Monday, November 20, 2006
Polish Philosopher on evil, communism, socialism
First Things, which as you all know now is one of my favorite reads, had an interesting article on a Polish philosopher named Kolakowsky. He survived the Warsaw Ghetto and Polish communism. This article in October's issue described his life and times, as well as many of his conclusions. For me the best line was:
“I can understand people who do not believe in God, but the fact that there are people who do not believe in the devil is beyond my comprehension.”
I have met some church attending Christians with the opposite point of view, that there is no Hell, just Heaven. This of course does not square with a lot of scripture but perhaps it is a comforting thought. I do recall a line by Richard Neuhaus from one of his books, that goes something like "We Christians know there must be a hell, but hope that it is empty..."
And here is another great line, scary, but great:
No one who has experienced the ideological indoctrination that took place under communism can fail to be horrified at the extent to which life in present-day America—intrusion of the state into the private realm, the use of language, the ideologization of education—is reminiscent of life under communism.
The author argues that Political Correctness is a form of totalitarianism.
Several people get together every month to discuss First Things. It's ecumenical (Catholic, evangelical, Lutheran, Baptist). The group is called ROFTERS, Readers Of First Things, and group #1 was actually started in Denver by an engineer. There are now ROFTERS groups meeting all over the world. I see that there is now a group in Colorado Springs as well as Denver. First Things is not that expensive, maybe $26/year for 10 issues, and it will definitely challenge you.
“I can understand people who do not believe in God, but the fact that there are people who do not believe in the devil is beyond my comprehension.”
I have met some church attending Christians with the opposite point of view, that there is no Hell, just Heaven. This of course does not square with a lot of scripture but perhaps it is a comforting thought. I do recall a line by Richard Neuhaus from one of his books, that goes something like "We Christians know there must be a hell, but hope that it is empty..."
And here is another great line, scary, but great:
No one who has experienced the ideological indoctrination that took place under communism can fail to be horrified at the extent to which life in present-day America—intrusion of the state into the private realm, the use of language, the ideologization of education—is reminiscent of life under communism.
The author argues that Political Correctness is a form of totalitarianism.
Several people get together every month to discuss First Things. It's ecumenical (Catholic, evangelical, Lutheran, Baptist). The group is called ROFTERS, Readers Of First Things, and group #1 was actually started in Denver by an engineer. There are now ROFTERS groups meeting all over the world. I see that there is now a group in Colorado Springs as well as Denver. First Things is not that expensive, maybe $26/year for 10 issues, and it will definitely challenge you.
