Weekly “what are you reading” Thread #16

I just finished a book about the mafia's presence in the Netherlands and I'm rereading Paul. It turns out the mafia is everywhere and one takeaway is that dozens of Italian pizza restaurants over here turn out to be money laundering machines. The mafia spreads itself out at least through Europe and the Americas. It's more lucrative, because they're being combated more effectively inside Italy itself. They systematically infiltrate businesses and after a while convert their money into power through bribery and extortion.

It hasn't reached that stage in the Netherlands yet. This country draws them because they can sell drugs here. The book gave the impression that the legality of selling drugs helps them, which is contrary to what most sources say.

What's interesting about Paul is that he was a man with a mission, and he calls on the reader to take up higher aims as well, to come into holiness. One epistle I read is Philippians. The gist of it seems to be that the church should be of the same mind in matters, and not look for personal gain in preaching Christ, but quite the opposite: to make sacrifices. Colossians is also very readable. I have five more shorter epistles to go, then I will tackle his longer ones such as Romans.

Mirrorred at Rabbit Hole.