Man is always engaged in writing God out of the picture, erasing his signature from his own painting and scrawling our name where his used to reside.
Fyodor Dostoevsky predicted that at first art would imitate life, then life would imitate art, and finally, that life would draw the very reason for its existence from art.
This perpetually egotistic struggle is apparent in our daily walk.
Consider the latest slogan on a Jeep commerical: "The things we make, make us"
or the new PC taboo-- Merry C*****mas!
Yet, we have replaced this with "Happy Holidays" mostly unaware that the word holiday comes from two words "holy + "Day"... It is a bit satisfying to know there is a large group of people out there determined not to acknowledge God, and who are grinning as they are saying "Happy Holidays" because they think they have written God out of the picture!
Nietzsche, a brilliant and truly honest atheist, understood the nearly unavoidable nature of the divine. He also correctly predicted that where and when God was obliterated, mankind would reap unfathomable and catastrophic consequences. I suppose a brief look at the massive destruction of life in the last century would confirm this sentiment.
I have included a few idioms that you probably hear at least one a day that have biblical roots. This list is of course not exhaustive, but representative of the truth of which Nietzsche spoke. (go the extra mile, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, wolf in sheep's clothing, ashes to ashes, fly in the ointment, straight and narrow etc) Man must intentionally labor in our attempts to avoid God, if we do not wipe the slate clean, he still clings to us undaunted, but where man succeeds in his selfish endeavor to purge the divine influence, there we shall find obliteration the likes of which is unparalleled.
Remember this: many may argue that the history of the Church is dark and oftentimes evil (think inquisition, crusades. etc) and they are right, do not seek to deny this incontestable truth. However, it is estimated that in the entire 500 year span of the various inquisitions about 6,000 people were killed. This atrocity, which is surely was, is used against the Church over and over again. Obviously there is guilt in this terror, but it can be certainly shown that it was in direct contradiction to the teachings of the Bible, an abhorrent rebellion of thought and deed towards the scriptures that the Church attempts to uphold. (There are exaggerated claims of 100,000 deaths during the time by those who seek to discredit the Church, even if we allow these vulgarly overstated numbers it would still be a drop in the bucket compared to crimes against humanity motivated by atheistic ideology. Furthermore, one only needs to show one injustice on behalf of the Church to "discredit" it in one sense. Yet, that is the witness and testimony of those of faith in Christ, that we are sinful, in error, prone to mistakes and in need of help. The world does not need to exaggerate the darkness of those in the Church, we stand in acknowledgement of our own condemnation having fallen short of the Glory of God. Our hope is in Jesus, who has atoned for our wrongs, we humble ask for forgiveness for the wrong we have done, no one needs to convince us of that which we already know!
Rather, redirect the inquiry to the history of the world where God was effectively "gotten rid of" and you will see a darkness the likes of which the Church has never seen. In the places and times were the Church was erased from influence and service the world has experience bleak abomination. Stalin tripled Hitlers death toll of 6 million, and Russia is still unearthing graves. Hitler systematically marginalized the Church and where it did not cave towards complacency and endorsement of his reign, it was obliterated. Stalin was chosen for his intense hatred of all things religious and killed over 300,000 priests in less than a year.
6,000 deaths from misguided Churchmen over a period of 500 years hardly compares to the utter genocide and annihilation that Hitler and Stalin unleashed on the world during the mid 1900s. Furthermore, the deeds of these monsters were consistent with their ideology. The lethal purging they committed was undeniably in line with the spirit that animated them. On the other hand, the Churchmen who perpetrated the crimes of the inquisition were in direct opposition to that which they claimed to be true.
The dichotomy here hardly requires explanation.
Don't be distracted by the valid attacks on the dark periods of the Church and don't deny the truth.
But be prepared to redirect the questions:
What about the atrocities committed by non-Church entities? (in a short period of time)
add the death toll of these guys vs the death toll of 500 years of inquisition!
not comparable.
Also ask: were the actions of the inquisitors consistent with the bible? no
Were the actions of these viscous dictators consistent with their mother ideologies: Fascism, etc -YES!
- Pol Pot
- Stalin
- Hitler
- Mao Zedong
- Mussolini
- Franco
- Saddam Hussein
Etc...there are many more...
Be careful, the divine influence is nearly everywhere, and if you find a place where it has ceased to exist....well the words of Monty Python are fitting:
"Run Away!"
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