Call me a wuss, but I'd rather live in a secular liberal state ala Denmark, than as a dhimmi and potential martyr in an ISIS caliphate.
While it's noble to desire martyrdom for Christ's sake, all Christian theologians going back more than a thousand years agree that seeking it is a bad thing. God is not obligated to grant you the graces to resist in those situations. There's a powerful legend from the early Roman Christians, that one young man wanted to be martyred and so began to evangelize some Centurions. Eventually, they had enough, took him prisoner, and tortured him. Finally, under the pain and duress which has lasted a long time, he cried out denying God's existence and at that exact moment, they chose to kill him.
If you then say "Well yes, but Leonhard, imagine a persecuted Christianity, who under no choice of their own are struggling to survive. But who with God's grace manages to thrive none the less." Wouldn't you want that?
And to that, I can say "Yes. I hope God graces us to weather whatever suffering and evil we face. Whether it's cold materialism or sadistic barbarians."
But I don't presume to know God's plans.
Secular state for me, please.
While it's noble to desire martyrdom for Christ's sake, all Christian theologians going back more than a thousand years agree that seeking it is a bad thing. God is not obligated to grant you the graces to resist in those situations. There's a powerful legend from the early Roman Christians, that one young man wanted to be martyred and so began to evangelize some Centurions. Eventually, they had enough, took him prisoner, and tortured him. Finally, under the pain and duress which has lasted a long time, he cried out denying God's existence and at that exact moment, they chose to kill him.
If you then say "Well yes, but Leonhard, imagine a persecuted Christianity, who under no choice of their own are struggling to survive. But who with God's grace manages to thrive none the less." Wouldn't you want that?
And to that, I can say "Yes. I hope God graces us to weather whatever suffering and evil we face. Whether it's cold materialism or sadistic barbarians."
But I don't presume to know God's plans.
Secular state for me, please.
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