The reason no one likes me
Published: Tue, 04/07/20
Anyway, the COVID-19 event has been making me think too. In fact more than that, three questions which have puzzled me all my life have suddenly been answered. Not comfortable answers so I guess I am getting a taste of my own medicine.
Question 1. Why did the German people accept the leadership and authority of Hitler and the Nazis in the 1930s? Because they were scared and tired and Adolph promised to sort things out for them. Oh, but it is not the same here? It always has to start somewhere. Anyone willing to tell the police that their neighbour has escaped their house arrest twice in one day not just the regulation once? Someone down your street has already done it. We are accepting draconian restrictions on our freedom that the Gestapo would have been embarrassed to enforce because we are told it will save lives. At least Hitler had to burn down the Reichstag to get the German people to accept tyranny, we have the flu. Okay, COVID-19 flu, but it is still flu.
The one bright spot is that in many states in the USA gun shops have been allowed to stay open as essential businesses. Apparently sales of firearms have spiked massively and dealers can’t keep up with demand. Reasons given for buying guns at this time are: The government will become dangerously powerful as a consequence of the epidemic and we need to be ready to resist the tyranny. And. The government will collapse as a consequence of the epidemic and we need to be ready for the chaos and anarchy that will follow. As a UK resident I think that is an awesome response which gives me hope for the future. I just can’t think of a comparable response over here, It is hard enough to get hold of a pack of toilet rolls, let alone an AR15.
Question 2. What would it take to close the churches in Western society? For many years my mother was a keen supporter of Open Doors, a charity which started (I think in the 1960s) to support persecuted Christians in the Soviet Union. After the fall of the soviet bloc Open Doors expanded to support Christians in other places where they are persecuted including some Muslim states. My mother was very proud to live in the free country which could support those living under oppressive regimes. Every now and then there will be a hypothetical discussion in church about what you would you do to stand up for your faith? Be thrown to the lions? Lose your livelihood? Imprisoned? Tortured? Then we would congratulate ourselves on not having to face such challenges because we are subjects of Good Queen Lizzie in the land of hope and glory. And, for the last four Sundays the churches have been closed following instructions from the
government. Nero thought the best way to suppress those pesky Christians was throwing them to the lions and all he really needed was the right kind of flu. I did participate in an act of worship over Zoom last Sunday morning, but that does not change the fact that physical churches are shut and locked on Sunday mornings and will be on Easter Sunday. I will also be very disappointed if the Druid camp is canceled this year for the same reason. I know that it isn’t just Christians who are being prevented from gathering.
Question 3 All my life I have been confronted with people telling me that religion is pointless and how wrong and deluded believers are. For modern people of faith other people’s opinions just have to be water off a ducks back and most of us have grown our waterproof feathers. So, the third lesson has been. “What does it feel like to be the skeptic surrounded by true believers?” When I say true believers, in this case I mean those who are experiencing current events through the Mainstream Media, in the UK that means primarily the BBC. If I question anything that has been presented by the BBC I frequently get a shocked reaction that I just don’t realise how serious this is. I now know what it feels like to be an atheist who is told, in all sincerity, that the world is 6000years old and you can prove it by counting up the ages of the people named in the bible.
Pretty much anyone professing a religious faith in the 21st century has made a deliberate and conscious choice in their beliefs. It isn’t as though we have not been presented with a wide range of alternative ideologies and plenty of people who will tell you you are wrong.* So, it is quite amusing when one suggests an alternative interpretation of events, or another source of information to be considered, and the reaction is a wide eyed look and the statement. ‘But I heard it on the BBC.’ Okay, if the bible is your only source of data and you do the sums right it is about 6000 years since the events described in Genesis. Actually it is a perfectly scientific exercise in analysing data and drawing a conclusion. The flaw in the method? The need to consider of other sources of data, such as geology, paleontology, archeology, genetics etc. of course.
Not so long ago international collusion of governments and mainstream media could have maintained an information lock down as effective as the physical one we are currently living under. However, we have access to alternative sources, we should be investigating them.
I am deeply grieved and distressed by what is currently happening to this world. However, I also have a sense that such events as this one are gifts for those who are willing to embrace them. What questions has this situation answered for you? Expanded consciousness is a gift from God for those who will accept it, not always a welcome gift I grant you, but are you really better off asleep?
regards
Graham
* Some communities do have some success in isolating their members from wider society and its ideas, but they have to work pretty hard at it.