Dear Antoine, So, idolatry is making a comeback, is it?\u00a0 The picture of you studying your Bible while your roommate burns incense to his crystals makes me smile \u2013 it proves once again that God has a sense of humor.\u00a0 Your reaction to the situation, however, makes me frown.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be so juvenile.\u00a0 God\u2019s Providence has made you two roommates, so you better stop complaining and start making a plan of evangelization \u2013 starting with your example of charity, patience, and sincere understanding.\u00a0 After all, he probably has never met someone who was really in love with Christ, and his deviant religiosity may be a sincere step in God\u2019s direction; you should help him into the light by your respect and example. Very different was the situation back when today\u2019s saint was battling idolatry in fourth century Palestine.\u00a0 He was a Christian stonemason, but the rest of the people in his town still worshiped stone statues.\u00a0 He went after them with vehement exhortations and heartfelt appeals, and it seemed that they were convinced.\u00a0 So he was free to retire into the wilderness with a hermit friend of his for a couple years of spiritual training.\u00a0 When he returned, the townspeople had relapsed, so he marched into their temple and smashed the statues of their so-called \u201cgods.\u201d\u00a0 This time they violently drove him out of the city.\u00a0 A neighboring bishop took him under his wing and put him in charge of building a church.\u00a0 The pagans strongly objected to such a project, so strongly, in fact, that they rioted and slew the young project manager, who was only 20 years old. I hope that helps put your current affair in proper perspective.\u00a0 Trust in God, my dear nephew, and convert your pagans one at a time. God bless, Uncle Eddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Antoine, So, idolatry is making a comeback, is it?\u00a0 The picture of you studying your Bible while your roommate burns incense to his crystals makes me smile \u2013 it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":359,"featured_media":145992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3719],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-142215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncle-eddy"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"","pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n