A CONFESSING EXTREMIST

I suppose I have been called so any names ending with an ‘ist’ or ‘phobe’ attached to them that I have almost become immune to them, with an emphasis on ‘almost’.

In one country I was called an extreme left-winger, a communist, for agreeing with Martin Luther King Jnr that a man should be judged by the content of his character rather than the colour of his skin, whilst in another I am adjudged an extreme right-winger, a racist, for holding the same view. Context matters obviously.

What saddens me most of all is when a fellow Christian who disagrees with my position refers to me by one of these negative epithets. I am aware that many who call themselves Christian are in fact nothing of the sort, but also that many do disagree who are most definitely of the family.

I am quite open to being convinced about the error of my ways but nowadays most do not want to engage in the sort of evidence based or logical dialogue necessary to change one’s mind effectively; instead most resort to the easy option of dismissing the opponent as an ‘ist’ or a ‘phobe’ of one sort or another. This is called the straw man fallacy (look it up).

   

Australia’s Soviet Republic of Utopia, a.k.a. Victoria has just passed the euthanasia bill in its parliament, a sad but true event that merely stands as another signpost on that states decline into totalitarian rule. Pish you might cry, whose exaggerating now? What would you call a government that has ultimate control over if you are to be born (abortion) and now how and why you might die (euthanasia).

But it’s about “dying with dignity” some might cry. Others, who are big on the ‘human rights’ front say; “it’s about the right to choose your own time to pass through this mortal coil”. Still others cite ‘compassion’ in the same mode of conscience as they do for those who choose the aforementioned abortion route.

I like Colson’s illustration from his book My Final Word.

What struck me was that here was a Christian, one who appeared to be serious about her beliefs, advocating euthanasia for purely humane reasons. She was smiling the whole time, very gracious.

All I could think of was C S Lewis’s description of the barbarians in our midst not being the Goths and Vandals with their clubs climbing over the walls, but well-dressed people sitting in well-lighted rooms with clean fingernails, deciding what was best for people. This is what barbarism really is, inhumanity done in the name of humanity, killing people for their own good.

The crucial question is what happens in a society when the good people – and this woman on the plane was one of the good people – really do believe this. Their views become unshakeable; this is what these good people perceive to be the kindest thing they can do. Yet in the name of kindness they perform terrible inhumanity. How do you shake this out of them?

I came away from this chilling encounter gravely concerned because I realize that we are not up against people who decide it’s good to get rid of people for expedient reasons, or to cut down medical bills, or because they enjoy killing. In a way the Nazis were a lot easier to fight than the good people wanting to do ‘humane’ things.

This is a further indication of how the church fails in its mission when it doesn’t teach people the hard truths. This pleasant flight attendant, of all people, should have learned from her church what the truth is.  (pp. 42, 43)