Christianity Today has a fascinating story up about the recent growth of Christianity, particularly the evangelical and pentecostal kinds, in France. The story entertainingly relates tales of new receptiveness to street evangelism, significant increases in sales of the Bible, and the founding of new churches.
But the most entertaining part of the article is an upside down account of a father being disappointed in his daughter:
Religious conversions still befuddle the French. David Brown, the head of the French equivalent of InterVarsity, University Bible Groups, told me about one girl's experience. Her father is a militant left-wing activist; he and his wife are separated. When he found out that his daughter joined Brown's church and left with the youth group for a weekend in Normandy, he became enraged and came to see Brown. These were his words: "Here I thought that she was just going off for a weekend with a new boyfriend! But then I find out it was to read the Bible!"
"To go off with a new boyfriend is no problem," Brown says, "but to read the Bible is unacceptable." The father was also concerned that his daughter had become too religious. "I'll prove it to you," he told Brown. "She's got a Bible by her bedside!"
Brown says, "A lot of French people think like him."
Oh, those crazy, mixed up young people!!!
Interesting post, Hunter. Apparently Christianity is making inroads in Germany again as well.
ReplyDeleteOn a similar note, I'm amazed at how many people associate Nazism with "extreme Right wingism."
Truth be told, the Nazis took the guns away from the common folk, professed "science was the key to understanding," strongly supported "planned parenthood," and Hitler was recorded in private conversations as saying things like, "The heaviest blow that ever struck humanity was the coming of Christianity. Bolshevism is Christianity's
illegitimate child. Both are inventions of the Jew. The deliberate lie in the matter of religion was introduced into the world by Christianity... Let it
not be said that Christianity brought man the life of the soul, for that evolution was in the natural order of things."
Given these facts, it wasn't Nazi Germany being "too Christian" that caused all hell to break loose during WWII. It was, in fact, the exact opposite.
I can see where good people can conclude that "religion causes wars." However, such a conclusion is an oversimplification. Satan's deceptions and Man's sinfulness causes wars.
I leave you with these two questions:
Was Hitler a Christian?
Shouldn't the word "God" be capitalized in the dictionary when defining "sinfulness"?
Greg, Hitler's anti-Christianity is definitely underplayed at the popular level. It's tough for anyone to avoid that it was Hitler's brand of Nietzschean social Darwinism driving the Final Solution. Academics have blamed Martin Luther for that for far too long.
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