The Acts 16 story of Paul and Silas in prison is a powerful image, for me, of the life lived in Christ. Remember that they landed in prison for healing a demon-possessed girl. They were not imprisoned, it seems, for the healing itself but because they took away the means of making a living for the girl's parents. For this the two men were thrown in prison.
Two things to take away from this: note that throughout the entire book of Acts, as the early church was being planted, we see the profit motive bumping up against the motive of the Gospel. My bible finds comparisons with Simon the magician, Elymas and Demetrius the silversmith! It does seem that pure capitalism and the Gospel are incompatible. I am not advocating pure socialism, either, however what does a system look like where the wealthy put their hope not in wealth but in something else entirely? Read 1 Timothy 6:17-19. Feel free to comment on this comment as well, I'm curious to know what others think. Truly, in the name of healing that girl, Paul and Silas actually stole from her parents... so how do those two things exist in the same world (healing and profit?)
Secondly, look at how Paul and Silas reacted to their imprisonment: by praying and singing hymns to God. It is vitally important that we continue to teach our young people to know their story by heart so that in times of trouble they have a deep spiritual well from which to draw the water of life. So many young people are suffering at the hands of our amoral world because they do not know enough the love God has for them. They do not have a liturgy to draw upon. They have not been read the Psalms. They have not memorized the Lord's Prayer or the Creed. How can we be surprised that they are showing the signs not just of physical but of spiritual illness?
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