http---www.gty.org-Resources-Sermons-90-408----In the seventeenth chapter of Acts, the Apostle Paul comes to the religious focal point of the ancient world of his day. He comes to Athens. And it is in Athens that there are many philosophers and many religions, and many gods. In fact, in verse 16 of Acts 17 it says that, -He observed the city of Athens and that it was full of idols.- There were in Athens, along with all the idols, there were the priests and priestesses that were associated with those idols and their various religions. And on top of that, there were all kinds of philosophers, as verse 18 indicates. There were Epicurean and Stoic philosophers as well as many others.----Now Paul walks into this milieu of religions and what he says to them is very, very important. Verse 18, -And some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. Some were saying, -What would this idol babbler which to say-' Others, -He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities.' Why- -Because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.' And they took him and brought him into the Areopagus saying, -May we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming-'- What he was proclaiming was resurrection. For them with all their myriad religions and philosophies, this was new teaching. In fact, they go on to say, -You're bringing some strange things to our ears, so we want to know what these things mean.-