Scandalized by the Bible

 

Defending the Faith in France

 

Kermit Horn (pictured above) is a friend of my wife’s. We’ve never met, though he is a dear brother in Christ, as the text of his letter below will quickly reveal.

Kermit and his wife Cheryl labor with WORLD TEAM, in France, as church planters. The culture and climate has its own unique challenges. But you must read the way in which Kermit handled those challenges in this very special dialog he had with one who so desperately needs Christ.

Read. Take heart. Be challenged. How would you have responded? There is much to learn here. As well as the forceful reminder of how we need to be praying both for the lost, and those who are laboring like this on the front lines.

 

Kermit begins:

It was one of the most extraordinary conversations I ever had. I was attacked by a French anti-Christian when I was least expecting it.

While manning our church booth at our city fair, I noticed that a woman was standing transfixed on our literature with a great look of astonishment. She was clearly very upset.
“You seem surprised, Madame¹.”
“Not at all! I am Scandalized!!”
“And, why is that, may I ask?”
“Because you have no right to be here. Don’t you know, Sir, that the world is bathed in blood because of religion!?”

I am a protestant pastor, but this criticism was an attack on all of Christianity. How to respond? This woman was in revolt, agitated, aggressive: She immediately began to threaten us with reporting our presence to the mayor. In spite of myself, I felt anger rising in me.

“Madame, we were invited by the Mayor to be here. It was his office that assigned this place.”

She was definitely not satisfied and wanted to see our invitation. My response did not calm her indignation. She picked up one of the pieces of literature on the table, an invitation to study the Bible…

Very loudly, she says, “But, what in the world does the Bible offer to our city?! It’s worthless! The Bible brings strictly nothing to humanity, nothing to our community! I am scandalized to see that you propose something like this to the public!”

“But, Madame,” I asked, “ What, for you is community?”

“Community is people living together and helping each other get on with life and….!”
I had to interrupt, “I agree with you, but, where does your idea of all humanity living together come from?”
“What idea?” (She manifestly does not want to discuss this with me but I see a slight sign that she may be intrigued.)

“The idea of living in harmony and love with each other.” I motioned to the people around us, not a few of whom were from different races and cultures. “How many races and nationalities do you see here?”
“RACES!! Why do you want to divide the world up into races?! What an idea! There are no races! We are all human beings!”

She was clearly feeling free to express herself. I tried to stay calm. No need to counter attack. After all, she was in line with God on this issue, but, it was not going to be easy. I had to find a way to turn her attack away from the Church, which, unfortunately, has been less than spotless through the centuries. I prayed, took a deep breath and forced a smile.

“There again, Madame, I agree with you. But, I ask you again, where does your idea of equality come from?”

“Of course, it comes from the Declaration of Human Rights!”

“Yes, I agree again, but from WHERE do Human Rights come?” .

I knew ahead of time that this would be her response but I wanted to encourage her to talk and it worked. Boy did it ever….

“Monsieur, Human Rights were granted during the French Revolution when mankind liberated itself from slavery to Kings and to the Church!”

YES! I was delighted. She remembered her lessons in her High school history. But, I needed to add a few details. I love to teach history but would she listen to me?

“Madame, I am no longer in agreement with you. You are showing a great lack of knowledge.”
In exasperation, she replies, “But, how can you say that? Surely you know that it was the Club of the Cordeliers led by Camilles Desmoulins who first declared Human Rights.”
“Not all, dear Madame. Not at all.” (I’m actually happy we’ve gotten this far but, just for effect, I act a bit indignant.)

I continue, “Read your French Encyclopedia Universalis (similar in quality to our Encyclopedia Britannica.) There you will see that had there not been the Bible, there would never have been Human Rights.” ² That is because the very idea that all are equal no matter their race, nationality, tribe, family, social class, age, gender or religion has its origin in the Bible. It comes from the belief that the one true God created Man in His image. To mistreat a human being is an offense against God Himself. To show respect, to treat justly and with love is to show love for God.”

“That’s unbelievable!”
“Oh yes. Look at history. In ancient Greece, the society was at least 50% slave and in ancient Rome, it was 35-50% slave. Women, especially in Greece but also in Rome, had little or no rights. Doctors and hospitals existed but only for the privileged few. Children born with handicaps and baby girls who were unwanted, just like in parts of the world today, were murdered at birth.”

“On the other hand,” I continued, “beginning in the first century after Christ, followers of Christ began to free their slaves to the point, that by 1300 AD, there were no more slaves anywhere in Europe except on the fringes where Muslims continued to market them. And, by the 7^th century, every major city in Europe had a hospital available to every person, especially to the poor. In the Middle Ages, women enjoyed a status that was infinitely better than anywhere else in the world and it was only getting better. In sum, Human rights appeared only in the cultures influenced by Biblical teaching.”

“I never heard that at school,” she replied. “How can you be so sure?”

“Wait,” I said. “There’s much more. It is true that the Chinese, Egyptians, ancient Greeks and Muslims among others attained a high degree of mathematics, astronomy and technology before these things appeared in the Christian West. But, note well that the phenomenal progress of science and technology appeared in the Christian countries after the 12^th century. Why? Because those who laid out the groundwork for the scientific method of experimentation believed in one God who was the source of reason, of matter and time, the God who had created an intelligible universe and that Man, created in His image, possessed reason. Nature was not God. It was god-made and Man was given the ability and responsibility to know it and care for it. That made all the difference. All the early great scientists were bathed in this conception of the universe and Man’s place in it.”
“In the 13^th century, in Paris and Oxford, men took the ancient learning of Aristotle but corrected him as far as possible with the experimental method because they believed that their five senses were also a source of truth that must be used in conjunction with Aristotle’s logic.”

I added at this point, “And because they sought to Glorify God, they refrained from doing anything that might violate human dignity. To the contrary, they sought to apply their science to human needs.” (I really wanted to give her more details, but she was reaching her limit…)
“I’ve got my doubts…,” she retorted sullenly but clearly was losing her confidence.

I replied, “That is totally normal.” (Just like everyone, I had been to school too and the bias against the Christian tradition had twisted the truth of these matters. I felt compassion for her. I really did.)
She found new courage with the thought of Galileo. “But, Galileo, you certainly can’t deny that the Church persecuted him?!”

“No, you are right, but only partially. (She is so sure of herself thinking she has got me that I actually feel bad that I have to deflate her further. If only I can do it with compassion and love.)

I continue, “The Church was guilty, but not because of the Bible. In the 17^th century, because it was so hard to do experimentation with stars and planets, the Church had come to place its entire confidence in Aristotle’s conception of celestial movements. It was interpreting the Bible according to his theories. They forced him to recant based on Aristotle, not on the Bible.”

“But,” I insisted,” atheists today are twisting the truth when they make Galileo their hero because Galileo was a Christian scientist who put his biblical understanding of the universe to work with his new tools such as the telescope and the inclined plane and he stood up against Aristotle and the Church. Today, the Church has admitted its fault and is thankful for his correction.”
“It is very hard to admit but, nevertheless true, that through the ages, Christians have committed very grave errors but, each time, it is because they were thinking and acting non-biblically.” (I was thinking of the resurgence of slavery in the 16^th century being corrected eventually by biblical teaching of human rights after 300 years of untold misery and injustice.)
“But, let’s get back to your original statement that because of religion the earth is bathed in blood.” (With some trepidation, I’m going head on into the heart of the matter.)
“I do not deny that the history of Christianity, sadly, has been deeply stained every time that Christians departed from the Bible’s teaching and I share your indignation but the basis of our indignation is the Christian conception of humanity.”
“But, let’s be honest. In the 20^th century, who shed more blood, Christians or atheists? Let’s disregard for the sake of argument, the 87 million people killed in military action during that time and just think about:

• • Hitler, atheist, killed 17 million individuals
  • Lenin, atheist, 6-8 million
  • Stalin, atheist, 20-25 million
  • Mao, atheist, 29 million
  • Pol Pot, atheist, another million…³

And, I insist, I am only talking of civilians murdered for politically motivated reasons and not soldiers or other victims of war. They were slaughtered often by their own governments. It wasn’t a case of good guys losing control of them selves and then feeling guilty afterwards. In their eyes, there was no higher law than themselves.”

I continued, “I see that you clearly have a tender heart for all men and women. You are right to militate for them in this way but, I think that you would serve your ends much better in the company of those who love and serve Jesus Christ than with atheists. Just think of Abbot Pierre, Mother Theresa or of the founder of the Red Cross, Henri Dunant. Dunant was a business man in Geneva who left everything to help those who suffer from the violence of wars. He did it out of love, a love he had learned from his savior, Jesus. And, he died in poverty leaving his money from the Nobel Peace Prize to the poor.”

(I can’t help but like this lady. I admire her bold stance and determination, her care for others. She is intrigued, surprised and I sense she is beginning to understand.)

“Excuse me for speaking so frankly with you, but, I just have to say that if you would just read the words of Jesus Christ, you would find the very source of your own compassion and sense of justice. You would shed tears of joy in reading what He said and did. Above all, he died on the Cross for us, in our place and rather than cursing us, He asked God to forgive those who were killing him. You will find all this and more in the Bible. Please allow me to give you a copy?”

She hesitated a second almost assenting. “I don’t know…, Non, merci. But, that is interesting.” Then, she got a hold of herself and gathered up her spirits again and reassured me, “Don’t worry. I’m going to the other religious stands and tell them the same thing.” But she didn’t. She just left saying, “Au revoir, Monsieur.”
“Yes, Madame, I certainly hope we will see each other again.”