Europe's Slow Suicide

This POST at Winds of Change is a MUST read. Must. Must. Must.

It occurs to me, that if you do not believe in God and you do not believe in redemption, you are lost in a sea of unexpunged guilt never to find a safe psychological or spiritual harbor. Is that where Europe now listlessly floats? Are they willing themselves into oblivian because they can't face the horror their kin inflicted upon their fellow man?

Imagine if the Apostle Paul, a killer of Saints, the self-professed Chief Among Sinners, had taken this view. His life would be lost. His work undone--or not completed by him at any rate. Judas, Christ's betrayer, chose this path. He literally committed suicide rather than face his sin. Peter, abandoning his friend and Savior, saw his humanity, his frailty, and changed. His humility served him and God used him to build the future.

Europe can still wake up. Nihilism has not fully taken a death hold. What, though, will Europe wake up to be, should she stir?

As a literary note, Tolkien whose work I love, explores this very notion in the character Aragorn. Kin to a man named Isuldir who had the opportunity to wipe out evil, but instead wore the evil mantle and took it as his own, Aragorn feared his own blood. "Men are weak," Aragorn says. He must eventually decide to use his leadership for good, but must reconcile himself with the leadership first.

As a personal note, a friend said to me, upon deciding to marry, "But my father is a cheater. What if I'm a cheater?" My response was, "You're not your father."

We all have a choice to do different. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Men keep track of sins and rank and categorize them. God forgives. If only men could forgive themselves.