Farewell to the Christian God

Charles Templeton was a man widely known in the 40s & 50s among Christians.  He was an evangelist who was even better known than Billy Graham.  He spoke to thousands, both in the USA and abroad, leading hundreds of people to the Lord.  Templeton’s ministry was prominent, and in 1946, he was listed among those “best used of God”by the National Association of Evangelicals.

Charles Templeton was a  former associate of Billy Graham. Templeton had once preached to stadium crowds of up to 30,000 people calling them to place their faith and trust in Christ.  He later rejected the Christian faith and wrote the book "Farewell To God, My reason for rejecting the Christian Faith".

What caused Charles Templeton to reject Christianity?  

Charles Templeton's  popularity and success as an evangelist began to unveil serious doubts.  The more he read, the more he found himself questioning the essentials of  Christian faith.  

His doubts began with the book of Genesis.  In his desire to pursue a more liberal approach to his questions, he began studying at Princeton Theological Seminary.  

 Charles Templeton recounts his conversation with Billy Graham (Farewell to God, My reason for rejecting Christian Faith, pages 7-8)

In the course of our conversation I said, ‘But, Billy, it’s simply not possible any longer to believe, for instance, the biblical account of creation. The world was not created over a period of days a few thousand years ago; it has evolved over millions of years. It’s not a matter of speculation; it’s a demonstrable fact.’ ‘I don’t accept that’ Billy said. ‘And there are reputable scholars who don’t.’ ‘Who are these scholars?’ I said. ‘Men in conservative Christian colleges[?]’ ‘Most of them, yes,’ he said. ‘But that is not the point. I believe the Genesis account of creation because it’s in the Bible. I’ve discovered something in my ministry: When I take the Bible literally, when I proclaim it as the word of God, my preaching has power. When I stand on the platform and say, ‘God says,’ or ‘The Bible says,’ the Holy Spirit uses me. There are results. Wiser men than you or I have been arguing questions like this for centuries. I don’t have the time or the intellect to examine all sides of the theological dispute, so I’ve decided once for all to stop questioning and accept the Bible as God’s word.’ ‘But Billy,’ I protested, ‘You cannot do that. You don’t dare stop thinking about the most important question in life. Do it and you begin to die. It’s intellectual suicide.'”‘I don’t know about anybody else,’ he said, ‘but I’ve decided that that’s the path for me.'”

Charles Templeton started questioning the reliability of thr Bible.  He was taken in my the compelling evidence in support of the Darwinian theory of evolution.  He later confessed that he always doubted the Genesis account of creation.  He also could not reconcile himself with the biblical teachings of final punishment for the disobedient.

Charles Templeton Could no longer live with this private conflict he faced inside.  One day, he cut loose from it all.  He bade "Farewell to (Biblical) God".

Among other things, Charles Templeton recognized that Christian theology completely failed to explain the problem of evil.  It failed to offer a cogent theodicy, Justice of Christian God.  

Theodicy is a troubling area for many practicing Christians.  While some choose to let faith get ahead of questions, others simply cannot get past them.  In a future article, we will look into this in detail.

Jesus will not colonize you.  Why then does Christianity colonize?

Columbus reflected the religious component of his motivation in the dedicatory opening of his diary of the first voyage in search of a sea way to India (Friday, 3 August 1492):

Your highnesses, as Catholics, Christians and Princes who love the Christian faith and long to see it increase, and as enemies of the sect of Mahomet and of all idolatries and heresies, have seen fit to send me, Christopher Colombus, to the said parts of the Indies to see ... what way there may be to convert them to our holy faith ... (from the original in Las Casas 1989-94: XIV, 41).

Columbus began his diary, with "In nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi".  It means "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ".

Columbus landed in the chain of islands we call the Bahamas on 12 October 1492.  Nearby exploration revealed Hispaniola and Cuba. Columbus found gold and a docile Arawak population on Hispaniola, and, believing he had arrived in Asia, he dubbed the Arawaks 'Indians'. After the Santa Maria struck a reef and was wrecked, 39 of the sailors stayed behind, while the Nina and the Pinta returned to Spain in early 1493. Columbus's achievement created great excitement in Europe, and the gold he procured in Hispaniola was enough to ensure a warm reception when he met Isabella in Barcelona in 1493. 

In line with the prevailing custom, and following on the precedent set by the Portuguese, the then Pope Alexander VI was petitioned for title to the newly-discovered lands. The Pope acceded the newly discovered land to Spain in a bull of 3 May 1493. Later that year, in order to prevent disputes between Spain and Portugal, the Pope drew an imaginary north-south Line of Demarcation, some 563 kilometres west of the Azores and Cape Verde Islands. East of that line belonged to Portugal, and west to Castile.  

What gives Pope this authority?  Jesus Christ appointed Peter and his successors as shepherds, that is: persons looking after people and caring for them (John 21,15-17). The Pope is therefore first and foremost the Supreme Pastor. Handing on Jesus' message that God is Love and planting this message in contemporary soil is a major task of the Church in each epoch of history. The Pope plays a crucial role in this as the Prime Witness to Faith. The Pope is also the Unifier of the People of God.

Columbus returned in late 1493, this time with 1500 men, including seamen, officials and religious with clear settlement intentions. The settlers began to enslave the natives and demand tribute. The Spaniards devised the encomienda system, whereby colonists were granted vast tracts of land and the possession of the Indians living on them, which became a major instrument of colonization on the mainland. In return, the colonists were charged to protect the Indians and convert them to Catholicism, and teach them the rudiments of faith and the superior virtues of European civilization.

History is filled with examples of the Church actively supporting and even providing spiritual sanction and backing to colonialism. The expansion of European powers across the world was not just sanctioned but supported by the Church. It has been a thoroughly Christian enterprise from Columbus to present day. Both Protestants and Catholics were instrumental in driving colonialism forward. For example, Christians provided theological backing to the enslavement of Africans and the theft of land in both Africa and the Americas.  This assuaged any sense of guilt or remorse some may have had.  Worse, Church and contemporary Christian theology provided the moral force behind land grabbing, enslaving, and civilizing the heathens.

It appears while Jesus would not colonize you, Christianity certainly will.  How did this come to be?

The first act of colonialism is to ignore the ownership of land by indigenous people and take it over by force   A commonly cited justification is that these indigenous people were uncivilized without a God.  If the Heathens did have gods, they were false gods of stone and wood. Accordingly, with the God's word in their hand, and with Pope's support for the spread of Christianity, the invaders took on the mission by subjugating the indigenous people and gaining control over their land.

Where does such logic arise from?

Plenty of Yahweh sanctioned land-grabbing in the Old Testament

The most popular one is the land of Cannon that Yahweh, Lord the Jewish God, offers Israelites leaving Egypt: 

Numbers 33:50-54
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+33%3A50-54&version=ERV

There, the Lord spoke to Moses and said,  “Speak to the Israelites and tell them this: You will cross the Jordan River. You will go into the land of Canaan. You will take the land from the people you find there. You must destroy all of their carved statues and idols. You must destroy all of their high places. You will take the land and you will settle there, because I am giving this land to you. It will belong to your family groups. Each of your family groups will get part of the land. You will throw lots to decide which family group gets each part of the country. Large family groups will get large parts of the land. Small family groups will get small parts of the land. The lots will show which family group gets which part of the land. Each tribe will get its part of the land.

Watch this video clip from the movie God in Trial to see the immorality of Yahweh's ways.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QduJ121DBXU


Let us now move to the New Testament and Christianity.

There are deep-rooted dogma in Christianity related to salvation that freed Christian Europeans from any fear of immorality.

The Problem of dogmatic foundation of Christianity

The standard Christian Gospel says that humans are bad and sinners. God condemns all sinners to Hell unless their sins are forgiven.  In the old days people made sacrifices to make up for their sins and appease God but then Jesus, the Son of God, came and died once and for all for humanity’s sins.  Now if someone prays to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, then they are forgiven of their sins and after they die they will go to Heaven, to enjoy paradise with God.  Everyone else will go to Hell to be tortured and endure punishment forever.

While some Christian sects articulate it differently, or are incredibly obsessed with various other aspects of Christian practice or theology, when pressed and distilled, this is the Gospel at the heart of their faith.

Problem of Unconditional Guarantee of the Final Destination

One’s personal salvation, and the personal salvation of others is to be a Christians primary concern and it is apparently God’s primary concern as well.  Nothing else seems to matter.  As protestants woll tell you, works cannot bring salvation.  Only faith can - faith in Jesus as the savior.

The focus on faith - and nothing else you may do or not do for the rest of your life - unburdens the Christian from the consequences of their actions. If morality is to follow God's laws, and immorality is sinning by violating God's command, where is the question of immorality if your faith alone can assure you a safe passage and a seat in God's quarters?   Thus how you actually live, how you relate to other people, how you relate to the land, how you engage in politics, how you handle money, etc.  are all truly freed from the burden of morality.  Life then is morally unburdened free-for-all, win-at-all-costs, winner-take-all.  Christians who believe in this “Gospel” can pretty much do whatever they want, for all purposes including colonial ones.


Guaranteed Salvation Turned Colonial Engine

Salvation theology originated in and has been spreading hand-in-hand with Western European culture.  For centuries Christianity and Western culture have been heavily involved with one another, a symbiotic existence, and the result is the blurring of lines of what it means to be a Christian and what it means to be a Western European. Furthermore, what is good for the material well-being of Europe has become synonymous with what is good for Christianity and what is moral for Christians.

With European colonialism grew Christian expansionism.  In return, Christianity providing the moral impetus.