The More We Change...

I suppose it is a common flaw of humanity that each generation looks back at the previous and marvels at their lack of wisdom, knowledge, and sophistication. We wonder how cultures can live so blind to their biases and be so naive about social questions that have plagued us since the Fall of Man. This way of thinking has even pervaded the ranks of evangelical Christians. To apologize for the sins and social quirks of saints of old has become the norm for most modern Christians. They were not quite so loving and open-minded as we are, much less possess the innate aura of coolness that we emanate to the poor, misguided people that we are loving to Jesus all around us.

Exaggerated or not, that is the general flavor of mainstream evangelicals today. "The Puritans? didn't they go on witch hunts? Luther hated Jews, and I am pretty sure that Calvin killed just about anyone who didn't agree with his horrid doctrine of predestination. Poor Michael Servetus. So glad we moved past all that and have advanced to a more loving form of Christianity that Jesus taught. Hanging out with the sinners and prostitutes. You just gotta love people."

As someone who has greatly benefited from studying the Puritans and the Reformers, this mindset has been particularly bothersome to me. Should we be honest about the shortcomings of the previous generations? Of course not. One of the greatest scandals is when we attempt to create flawless saints out of a flawed humanity. And the Puritans and Calvin would attest to the fact that it was only by God's grace that man is restrained from committing the most grievous of evils. What I am trying to argue, however, is that before we accuse our forefathers of barbaric and uncivilized behavior, we should take a look at our own generation and attempt to assess our own blind spots.

John Calvin will forever live in infamy among certain people for his part in the trial and execution of one Michael Servetus. Servetus was a theologian that held an unorthodox view of the Trinity, which was considered blasphemy in any faction of Christianity in that day. He was arrested by the Catholics and found guilty of heresy, sentenced be executed. He escaped, however, before his sentence was carried out and fled to Geneva. The Genevan authorities soon discovered that Servetus was in the city and had him arrested at once. Calvin, who at the time was still a foreigner and held no political office, acted as a "theological witness" and plead the case against Servetus, declaring his theology to indeed be heresy. He was found guilty of heresy and condemned to death, being burned at the stake in 1553.

As Christians living in a postmodern age, we look back and say, "How could he be so blind? Didn't they understand that Christianity is all about love? Killing someone just because they have different ideas? What a savage world to live in!" And on and on the tirade goes. It is true that modernity has granted man the freedom to think. We often take for granted the universal right of man to hold his own ideas about life and form his own convictions. But is it possible that in all of our social, economic, political, and cultural advances that we have missed something? Is it possible that we have been too harsh on the past generations? Have we in our wisdom become foolish?

The world of Calvin was much different from our world today. People did not know to the same degree the freedom of conscience that we now know and enjoy and even flaunt as Americans. But what have we traded in the exchange for all this freedom? I believe that past generations understood something about human nature that modernity and post-modernity have forgotten- all ideas have consequences. Especially bad ones. We pride ourselves on how we are now free to think and share our conviction, even try to persuade people to share our convictions. What we have found, though, is that bad ideas that go unchecked can wreak havoc upon cultures.

Karl Marx believed that it was government's responsibility to make all men equal and that religion and wealth were the cause of all oppression and turmoil. So we have had a century of oppressive communist governments. Adolph Hitler took the idea of Darwinian evolution and inferred from it that, if the thesis is true that biological life will continue to evolve and advance for the survival of the species, then ultimately it is good and right to aid natural selection in the systematic killing of those who become a burden to society. Stalin, Mao Tse Dong, Ho Chi Minh, and Pol Pot all fell victim to wrong thinking and over a hundred million have paid the price for it.

So we may have a version of society that looks more appealing on the outside, but we are far from solving the problems caused by the depravity of the human race. We just put an extra coat of whitewash on it and have it looking pretty good. Then we turn around and laugh at previous generations because the quality of their whitewash is pretty pathetic. There will be no perfect government because there are no perfect people, only a weak and depraved humanity. The words of the Frenchman still hold true, that "The more we change, the more we stay the same." I don't want to say that we should not admit the faults of previous generations. I just want to urge that we be more honest about our own.