Is Christianity necessarily “militant” ?
Imagine if you were going on a plane ride for a nice family vacation with your family, and your family was all on board the plane awaiting take off already.
You go to the bathroom, and overhear terrorists discussing plans to bomb THAT plane.
Now what will you do?
Will you go up to your family and go “I’m going to tell you what I believe, but i respect your choice and decision whether or not you want to believe and get off the plane”?
Will you make tracks and brochures and invite your family to a rally to tell them about terrorism and how their plane might be bombed , and to put up your hands and come to the front, all who wish to be saved?
Will you even nag at them every five minutes to get off the plane?
No way. If you even slightly believed the terrorist has a bomb on the plane, you will be dragging your family screaming and kicking off the plane. Money lost because your holiday is forfeited? Who cares about money!!!
And of course, if you were a bit of a nicer person than Hitler, you would probably be shouting and insisting everyone get off the plane as well.
Now the thing about Christianity is this. Unlike most other religions where the way you get to heaven/paradise/some nice place was to do good deeds and perform some rituals, Christianity demands that you believe a FACT. Christianity demands that you believe the FACT that Jesus Christ was God-incarnate who came to earth at that specific time in history, and that he was crucified, and he later resurrected and ascended to heaven. A Christian must believe these events are FACTS.
Only then can the Christian have FAITH that believing / worshipping God as proclaimed by JC, would get him to heaven and out of hell. In Christianity, THAT and ONLY THAT faith will get you into heaven and out of hell — no amount of good deeds or rituals on your part can even come close to subtituting that faith.
And so if a person was a Christian and by definition believed in that fact, and if that Christian person even cared for someone else / society, a very natural consequence is to behave as my aeroplane story illustrated.
( I’m talking about the AVERAGE person’s behavior; there are always exceptions, which i’m sure YOU are………..And I’m also not talking about people like Thio Su Mien who, I feel, demand others follow her ideology, because that’s the “right” thing to do, and not because she really wants people to get to heaven, or else she would have just had another evagelical rally)
If this Christian REALLY believed his mother, father, wife, little daughter, smart son will go to hell for all eternity if they didn’t believe in Jesus Christ, what would he do??
My friend (a pastor and theologian) said that we’ll end up fundamentalists and terrorists if we behaved like what I suggested we would.
Yeh i agree.
But think about it.
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This is a popular poem one can easily get off the internet that nicely illustrates my point:
My friend, I stand in judgement now,
And feel that you’re to blame somehow.
On Earth I walked with you day by day,
And never did you point the way.
You knew the Lord in Truth and glory,
But never did you tell the story.
My knowledge then was very dim;
You could have led me safe to Him.
Though we live together here on Earth,
You never told me of the second birth.
And now I stand this day condemned,
Because you failed to mention Him.
You taught me many things, that’s true;
I called you a “friend” and trusted you.
But I learn now that it’s too late,
And you could have kept me from this fate.
We walked by day and talked by night,
And yet you showed me not the light.
You let me live, and love, and die,
You knew I’d never live on high.
Yes, I called you “friend” in life,
And trusted you through joy and strife.
And, yet, on coming to this dreadful end,
I cannot, now, call you “my friend”
Hi Mathia,
I do not know the context in which your question (“is Christianity militant?”) arose, but from personal experience I would say the main gripe about Christian evangelisation is the level of urgency at which it is performed. The secondary complaint is usually the persistence of the evangelists.
That’s why I think your plane bomb analogy is a little off, because:
- the existence of the terrorists can be easily verified; &
- your scenario sets a very specific (short) time limit before peoples’ fates are sealed.
No doubt many Christians cite the same example (or something similar) in order to justify their evangelisation efforts, but what some of them don’t realise is that bringing people around to a set of “facts” takes more time and patience than they seem to be willing to contribute.
I would also point out that belief in these”facts” requires faith; yet faith itself is reliant on the belief of said underlying “facts” in the first place. The whole evangelical process sometimes becomes an exercise in breaking out of this circular argument, and this is not something which may be easily accepted by the targets of such efforts.
So is Christianity necessarily militant? I don’t know. But I do know it doesn’t necessarily have to be. If only some of the evangelists knew that too.
I think this video touches on your comments:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d86_1229728845
Penn Jillette is a well known atheist. His description of the motivation of Christians matches yours in a way. But he goes on to tell a story about the gentle patience that Christians need to helped the unsaved like us without completely pissing us off.
The plane bomb analogy is way off and that popular poem is part trash.
Some Christians forgot about God in their evangelisation efforts.
These Christians preach religion with God, not relationship with God.
They forgot that when there is no interaction with God, there can be no belief.
They forgot that they are only tasked to spread the word and be living examples… they are not tasked to persuade people to believe.
They forgot that no matter how much they care, they must leave people with free will and choice.
In their evangelisation efforts, they are only tasked to plant the seeds, maybe water them. But who is the one who cause the seeds to grow?
Therefore, Christians are not tasked to be “militant”.
But for those Christians who behave militant-like, do not be too quick to judge them. Although their actions are inappropriate, their motivations may not be deviant.
Why did JC say “love your enemies…”? The reason is simple – you can become the very thing you are fighting against… a man obsess with fighting demons will become a demon himself.
Mathia, do you know what Godwin’s Law is?
Didn’t know but just went to wiki it and hey! i learnt something interesting today! =) thanks! and i agree with wat they say!
what’s your point tho’?
Hey Robin, that’s exactly what i was trying to get at! he’s cool!
Mathia,
Haha. I get analogy. I meant I know what the evangelist are thinking. But let me poke fun at the airplane analogy first.
Because if it is me, I would inform the captain and cabin crew, and maybe tell and get a few more cool-minded and bulky sort of dudes to help me wack the terrorist.
I meant no point panicking the passengers and give the game up. But of cuz in desperate situation like it is gonna blow up, I would just grab my family and maybe shout a warning and run like hell.
And in the case of Christian evangelism, I don’t think there is a hurry, except maybe for the dying. But the analogy u made, the dying are fully aware of the possible consequences, whereas ur family have no idea there are a bomb in the plane.
The line is blurred, but there is a line nevertheless. If a person wishes to remain in the plane despite know that there is a possibility that there are a bomb, maybe we should respect his/her wish to take such a risk. But as I said, this is a blurry line, different people have different opinions. So might feel it is more important to save a life than respecting his wishes.
“If a person wishes to remain in the plane despite know that there is a possibility that there are a bomb, maybe we should respect his/her wish to take such a risk”
Interesting point
Reminds me of the bushfires in Australia (or was it USA? forgot) where they recommended people evacuate but did not make it mandatory. And then a lot of people died, and the public was questioning if that was a wise policy. Many people were saying that these deaths could have been prevented by making it mandatory for people to leave, whether they liked it or not.
I suppose the main difference between the plane analogy / forest fire analogy and religion (in particular Christianity) is this:
With the plane / forest fire, what saves you is your physical removal to a safe place. Whether or not you’re willing / believing, even if i knock you unconscious just to move you to a safe place, you will be saved.
With the Christian religion, its different.
What saves you is not your physical position, or even your actions. It is your beliefs that saves you. So even if i point a gun at you to make sure you go through the motions of praying, doing good deeds, going to church etc, you will not be saved. Because you have not believed.
In another words, in the plane example, imposing my belief on you is practical and justified because through imposing on you, i might save your life.
But with Christianity, imposing my belief on you is not practical and so not justified, because through imposing on you, I cannot save your soul. So it both violates your rights, and does not save you anyway.
The only way that you can be saved is for you to change your belief. To change your belief, you need to be convinced and persuaded. The whole idea of convincing and persuading someone is pre-supposes free-will and choice, and the respect of this free-will and choice.
Have i just answered myself? hmmmm
Yeah! I always feel there is no point forcing a person or urself to do what u dun really wish to. Because in the end, you are not really doing it, nor do u enjoy it – a lose-lose situation.
However, of cuz there are exceptions. One such example, is that u felt that by forcing urself to do something u dislike, maybe with time and experience u might like it. It is a calculated risk, and in that sense, not a lose-lose scenario. Another example is when I felt that it is highly probable that he did not think it turn properly, or did not appreciate the risk fully, then I would interfere.
However, if the dude is fully clear minded, and fully aware of the risk and consequences, my personal opinion would be respect his decision, although I would advice against it if I disagree, but I will not stop him, no matter what. I will only stop him, if I think or feel that he actually wanted me to stop him.
I dunno. Free will is like the holy cow to me. But of cuz, if what he does will affect others, then maybe it is my social responsibility to stop them.
As for the bushfire thing. I probably would make it mandatory for everyone to leave the area. Because personally, I dun think they are really aware of the risk they are taking. As in they are taking the gamble without giving sufficient consideration of the cost. But I may be wrong.
Just to answer you title: I think yes, it is, for those who take it seriously and who do think through their faith.
On the other hand, a Christian would never think too much about his faith, otherwise he would have left it.
If human beings were being massacred everyday, what lengths would you go to to save them?
If you think fetuses are human, what lengths would you go to to save them?
Since when the Christianity “believe(d)” (not an actual fact or reality) there was/is only one GOD, the creator, before Jesus Christ was born 2009 years ago? What about Islam with also one creator? Don’t they seem to be alike with each other? What did the history tell us about? And what have the science & technology discovery lately? Isn’t Christianity similar to an authority with powerful political power right on top for the rest of humankind on earth to accept? Since I was a small boy l had seen many Christians activities influenced by the wild wild WEST in my little sleeping town/village in Borneo Island! Incidently David is my first ever childhood Christian girl-friend cum lover who named me & I still retain it even though I am no more a Christian yet we still walk into any church if she asks me. Smile & cheer!