students of jesus

It wasn’t a bummer having an unusual name like “Valentinus” back in the third century, but it probably was a downer to be martyred on February 14th. That’s the price you pay for sainthood, I guess.

Valentine’s day is properly Saint Valentine’s Day, a day to celebrate the Christian witness of a pastor who stood up to a Roman Emperor, who had mercy on pagan soldiers, and who took a stand for love. The historical details are sketchy, but the legend starts with a pagan emperor in Rome who believed that married soldiers were bad soldiers because they would be concerned for their families back home. The Emperor Claudius solved this problem by issuing a decree that, under penalty of death, no soldier could get married!

. . . Read the rest of today's post over at Ransom.tv (a very cool site: have a look around!)