The reaction of various social groups to government measures and decisions causes strikes, i.e. abstention from work, and the blockade of public goods, roads, airports, ports, etc. When a group considers its interests to be affected, it strikes, invites its members to abstain from work, and as a rule moves vigorously.

This peculiar domestic war of modern society is of great interest in the issues of faith in the living God, because while we are paying high costs for our economic or social interests and even resorting to harsh reactions, we do not show that we are willing to pay the cost of our personal inertia on the issues of faith in the living God.

On the contrary, we seem to enjoy our inertia, we show that we are not disturbed by stagnation and indifference, we show that while for the goods of this world we are willing to work and react with high economic and social costs, to the issues of our dormant faith we have no opinion and determination, we are not reacting to our fruitless indifference, an indifference that, as time goes on, is increasingly making us less aware of our Creator.

Training means education in progress. I am educated, possess knowledge and experience, I am effective, but I want to go further, move one step further towards perfection, become better than I am today.

I want to add something more in the education I already have. And this is the modern and topical reality. Anyone who is not educated is doomed to stagnation, retreat, regression, loss of wealth, and ultimately poverty, because the others are moving forward and I am lying back.

That’s why all the major academic institutions in the world offer countless varieties of educational opportunities so that anyone who wants, can easily find the way to improve their knowledge and skills. And this is precisely where Jesus’ teaching meets the teaching and practice of ancient Greeks, as described in the Acts of the Apostles, and is a critical principle to our development as individuals and as people.

For, as in all matters, so in matters of faith, the lack of education and development inevitably leads to poverty, that is, to the image we all experience today.

This title is not mine, but Evangelist Luke’s, who conveys to us the view of the ancient Greeks about how they first heard the apostle Paul in ancient Athens.

And it is obvious that the apostle’s appearance in Athens not only did not go unnoticed, but also determined, to a significant extent, the developments of spreading the Gospel and placed – for the first time – the bar of expectations. The things the apostle said were characterized by our ancestors as “new teaching” (“new” in comparison to what they had previously heard in the capital of civilization).

The presence of the Jewish synagogue in ancient Athens is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, so the Athenians at that time knew the Hebrew teaching. The view, therefore, that this is a new teaching, is of considerable importance, because it determines precisely and clearly how the ancient Athenians received the teaching of the apostle.

It was a new teaching, a new spirit, which had as its center the resurrection of Christ, but in terms that could be accepted and understood even by our ancient wise ancestors.

Topical are called the modern events; those that are happening today or this time period.

These are events that start and end today or are in progress today, but have begun from the past; yesterday or even before that. And of course, the events of the past may affect us today, but we are judged on the basis of today’s reality and not the past.

Each one of us usually takes a salary not based on the past of our ancestors but on the basis of our present contribution in our work. This is healthy and effective for our personal and everyday life. And that is precisely the aspect of life Christ wants us to understand and apply, that is, life that responds to the actual reality and not to the imaginative one, so that the knowledge of the Scriptures can have a real effect and the presence of the living God can have measurable results in our everyday life.

Desire is the favorable disposition in one direction; the inner tendency to acquire something or to achieve something. I desire, I turn my heart, my inner mood towards a direction, an object; the object of my desire and my craving.

There is no desire without an object to be desired. And if my desire is about a natural subject, a handsome man, a luxury car, an expensive electronic game, etc., then the subject is delineated and concerns only me and the way I get it. But there are desires far beyond these simple human issues of everyday life, and these are obviously much stronger and harder to detect ourselves and even more so by an external judge.

Neither the object of desire nor the method I will obtain it with can be distinguished, when the object is not a natural or artificial object, but an inner desire to cause a disaster to a third person or to groups of people. And this is a crucial part of our modern, complex society.