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From: rjvaughn@ihu1m.UUCP (Russell Spence)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Hopeful News
Message-ID: <149@ihu1m.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 8-Dec-84 16:14:34 EST
Article-I.D.: ihu1m.149
Posted: Sat Dec  8 16:14:34 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 9-Dec-84 03:50:29 EST
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 104

All you Taoists, Zen Druids, Zen Baptists, Newagers,  and others take heart!
I read something today in today's Chicago Tribune that makes me think that
there may be hope yet, nameley, that the Christianoids are on the run!  I
think that they are on the declining end, and if we all continue to educate
the world about the evils of Christianity, we just may be able to make this
a better place to live.

The article in question was in the religion section of Saturday, Dec, 8's
Chicago Tribune.  It was written by Bruce Buursma and concerns a book titled
"Crumbling Foundations" by Rev. Donald Bloesch.  [The book is published by
Zondervan Publishing House].  Here are some excerpts from the article -

  America is no longer the beau-
tiful, the good and the true-blue,
sayeth many preachers and other
religious commentators who inveigh
against such enemies as secular
humanism, encroaching commu-
nism, spreading pornography and
commercial television drivel.
  They speak of a titanic clash be-
tween culture and Christian values
in the United States, a battle that
traditional religionists already ap-
pear to have lost in Western Eu-
rope. Their counterparts here, the
preachers suggest, are panting
mightily, pinned against the ropes.
  But before the knock-out punch is
administered, here comes a re-
spected Midwestern evangelical
scholar to contend that the decay of
American Christianity, far from
being a cause for hand-wringing,
may lead instead to a purification
of the true faith.
  "No matter what nation Chris-
tians find themselves in, whether
democratic, communist or socialist,
there will be increasing conflicts
between them and the demands of
the state," says Rev. Donald
Bloesch,...
  "We are living in a world
becoming increasingly pagan," he
says. "The church can expect to see
martyrs and confessors again, both
on this side of the Iron Curtain and
behind it.
  "Yet this could be a time of
celebration, because the impending
collapse of Western civilization does
not signify the end of God's
promises.  With the crumbling of
foundations, I can see that God is
preparing something new."
...
  "The main enemy today is not the
humanistic heritage of the Renais-
sance and Enlightenment," He says,
"but rather the new demons of na-
tionalism, racism, nature-mys-
ticism and nihilism."
...
  "This is the political mandate of
the church: To bring the law of God
to bear on abortion, the nuclear
arms race, the breakdown of the
family and the growing disparity
between the rich and the poor."

Christianity is a religion for the weak.  The fact that they are running
scared, seems to me to be an indication that something strong has come
onto the stage.  Namely, the enemies of Christianity, which Rev. Bloesch
says includes paganism and nature-mysticism.  I find this a very hopeful
statement.  Perhaps Christianity will soon find itself in the place it
belongs, a second-rate cult whose members are reviled and persecuted by
the main of society.  Don't you find it strange, that the saints of
Christianity have always been those who do nothing but stir up trouble
and attack society's values?  That their teachings mainly appealed to
the weak, sick, and the slaves of society?  What does that make us if we
embrace these teachings?

"If one wants to be, in one's own person, 'chosen of God' - or a 'temple
of God', or a 'judge of angels' - then every OTHER principle of selection,
for example on the basis of integrity, intellect, manliness and pride,
beauty and liberality of heart, is simply 'world' - EVIL AS SUCH....
Moral: every word in the mouth of the 'first Christian' is a lie, every
act he performs an instinctive falsehood - all his values, all his aims
are harmful, but WHOMEVER he hates, WHATEVER he hates, HAS VALUE....
The Christian, the priestly Christian especially, is a CRITERION OF VALUES."
[emphasis in the original]

					- Friedrich Nietzsche
					  Chapter 46
					  The Anti-Christ

"Submitted for your approval..."
--

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