Posted on 04/25/2005 12:09:57 PM PDT by CHARLITE
When Pope Benedict XVI was Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger he told Europe to recover its Christian roots if it truly wants to survive. Amen from an arch-Protestant whose ancestors included refugees who fled Catholic persecution for freedom in Virginia.
The new Pope is a scholar who sees history unfolding into the future. We agree. Europe will be Islamic and subject to Islamist Totalitarianism by 2100, unless Europeans turn to faith and family. If Europe fails to live for faith and family, succumbing further to Socialist Human Secular Totalitarianism, then European culture deserves to die under Islamic culture.
Many Europeans hope that Muslims in Europe will abandon their faith, as so many Europeans left Christianity, to worship themselves in personal hedonism. Some Muslim immigrants become modern, pagan Europeans. Human Secularism is just a new face and form of empty Pagan religion. Meanwhile, Muslim proselytizers convert more Europeans to Islam. Believing in something always beats believing in nothing. Human Secularist worship of self, indeed, is believing in nothing.
Europeans support socialism to guarantee themselves small incomes, long vacations, and social services from all powerful governments. They cant afford children and dont want them when parenthood demands personal sacrifices. So, European population will decrease from 728 million (2000) to 630 million (2050). Muslim immigrants (15.2 million) and a million more every year added to Turkey (68 million) are a population exploding to double as soon as 2015. Demographics are destiny. Muslims will vote themselves into power.
If Europeans become people of profound Christian faith, Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox, they will marry more and have larger, happy families. But, faith will do more than foster family size competition with Muslims. Strong faith in greater ideas will challenge and convert lesser claims to Truth. Thus, Europeans must awaken to how vibrant Christian orthodox thinking offers a bright, better future than both Socialist Human Secularist Totalitarianism and Islamist Totalitarianism.
Socialism and Islamic cultures are based on obedience, peasantry, and the unity of theology and state. Then-Cardinal Ratzinger wrote that Europe is moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as definitive and has as its highest own value ones own ego and desires. Christianity is built on love of God and others before self, intellectual inquiry, selfless good works and thrives when divorced from the state which may be the way to make it rebound in Europe.
All the dead Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox Christian European churches are supported by the state more or less. The tiny, growing Evangelical (Protestant) populations are not. Maybe Pope Benedict XVI can take his great Church away from governments and give it back to The People. Consider how alive Roman Catholicism is in America, Africa and Asia where the state doesnt support it. Meanwhile, the Protestant Reformation is sweeping Latin America where millions seek personal relationship and responsibility in faith. Christian ideas compete well where there is real competition. Offered in lovingkindness from an Evangelical Christian who lived in Europe 10 years and loves it.
First, Europeans must challenge their Socialist masters to criticize Human Secularism and Islam and promote Christianity honestly. Even if Christians dare call homosexuality a sin without the Thought Police charging them for Hate Speech Crimes as they do throughout Europe today. Free Europeans speech to have truly free religious speech or stay suppressed by Socialists and then, someday, oppressed by the Mullahs. If Europe continues to criminalize Biblical Christian speech, then the culture that produces such intolerance deserves to die.
When Europeans choose to follow Jesus Christ over Voltaire, Hegel, Marx, Nietzche, Darwin, Freud, Lenin, Hitler, and their statist EU cousins, they can confront the Muslims again. Muslims repeatedly invaded Europe with ravaging Armies for a thousand years. Dont blame the Crusades counter-attacks. The first invasion was stopped by Charles Martel (732). Later, a courageous Pope led the coalition which defeated another invasion at the Battle of Lepanto (1571). The Muslims came to conquer, kill, rape and rule until finally defeated at Vienna (1683). Now, after 400 plus years of declining civilization the Muslims bring their population bomb to Europe.
Europeans can enforce restricted immigration to keep from being overwhelmed. Christian believers can love the resident Muslims to Christ just like the Muslim convert, Dr. Ergun Caner, new Dean of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, said it happened to him in America.
Pope Benedict XVI would be bold to end European church-state supports. Europeans should stand with the Pope, however bravely he chooses, for the eternal truths of Christianity or watch European culture die.
Comments: JAtticus@aol.com
Ya gotta luv that!
Wow, and how. This little essay needs to be sent around the email curcuit.
Couldn't we just say that Christian Capitalism works pretty good?
Fixed it. Excellent article.
FYI, not Malachi, but good read.
As are we, to a lesser extent. Neither side of the Atlantic has fully awakened to the danger, unfortunately.
Two points. First, to live the good economic life, the West is aborting, gaying and contracepting itself out of existence. Second, 'the life' has a need for imported workers. They will come and then use democracy to vote [as we see in France and Spain].
Of course, the Pope is right. But to paraphrase Stalin's view on power 'how many PACs does he have?
Don't count on it. In my homeschool group large families are the norm. Among Christians children are blessings. Those who don't have large families naturally, and can afford it, adopt.
My best friend just adopted 3 more children. Now she has a family of eight children. That's why I smile and shake my head as I watch secular American leftists abort themselves out of relevance.
But be prepared. As their numbers decline, the leftists will try to find a way to artificially propagate their numbers - homosexual marraige (with adoption), outlawing homeschooling (if they can), massive immigration of socialist cultures, and forced education of children more and more in socialism. They are far along that road now.
Hey, I am sorry for a spelling error. If you look at the main ideas in the folks I list, you can trace ideas that are the body of thinking for Human Secularists. There are three main branches of this thinking - the Nazi Human Secularists, the Communist Human Secularists and the Socialist Human Secularists (in the U.S. we politely call them Liberals)
Exceedingly frightening prospect. It's one thing to correctly diagnose the disease, but more difficult to offer a viable cure. Bowden's cure is a return to Christian roots and values. But that would have to be quickly done with a new population explosion of Christians.........and I just don't see it happening. Do you?
What then is America's future as America will soon be beneath a similar totalitarianism rather quickly?
To answer your question, no. Remember after 9-1-1 all those people who were suddenly back in church, praying, etc., now they are back to where they were before 9-1-1. Let some big event like that happen, and suddenly people are worried about dying and going to hell. But, now, they can just go on sinning daily, and figure they will make it home in the evening traffic alive, so no worries.
That 'truth' smacks too much of 'good riddance to bad rubbish'. For all the vitriol directed western europe's way I guess I still have a degree of sentimental attachment to the place - if for no other reason than for the sake of the greatness European civilization used to represent.
Here's hoping they find a way to overcome the growing mortal threat.
If Europe goes down the tubes, America will be in a very difficult position. For the sake of Europe, I hope this doesn't happen. And for the sake of our own children, I hope it doesn't happen.
But it's almost inevitable at this point. Only a massive spiritual awakening, a great conversion back to Christianity brought about by God, can turn things around at this point. Otherwise, defeat is already built into the demographic statistics. Demographics tells you the future decades ahead of time, and what it says right now is not good.
Nuttin's inevitable!
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