From: John
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2023 5:32 PM
To: Thomas
Subject: The Effect of Christianity on Individual Courage and Sanity
Summary:
– Jordan Peterson discusses Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s observations of life in Soviet gulags during WW2 imprisonment.
– Solzhenitsyn noted that mostly devout Christians in the gulags were able to maintain their sanity and composure despite extreme abuse and violence.
– Living according to eternal biblical principles and truth provides courage, conviction and strength to resist lies and moral compromises demanded by oppressors.
– However, responses to such trials vary – some fully embrace evil for survival while others acquiesce or resist to varying degrees based on character.
– Exposure to Christian culture and values through community and upbringing can impart a reflexive sense of right and wrong even for non-believers.
– Committing to biblical standards through faith in Christ allows the Holy Spirit to transform lives, though change levels vary – some commit deeply while others fall away.
– Christians hope to influence society through moral witness and example, though cannot control how others freely choose to live.
– In summary, faith in eternal truth empowered Christian prisoners to stand on principle amid brutality, pointing to spiritual transformation as the ultimate hope and solution for societal issues.
John: In one of Jordan Peterson’s videos, he talks about Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and what he wrote about life in the Gulag. I guess Solzhenitsyn was not religious when he went in. However, Solzhenitsyn had an excellent education and was a keen observer. He was struck by the fact that MOSTLY THE DEVOUT CHRISTIANS kept their sanity and calm during all the violence and depravity of gulag survival. I found this short video where Jordan Peterson mentions this: https://youtu.be/jIzkDC6Q1ek?si=sD_-ACskwwczsUg7
Thomas: That video illustrated the power and importance of standing for eternal principles and absolute truth, as it gave the Christians the courage and conviction to not take part in the lies and violations of conscience being required by their captors. I believe Truth has immense power because it closely links concepts and words with the structure of the physical and spiritual universe. That Russian Christians put their lives at risk by speaking the truth and rejected the lies testifies to God’s character. He values truth. We live in a universe created by a good God. Those committed to living Biblical principles recognize how important Truth is to God, and have integrated that fact into their lives, hearts, souls, and values. This is one axis of evidence that basing society upon the Biblical commands/parables/patterns will produce a good/Godly/pleasant world if it is used to pattern society’s mores and laws.
As an example of the fluidity of the human value system, I recently saw a documentary called “Ordinary Men” on Netflix. It was about men who volunteered to be in a police detail, instead of fighting for the Nazis. They did not know it, but they were tasked with killing Jews after walking them into the woods and while looking at them. They killed over a million Jews in Poland. The soldiers were ordinary men, but 1/3 of them embraced the correctness, importance, and value of their task. 1/3 just went along because it was too disturbing to resist, and 1/3 resisted.
There was probably a somewhat similar distribution of participation and resistance to the program of abuse in the gulag. When put into such an abusive/victimizing and threatening situation, it is easy to be motivated by the base instincts of desire for survival, comfort, and the seduction of being given power, authority and respect. In the gulag, having a worldview of life and afterlife, as well as having the standards of the Bible to hold as one’s standard of right action, it gives people a grounded perspective. It’s easier to just say, “This is wrong” and not take part in the demands of evil. This is the level of courage needed to take our country back.
John: Anyway, it’s in that spirit of Solzhenitsyn’s observations that I said that Christians will survive any future insanity.
Thomas: I see how you are holding the advantage of Christians in very trying circumstances. But I think Christians will prevail in influencing the entire world and eventually prevailing as the accepted dominant/true religion. If the Bible is actually a reflection of God’s words/truth, its truth will prevail as the pattern governing men. If not, it will die away. But Christianity has been growing voluntarily for 2000 years. Islam has also been growing, but under threat of the sword. The Truth will prevail, even against lies and force.
John: I’m not at all talking about Christians prevailing over others or convincing others to be like them – a far more difficult mission than just surviving oneself or with one’s family. I don’t think changing other people is even possible to any significant extent. We have to accept and work with people AS THEY ARE, or choose not to interact with them at all, AS THEY ARE. Those are the two most viable choices.
Thomas: I have hope that people will do the right thing if they are Christians. I think a lot of non-Christians will do the right thing too, because they live in a Christian culture and they think that doing the things that the culture does is right. Living in a Christian culture gives us the standard by which we should live. As Americans, being raised in a culture founded upon Christian values, we have imprinted what is right on our individual psyches/conscience. Even if we were not raised as Christians and don’t know the Bible, our culture trains us to know what is right on a reflexive/conscience level.
I found that there was another layer of strength, revelation, and certainty in my conviction about the truth of the Bible when I saw the totality of the Christian worldview. When this happened to me, it transformed me. I require proof/logic/evidence before I believe anything. I could believe, and be bold in my testimony, because of seeing/knowing/understanding that the Christian/Biblical worldview was actually True. When I saw that there was an actual moral pattern of right action, I could stand up for Truth. But can people change? Yes, they can. It happens all the time.
Some people do not change much after salvation or quickly leave it, while others change radically. This is illustrated by Jesus’ in Matthew 13:3-9, “And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
Accepting the standards of Biblical behavior as right/true/good can make a big difference. If a person accepts the Lordship of Jesus and commits to living a Biblically consistent life, then there is an assent to letting the Holy Spirit/the Spirit of God act on a man’s heart. When there is a commitment to living a new life/consistent with Biblical standards, we have given permission for the Spirit of God to change us. For some, the commitment is not deep and they fall back into their old life. But some people change radically for the better, and for a lifetime. The commitment to Christian values is a commitment to Truth and what pleases God. We should try to live perfect lives, like Jesus.