So I bumped across this video and found it very thoughtful.  


The power of Marxism is it's religious structure for explaining the world (if poorly), giving people a transcendant meaning (if illusory), and giving traditions, rituals, and connectedness.

The basic human need for this is explored in this discussion, the general failure of "New Atheism" to compete, or put forth a compelling human vision, and it points to the opportunity or need for Christianity to step up to the plate, and show how it has the better and more fullfilling world framework to offer.

From the French Revolution's war on religion, through the Marxist hostility toward it, The Religion of Jesus Christ has always been a tremendous threat to Marxism as people who have God have no need of Marx's revolutions nor world governments.  One can trace the American experience of increasing attempts to discredit reliigous worship and views through efforts to break and turn people away from God so they will be open to accepting Marx's human gospel.

So... Perhaps we should consider, is it up to we who know the Lord to pray for strenght and stand strong, teach the truth despite the cost, and steel ourselves to take the battle for the soul of man to the very gates of hell?  Are we too focused on "the good life" to do what we must to teach and lead by example?  It is a call for self examination I think.

On a side note, this talk also mentioned Maximus the Confessor, who I looked up afterward and was enjoying resulting discussion on being "dispationate" in the sense of having passions but being mindful how to restrain them for the good.

Nice discussion.  Thank you for sharing it.  My artistic skills are limited to stick figures, but I find the artistic expression of the Divine, faith, and order (properly oriented to Christ) very fascinating.  It seems that neoconservatism eschews emotion and art in favor of so-called facts and science.  It's not surprising considering its enlightenment roots, but unfortunate because it tends to simplify and reduce man to a clever animal.  It's both lame and arrogant.

It's nice to hear people acknowledge truths and dangers that the Catholic Church identified, condemned, and combated for hundreds of years.  I think you're correct in tracing it back to the evil French Revolution, but I don't the latter would have been possible without Protestant Revolt, which effectively splintered Christianity and the literal hierarchy this video discusses.

I have to say that it's funny-ironic to hear an Orthodox guy harangue on hierarchy.

Also, funny to hear an intelligent person define man as a collection of stories.  Great example of how even conservatives lack a solid foundation if not founded on Christ.

I think this time is causing a lot of people to have to reexamine and re-shuffle their long held ideas, having uncomfortable discussions, but also trying to see a bigger picture that they might have isolated themselves from previously.  Interesting times sadly.

That's pretty goddamned hilarious. It starts out with an assertion which is precisely opposite of the truth and then gets into increasingly strange fits of hallucinatory despair. It's a lot like the Book of Revelations in that respect. I wonder if OP wrote that screed on Patmos while waiting for a ferry like St. John the Divine with Revelations.

1. Athiesm doesn't compete with religion for anything, least of all a "compelling human vision" which is basically just idiotic word salad. Atheism is a failure to believe someone else's bullshit story. Not an ideology of its own. It's a simple concept to grok.
2. The religion of Jesus Christ is little more than a complete and utter refutation of the Judaism that it drew from and was caused by Paul's desire to include the Gentiles. An act that would have had Jesus himself, a devout jew, rolling in his grave and cursing Paul. Beyond that, Christianity and Judaism and Islam are nonsensical bronze age goat herder myths which are all based on the other nonsensical, copied from earlier cultures and otherwise internally logically inconsistent neolithic and post-neolithic myths developed by tribal goat herders which the people that we now call Jews turned into nothing more than a horrific and genocidal death cult which is therefore unlikely to reveal any great truths about the universe.
3. Marxism is an economic school of thought itself doesn't really touch on religion other than to recognize it as a symptom of a greater disease. Marx himself was of the, widely shared, opinion that religion itself was/is an emergent property of people being forced to endure poor conditions. Marx himself appears to have been a dyed in the wool anti-theist, not merely an atheist. An anti-theist is against religion as both an institution and as a basis of an ideological system. Anti-theists reject not simply the ideology at hand itself (whatever it may be) but the very concept of religion. An atheist simply fails to accept the positive assertion that there is some supernatural god and so makes no statement about the existence of religion itself or other people's decision to adopt a religion. Atheism is an entirely private matter taking place only in a single mind. Antitheism is a political view which is not of the same kind of thing as atheism as it is usually concerned with the behavior of other people. Marx was and remains wrong about both economics and religion. Religion is needed, if for nothing else, as the last refuge of the scoundrel. The Marxist-Leninist variation (among others) of Marx's ideology brought definite atheist policy into the system of governance and the structure of the state ostensibly as a way to return political power to the individual but in reality for exactly the opposite reason (it's hard to control a person's mind fully if that mind has some other authority figure on the access control list).
4. When it comes down to it, supernatural religion is little more than an income tax scheme which doesn't require a police force to enforce it and that comes with the side effect of being able to control the masses with some seriously insane bullshit which they will always credulously accept. Always has been.
5. As far as the relationship of the church to society, I think that's pretty well summed up in Paul's words to Timothy, "Preach the word." As stated by the Reverend Jerry Fallwell about this very topic in 1965, "Nowhere are we commissioned to reform the externals. We are not told to wage wars against bootleggers, liquor stores, gamblers, murderers, prostitutes, racketeers, prejudiced persons or institutions, or any other existing evil as such. Our ministry is not reformation but transformation."

If godheads wanted to do something positive with their faith, they'd keep it to themselves. You're not going to save anyone but yourself anyway if your mythos is even remotely correct so why do you waste the time and energy thinking about it. There's a staged plan to make sure you maximize the number of other people you save from Hell. "Get yourself in order. Get your house in order. Get the world in order." Nobody makes it past stage 2 but somehow they still think trying is worthwhile even though phase 3 is an emergent property of success in phases 1 and 2.

re·li·gion
/r?'lij?n/

1) the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.

2) a particular system of faith and worship.
plural noun: religions

3) a pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance.
"consumerism is the new religion"

Atheism is very much a religion, and its adherents are some of the most zealous fanatics you will ever come across. Their object of worship is Man himself. He is their godhead, and the only paragon worthy of praise. The nature of their hubris dictates that, though they have no idea on how they are even standing on the miracle called Earth while experiencing the surrealism of existence, they know for sure it was not because of a higher power. For how could any power be higher than Man?

Their religion is likewise faith-based with tenets that are centered around their sacred mantras of "reason", "objectivity", and "evidence". Their Messiah is "Science" and no matter how flawed or how many times it is incorrect or errs, they dismiss its failings with the same mental gymnastics and delusions they condemn the religious for.

Cynicism and skepticism comprise their liturgy, and they worship through their daily practices of dismissal, denial, and ridicule as they attack anything they feel lies outside their acceptable confines of tangibility.

Oh and do they ever Evangelize! In fact, every opportunity they have whether in the media, at dinner parties, on forums, or at work, they proselytize their unsolicited gospel with a patronizing zeal that betrays their true insecurities, animosity, and misery.

Quite the religion, really.
@ballisticxlr

The OT speaks many times of the eventual inclusion of Gentiles, as did Christ and all of the other Apostles. Paul was a devout Jew, and the agreement to preach to the gentiles was made between he and Peter.

words

I'd say you missed the point, but I'm not persuaded you were ever interested in understanding in the first place.

But I'm glad you at least acknkowledge the key upsides of the Religion of Jesus Christ in comparison to Marx in that it doesn't have to steal anyone's money to build something, and doesn't have to force anyone to be a part of it or do work for it.  You'd think that would be considered a plus in this day and age of rampant statism.