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I just started writing a letter-based story, using a fictional newspaper's Letters to the Editor as a medium for a discussion on the nature of Christianity. So far, all I've written is the brief intro & the initial letter; while I'll be writing more on this later, for now, I'd like to turn it over to all you Internet-people to write the editorial in response to this one:
Editorials on the Church from the Talma Tribune
The following is a collection of Letters to the Editor on the Talma Tribune; all appeared in the Editorials, and they have been pieced together chronologically into one cohesive discussion.
My View on the Church
As a child, I have always been fascinated by stories of martyrs for the church.
Here I was, sitting bored in Sunday School, going to church because my parents told me to, and I’m looking at all the stories of horrific deaths of people who chose to die for the Church.
Why?
As I grew older, I found more stories of heroism for the Church; Chinese people who would sneak out at night, once a month, and go to “the wall”; they had a piece of the Eucharist hidden behind a certain brick in a certain brick wall, and risking their lives to see it, they would wake up at 2 in the morning, just to be in it’s presence.
Why?
Christian Knighthood is something that has caught my interest most recently; in the time before the Crusades, being a knight just meant being a brute who killed, raped, and stole as he pleased. A small but growing group of Christians decided to turn Knighthood into something far more noble, and took to horses & swords for sake of protecting the innocent—including the vast amounts of people that would risk their lives on pilgrimages to the Holy Land.
Why?
Everywhere I look, in the right parts of the history books, I saw people being beaten, whipped, burned at the stake, kicked out of their communities, losing everything for gaining just one thing. The candles we still use in church today remind us of the days when church services had to be held underground, to not be caught. Even in modern times, the Catholic church in Goshen, a small city near me, is designed to blend in with the surrounding Mennonite architecture, because Catholics weren’t welcome. My great-grandfather, shortly after coming to America from Poland, had an interesting set of priorities: Find somewhere to live, find a job, find a church. No Catholic church? Start building one. St. Adalbert’s Catholic Church still stands in South Bend to this day, with Polish writings on the stained-glass windows to remind everyone of its origins.
Heroism like nowhere else is seen in Christian history; the Church would take in homosexuals, Jews, whoever was being wrongfully persecuted, the Church would give a home. The Church has fed more of the hungry, donated to more of the poor, inspired more of the downtrodden than any other institution in world history. The proliferation of art was a product of the Church, when the secular world was too focused on the practical to see the value in paintings, or when the pagan world considered much art to be demonic, the Church held by the virtue of beauty. Written music was first brought out by Pope Gregory the First, since canonized as Saint Gregory the Great. Churches themselves have become great works of art, standing out from the utilitarian working-class houses, or the vast upper-class mansions, reserved for just a few people, the churches stand out as beautiful buildings filled with beautiful paintings, statues, stained-glass windows, all welcoming anyone who would like to come—and such beauty has led to no small amount of conversions.
Despite oppression by world governments, despite attacks by Communists, Muslims, Pagans, or the KKK, the Church has held strong, with heroic Christians showing up every step of the way, being welcoming into the ranks of the saints to aid us in continuing these efforts.
But where are they now?
All I see from Christians today is a vicious bunch of arguers, using Bible verses as bullets in their verbal civil war, protesting against gay marriage, and whining about how we shouldn’t go to war, fight, or lift a finger in any violent way to stop evil. What Christians have turned into is a bunch of whiners who will fight bitterly to the end when arguing why Catholics shouldn’t venerate Mary, while just tucking their heads and hoping that God will remove evil, without lifting a finger to stop evil where they see it, being too blinded by the idealistic idea of, “Why don’t people just believe in Jesus? He loves me, and I don’t have to do anything to get into heaven!”, pretty much disabling themselves to be used by him to actually do anything. Just whip out Bible verses against those evil Catholics, wave protest signs whenever a politician says that gay marriage isn’t the devil’s work, and cower in the corner when you’re asked to do something; “Faith is all we need, works don’t have anything to do with it!”.
I’m sure there’s real Christians out there somewhere; I hear of some that still get killed for daring to build a cross in the Middle East, and the Knights of Columbus are trying to do charitable work, while reminding us of our call to action.
But until I meet a real Christian, I want nothing to do with this faith.
Editorials on the Church from the Talma Tribune
The following is a collection of Letters to the Editor on the Talma Tribune; all appeared in the Editorials, and they have been pieced together chronologically into one cohesive discussion.
My View on the Church
As a child, I have always been fascinated by stories of martyrs for the church.
Here I was, sitting bored in Sunday School, going to church because my parents told me to, and I’m looking at all the stories of horrific deaths of people who chose to die for the Church.
Why?
As I grew older, I found more stories of heroism for the Church; Chinese people who would sneak out at night, once a month, and go to “the wall”; they had a piece of the Eucharist hidden behind a certain brick in a certain brick wall, and risking their lives to see it, they would wake up at 2 in the morning, just to be in it’s presence.
Why?
Christian Knighthood is something that has caught my interest most recently; in the time before the Crusades, being a knight just meant being a brute who killed, raped, and stole as he pleased. A small but growing group of Christians decided to turn Knighthood into something far more noble, and took to horses & swords for sake of protecting the innocent—including the vast amounts of people that would risk their lives on pilgrimages to the Holy Land.
Why?
Everywhere I look, in the right parts of the history books, I saw people being beaten, whipped, burned at the stake, kicked out of their communities, losing everything for gaining just one thing. The candles we still use in church today remind us of the days when church services had to be held underground, to not be caught. Even in modern times, the Catholic church in Goshen, a small city near me, is designed to blend in with the surrounding Mennonite architecture, because Catholics weren’t welcome. My great-grandfather, shortly after coming to America from Poland, had an interesting set of priorities: Find somewhere to live, find a job, find a church. No Catholic church? Start building one. St. Adalbert’s Catholic Church still stands in South Bend to this day, with Polish writings on the stained-glass windows to remind everyone of its origins.
Heroism like nowhere else is seen in Christian history; the Church would take in homosexuals, Jews, whoever was being wrongfully persecuted, the Church would give a home. The Church has fed more of the hungry, donated to more of the poor, inspired more of the downtrodden than any other institution in world history. The proliferation of art was a product of the Church, when the secular world was too focused on the practical to see the value in paintings, or when the pagan world considered much art to be demonic, the Church held by the virtue of beauty. Written music was first brought out by Pope Gregory the First, since canonized as Saint Gregory the Great. Churches themselves have become great works of art, standing out from the utilitarian working-class houses, or the vast upper-class mansions, reserved for just a few people, the churches stand out as beautiful buildings filled with beautiful paintings, statues, stained-glass windows, all welcoming anyone who would like to come—and such beauty has led to no small amount of conversions.
Despite oppression by world governments, despite attacks by Communists, Muslims, Pagans, or the KKK, the Church has held strong, with heroic Christians showing up every step of the way, being welcoming into the ranks of the saints to aid us in continuing these efforts.
But where are they now?
All I see from Christians today is a vicious bunch of arguers, using Bible verses as bullets in their verbal civil war, protesting against gay marriage, and whining about how we shouldn’t go to war, fight, or lift a finger in any violent way to stop evil. What Christians have turned into is a bunch of whiners who will fight bitterly to the end when arguing why Catholics shouldn’t venerate Mary, while just tucking their heads and hoping that God will remove evil, without lifting a finger to stop evil where they see it, being too blinded by the idealistic idea of, “Why don’t people just believe in Jesus? He loves me, and I don’t have to do anything to get into heaven!”, pretty much disabling themselves to be used by him to actually do anything. Just whip out Bible verses against those evil Catholics, wave protest signs whenever a politician says that gay marriage isn’t the devil’s work, and cower in the corner when you’re asked to do something; “Faith is all we need, works don’t have anything to do with it!”.
I’m sure there’s real Christians out there somewhere; I hear of some that still get killed for daring to build a cross in the Middle East, and the Knights of Columbus are trying to do charitable work, while reminding us of our call to action.
But until I meet a real Christian, I want nothing to do with this faith.