Deliver Us from Evil

It's funny how trivial events somehow get seared into your brain. This one is from years ago, when I was enjoying a yogurt on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley.

Suddenly, a large exotic bug appeared and started dancing around. Its iridescent colors caught the sun and glistened like a rainbow. A crowd formed to watch its antics in shared delight.

Out of nowhere, a lunatic pushed through the crowd. I'd seen this guy before -- paranoid, menacing. His rage toward the bug slit me like a knife. The insect was getting attention, people were happy, and he was out for revenge.

The man bolted through the crowd, possessed. He jumped on the bug, over and over and again. People gasped. A child cried. And then, as quickly as it began, it was all over.

Silently, numbly, the crowd dispersed. The man, now triumphant, smiled hideously. I threw away the yogurt, which was now rendered tasteless.

I'll never forget the look of blind hatred on that man's face. It communicated this: "I want what you have."

This random experience flashed in my mind recently when I was in a Berkeley bookstore. With my newfound interest in religion, I wanted to peruse that section.

After hunting down a clerk to unearth the tiny religion area, I perused the shelves. In actuality, the area should have been called the Anti-Christianity Section.

Now I see what's really behind the campaign to banish religion; it's to render us utterly helpless. Because after all, without God, what protection is there in this brutal world?

Very insightful and touching article. The attacks on Christianity are because (a) it's true and lies cannot coexist with the truth; (b) it's beautiful and the nothingness that is Satan hates the fullness of existence of beauty; and (c) it's good and evil cannot tolerate the existence of good. Other religions don't attract such hatred mostly because they don't fulfill the first qualification: they're not true, or at any rate, they contain only glimpses of the truth but not usually enough to be a real threat.

Christianity is a genuine threat to worldly powers. It puts people beyond the reach of governments and other forms of control and the individual, by his decision to accept the truth presented by God in Christ, becomes fully autonomous and free. That's why Christianity is hated so much.

It is particularly hated not only by secular forces, though, but by Islam, because Islam is a parody of a religion, one that has a dark and hate-filled "god" who works in an arbitrary and capricious manner and whose "creation" is an evil, useless thing that this god regards as a rival to be destroyed. This is why Muslims reject music, art, reason, beauty and even love, and this is why they are so filled with hatred every waking moment.

By contrast, look at the Church, which over the millenia has poured beauty into the world, both artistic and moral beauty, ranging from the great works that are the cathedrals to the beautiful saints that are people like Fr. Damian and Mother Teresa. These people recognized the value of the individual and sought out those suffering people and restored them to God's wholeness.

So that's why Christianity is hated.

Wow!

Robin of Berkeley is on a roll lately!

But I wouldn't worry too much about Christianity...it can stand the abuse.

To paraphrase Nietzsche, that which doesn't kill Christianity can only make it stronger.

The world tried to kill Yeshua once...it didn't work! So now He just gets stronger and stronger!

IMO that is why He is hated so much...He is indestructible.

And those who hate Him and all that He stands for recognize that Truth in their heart of hearts.

Reflecting back on what Robin said,

I'll never forget the look of blind hatred on that man's face. It communicated this: "I want what you have."
And: "If I can't have it, I'll destroy it."

...what will happen to the man's blind rage when he discovers he can't destroy what he cannot have?

That is what the entity who is the source of that rage feels 24/7!

They are never satisfied... they are lost without a moral compass.

Yep!

They try to satisfy themselves with what their god offers. And just like cocaine, it always takes more and more to get that original high...until eventually you realize that the source of your high is eating you alive.

Then they realize (if they are lucky) that their compass points straight to hell!

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