Madness in their hearts

We often hear that religion is the cause of much war and brutality. I cannot argue with that, but it involves a very selective editing of the casualties. A fairer reading of the statistics would impress us also with the brutality of secularism:

Adolf Hitler, Germany. Kill tally: Directly responsible for the deaths of over 46 million Europeans as a result of the Second World War.

Benito Mussolini, Italy. Kill tally: Over 400,000 Italians killed during the Second World War. At least 30,000 Ethiopians killed during Italian occupation of Ethiopia.

Heinrich Himmler, Germany. Kill tally: Directly responsible for the deaths of six million in German concentration camps. Collectively responsible for the deaths of over 46 million Europeans as a result of the Second World War.

Joseph Stalin, Russia. Kill tally: Approximately 20 million, including up to 14.5 million needlessly starved to death. At least one million executed for political "offences". At least 9.5 million more deported, exiled or imprisoned in work camps, with many of the estimated five million sent to the 'Gulag Archipelago' never returning alive. Other estimates place the number of deported at 28 million, including 18 million sent to the 'Gulag'.

Mao Tse-Tung, China. Kill tally: 14 to 20 million deaths from starvation during the 'Great Leap Forward'. Tens of thousands killed and millions of lives ruined during the 'Cultural Revolution'.

Pol Pot, Cambodia. Kill tally: One to three million (or between a quarter and a third of the country's population).

Slobodan Milosevic, Serbia. Kill tally: Up to 230,000 killed and three million displaced.

Ne Win, Burma (now Myanmar). Kill tally: No reliable figures, but 3,000-10,000 killed in the 'Rangoon Spring' uprising of 1988. Tens to possibly hundreds of thousands killed since the 1962 military coup d'état.

Kim Il Sung, North Korea. Kill tally: About three million killed in the Korean War. Between 600,000 and one million North Koreans needlessly starved to death due to the economic legacy of Kim's regime. (Some reports claim that as many as three million starved.)

More stats here.

Is there an inherent brutality in religion, and not in the politics of secularism? Could it be as the Preacher said in Ecclesiastes, "The hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead." (9:3) War is part of the fallen human condition, whether religiously or secularly instigated.

clement quotes hebrews

Clement of Rome wrote to the church in Corinth around AD 90. This is perhaps the same Clement, companion of Paul, mentioned in Philippians 4:3. Many hold him to be the first bishop / pope in Rome, aka St. Clement I. Clement quotes from the letter to the Hebrews. Origin suggested that Clement was in fact the writer (as transcriber or amanuensis) of Hebrews. Perhaps this letter began as a "word of exhortation" given by Paul at the synagogue (Heb 13:22; cf Acts 13:15) which then became a circular letter for the churches. Other possible authors of Hebrews include Luke, Barnabas, or Apollos. The theology is Pauline, but the transcriber is obviously second-generation (Heb. 2:3-4). At any rate, this early church leader in Rome, is already quoting Hebrews in his letter in AD 90: CHAPTER 36 ALL BLESSINGS ARE GIVEN TO US THROUGH CHRIST This is the way, beloved, in which we find our Savior, even Jesus Christ, the High Prie...

Howard Hendricks on OT books chronology

When I was in seminary, Howard Hendricks (aka "Prof") gave us a little card with the books of the OT chronologically arranged. The scanned copy I have was a bit blurry and I wanted to make something like this available for our church class in OT theology ("Story of Redemption"). A few minor edits and here it is...

sword and trowel

"From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me." (Nehemiah 4:16-18 ESV) The great London preacher, Charles Spurgeon, published a monthly magazine called The Sword and The Trowel; A record of combat with sin and of labour for the Lord. It was published from 1865 to 1892. The cover of the journal had a drawing taken from Nehemiah 4, which included both a trowel (representing the work) and a sword (representing the fight). The sword was necessary to protect what the men with trowels were building. These citizen-soldier-builders would successfully complete the wall aroun...

my burg

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