Posted on 02/18/2022 6:52:30 AM PST by Heartlander
Religion is the opiate of the masses.” In a single, swift turn of phrase, Marx had created a credo for the secular left. Opium, of course, is the drug of addicts; addicts cannot see beyond their chemical dependency. But if they were to lock themselves in a room and face the cold sweat withdrawals of truth, the addicts could be freed from their affliction. The veil of ignorance blinding their judgment would be torn away. Rationalist sobriety saves.
But what if irreligion is the true opiate of the masses—what if unbelief is the valium of the self-professed valiant?
The ontological arch of modern political liberalism’s prehistory can be traced to the figures of Michel de Montaigne and Blaise Pascal. The great dialectical struggle between reason and faith, instantaneous joys and eternal bliss, predates Marx, and even Enlightenment secularism, by centuries.
Because sixteenth-century France was roiled by sectarian bloodshed, Montaigne averred, without ever formally renouncing his faith, that life’s guiding principle in the public sphere must be “immanent contentment”—that is, various pursuits of pleasure. Everyone was to become a hobbyist or a dabbler, never taking himself too seriously and flitting gaily from one pursuit to the next. If sixteenth-century Renaissance humanism was in some respects a dry run for the historical materialism that came to predominate modern thought, seventeenth-century Baroque literature and art was in many ways the precursor to the great Romantic religious revival of the early nineteenth century that echoes into the present.
Pascal is famous in modern eyes for his “wager”—that by betting on God you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. But there was more to Pascal’s thinking than that. Pascal’s greater philosophical “wager” was not just that we should bet on God, but that, ultimately, thoughts of eternity—whether of eternal life or infinite nothingness—could not be avoided, no matter how hard we tried to distract ourselves with amusement.
“We do not need a greatly elevated soul to understand that there is no real and solid satisfaction here; that all our pleasures are only vanity,” Pascal tells us in his “Letter to Further the Search for God.”
In the same letter, he goes on to characterize two kinds of atheists: the true searchers, we might call them, and those who indulge in the opiate of thoughtless unbelief.
The immortality of the soul is something so important to us, something that touches us so profoundly, that we must have lost all feeling to be indifferent to knowing the facts of the matter. . . . Thus our prime interest and prime duty is to become enlightened on this subject, on which all our conduct depends. And that is why, with respect to those who are not convinced, I make a sharp distinction between the ones who labor with all their power to inform themselves and the ones who live without being troubled or thinking about it [emphasis mine].
Is there really any doubt, in a world where you can order dope to your doorstep and access porn from your smartphone, which kind of de facto atheism our society has embraced? Is our society not by and large religiously illiterate, or “indifferent” in Pascal’s word, to arguments such as those of Aquinas in his Summa Theologica proving the existence of God? The French word divertissement, the word for “entertainment” in English, also contains the Latin root for “diversion”; “to turn away, divert, make a detour, digress.”
Unbelief is the actual opiate of the masses. By tuning in to diversionary pleasures, we are actually tuning out; we are all addicts of the momentary rush of dopamine that sundry amusement, from jogging to drug use, gives us.
Every time I crack open a beer on a Friday afternoon, I recognize Montaigne in myself; and every time I lie awake at night racked with worry, I imagine Pascal’s Pensees, his tormented thoughts, have become mine.
Perhaps it's time for a paradigm shift in the way we think about God in the modern secular West. After two centuries in which religiosity has been widely seen as the “opiate of the masses,” it’s time to turn the screws on the comfortably agnostic and atheist. The intellectual laziness is theirs. As Pascal says: “Let us reflect . . . and then say whether it is not beyond doubt that the only good in this life lies in the hope of another.”
Any text book of Church history will give you dozens of examples from just the first 3 centuries. Modalism, Arianism, Sabellianism, Gnosticism, Pelagianism, Marcionism just to name a few. John, Peter, Paul and Jesus himself warned us of false teachers.
Exactly, as I mentioned, there is enough evidence of false Christians pretending to be Christians that if someone is unaware of that fact, then I don’t know what to tell them. It’s not as if there isn’t plenty of evidence available.
the author says it is time to turn the screws on oth atheists and agnostics.
why on them alone, since the point of view is from a distinct christian one?
why not, since the author willed it, EVERY DADBLAMED AMERICAN WHO DOES NOT MEET THE AUTHOR’S MEASURE??
I’m sure this is something that has swelled and ebbed during my 69 years of being.
There is a bugaboo, and it started with The Thomas Jefferson, President.He cut out portions of The Book that did not fit his world-view, and it was not only accepted, but PUBLISHED, and still published, today. I’m sure you know that you can go to any bookstore website, and find it there, listed among the copies of the KJV,NIV, RSV, and even “the worst version printed” the Today’s English Version, (which was my first git-down-to-it version read!).
In reality, y”all won’t and can’t “turn the screws” on anybody, due to the high degree of fractures christians sects, and that agnostics are such by their own research, soul-searching, and definitive decision. Atheists are those who have either been burned, in some fashion by christianity, and have “thrown their bibles into the depths of the fiver Jordan”, and walked away.
As Jefferson said, it is their god that they must seek and reason with, not me or my god.
[[The Thomas Jefferson, President.He cut out portions of The Book that did not fit his world-view, and it was not only accepted, but PUBLISHED, ]]
Yup, he created God after his own image. Lots,of folks do that because they complain thatnit is “too hard” to obey the actual God of the Bible, so,they create God in their own image, one who is soft on sin, who looks the other way when the people sin, one who doesn’t actually disapprove of whatever pet sins the folks like and Indulge in at the time.
These are the folks who claim to,be Christians whom Christ will say to “depart from me, I never knew you”
Then, with a sigh of relief, I can say in all honesty, that, “I am not one of them.”
After two centuries in which religiosity has been widely seen as the “opiate of the masses,” it’s time to turn the screws on the comfortably agnostic and atheist. The intellectual laziness is theirs. [emphasis mine]
The author was talking about “two kinds of atheists: the true searchers, we might call them, and those who indulge in the opiate of thoughtless unbelief.” (attributed above to Pascal)… Not to say there aren’t intellectually lazy Christians, but in our current society there are many atheist/agnostic individuals who came to their belief without much thought or soul-searching - it has become fashionable and easy - especially among the youth.
I have helped teach apologetics to some of the youth in my community in the hope that they will not be intellectually lazy Christians – or if they decide to be atheist/agnostic, it will not be without contemplation.
You could add Trinitarianism to a list of false teachings if you just use the Christian Bible as a theological yardstick. Nothing that I am aware of in the Christian Bible would prevent one from being a Modalist, Arianist or Marcionite.
We all have minor differences of beliefs about certain bible concepts (and that’s fine, we see as through a glass darkly for now on tough unclear biblical concepts where no direct answer for a topic is given)- but false religions ignore basic set in stone biblical concepts and mold God into their own image- The issue of homosexuality is one such major biblical issue that they ignore God on- Another is how to be saved- some think we have to earn it- but that isn’t biblical- infact it specifically states that we can’t- but some ignore that or try to explain that the bible doesn’t really mean that we can’t work for our salvation- (There is a verse “Work out your own salvation” which trips folks up- but the verse isn’t talking about ‘Working FOR salvation’ but rather working OUT our salvation once we are saved- )
no- we can be assured now- the bible tells us so-
True Christians can be assured i mean- The Holy Spirit confirms it, the fruit of the spirit confirm it- etc- the unsaved who pretend to be Christians will be the ones turned away
the holy Spirit provides it- there are excellent articles online about assurance of salvation- I don’t wish to give a sermon here on Fr-
Have you in your heart accepted Jesus Christ as Savior? If so, then you have God’s assurance of your salvation- Assurance is based on God assuring us we are saved IF we accept His son in the manner in which He tells us we must-
“Is your trust in the Christ who died for you and was raised for you? Do you trust in Christ’s death and resurrection on your behalf? If the answer is “yes”, then you have God’s own word and faithfulness that you have eternal life and will spend eternity with Christ.”
https://doctrine.org/assurance-of-salvation
The above link gives a very good rundown on assurance-
As well, The Fruit of hte Spirit is evident in His people- it is evidence that a person is saved- THis is another assurance from God-
From the lips of the Lord, “Not everyone who says onto me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.”
False prophets
Wolves [Christians, by all appearances] in sheeps’ [actual Christians] clothing
5 virgins [Christians] shut out of heaven
one talent servant [Christian] gets to gnash his teeth
the goats [Christians] get to gnash their teeth
1. I did not mention homosexuality, however, since you did, my views are based on historical fact - not religion - they have never brought profit nor success to all the available records of every available civilization. Therefore, I believe “an open season” be xeclared, until they are no more. They bring misfortune, with their very lives, so “they do not get a break”.
2.As I read your answer, I think you are a Calvinist.
Search the net for an article titled “What is a Nominal Christian?”
nominal Christians are those who claim to be Christians but who have never received Christ- they live a lie-
the key to understanding that is that we can not save people’s souls- look at the verse- it says “whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul”. We don’t save people- we have no power to save their souls
Another key to understanding the Eternal security of Salvation is that When a person is saved- they are given “Eternal Life”- Would be kind of cruel to suggest that the word “Eternal” means “only as long as” someone toes the line- When you are saved- you pass from death unto life- unto eternal life
Also The word for Soul in this verse (psuche) is “Life”- and doesn’t mean spirit or soul in the sense of the eternal soul- Wherever it is used it mean the life of a body which is subject to death-
There are a couple of passages in the bible that seem to indicate a saved person can “die and wind up in hell after losing their salvation”- but those verses too are not talking about Soul death, but rather psuche death of the person
No man can pluck a Christian out of the hands of the Savior- no man- that includes ourselves- God gave Christ all his children, and He assures us in His word that His Son will never lose even one of them because He is the good shepherd who looks after His sheep and keeps them safe until they arrive in the Mansions set aside for them in eternity-
This is how I’ve been taught on the issue of eternal life-
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