What do you think? Are we headed for a revolution? What testimonies of Christians under totalitarianism do you find most inspiring? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.
Another good article. I’ll add this one in: a friend of mine is half-Okinawan. He grew up in North Carolina, now lives in Okinawa. His grandmother came to America after the war, and her brothers fought in the imperial army. He became Orthodox, and we frequently talk about the Christian situation in Japan. He said this once. “If I think about Egypt and the fact that God explicitly says he was judging the gods of Egypt, and his plagues all targeted specific gods … well, what better way to judge a nation whose emperor claims to be the descendant of and avatar of the Sun Goddess than by dropping miniature suns on the country twice?”
Regarding revolution, I don’t know. I’m reading Caesar’s Gallic Wars now, and I read Cicero a couple years ago. There are definitely commonalities between us and the Roman republic. I’m also reading The Scarlet Letter again, and seeing Puritan New England government reminds me of a lot of things from our history leading up to the Revolution. Some of that is playing out now, too. I think the one thing that’s certain is that we’ve reached the end of the world our victory in World War II created. That world order is dead, and we’re currently fighting to see what world and worldview will follow. Radicals on both sides have their claimed solutions. But, I also saw a line I liked a lot from Yeats on Substack earlier: “Empty souls trend toward extreme opinions.” The radicals on both sides have empty souls. That’s always been what I’ve observed of them. If those of us with fulfilled souls can learn to speak and speak well, we may be able to move our culture and republic in a better direction. Not retreating to the past or abolishing it, but applying its wisdom in new ways for our new time.
What do you think? Are we headed for a revolution? What testimonies of Christians under totalitarianism do you find most inspiring? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.
Another good article. I’ll add this one in: a friend of mine is half-Okinawan. He grew up in North Carolina, now lives in Okinawa. His grandmother came to America after the war, and her brothers fought in the imperial army. He became Orthodox, and we frequently talk about the Christian situation in Japan. He said this once. “If I think about Egypt and the fact that God explicitly says he was judging the gods of Egypt, and his plagues all targeted specific gods … well, what better way to judge a nation whose emperor claims to be the descendant of and avatar of the Sun Goddess than by dropping miniature suns on the country twice?”
Regarding revolution, I don’t know. I’m reading Caesar’s Gallic Wars now, and I read Cicero a couple years ago. There are definitely commonalities between us and the Roman republic. I’m also reading The Scarlet Letter again, and seeing Puritan New England government reminds me of a lot of things from our history leading up to the Revolution. Some of that is playing out now, too. I think the one thing that’s certain is that we’ve reached the end of the world our victory in World War II created. That world order is dead, and we’re currently fighting to see what world and worldview will follow. Radicals on both sides have their claimed solutions. But, I also saw a line I liked a lot from Yeats on Substack earlier: “Empty souls trend toward extreme opinions.” The radicals on both sides have empty souls. That’s always been what I’ve observed of them. If those of us with fulfilled souls can learn to speak and speak well, we may be able to move our culture and republic in a better direction. Not retreating to the past or abolishing it, but applying its wisdom in new ways for our new time.