By Kahlil Gibran
From the book The Madman
Once there lived in the ancient city of Afkar two learned men who hated and belittled each other's learning. For one of them denied the existence of the gods and the other was a believer.
//belittle: make seem less significant: to reduce or dismiss the importance or quality of somebody or something
One day the two met in the market-place, and amidst their followers they began to dispute and to argue about the existence or the non-existence of the gods. And after hours of contention they parted.
//amidst: эmi'dst/ amid: within or among: surrounded by things or people
//contention: disagreement: angry disagreement between people
That evening the unbeliever went to the temple and prostrated himself before the altar and prayed the gods to forgive his wayward past.
//prostrate: pros·trate your·self vr lie face downward: to lie prone or
stretched out with the face downward or bow very low, e.g. in worship or
submission
//alter: /o':ltэ(r)/: raised ceremonial religious structure
//wayward :1. uncontrollably independent: disobedient and uncontrollable
And the same hour the other learned man, he who had upheld the gods, burned his
sacred books. For he had become an unbeliever.
//uphold: maintain or support: to maintain or defend something, especially laws or principles, in the face of hostility
Related vocabulary:
1. theology (noun)= The study of the nature of God and religious truth;
rational inquiry into religious questions.
2. monotheist (noun)= The doctrine or belief that there is only one God.
3. polytheist (noun)= The worship of or belief in more than one god
4. atheist (noun) /e'iθiist/= One who disbelieves or denies the existence of
God or gods.
5. agnostic (noun) = [1]One who believes that it is impossible to know whether
there is a God.
[2]One who is skeptical about the existence of God but does not profess true
atheism.
//creationism: belief that God created universe: the belief that God created
the universe
//Evolution
encounter
and yet
//learned men
converted