The name of God has all too often been misused to justify crimes committed by Himself. The bishop of the Evangelical Church denounces this practice, but is still active in ecumenism.
Inhalt / Content
Current example Israel-Hamas
The current killings in Israel due to the Hamas attacks from the Gaza Strip are an occasion for the Bishop of the Evangelical Church in Austria, Michael Chalupka, to write about “murdering in the name of a God”. (Source). The bishop speculates that after Hamas’ terrorist attack against Israel, many people remembered the lyric from the song “Imagine” sung by John Lennon: “Imagine there’s no countries. It isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for. And no religion, too. Imagine all the people. Livin’ life in peace“.
When one looks at the images of “cold-blooded butchers and captors calling on ‘their’ God while displaying kidnapped victims,” the desire for a world without violence and without religion is understandable, the bishop said.
A self-idolatry
People have too often murdered in the name of a god while building an idol of their own fears and bigotry. They made themselves gods and judges of the life and death of others. Nobody needs “such a rabid, pseudo-religious embellishment of baseness and self-overestimation.”
The bishop emphasizes that religions that know “that life is a holy gift and that man is not the final measure and judge of good and evil” are needed all the more. Among the religions that know this, Chalupka counts Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The so-called Abrahamic religions. They must defend themselves against the misuse of God’s name.
If so, then the whole text
If the bishop uses the text of a singer who is described as an icon, then the entire text should also be taken into account. When presenting the Gospel, cherry-picking usually leads to confusion rather than to correct understanding. If it were about the overall concept of this song, there would be no Chalupka as a bishop.
John Lennon’s song “Imagine”, released in 1971, presents a supposedly ideal world. There is no kingdom of heaven and no hell, just blue sky above us. There are no nations and no religions either. In this fictional world there are no possessions and no reasons for greed and hunger. People divide the world among themselves. And the song calls for you to join in these visions.
The ideal world of the Church of Rome
A vision that could have come straight from a papal heart. During the Second Vatican Council, the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church certainly considered such prospects for future society. On December 7, 1965, Pope Paul VI promulgated the Pastoral Constitution “Gaudium Et Spes”, which deals with “the Church in the world today”. An intellectual continuation of the encyclical “Rerum Novarum” by Pope Leo XIII in 1891.
Excerpts from “Gaudium Et Spes”
In “Gaudium Et Spes” at position 30 (“One must go beyond individualistic ethics”) there is the following statement:
“Profound and rapid changes make it more necessary that no one ignoring the trend of events or drugged by laziness, content himself with a merely individualistic morality.“
Position 66 (“Reducing excessive socio-economic disparities”) states the following:
“To satisfy the demands of justice and equity, strenuous efforts must be made, without disregarding the rights of persons or the natural qualities of each country, to remove as quickly as possible the immense economic inequalities, which now exist and in many cases are growing and which are connected with individual and social discrimination.”
In position 69 (“The dedication of earthly goods to all people”) the following can be found:
“God intended the earth with everything contained in it for the use of all human beings and peoples. Thus, under the leadership of justice and in the company of charity, created goods should be in abundance for all in like manner. […] In using them, therefore, man should regard the external things that he legitimately possesses not only as his own but also as common in the sense that they should be able to benefit not only him but also others. […] If one is in extreme necessity, he has the right to procure for himself what he needs out of the riches of others.“
Only 6 years later, John Lennon’s global hit “Imagine” was released. Visions of a world without possessions, without differences in wealth and without borders. Such efforts may seem very “tangibly” familiar to many people today.
Murder in the “name of God”
The Protestant bishop rightly denounces the frequent misuse of God’s name in order to justify his own atrocities. A practice that does not have to be looked for in distant countries of the world, but can be found on your own doorstep. Plagued by “fears and narrow-mindedness,” building up one’s own idols and elevating oneself to a deity is an apt description of the Roman Catholic Church.
“Deus lo vult!”
A well-known example of this was given by Pope Urban II on November 27, 1095 with his proclamation for the first major crusade to Palestine. He motivated people to do so by claiming “Deus lo vult!” (“God wants it”). The slaughter of men, women and children in Jerusalem, primarily instigated by men from Franconia (France), is seared into the collective memory of the Muslim world.
On the way to Jerusalem they weren’t particularly squeamish either, but murdered and pillaged everyone and everything who was a Christian but wasn’t Catholic. There were no discussions among heathens anyway. The reward followed immediately after the Pope’s promise. Retention of looted goods and complete remission of sins and punishments. “God wanted it that way.”
Reappraisal – regret?
This crusade is just one example of the countless robberies and arson carried out by the Church of Rome against any people who did not recognize the Pope as the (adorable) head of this world. This church took particularly brutal action against people who adhered to the Gospel and not to the traditions according to the Catholic catechism.
To date, there has been no serious response to these atrocities around the world that have taken place over many centuries. Isolated incidents were only taken up and “straightened” if this appeared necessary for ecumenism. The true scope of this church’s crimes will no longer be known after a thorough cleaning of its archives.
The Evangelical Church of Austria, to which this bishop belongs, is also on a close relationship with the Roman Catholic Church within the framework of ecumenism. An institution that can demonstrate in its annals the characteristics of a “rabid, pseudo-religious embellishment of baseness and self-overestimation.” A church whose leader has never admitted that he is not a god and that it was all just an embarrassing mistake (Info).
“In the Name of God” – Which God?
This Abrahamic religion mentioned by the bishop, which is based solely on the fact that Christianity, Judaism and Islam have the same forefather Abraham, is a construct of ecumenism. Anyone who argued that they have a common God for this reason would probably see no difference between Cain and Abel, since both have Adam as their father.
Which God does the bishop actually have in mind? The God of the Bible or the God of the Koran? Since there is only one God, but the God of the Bible cannot be the God of the Koran (Info), one of the two “gods” would simply be omitted as a pure fiction.
Ecumenism makes its own “god”
But ecumenism is naturally based on compromises. Can this actually exist if, as a Protestant bishop, you actually represent the God of the Bible? Apparently this works wonderfully from the perspective of the ecumenical participants. It’s not about conveying the gospel, but rather about uniting humanity into a peaceful gathering in order to worship a newly defined “God” together.
A universal “God” contained entirely in creation. Can be found in every tree, in every blade of grass, under every stone. In short, nature is God and in the spirit of panentheism, the personified God can be worshiped as the sun that keeps everything alive. According to the visions of Francis of Assisi, the great role model of the current Pontifex Maximus.
The false prophet in action
The argumentation and derivation of the Protestant bishop is aimed directly at this vision put forward by the Roman Catholic Church in accordance with its social teaching. The false prophet speaks at the mouth of his Roman “Lord and Master” (Revelation 13).
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
Romans 1:25
Bible verses from King James Version
