Altar for God wea Olketa No Talem Nem

APOSOL Paul visitim Athens, Greece, long samting olsem 50 C.E. Long there hem lukim wanfala altar wea olketa dedicatem long wanfala god wea olketa no savve long hem and bihaen hem storyim diswan taem hem givim witness abaotem Jehovah.

Long start bilong tok bilong hem long Mars’ Hill, or Areopagus, Paul hem sei: “Olketa man bilong Athens, mi lukim hao long evri samting, iufala nao fraet long olketa god winim nara pipol. Olsem example, taem mi wakabaot raon and lukluk gud long olketa samting wea iufala respectim, mi lukim wanfala altar wea garem toktok ‘Long God wea Man No Savve.’ So samting wea iufala no savve iufala worshipim, diswan nao mi talem long iufala.”—Acts 17:22-31.

Nomata pipol nating faendem datfala altar bilong Athens, olketa semkaen altar olsem stap long olketa nara part bilong Greece. Olsem example, datfala savveman bilong Greek long mek-tu century, Pausanias, storyim olketa altar bilong “olketa god wea no eniwan savve long nem bilong olketa” long Phaleron, wea no farawe from Athens. (Description of Greece, Attica I, 4) Olsem datfala sem buk hem talem, “wanfala altar bilong olketa god wea no eniwan savve long olketa” hem stap long Olympia.—Eleia I, XIV, 8.

Insaed buk bilong hem The Life of Apollonius of Tyana (VI, III), Greek man for raet Philostratus (c. 170-c. 245 C.E.) talem hao long Athens “olketa wakem olketa altar for honorim nomata olketa god wea no eniwan savve long olketa.” And insaed Lives of Philosophers (1.110), Diogenes Laertius (c. 200-250 C.E.) raetem hao man savve lukim “olketa altar wea no garem nem” long olketa difren part bilong Athens.

Olketa bilong Rome tu buildim olketa altar for olketa god wea olketa no talem nem. Long piksa iu savve lukim wanfala wea bilong first or mek-tu century B.C.E. wea olketa keepim insaed Palatine Antiquarium long Rome, Italy. Latin raeting bilong hem showimaot hao olketa dedicatem disfala altar long “wanfala man god or woman god”—wanfala toktok wea “planti taem kamap insaed olketa prea or long olketa raeting.”

Planti pipol still no savve long datfala “God wea wakem world and evri samting insaed long hem.” Bat olsem Paul talem long olketa bilong Athens, disfala God—Jehovah—“hem no farawe from iumi wanwan.”—Acts 17:24, 27.

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Altar: Soprintendenza Archeologica di Roma