Theos-Talk Archives (May 2002 Message tt00108)

--- Bart Lidofsky <bartl@sprynet.com> wrote:
> Having read the article, I would first like to
> point out that Nero's
> only "fault" was his persecution of a terrorist cult
> in Rome called
> "Christians", who were responsible, among other
> things, for the burning
> of Rome.

Well, I am not a Christian, but that statement (that
his only fault was persecuting terrorists) is
antihistorical. Incidentally, no distinction was made
by the Romans or anyone else at that date between
Christianity and Judaism, so you are applauding an
antiSemite. The Romans did not like Jews period. A
few years later the emperor Hadrian made the practice
of that religion a criminal offense. Jerusalem was
sacked not long after Nero's murder if memory serves
me well.

Your story is excellent, but it should be said that it
is Buddhist in origin, and that in the original the
raft (which the fellow in the story built with his own
hands) allegorically represented belief systems which
served him well and which he was thereafter unwilling
to reconsider. There are plenty of people today
carrying their rafts on their backs and wondering why
their knees hurt.



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