Possible People: Hope for Christendom and the Rescue of the Soul of Civilization

“ One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners.”  C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

“I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled….Do you think that I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” Luke 12:49, 51

  

 I am currently reading a book that is at times a joy to read, and other times a vexation.  The book is Impossible People: Christian Courage and the Struggle for the Soul of Civilization by Os Guinness.  Where I was reading a few days ago, Guinness said that there is a direct link between the militancy of atheism and the intolerance of the Church, chiefly the European Church.  In other words, if the Church had not been so oppressive and hurtful, atheists would not be so vehement in their rejection of religion as a whole, i.e. Christendom caused Atheism.  From this, Mr. Guinness goes on to say that modern Christians, specifically Western ones, should humbly beg forgiveness for the alleged cruelties of the Church’s past. We should also, according to him, cease our culture war with the secularists, and admit to the fact that we live in a post-Christian society.  Christendom needs to stop trying to restore the past, but to lay down their arms and form a new alliance with the Secularists and Atheists so we may all create a new peaceful society for the sake of freedom.

   Some of this I find laughable, the rest I find sickening.  To begin, the idea that Atheism exists because of Christendom is so absurd it can barely be taken seriously. Those who reject God need no help from other people, Christians or otherwise.  This is giving the Church too much credit.  I would also state those who claim to be Atheist because they have been hurt by Christians are merely using their pain as an excuse, and they fail to recognize that followers of Christ still suffer as humans. As the Apostle Paul tells us, “I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” (Rom. 7:15) As for Christians apologizing for the past, stopping the culture war, and allying with our opponents to create a peaceful and free future, the whole idea is senseless.

  Yes, nearly every Christian today will admit that Christendom has had its dark times where sinful men or even non-Christians were in charge and did terrible things in the name of God. These must answer for their own sins, those who are innocent should not be held to account. Also, how drastic the sins of past Christendom were is often a matter of opinion or in some cases propaganda.  Even the most ruinous times in Christendom were nothing compared to wickedness of any ancient heathen or modern secularist state. The darkest eras of Christendom were still within the shadows of the Light, Godlessness is only dark continually. “If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness” (Matt. 6:23) “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5)

   Atheism and it sibling Secularism crept in when the Church let down it’s guard and began attempts to placate and arrange compromise with its enemies.  Therefore, ceasing the culture war will only hasten the destruction of Christianity.  Mr. Guinness either does not realize or cannot admit that the enemies of Christ do not want His followers to kneel and sue for peace so we can live freely together, it wants them removed from the face of the earth.  He told us they will hate us as they hated Him.  Ceasing the culture war will not save the West, and it will not save Christianity, it will destroy both.  Christendom and its progeny Western Civilization endure as a result of a two-thousand-year-long culture war.  A war against pagan Rome, against pagan Barbarians, against Islam, against the event known as Enlightenment which was in fact a descent of darkness, and against secularism. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places”(Eph. 6:12) “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth.  I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” (Matt. 10:34)  Truly, the enemies from within are often more deadly to the Church than those from outside.