{"id":1257,"date":"2010-11-16T09:35:50","date_gmt":"2010-11-16T09:35:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/2010\/11\/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-american-empire.html"},"modified":"2010-11-16T09:35:50","modified_gmt":"2010-11-16T09:35:50","slug":"the-decline-and-fall-of-the-american-empire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/11\/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-american-empire.html","title":{"rendered":"THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Timberlake<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The above is a picture of a Christian veteran in Lexington<\/p>\n

One of the truisms of history is that those who refuse to
\nlearn from the past, learn from the lessons of history, are doomed to repeat that
\npast.   <\/span>History never precisely repeats
\nitself,  <\/span>it is not cyclical, but
\nnonetheless there is much to learn from the past if we are to avoid its
\nmistakes.     <\/span>In 1776, a year that we
\ncelebrate with great regularity in this country.  <\/span>Eduard Gibbon first  <\/span>released his classic work The Decline and
\nFall of the Roman Empire. <\/u>  <\/span>In this
\nwork Gibbon chronicles the factors that led to the decline of that mighty
\nEmpire, and its eventual demise.    <\/span>To
\nsay that historians have closely scrutinized this work is to say too
\nlittle.  <\/span>In fact modern historians have
\nbeen obsessed with it, precisely because of the possibility of drawing
\nanalogies with other world Empires  <\/span>(e.g
\nthe Ottoman Empire), and studying historical causation.  <\/span>In 1984, one German professor enumerated
\nsome  <\/span>210 theories as to why Rome fell!    <\/span>None of them, I’ll warrant, includes the
\ntheory that Paul and John of Patmos had both predicted the Fall of Rome in
\ntheir respective writings.  <\/span>In other
\nwords, none of them entertain the theory of divine decline.    <\/span>But the Bible is perfectly clear that
\nultimately God causes the rise and fall of human empires and kingdoms, something Jesus himself believed when he said to Pilate ‘you would have no power over me if it had not been given you from above’.   <\/span>That however does not settle the question of
\nsecondary causes in any way.  <\/span>God can use
\na myriad of means, his wonders to perform.  
\n<\/span>There is thus plenty of room for the secular historian to theorize about
\nproximate or human causes.<\/p>\n

                <\/span>The
\nfirst thing to be said about the decline and fall of the Roman Empire is that
\nit was gradual, it was a slow sliding into decay which took some 320
\nyears.  <\/span>It certainly didn’t happen
\nabruptly, unlike for example the fall of the Third Reich, only a few years
\nafter it reached its peak size.  <\/span>Most
\nRoman historians believe that September 4th<\/sup> 476 A.D. is the date we
\ncan pinpoint as the end of that Empire–when the last western Roman
\nEmperor,  <\/span>ironically named Romulus Augustus
\n(i.e. after the founder of Rome and then the first founder of the Roman Empire),
\nwas deposed by the Germanic ruler Odacer.  
\n<\/span>The peak of the Empire and its widest spread had come in the middle of
\nthe second century A.D. What is ironic about this is that that is precisely when Christianity was undergoing its most rapid growth period.    <\/span><\/p>\n

The Roman
\nEmpire collapsed not with a bang, but a whimper, and of course it changed
\nChristian history as well (see the story of the Byzantine period and the move
\nto Constantinople etc.).   <\/span>Scholars will
\ndebate whether the eastern Roman Empire continued beyond about 480 or not, and whether
\nwe should see the Byzantine Empire as that continuation.  <\/span>In my estimation we should not.    <\/span>The fall of Constantinople in A.D. 1453,
\nsome a thousand years later was the fall of an Empire which was neither Holy
\nnor Roman, frankly. <\/p>\n

                <\/span>It was
\nof course Constantine who favored and engineered the moving of the center of
\ngravity of the Empire from Rome to the city named after him, which today is of
\ncourse called Istanbul.  <\/span>And in part he
\ndid this in response to Christian forces and influences.   <\/span>Christianity had something to do with the
\ndecline of the Roman Empire in the sense that it undermined and overwhelmed
\nancient paganism as a religious force.  <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span>But the warning signs of religious decline
\nwere already there in the time of Augustus. 
\n<\/span>For example, Paul’s near contemporary Plutarch once complained ‘Now a
\ndays, no one believes the gods are really gods.  <\/span>Olympus is over-crowded’.    <\/span>In short, there was a spiritual decay noted
\nby Plutarch, and indeed noted by Augustus who made stern new laws about strict observance
\nof the rituals of the traditional gods in an effort to turn back the clock to
\nthe ‘good ole days’.  <\/span>
<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>If there is one thing one can say clearly
\nabout matters spiritual so far as they effect larger cultural life, you can’t
\nturn back the clock. The spiritual ethos and development of a culture doesn’t
\nwork like daylight savings time!     <\/span>Note
\nto churches and denominations vigorously praying that next year will be 1954
\nall over again. It ain’t going to happen!  
\n<\/span>  <\/span>Revival and renewal movements do
\nhappen, but they do not lead to a going back, but rather a new spiritual thrust
\nforward.  <\/span>And  <\/span>when Christians have tried to impose  <\/span>some of their values on a non-revived truculent
\n <\/span>culture (think the era of Prohibition in
\nthe twentieth century in America), it has been spectacularly unsuccessful.   <\/span>Revival and renewal must come from within,
\nand people must want to embrace the new or old values they are offered.   <\/span>In matters religious and spiritual, people
\ncan’t be legislated into conversion to this that or the other.  <\/span>They will simply ignore the law or move
\nsideways in other directions.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Are there things that America could
\nlearn from the story of the Roman Empire as it declines as a world economic and
\nmilitary power in the 21rst century?  
\n<\/span>[Note to those who are in denial that this is happening— over 40% of
\nall U.S. debt is now owned by China and other foreign countries.  <\/span>If they call in their markers, the real power
\nbehind the throne will become all too apparent].    <\/span>Yes, I believe there are.   <\/span><\/p>\n

Firstly, 
\n<\/span>the problem that Plutarch lamented was ‘too much religious pluralism’.  <\/span>He was especially concerned about all these
\nnew deities from the east (the god of the Jews, the god of the Christians,  <\/span>the gods Isis and Serapis).   <\/span>When a country turns its back on its religious
\nroots,  <\/span>in our case-Judaeo-Christian
\nroots,  <\/span>in favor of other ‘eastern’  <\/span>religions or even rampant atheism it is a
\nclear sign of a spiritual malaise and decline. 
\n<\/span>Paganism, it needs to be remembered, was not atheism.  <\/span>It was simply polytheism.   <\/span>It was the Christians who were accused of
\nbeing atheists, that is ‘a-theos’ without the gods, in antiquity because of
\ntheir monotheism.   <\/span>In my view, the signs
\nof spiritual decline are everywhere in our country. <\/p>\n

With spiritual decline in the Roman
\nEmpire came also moral decline, because theology and ethics have always been,
\nand indeed should be intertwined.  
\n<\/span>Morality without an ultimate sanction or divine foundation or a Word
\nfrom God is simply the shifting sands of situation ethics.    <\/span>Again Augustus recognized this.   <\/span>This is why he did his best to re-institute traditional
\nRoman marriage, and encouraged women in particular to resume the traditional
\nvalues of hearth and home.  <\/span>It is an odd
\nthing,  <\/span>but some of the speeches one
\nhears now in conservative Christian circles about marriage and family and
\nbearing children and traditional family values and virtues could just as easily
\nhave been given by Augustus himself, with minimal tweaking of the names of the
\ndeity involved. <\/p>\n

Furthermore, in Roman times the culture became more and more coarse, there was increasing lust for blood sports, for gladiators etc. And even political discourse became coarser and coarser. The parallels with what has happened in America which now spends more on entertainment (whilst listening to more and more political shock jocks) than even on national defense should be clear.<\/p>\n

A third thing in common with the
\ndecline of the Roman Empire is of course greed.   <\/span>In America today 40% or more of the country’s
\nwealth is owned or controlled by less than 10% (the upper 10%) of the populous.   <\/span>In Rome this problem became worse and worse
\nover time, so that in the end about 2% of the populous was hording over 90% of
\nthe wealth.  
<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>It is not a populous move
\nor movement to argue for tax breaks for those who are already rich.  <\/span>This was realized in Roman times, and it
\nought to be realized in our own times as well. 
\n<\/span>Tea Party, are you listening?  
\n<\/span>The failure of Americans to even know their own history is frankly
\nastonishing.   <\/span>When I was an infant Eisenhower
\nwas President.   <\/span>Here are some things you
\nshould consider about his reign, courtesy of Manny Goldstein. Note to readers,  <\/span>Eisenhower was not a flaming liberal
\nDemocrat—-<\/p>\n

“The highest tax bracket on earned
\nincome today is 35%. During Ike’s administration, the highest tax bracket was
\n92% in 1953, and 91% thereafter. Yes, taxes on the Rich were almost three
\ntimes higher under the Republican Eisenhower compared to our current President,
\nor compared to the Democratic administration of Bill Clinton!   <\/span>It is considered to be almost the gospel
\ntoday that capital gains should be taxed at a far lower rate than earned
\nincome. Today the maximum capital gains tax rate is a whopping 15% on assets
\nthat have been held for at least a year since purchase. This is why the middle
\nclass, who are dependent on earned income, effectively pay taxes at a higher
\nrate than do the wealthy.   <\/span>In Ike’s day,
\ncapital gains were not treated differently from earned income, so the rich paid
\n91% tax on capital gains. From 91% to 15% – another reason why it’s good to be
\nrich! <\/p>\n

“Note that in 1955, in the middle
\nof Ike’s presidency, the typical (median) family paid less than 20% in all
\ntaxes. By 2003, the total of all taxes paid by a typical family had more
\nthan doubled, to almost 40% of income.  <\/span>So
\nin Ike’s day, the rich paid a lot of taxes, the middle-class paid a little
\ntaxes, and somehow it all worked out.  <\/span>But
\nDid Ike Want To Tax The Rich? <\/p>\n

“You might be curious as to whether
\nIke actually wanted such a high tax rate on the Rich, or was somehow forced
\ninto it by, say, a Democratically-controlled Congress. It turns out that when
\nIke ascended to the Presidency, both houses of Congress were indeed controlled
\nby a single party – the Republican party. Republicans controlled the
\nPresidency, the House, and the Senate – they could have done anything they
\nwanted. And some in Congress did pressure Ike to roll back taxes on the rich,
\nbut Eisenhower held the line, saying: <\/p>\n

“We cannot afford to reduce
\ntaxes, reduce income, until we have in sight a program of expenditure that
\nshows that the factors of income and outgo will be balanced.” <\/p>\n

  
\n<\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span>  <\/span> <\/span> <\/span>  <\/span> <\/span> <\/span>The Tea
\nParty would do well to think about the various dictums of Eisenhower about such
\nmatters, and here is why.   <\/span>Though they
\nhave some right to be angry, most of the
\nthings they are advocating such as lower taxes and less central government are
\nin fact counter-productive to their ultimate aims!   <\/span>Less central government will not make us a
\nsafer country, a more prosperous country, and less taxes on the rich will not
\nget us there either, unless you truly believe in trickle down economics.   <\/span>It is notable that Donald Trump recently
\nsaid that it was high time to impose a huge tariff on incoming goods from China
\netc. and use this means to balance the budget.    <\/span>Free trade is not necessarily fair trade
\nwhen it comes to American jobs etc.  <\/span>I
\nhave watched with dismay the decline of my beloved furniture industry in the
\nmiddle of North Carolina.  <\/span>Hardly any
\nfurniture today is made there.  
\n<\/span>Why?  <\/span>America’s lust for cheap goods
\neven if they come from Timbuktu  <\/span>has
\nruined most of our manufacturing industry. <\/i><\/p>\n

In other words, as Pogo said a long
\ntime ago— ‘I have seen the enemy, the enemy is me’.  <\/span>We Americans should all look in the mirror
\nand we will see the main source of our own decline— our own lust for cheap
\ngoods and desire to live larger than we can afford, indeed to live the high
\nlife while working like we were low life. 
\n<\/span>The rise of the gaming industry is just another indication of the rot from
\nwithin— the desire to get rich without any amount of commensurate work
\nproducing that wealth.   <\/span>I have very
\nlittle sympathy with the news report today that Las Vegas is in deep trouble
\neconomically.  <\/span>This is what should happen
\nwhen your economy is based on preying on people’s worst and most selfish and
\nsinful instincts. <\/p>\n

And finally there is the lesson to
\nbe learned from the Roman wars.   <\/span>Rome
\nwasn’t built in a day, and it didn’t decline in a day, but what did happen is
\nthat its military vitality and strengthen was sapped and zapped by being nickeled
\nand dimed to death by small unwinnable wars— oh think, the Korean conflict,
\nand then the Vietnam war, and then the Gulf conflict, and then the Iraq war and
\nnow Afghanistan. Rome ended up fighting on too many fronts at once and invested too much of its vital resources fighting minor skirmishes against pirates and guerrillas in desert and mountainous terrain?   Does this sound familiar? 
<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>Note to all—– the
\nmoney spent on our American wars combined from 1950 until now,  <\/span>all
\nof which were unnecessary, all of which were undeclared wars, none of which
\nmeet the criteria of just war theory, 
\n<\/span>could have: 1) eliminated all poverty in the Northern hemisphere for the
\nforeseeable future; 2)  <\/span>made the lowest
\nincome bracket in the U.S. middle class; 3) 
\n<\/span>prevented all sorts of major diseases; 4) cleaned up our environment and
\nfound solutions to global warming etc. 
\n<\/span>and I could go on.   <\/span>WE HAVE
\nWASTED OUR VITAL RESOURCES IN THE LAST 60 YEARS ON USELESS, POINTLESS, AND
\nUNWINABLE NON WORLD-WAR CONFLICTS, and this frankly is exactly how Rome went
\ndown for the count.   <\/span>Read the history of
\nthe period A.D. 150-450.   <\/span><\/p>\n

Note about terrorism—
\nthe goal of terrorists is to strike fear in the heart of their enemy so they
\nwill colossally over-react and waste their men and money chasing phantoms
\nabroad while at home the nation goes to pot, the infrastructure crumbles, and
\nwe experience the winter of our discontent. 
\n<\/span>If you look at the money we spend today on the TSA alone, you will see
\nthat the goal of the terrorists has been achieved.  <\/span>We are now making one fear based decision
\nafter another  <\/span>since 9-11-01.<\/p>\n

I could go on drawing spiritual,
\nmoral, economic and military parallels between the Roman Empire’s decline and our
\nown,  <\/span>but this must suffice.   <\/span>I would however like to end with a note of
\nhope from the Scriptures for Jews and Christians—–  <\/span>“if my people, who are called by my name, will
\nhumble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,
\nthen will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their
\nland.”     <\/span>This is not a promise made to
\nAmerica in general. 2 Chronicles 7.14 is spoken to God’s people.   <\/span>I hope they will listen, because we <\/i><\/b>are
\nindeed a major cause of our own country’s demise  <\/span>(think the health and wealth Gospel for
\nexample).   <\/span>Enough said.  <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The above is a picture of a Christian veteran in Lexington One of the truisms of history is that those who refuse to learn from the past, learn from the lessons of history, are doomed to repeat that past.   History never precisely repeats itself,  it is not cyclical, but nonetheless there is much to learn…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":199,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nTHE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE - The Bible and Culture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/11\/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-american-empire.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE - The Bible and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The above is a picture of a Christian veteran in Lexington One of the truisms of history is that those who refuse to learn from the past, learn from the lessons of history, are doomed to repeat that past.   History never precisely repeats itself,  it is not cyclical, but nonetheless there is much to learn…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/11\/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-american-empire.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bible and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-11-16T09:35:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2009\/09\/Timberlake%20035-thumb-400x711-7998.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ben Witherington\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE - The Bible and Culture","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/11\/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-american-empire.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE - The Bible and Culture","og_description":"The above is a picture of a Christian veteran in Lexington One of the truisms of history is that those who refuse to learn from the past, learn from the lessons of history, are doomed to repeat that past.   History never precisely repeats itself,  it is not cyclical, but nonetheless there is much to learn…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/11\/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-american-empire.html","og_site_name":"The Bible and Culture","article_published_time":"2010-11-16T09:35:50+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2009\/09\/Timberlake%20035-thumb-400x711-7998.jpg"}],"author":"Ben Witherington","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/11\/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-american-empire.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/11\/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-american-empire.html","name":"THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE - The Bible and Culture","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/11\/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-american-empire.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/11\/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-american-empire.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2009\/09\/Timberlake%20035-thumb-400x711-7998.jpg","datePublished":"2010-11-16T09:35:50+00:00","dateModified":"2010-11-16T09:35:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/d1fd6c7893819eabc624db38ecfd8426"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/11\/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-american-empire.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/11\/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-american-empire.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/11\/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-american-empire.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2009\/09\/Timberlake%20035-thumb-400x711-7998.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2009\/09\/Timberlake%20035-thumb-400x711-7998.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/11\/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-american-empire.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/","name":"The Bible and Culture","description":"All Things Biblical and Christian","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/d1fd6c7893819eabc624db38ecfd8426","name":"Ben Witherington","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/75e\/75ec11e1916a2008bc4cc638a0a0de2fx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/75e\/75ec11e1916a2008bc4cc638a0a0de2fx96.jpg","caption":"Ben Witherington"},"description":"Bible scholar Ben Witherington is Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary and on the doctoral faculty at St. Andrews University in Scotland. A graduate of UNC, Chapel Hill, he went on to receive the M.Div. degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Durham in England. He is now considered one of the top evangelical scholars in the world, and is an elected member of the prestigious SNTS, a society dedicated to New Testament studies. Witherington has also taught at Ashland Theological Seminary, Vanderbilt University, Duke Divinity School and Gordon-Conwell. A popular lecturer, Witherington has presented seminars for churches, colleges and biblical meetings not only in the United States but also in England, Estonia, Russia, Europe, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Australia. He has also led tours to Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt. Witherington has written over thirty books, including The Jesus Quest and The Paul Quest, both of which were selected as top biblical studies works by Christianity Today. He also writes for many church and scholarly publications, and is a frequent contributor to the Beliefnet website. Along with many interviews on radio networks across the country, Witherington has been seen on the History Channel, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, The Discovery Channel, A&E, and the PAX Network.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/author\/bwitherington"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/199"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1257\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}