What Shall We Believe?

Years ago, when Soviet Communism was in full bloom, I visited Poland for some weeks. Poland was then behind the Iron Curtain, a Socialist wasteland in the world of Marxist atheism. While there, I spent several days at Auschwitz, the infamous World War II Nazi death camp in Southern Poland.

Auschwitz was dedicated to killing vast numbers of the innocent, especially Jewish persons, even children. Auschwitz is testament to the brutality which human beings so often inflict upon one another. Today, a museum in Washington, D. C. reminds us that evil does indeed exist. Here is the link: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (ushmm.org).

During my visit, I witnessed many heart-wrenching sights and sounds, including dungeons where prisoners were tortured. Doors of these dungeons were of wood three inches thick. On the inside of these doors, deep striations are gouged into the wood, made by prisoners’ finger nails as they clawed hopelessly for relief. It was difficult not to weep for these people, so hated for no other reason other than that they were alive.

An Extraordinary Witness

Among these dungeons was the cell of Fr. Maximillian Kolbe, a Catholic priest who voluntarily died in place of a married man. Here is what happened:

In July 1941, a prisoner escaped from Auschwitz. As retaliation, the Nazis picked ten men to starve to death. One of these men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, was married with children. When selected to die, he exclaimed: "My wife! My children!" Fr. Kolbe heard his anguished voice and immediately volunteered to take his place (Franciszek died in 1995; he was 93).

These ten condemned men were deprived of food and water for two weeks, when four men, including Fr. Kolbe, remained alive. Guards reported that, even then, Fr. Kolbe led the prisoners in prayer. To hasten death, Nazi guards injected them with carbolic acid. They died August 14, 1941. That date is now honored by the Catholic Church as the Feast of Saint Maximilliam Kolbe, who is designated “a martyr to charity.”

Kolbe’s choice to accept death raises profound questions: Why did he volunteer? Why is he remembered to this day? Surely uncounted millions died under the godless rule of National Socialism (Naziism) and Communism. Why is Kolbe celebrated? Did his Catholic Faith and his trust in the Christian message of Love and Redemption influence his decision?

Denying The Obvious

Auschwitz stands as an indictment of evil and sin. Today, however, some morally befuddled people say it is uncivil even to mention sin or say that evil behavior has grave consequences for communities and nations. Many people now shelve concern about evil and, perversely, even reward evildoers.

It seems incredible that many people ignore evil, linger in self-imposed ignorance, “feel” that making solid judgments is offensive, even about people who seek our annihilation. And as we dally with morality and stifle Truth, crises loom. Here is only one: Iran's Mullahs and Their Deadly Serious Plan: The Total Annihilation of Israel and the US :: Gatestone Institute

But history is clear: when people ignore evil, they normalize sin and cooperate (however remotely) in the propagation of evil. They choose not to know, then hide behind their ignorance. Some muster specious claims to justify their lack of due diligence.

But history is clear: passivity in the face of evil is not neutral; avoidance of hard facts has dire consequences. Avoidance (deliberate or otherwise) blinds people to evil and promotes our nation’s demise.

History is inescapably clear about this. Self-delusion has serious consequences.

We are born to act with responsibility and accountability; born to develop our educated conscience and act with self-restraint if we are to preserve and foster freedom as individuals and as nations.

Our Responsibility As Persons

Our educated conscience knows that we are accountable first to God, our Creator, then to each other. Right thinking people see no ambiguity about God’s primacy in human affairs. Furthermore, there is no ambiguity about the universal value of Truth and Kindness, Empathy and Altruism, Humility and Justice, Forgiveness and Reconciliation, Prudence and Temperance which should govern our behavior as persons and as nations.

Thus, the gift of life and our membership in the human community bestow on us our responsibility to ourselves and to one another. To be human is to honor our relationship with other members of the human family. Even strangers a world away are our kin.

Our powers of Reason (another gift) tell us over our lifetimes what is expected of us, what changes we should make, how we should choose, what it means for us to act with mature conscience and conduct ourselves as human beings and as humane nations.

There’s no ambiguity about the laws and limits of relationships with other people. These rules are made clear, rightly defined by various Christian Virtues which should guide human behavior.

What is initially ambiguous are the ways we may relate to God, our Creator, Whose ways are oft-beclouded in Mystery.
But we have ways to relate to God and diminish ambiguity. These ways begin with our acts of Faith and Fidelity … but they do not end there. Why? Because we always have a choice … always.

Faith And Mystery

Given the reality of Mystery all around us and our initial state of unknowing, it is obvious that ambiguity about many things is our natural condition. From birth, we seek answers to life’s Mystery.

In fact, everything - everything - in Creation is Mystery; not just Faith. The Mystery of the Universe (with billions of galaxies stretching to infinity) attests to overwhelming Mystery in life. So, it is entirely natural that ambiguity is present in our attempts to comprehend some of the Mystery of God. It’s also natural that ambiguity is the doorway to Faith, not a reason to deny Faith.

Mystery is everywhere. Even our notion of “certitude” is fleeting: what we think we know inevitably leads to further unknowing. And “certitude” always relates to what we are given in Creation. Our notion of “time” is also an arbitrary invention, meant to encapsulate experience and muzzle the fact that we live in an Eternal Now, on a tiny planet in a precarious Universe so vast that we cannot comprehend the Mystery to which our awareness is witness.

So, without Mystery, Faith means nothing … and life would be awfully dull. And, once we realize that bafflement is normal, we might credit God with a kindly sense of cosmic humor and a Divine chuckle at our musings.

Wisely, the Christian message also includes our need for moral authority in our lives, starting with our parents and moving into maturity, which grants us the Faith to accept the authority of God as our final, benign Authority … Whose Love ever await us.

Behavior Follows Belief

Thus, Faith responds to our deepest needs: (1) our need to make sense of life, and (2) our need for competent authority to lead us with benign concern. But critics of Faith say:

There are no positive truths in religion or in life.

Supernatural reality - God - doesn’t exist.

There are no Objective Truths, only urges of the self.

Everything is tolerated because morality is merely opinion.

Religion, including Scripture and the Parables, has no moral truths, just sentimental fairy dust.

It’s every man and woman for him/herself.

Christian morality stunts my “freedom” to do as I please.

Sex gives pleasure; what’s wrong with that?

Religious doctrines intrude on “individual freedom.”

History reveals the depravity which these ideas engender. But, history also reveals that some religious believers are at fault for evil abuse, even though authentic religious belief never excuses evil behavior.

In fact, the inescapable responsibility of Christians is to heed the restraints and admonitions of their Faith. Authentic Faith never distorts Divine Authority nor knowingly exceeds moral boundaries.

So, Christian morality condemns evil behavior … but Christian morality also extends forgiveness (thank God) to those of us who express true repentance (whew … good to know!!).

Let Us Be Clear

Some critics dismiss Christian morality and our religious needs as excessive fervor, as the fevered ramblings of extremists. The evidence of Creation says otherwise. In addition, history, human experience, Reason and Common Sense again attest to our need (1) for credible leaders, and (2) a moral framework for human behavior, both of which are found in Christian Faith.

The Christian life involves practical (yet demanding and noble) beliefs and self-discipline. To a nihilist, the Christian message is aggravating, but the nihilist misses the point.

Why? Because the Christian message comes to us, sturdy and consistent, through centuries of Revelation, disciplined learning and intellectual rigor, aided by the Authority of the Holy Spirit, Who inspires our struggle for Faith over self-deception.

Faith is eminently reasonable to souls who recognize the need for moral goodness in human affairs; who understand true freedom always has limits; who honor an educated conscience; who can discern that we humans are spiritual by nature; who realize we are born to seek God and are aided in our search with gifts of body, mind, heart and soul – gifts freely given.

Faith And Simplicity

Christian Faith is an acknowledgement of reality. Faith sees the world as a constant epiphany, a panoply of Revelation and a comforting Mystery in which (as Bernanos says) God's grace is everywhere.

Everywhere we may behold the work of God … if we do not disdain the gift of our own Creation and stifle the quiet beauty of simple Truth all around.

The Christian message insists we are loved by an Authority far more ennobling than we shall ever be, invited to share God’s better way, enlightened by the Life, Death and Resurrection of Christ Who did it for us.

Life’s meaning is found in these Truths. To be sure, it is not because of our strength that we are saved, but because of our weakness, our wonderment, our doubts, our awe as we behold Mystery - and accept God’s Hand. Then Faith invites our acquiescence and our fidelity … bolstered by our reliance on the grace of God to sustain us.

Faith reaffirms the fact that our value to God and the depth of His Love for us are far, far beyond our comprehension. We naturally wonder: “Why me, Lord?” And yet, despite our ambiguity and wonderment, our task in life is to surrender to the Mystery of the Love of God which is, ever and always, awaiting.

It is this awareness of Faith’s ultimate promise which inspired Fr. Kolbe … and inspires us to acts of Goodness which make sense of the Loving Mystery of God Who enfolds us all.

Daniel Boland PhD is a clinical psychologist who lives in California.