tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post5348814111523121327..comments2024-03-29T12:03:37.344+00:00Comments on Bruce Charlton's Notions: One of the greatest speeches in the history of civilization? Peter Kreeft on Solzhenitsyn at Harvard, 1978 - Reflections on its implications for the future of Christianity in Russia versus the WestBruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-76757554088104491282016-05-15T14:11:25.840+01:002016-05-15T14:11:25.840+01:00I believe it is far more likely that a resurgence ...I believe it is far more likely that a resurgence of faith will come about as the result of some calamity or series of such. I remember the stories of how churches were suddenly filled in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attack. Those stories disappeared after about two weeks. Had a series of such attacks occurred perhaps the churches would have remained full? Or perhaps those who had discovered (or rediscovered) their faith would become numb to the repeated shocks and slowly fallen away. I suspect we will be finding out sooner rather than later. Sean Corynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-33447478434737475292016-05-15T06:16:06.165+01:002016-05-15T06:16:06.165+01:00@Sean - Sorry about the 'no brainer' comme...@Sean - Sorry about the 'no brainer' comment! - really it is almost the opposite - mired in confusion but then it suddenly struck me that the alternatives are getting so clearly demarcated, so far apart - and the insanity of the secular world is getting so very extreme... That it is possible to see life in terms of two clearly opposed choices, one is ever-more-clearly evil, so the decision becomes simple. It is only the increasing mass media usage and addiction which holds thing together, but there is a limit to that (a much higher limit than I used to suppose, but its influence is finite at a personal level) - the increasingly extreme insanity is built-in. Christianity can be very simple and powerful as a source of courage and love, if only people will allow it to be - and will regard it in a personal and mythic fashion instead of as complex, abstract propositions and debates. As secular Leftism burns-off more and more of people's false knowledge about Christianity or awareness of it, it will create the perfect virgin terrain for rapid spread - and I think a covert awareness of this fact lies behind the palpable fear of the secular Left which lends zeal to their oppression and extremism to their lies. I am not saying that I expect this will probably happen - I don't; but it could happen potentially, and that is the basis of my hope. <br />Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-66229412910871331642016-05-15T05:48:48.670+01:002016-05-15T05:48:48.670+01:00@Leo - Hadn't seen that - very good. 'Triu...@Leo - Hadn't seen that - very good. 'Triumph' is the word, because it is what people 'want'... sort of. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-50778818916874584112016-05-15T03:20:11.145+01:002016-05-15T03:20:11.145+01:00I must confess that the 5 points made are all clea...I must confess that the 5 points made are all clear to me save #1 (which you label a "no brainer" - and where does that place me?). How is it easier to be a Christian today in the west than ever before? I believe it is easier to identify actual Christians than ever before due to the rather vivid contrasts that now exist between the faithful and the rest of the world. But I don't see how it is easier to become or remain Christian. Though I do see how with the choice to be or not to be Christian now so stark that those who choose Jesus are likely to be pretty strong in their faith having arrived at it in the teeth of truly scornful, dismissive and often vicious opposition. Sean Corynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-55604655940899597452016-05-15T02:18:15.537+01:002016-05-15T02:18:15.537+01:00Speaking of prophetic statements:
"If ever t...Speaking of prophetic statements:<br /><br />"If ever the Church and the Constitution of England should fall in these islands, it is not Presbyterian discipline nor Popish hierarchy that will rise upon their ruins....It is the new fanatical religion, now in the hear of its first ferment...which rejects all establishments, all discipline, all ecclesiastical, and in truth all civil order, which will triumph."<br /><br />--Edmund Burke, 1793Leonoreply@blogger.com