One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” This saying is true. – Titus 1:12-13a
Does God hate people from Crete? I would personally guess not. That said, it doesn’t seem Paul thought much of them. In his letter to Titus (who may have been from Crete himself), Paul cites this quote from Epimenides and goes on to explain why this will make ministry on Crete a challenging assignment. A few verses later, he describes a subset of either humanity or just Cretans as “detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.” This coming from a man who first made a name for himself (such a name he’d have to change it) by persecuting followers of a nascent religion built around sacrificial love.
It’s one of the funnier Bible passages, especially when viewed adjacently to Christian fundamentalism. Clearly, fellow Christians, those who live on the fifth-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea are a bad sort. But does this description extend to our neighbors in Crete, Illinois, home of the 2012 IHSA Class 6A state football champions? Unfortunately, we must conclude it does. The Word is The Word! But it’s also funny when viewed a half-dozen other ways. Paul is saying this to Titus, who again may be a Cretan. Paul is saying this, period. The “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another” guy says everyone on this specific, rather large island is, among other things, simply evil. There’s also the directness of how he expresses agreement with Epimenides: “This saying is true.” Not a lot else to say, Titus. Your people are bad!
I’d love to see one of those Behind the Music episodes from VH1 on the letter to Titus. Some interviewer asking Paul what he thinks of Cretans now, a couple thousand years after he left his guy there to try to work with ‘em, Paul hemming and hawing and/or straight-up saying, “Yeah, Jim. Cretans are bad. You ever been there? They won’t work! And they’ll say they will!”
One etymological note here: Cretan and cretin are two separate words. Cretin did not originate from anything having to do with Crete. In fact, cretin originated from the Swiss French word for Christian, and not in a derogatory way! It became derogatory down the line. Kind of like Cretan for Paul, I guess. Man. The “always” in there. Not an inch of space for uncertainty.
