Oak Leaf #157

Carved within the Cultures of Society—Christianity Cannot Be Erased
(By Andy Sanders)

I recently watched a video on the Smithsonian Channel about the ancient world of Pompeii and how Pompeii’s ancient graffiti correlates to modern-day social media. The show talked about how their culture allowed graffiti on most walls as a cultural norm because they didn't have paper and other forms of communication like we do today. Therefore, graffiti wasn't just found in poorer areas like in some regions today—it was everywhere, even on the outside walls of the wealthiest houses of that time. As they highlighted different images and words, I quickly took note of how old the excavation project was. It was amazing to me that Pompeii’s graffiti, carved out by people we don't even know, put messages on walls that still remain in a post-modern world—a digital age. If they only knew that in A.D. 79 a volcano would come and bury their entire region. If only they knew that almost two thousand years later, people would be reading their messages within the walls, what would they have told us?