fortyfour

THOUGHTFULLY DRIVING THE PORCELAIN BUS

A Column by John S Schroeder

November 23, 2002

Recreational reading can take one to some unusual places. Currently I am reading Red Rabbit by Tom Clancy. For those unfamiliar (though I doubt there are any) Clancy has built a far less glamorous, somewhat more realistic, American James Bond. In this book our hero, Jack Ryan, is in his early days with the CIA, a neophyte recently posted to London. There he is partnered with someone that is helping him learn the ropes. In the pub, after the second or third day on the job, a conversation begins in which Ryan tells his partner he wants to learn:
"How to think like a Russian."

Harding laughed into his beer. "That's something we all learn every day. The key is to remember that to them everything is politics, and politics, remember, is all about nebulous ideas, aesthetics. Especially in Russia, Jack. They can't deliver real products like automobiles and television sets, so they have to concentrate on everything fitting into their political theory; the sayings of Marx and Lenin. And, of course, Lenin and Marx knew sod-ill about doing real things in the real world. It's like a religion gone mad, but instead of thunderbolts or biblical plagues, they kill their apostates with firing squads. In their world outlook, everything that goes wrong is the result of political apostasy. Their political theory ignores human nature, and since their political theory is Holy Writ, and therefore is never wrong, it must be human nature that's wrong. It's not logically consistent, you see. Ever study metaphysics?"

"Boston College, second year. The Jesuits make you spend a semester on it," Ryan confirmed, taking a long sip. "Whether you want to or not."

"Well, communism is metaphysics applied ruthlessly to the real world, and when things don't fit, it's the fault of the square sods who don't fit into their round bloody holes. That can be rather hard on the poor sods, you see. And so, Joe Stalin murdered roughly twenty million of them, partly because of political theory, partly because of his own mental illness and bloody-mindedness. That insane bugger defined paranoia. One pays a price for being ruled by a madman with a twisted book of rules, you see.

"But how faithful is the current political leadership to Marxist theory?" A thoughtful nod. "That's the question, Jack. The answer is, we don't bloody know. They all claim to be true believers, but are they?" Harding paused for a contemplative sip of his own. "Only when it suits them, I think. But that depends on who one is talking about. Suslov; for example, believes totally-but the rest of them? To some greater or lesser extent, they do and they don't. I suppose you can characterize them as people who used to go to church every Sunday, then fell away from the habit. Part of them still believes, but some greater or lesser part does not. What they do believe in is the fact that the state religion is the source of their power and status. And so, for all the common folk out there, they must appear to believe, because believing is the only thing that gives them that power and status."

"Intellectual inertia?" Ryan wondered aloud.

"Exactly, Jack. Newton's first law of motion."

Part of Ryan wanted to object to the discourse. The world had to make more sense than that. But did it? "What rule said that it had to?" he asked himself. And who enforced such rules? And was it expressed that simply? What Harding had just explained in less than two hundred words purported to justify hundreds of billions of dollars in expenditures, strategic weapons of incomprehensible power, and millions of people whose uniforms denoted enmity that demanded aggression and death in time of war or near-war.

Reading that passage sent a shiver down my spine. The parallel between Marxist theory and religious beliefs is fascinating. But that line that the leadership believes "when it suits them," and that the appearance of true belief is the source of their "power and status" frightened me, it frightened me deeply.

Much has been made is recent days of the fact that the great difference between Judaism/Christianity and Islam is that the former has undergone 'reformation' while the later has not. None of the commentators I have heard say that have gone on to explain what that means, which I think leaves the door wide open for a lot of issues. One could interpret their comments on reformation to mean that Judaism/Christianity has learned not to take themselves "too" seriously -- sort of like the Soviet leaders believe when it suits them. Are you beginning to understand why that passage frightened me.

Let me be specific, there are two very frightening things that arise from this train of thought. The first is the one that our friend Ryan stumbled upon -- things simply have to make more sense than that. I am quite certain that if I could ever let myself believe that Christianity was simply some ideological construct, without real truth or applicability, to be used solely as a tool in the ordering of society (it is such a tool, but not solely) I would be become either a complete hedonist or suicidal. My world would crumble to such an extent that I am not sure it would be retrievable.

The second frightening thought that arises from this line of reasoning is that if the Soviet leadership thought and lived and reacted that way, then I am fairly certain that there is Christian leadership that does as well. Pastors, elders, teachers, all who "believe when it suits them," and maintain an appearance of belief because it is the "source of their power and status." Nothing I can contemplate can do more damage to true Christianity than such people doing such things. Such people doing such things can only obscure the real truth of it.

All of this points out the one truth that I cling to; the one fact that I have written about here over and over again. Christianity, at its core, is not about building nations or institutions; it is not about churches or cathedrals; it is not about pastors and priests -- CHRISTIANITY IS ABOUT GOD, JESUS, AND ME (OR YOU). This, by the way, is the only way I can understand "reformation" as discussed above. Reformation is about divorcing the truth from the constructs, so that the truth can be apparent. Luther, Calvin, and the rest shoved the church out of the way so that people could see Jesus.

Christianity is about conviction, confession, repentance, forgiveness and transformation -- everything else is just window dressing. Here is what I know. People make things good or bad. As I said last week, it is sin that made socialism fail, and it is sin that makes capitalism abusive. As I said two weeks ago sin is the only real issue Christianity needs to face. Sin is about people, not institutions. We eliminate sin by transforming people. Only Jesus has the power to transform people. Therefore, all we can do is introduce people to Jesus. The rest of it is flotsam and jetsam.

Bottom Line -- the soviet leadership believed it Marxism when it suited them, this perpetuated the soviet state, which was their goal. For Christians it is not the belief that should be conveniently set aside, but the constructs -- for it is only in the belief that our goal can be reached.

With Love,