, we read that at the Olympics in 476 BC Theogenes of Thasius won the Pankraton. In 480 Xenopithes of Cheios won the 200 meter footrace. In 448 BC Kyton of Lokros won the Pentathlon (a contest that included five events).
Notice something that goes unmentioned? Who finished second or third! Or who just managed to finish? In the ancient Greek athletic contests there was no second place! There were no moral victories. There was first place and nothing else.
The Apostle Paul often used the language of athletic training and triumph in his letters, but in his Second Timothy he suggests one way the Christian viewpoint of victory is different from the Roman Empire’s point of view. It's not winner-take-all. We can all be winners through Jesus Christ our Lord. First, second, third, last -- everyone can achieve the victor’s crown. That’s because victory in the eyes of God is different from victory in the eyes of the world!
* * *
North Pole Paradise?
by Frank Ramirez
Luke 18:9-14
He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt... -- Luke 18:9
Abraham Harley Casssel (1820-1908), an old-order Dunker, one of the Pennsylvania Plain Peoples, lived in Harleysville, Pennsylvania. He had only twelve weeks of formal schooling during his childhood because his father, a harsh taskmaster, believed that the more schooling one had the more sinning one might accomplish.
Cassel, who read both German and English, hid his reading addiction from his father by reading under the covers late at night using candles. As an adult he ammassed a personal library of over 100,000 items, and though he considered himself unlearned, he often wrote about historical matters for many different periodicals.
Usually Cassel wrote on various topics of Colonial Pennsylavania history, but on July 18, 1888, a certain H.H. Myers wrote an article in a magazine called “The Brethren Evangelist” that claimed the Paradise of Adam and Eve was located at the North Pole. Cassel felt duty bound to answer this claim, writing the following letter.
Abraham Harley Cassel’s plea, “Lord save me from such a paradise!” might be echoed when considering the paradise that the Pharisee in today’s parable thought he was living in as well.
(This letter was found in the Cassell archives located at Juniata College, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, and was printed in “Abraham Harley Cassel: HIstorical Writings,” by Abraham Harley Cassel, compiled by Frank Ramirez.)
Frank Ramirez is a native of Southern California and is the senior pastor of the Union Center Church of the Brethren near Nappanee, Indiana. Frank has served congregations in Los Angeles, California; Elkhart, Indiana; and Everett, Pennsylvania. He and his wife Jennie share three adult children, all married, and three grandchildren. He enjoys writing, reading, exercise, and theater.
*****************************************
StoryShare, October 23, 2016, issue.
Copyright 2016 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
"More Than One Winner" by Frank Ramirez
"North Pole Paradise?" by Frank Ramirez
More Than One Winner
by Frank Ramirez
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing -- 2 Timothy 4:8
The ancient Olympics were held every four years, as close as can be told, from 776 BC to 393 AD. That works out to one thousand, one hundred, and sixty-nine years. That’s almost five times as long as the age of the United States.
Greek city-states rose and fell, the Roman Empire conquered the Western World, and Christianity arose and finally became legal, during that time. And for over a millennium athletes gathered every four years to see who could run the fastest, jump the farthest, and out-wrassle everyone else.
Those ancient games were not for amateurs, despite the later myth-making of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Those prizes inspired athletes to train furiously for their events. There’s a little piece of papyrus that opens a window on that training. It’s only five and a half by seven inches and was found in the Egyptian desert. It’s a scrap from a second century wrestling instruction manual. There are holes here and there, but you can picture what training was like from what it says:
“Throw back your challenger and wrestle...with your right hand...toss, roll and suddenly throw into a different position and wrestle...toss...your foot...the hand, squeeze and wrestle...with your right then change positions...by the beard...and with the other alongside the middle of the head with the right, wrestle around and with your hand bend it back. Cross and wrestle. Bend him backwards with your right which you bend back and surprise him around the ribs and throw your honorable opponent. Throw off your honorable opponent, shifting his hand. Wrestle! Be quick. Use both hands. Wrestle. Throw your foot. Squeeze him. Bend him back. Bend his fingers upward and his...throw against...”(translation by the author)
When this manual was written wrestling had already been an Olympic sport ? for 900 years! Ancient wrestling was a lot like the modern sport. There was two minor differences to modern high school wrestling: First, infractions could lead to an immediate whipping! Second, you were allowed to bend your opponent's fingers backwards!
There were legendary wrestlers back then -- Milo of Croton once won a tournament because all his opponents forfeited. He triumphed at five straight Olympics from 532 to 516. And it was said of Nicophon, nicknamed the Milesian Giant, after he won in 8 BC, “Not even Olympian Zeus watched without trembling.”
No kicking or hitting, no eye-gouging or biting was permitted -- all of those were reserved for another sport called the Pankration which was a lot like the modern-day mixed martial arts. One of the most famous stories about that event concerns Arrhichion, who’d won the event at the 52nd and 53rd Olympiads in 572 and 568 BC. At the 54th Olympiad in 564 his opponent crushed his windpipe, but as he was dying he broke his opponent’s toe, causing pain so intense that the other surrendered, not realizing Arrhichion was only seconds from death. He was awarded the championship posthumously.
Another scrap of papyrus survives that lists the Olympic victors for the games from 480 to 468 and 456 to 448 BC. There are thirteen events listed for each Olympiad, and for each line the champion is listed. For instance, we read that at the Olympics in 476 BC Theogenes of Thasius won the Pankraton. In 480 Xenopithes of Cheios won the 200 meter footrace. In 448 BC Kyton of Lokros won the Pentathlon (a contest that included five events).
Notice something that goes unmentioned? Who finished second or third! Or who just managed to finish? In the ancient Greek athletic contests there was no second place! There were no moral victories. There was first place and nothing else.
The Apostle Paul often used the language of athletic training and triumph in his letters, but in his Second Timothy he suggests one way the Christian viewpoint of victory is different from the Roman Empire’s point of view. It's not winner-take-all. We can all be winners through Jesus Christ our Lord. First, second, third, last -- everyone can achieve the victor’s crown. That’s because victory in the eyes of God is different from victory in the eyes of the world!
* * *
North Pole Paradise?
by Frank Ramirez
Luke 18:9-14
He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt... -- Luke 18:9
Abraham Harley Casssel (1820-1908), an old-order Dunker, one of the Pennsylvania Plain Peoples, lived in Harleysville, Pennsylvania. He had only twelve weeks of formal schooling during his childhood because his father, a harsh taskmaster, believed that the more schooling one had the more sinning one might accomplish.
Cassel, who read both German and English, hid his reading addiction from his father by reading under the covers late at night using candles. As an adult he ammassed a personal library of over 100,000 items, and though he considered himself unlearned, he often wrote about historical matters for many different periodicals.
Usually Cassel wrote on various topics of Colonial Pennsylavania history, but on July 18, 1888, a certain H.H. Myers wrote an article in a magazine called “The Brethren Evangelist” that claimed the Paradise of Adam and Eve was located at the North Pole. Cassel felt duty bound to answer this claim, writing the following letter.
H. H. Myers
Dear Bro
While I have no “mountains of History, nor much of Science I would very kindly ask you, for the titles of a few of your Histories that prove Paradise to be at the North Pole. And also of Science to prove that “Everything had its origin at the North Pole and is traveling Southward.” The assertion appears a little marvelous to me because the Bible says the Lord God planted a Garden (which is understood to mean Paradise) Eastward in Eden. And a River goeth from Eden to water the garden, where it parted and became four heads or streams ? the courses of which are also given and believed to exist to this day. It further says that out of the ground grew every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. Here let me ask, where are such Rivers at the North Pole and flowing in the directions given in the Bible? And do such trees and fruits abound there as the Bible asserts. I have read most of the Arctic Explorations from Heemskirks in 1596 to the present time and all that ventured far enough to Know agree that there is neither Tree nor Shrub nor vegetation of any Kind to be found there. And so intensely cold that not even a drop of Water can exist there. At the nearest approach yet made the Thermometer registered from 60 to 65 degrees below zero, which is about one hundred below the freezing point, consequently there are no Rivers there, and also no Soilto produce anything. The scene is a boundless region of Eternal Ice that no Human being ever traversed and many valuable lives were sacrificed in the attempt of it
The Bible and Webster defines Paradise as a place of Bliss, a region of Supreme felicity or delight. But if the North Pole should be that place I would feel like praying Lord save me from such a Paradise.
A.H. Cassel
Harleysville Pa.
July 22nd 1888
Abraham Harley Cassel’s plea, “Lord save me from such a paradise!” might be echoed when considering the paradise that the Pharisee in today’s parable thought he was living in as well.
(This letter was found in the Cassell archives located at Juniata College, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, and was printed in “Abraham Harley Cassel: HIstorical Writings,” by Abraham Harley Cassel, compiled by Frank Ramirez.)
Frank Ramirez is a native of Southern California and is the senior pastor of the Union Center Church of the Brethren near Nappanee, Indiana. Frank has served congregations in Los Angeles, California; Elkhart, Indiana; and Everett, Pennsylvania. He and his wife Jennie share three adult children, all married, and three grandchildren. He enjoys writing, reading, exercise, and theater.
*****************************************
StoryShare, October 23, 2016, issue.
Copyright 2016 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
