The Christian Revolution article below is a very revealing perspective on modern behavior of Christians toward one another. NOTE: This blogger does not take sides in any theological debate. However, an in depth look at the posts that people leave anonymously on the internet are worth consideration in the context of this article. Countless posts reveal irrational thoughts and feelings representative of a basic inhumanity and coldness toward others alluded to in this article's content. Many of these people claim that they are Christian, yet their words reveal exactly the opposite of what Jesus stood for: Unconditional Love.
Recent firestorms in just the past two weeks alone surrounding such people as Anthony Weiner, Lindsay Lohan, Hugh Hefner, Crystal Harris, Jackass star Ryan Dunn, Roger Ebert, are downright brutal. Some even suggested that the above mentioned people should be killed or commit suicide because of their "mistakes". The creator of a TV show reacted with violent rage, vile language and threats over the comment by one of the above named people. Such behavior, even in the throes of grief, is an extreme form of narcissism that says: If you don't act or believe as I do, you will suffer my rage or worse.
I have noted that many of the posts show little if any sensibility that people are human, make mistakes, and exercise poor judgment in their lives. One is left with the feeling that those people, commonly referred to as "trolls", are akin to rattlesnakes hiding in the shadows ready to strike any prey that cross their visual field. Often, the tenor of their posts assume the role of judge, jury, and executioner.
In psychology there is a process identified as "Inflate - Deflate". The person yields to his or her impotent rage, zeroes onto a target and lets fly with the vitriol. It momentarily "inflates" their own sense of self esteem, but is quickly followed by the mechanism of "deflation", and the person is left to face their inner torment once again. The cycle is repeated over and over as a "quick fix" for underlying feelings of inferiority, isolation, helplessness and so forth.
"Stated in its most elementary and buoyantly positive form, my argument is ... that among all the many great transitions that have marked the evolution of Western civilization ... only one -- the triumph of Christianity ... can be called ... a 'revolution': a truly massive and epochal revision of humanity's prevailing vision of reality..."
So states philosopher and Orthodox theologian David Bentley Hart in his book "Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and its Fashionable Enemies" (Yale University Press, 2009, p. xi). Hart is an unapologetic apologist."
"As he sees it, Western Civilization is numbly shedding its Christian heritage and someone ought to remind us of the baby that is being tossed out with the presumably now-useless bath water. That the messenger is not a dispassionate observer should not immediately or necessarily discredit the message. It was Christianity, he contends, that bequeathed to humanity an entirely new vision of the human person. That vision, he worries, lies prostrate upon modernity's chopping block in its haste to excise all things illiberal. So what was this new vision of humanity?"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matt-j-rossano/the-christian-revolution_b_878151.html
"Modern secularism may be accused of ungratefully dismissing its Christian legacy, but that does not mean it is doomed to regress to the worst of the pagan past. But even on this point, Hart is pessimistic. Without divine justification, upon what rational basis do we sustain a belief in individual human value? Surveying the bloody history of 20th century atrocities -- all far more secularly-inspired than religious -- Hart concludes that individual value has declined since the days of Christendom not increased."
"Furthermore, an alarming number of scientists, philosophers and ethicists are embracing a form of modern eugenics wherein "rationally dispensed" medical treatment, selective abortion, parental infanticide and genetic engineering are morally defended in order "improve" the human condition. The superficial garb may be modern, but the mentality has an ancient vintage."
If there is any doubt of this last statement above, visit your local DVD outlet, check out
"The Tudors" and observe the many battles that King Henry VIII had with the shifting landscape of Christianity in Tudor times. He repeatedly, imperiously, ordered the slaughter of the innocent, including babies and children, whose parents dared to defy him and stand for their own religious beliefs.
The Christian Revolution is a powerful article that offers a great deal of food for thought about how we view the sanctity of human life. The author Matthew Rossano's
book "Evolutionary Psychology" is an enlightening journey for the scholar and lay person alike.
Recent firestorms in just the past two weeks alone surrounding such people as Anthony Weiner, Lindsay Lohan, Hugh Hefner, Crystal Harris, Jackass star Ryan Dunn, Roger Ebert, are downright brutal. Some even suggested that the above mentioned people should be killed or commit suicide because of their "mistakes". The creator of a TV show reacted with violent rage, vile language and threats over the comment by one of the above named people. Such behavior, even in the throes of grief, is an extreme form of narcissism that says: If you don't act or believe as I do, you will suffer my rage or worse.
I have noted that many of the posts show little if any sensibility that people are human, make mistakes, and exercise poor judgment in their lives. One is left with the feeling that those people, commonly referred to as "trolls", are akin to rattlesnakes hiding in the shadows ready to strike any prey that cross their visual field. Often, the tenor of their posts assume the role of judge, jury, and executioner.
In psychology there is a process identified as "Inflate - Deflate". The person yields to his or her impotent rage, zeroes onto a target and lets fly with the vitriol. It momentarily "inflates" their own sense of self esteem, but is quickly followed by the mechanism of "deflation", and the person is left to face their inner torment once again. The cycle is repeated over and over as a "quick fix" for underlying feelings of inferiority, isolation, helplessness and so forth.
"Stated in its most elementary and buoyantly positive form, my argument is ... that among all the many great transitions that have marked the evolution of Western civilization ... only one -- the triumph of Christianity ... can be called ... a 'revolution': a truly massive and epochal revision of humanity's prevailing vision of reality..."
So states philosopher and Orthodox theologian David Bentley Hart in his book "Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and its Fashionable Enemies" (Yale University Press, 2009, p. xi). Hart is an unapologetic apologist."
"As he sees it, Western Civilization is numbly shedding its Christian heritage and someone ought to remind us of the baby that is being tossed out with the presumably now-useless bath water. That the messenger is not a dispassionate observer should not immediately or necessarily discredit the message. It was Christianity, he contends, that bequeathed to humanity an entirely new vision of the human person. That vision, he worries, lies prostrate upon modernity's chopping block in its haste to excise all things illiberal. So what was this new vision of humanity?"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matt-j-rossano/the-christian-revolution_b_878151.html
"Modern secularism may be accused of ungratefully dismissing its Christian legacy, but that does not mean it is doomed to regress to the worst of the pagan past. But even on this point, Hart is pessimistic. Without divine justification, upon what rational basis do we sustain a belief in individual human value? Surveying the bloody history of 20th century atrocities -- all far more secularly-inspired than religious -- Hart concludes that individual value has declined since the days of Christendom not increased."
"Furthermore, an alarming number of scientists, philosophers and ethicists are embracing a form of modern eugenics wherein "rationally dispensed" medical treatment, selective abortion, parental infanticide and genetic engineering are morally defended in order "improve" the human condition. The superficial garb may be modern, but the mentality has an ancient vintage."
If there is any doubt of this last statement above, visit your local DVD outlet, check out
"The Tudors" and observe the many battles that King Henry VIII had with the shifting landscape of Christianity in Tudor times. He repeatedly, imperiously, ordered the slaughter of the innocent, including babies and children, whose parents dared to defy him and stand for their own religious beliefs.
The Christian Revolution is a powerful article that offers a great deal of food for thought about how we view the sanctity of human life. The author Matthew Rossano's
book "Evolutionary Psychology" is an enlightening journey for the scholar and lay person alike.
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