Simon, my dear chap,Thank you very much indeed for your kind response. May our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ richly and abundantly Bless you today.
You raise some very important issues. I think that you will find that I referred to you as "apparently" a communist chap. If that offends you, my apologies. My intent here is not to offend. I take it that you prefer the term "socialist" better?
Firstly, the obvious sign that man disagrees and contradicts himself so easily (whether he be Nietzche, Feuerbach, Marx, or one's own self for that matter) is exactly the point. Man is inherently contradictory (or dishonest) with himself, so therefore it is somewhat foolish to place trust in him and his ideologies, isn't it? As a contrast, God's Bible is never wrong so it is indeed Eternal Truth. Therefore, man cannot be consistent without God.
If the religion that you have experienced is indeed man's attempt to make himself divine, as Feuerbach suggests, then that religion is a counterfeit salvation program. Stay away from it, man cannot become divine. Man can only receive salvation in Jesus Christ. This can only come from humbling one's self before God and placing trust in Him, not from becoming "religious". Only Jesus is Divine.
Now, can the Bible be compared to man-made ideologies? There is no comparison to the Bible with man-made ideologies. Communism, capitalism, socialism, objectivism, et. al.. are infinitely deficient when compared to the Bible. The attempt to box God into a man-made ideology supplants God. The attempt to place God as the leader of one's man-made ideology likewise supplants God. To think that we have something to offer God in the way of "advice" supplants God. These are affronts to God. If someone is attempting to use the Bible to sell you his man-made ideology, then this is merely a reductionist attitude towards God and again, should be avoided. It is merely an "ism". For God's sake, let us realise Who is in-charge here. Jesus warns us about these type of people:
"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves." (Matthew 7:15)
I'm sorry to hear about your childhood experience. It is not Christian-like to mock someone else, and if I could offer you some comfort, I'd like to show you a Christian response. Are you sure that the 92% of the registered State-Churchmen of Danmark are indeed Christian? Did you know that the human acts of registration in a church, being confirmed, receiving communion, and all sorts of other outwardly activities do not in themselves make one Christian? Salvation is only granted by Jesus Christ, through faith (Acts 16:31). Nicodemus, a scholarly rabbi and very "religious" elite in his time, engaged Jesus in a theological discussion. Jesus wanted Nicodemus to know that his church would not save him.
"In reply Jesus declared, 'I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.'" (John 3:3), and "Flesh gives birth to the flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to the spirit." (John 3:6)
In other words, the fleshly (humanly) things like church registration, et. al. do not save one, being born again in God's Holy Spirit saves one. There is a major difference between fleshly worship and being born again in the Spirit. This mostly likely is the source of your umbrage towards churchmen until this day. You weren't witnessing Christian behaviour in the "religious" pride of your peers, you were witnessing fleshly ("religious") behaviour. Simon. PLEASE, don't let that be a blocking point to Jesus. He really loves you and desires your faith in Him, not in man. Let Jesus deal with the "churchmen", He certainly dealt with them in His day (ie. Matthew 23 "You hypocrites"). We can pray for them as well.
Now, how would I exactly have the Grace of God cleanse churches? In actual fact, I could not have God cleanse the churches. HE would have to do that on HIS terms, and on HIS timetable, if at all. I can only pray and request to God that He have Mercy on these people. HE is in charge, not me.
Interesting to note, the European Fuedal-State churches of centuries ago have been replaced by the Ideological-State "churches" of modern thought. Look at the close comparison. Free church members (Puritans, Mennonites, Huguenots, et. al.) were driven out of Europe to America by the State-Churches of their time. Since the true Gospel was freely preached in the congregational churches the light of the Gospel still survives today. On the other hand, the European State-Churches became largely dead to the Word of God so their apostasy increased to a level that even you have personally experienced un-Christian behaviour from them. Since the Gospel light went out to a large extent, what did Europeans turn to? They (in large numbers, not all, pardon my generalising here) turned to many of man's "isms" instead, and hence, rose up the "great" Ideological-State "churches". In this century, some of these "churches" include Hitler's Nazism, Lenin's Sovietism, and all sorts of other State worshipping socialisms. You have to admit that these are indeed religious movements with man attempting to supplant God, don't you? You also have to admit that there is little difference between the Fuedal State-Churches of old and the 20th century State-isms. That is why they are so inevitably doomed to failure.
Now, did the native Grunlanders know the Ten Commandments? The Bible tells us that God's commandments are written on the hearts of men. So it could have been quite possible for them to know to avoid murders without hearing it first from missionaries. Moreover, it is quite possible for them to break God's Commandments without leaving a verbal record for us to view. Cain murdered Able, even though there were no "proto-languages" during that Neolithic time period. God gave Moses the first recording of this incident several millennia later on top of Mount Sinai. The value of the Bible is that it reminds us of what we secretly know, or forgot, to be right and God desires our obedience.
Now, is man by nature neutral? I can only answer that with another question: Who falls short of God's glory? Answer: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). That's right, ALL men including you, your fellow ideologues, and yes, Mitrocsak as well (big time, I might add). It is not enough to do "good". No matter how "good" you think you are, it still isn't "good" enough for God. "Good" doesn't get it. That is why we need the saving Blood of a sinless Jesus Christ.
Finally, Simon my dear friend, I cannot accept the allegation that you make about yourself, (ie. that you are an atheist). Oh yes, you may declare yourself to be an atheist. In your circle of friends that may even gain you special acceptance which boosts your self-esteem. However, like the Ten Commandments written on our hearts, God's qualities are inherently seen by all men. Let us hear what God has to say about it:
"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." (Romans 1:18-20)
Don't fool yourself, dear friend, it is impossible to be an atheist. Jesus is waiting for you to come Home.
Simon, again, thank you for your most kind response. I too enjoy a rational discussion (see my "Life after death: an extra-dimensional perspective" further up the chat page).
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6:33
Robert M. Mitrocsak
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