Posted on 11/09/2001 12:18:53 PM PST by Romulus
It's not dying for the faith which is really the issue - it's killing for it: a duty the faith does not require.
The author's ancestors, the recusants, were truly noble because they died for assisting at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, not for assisting at the unholy sacrifice of innocent civilians.
I'd like to think I'd be in that 10%, but I don't think any of us really knows until the summons comes.
I'm still waiting for a follower of Islam to tell me if the religion follows the 10 Commandments. My guess is no, since Moses was a Jew and led the Jews to Israel. ( With a lot of complaining by the people) A perfect example of how even when GOD fed the people they were not happy. And we are suppose to believe all the USA has to do is feed clothe and house all Arabs and everything will be hunky dory. Yeah right!
The problem is that the author confuses dying for one's faith with making someone else die for theirs. BIG difference.
Exactly! My own grandfather died for his faith. He was mrdered by the Stalinist regime for being a Rusian Orthodox preist. HE was a true martyr for the Faith. Those that murder others in the name of God are frauds and only worship the Evil One...(even if they do not realize it).
But now put yourself in the place of a person who's confronted by a Moslem with a sword, and you've got the choice to convert or die (or worse, watch your children die).
Would you "convert" to Islam, or die a Christian?
Harder question: come Judgement day, how would it go over with Jesus if you pretend to publicly convert while remaining a Christian at heart?
I've been asking myself those questions, and while it's easy to say I'd die, like the author I have my doubts. Not about Christianity, but about my own strength of faith.
I find myself leaning on "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil...."
"Let us here observe, that a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation; for, from the first existence of man, the faith necessary unto the enjoyment of life and salvation never could be obtained without the sacrifice of all earthly things. It was through this sacrifice, and this only, that God has ordained that men should enjoy eternal life; and it is through the medium of the sacrifice of all earthly things that men do actually know that they are doing the things that are well pleasing in the sight of God. When a man has offered in sacrifice all that he has for the truth's sake, not even withholding his life, and believing before God that he has been called to make this sacrifice because he seeks to do his willl, he does know, most assuredly, that God does and will accept his sacrifice and offering, and that he has not, nor will not seek his face in vain. Under these circumstances, then, he can obtain the faith necessary for him to lay hold on eternal life."
-- Joseph Smith, Lectures On Faith 6:7
Once a Christian always a Christian; I could no more lose my salvation than I could give it back to the One who gave it to me. Therefore, "conversion" to Islam would not be possible.
We should follow the example of the teen girl (I don't recall her name) in Littleton, Colorado, who was asked by one of the two shooters, "Do you believe in God?" She stood facing them and said, "Yes!" Then they shot her dead.
Whatever happens, I will die a Christian, and in that instant I will forevermore be present with the Lord.
Of course a Brit would answer "Yes."
Speaking as an American who is not altogether unhandy with a high-powered rifle, I believe I would have a different response.
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