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The Case for Martyrdom
Here at the tail end of Holy Week seems a good place to talk about the transformative power of the suffering of innocents. There are many calls on this site to find a solution to our failing republic now that Democrats and the Left have shown their totalitarian hand with the indictment of a former president and opposition candidate on fabricated charges. I believe the political solutions are few, if they exist at all. What we have is a spiritual problem, not a political one.
With that in mind, let’s review the power of conversion behind the blood of the martyrs. Not only are people’s minds changed, but their very hearts and souls are transformed by witnessing the suffering of innocents. There is no better example than Jesus, a first-century Jewish peasant from the backwater village of Nazareth. The suffering and death of the Lamb of God changed the whole world forever. This is indisputable. For Christians, the Resurrection, Ascension, and Reign of Jesus is the point of it all, but even non-believers and non-Christians have to admit Christianity has been transformative in the world.
The counter-example is Adolf Hitler, dead in a burned-out bunker with a bullet in his brain. That seems like justice to most of us. At least a modicum of temporal justice. But, it didn’t call anyone to better himself, unless somehow “don’t be evil” is an improvement.
We have our secular martyrs to consider as well. MLK and the civil rights marches are examples. The water cannons and police dogs directed at marchers shamed all but the most hardened bigots. People have a heartfelt response to the inhumane treatment of innocents. It may start as shame, but it can end in repentance and conversion of heart. Even a whole society may be transformed.
I guess I’m advocating not only non-violence, but to “live not by lies” (Alexander Solzhenitsyn is another martyr to admire). To have the courage to speak the truth in the face of persecution. And, should it come, to let our martyrdom be a witness to the truth, and for the good of the whole world. For Christians, to emulate the docility of Mary to the will of God in her life and the life of her beloved Son.
Published in General“It is up to us today to take up this challenge, to live not by lies and to speak the truth that defeats evil. How do we do this in a society built on lies? By accepting a life outside the mainstream, courageously defending the truth, and being willing to endure the consequences.” — Rod Dreher
Peter wrote this in chapter 4 of his first epistle:
12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; 13 but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. 14 If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15 Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; 16 but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.
I think we need to be careful in acknowledging that former President Trump is suffering not an innocence but for his adultery and fraud. While at the same time condemning the abuse of power to prosecute him outside of the normal statute of limitations and with severity beyond the standard measure.
I voted for Trump and would certainly prefer him to President Biden or any other current Democrat in office. But I wouldn’t call him a martyr, especially not a Christian martyr.
I mostly agree. But, he might very well be a martyr for the Republic.
I don’t think he’s suffering for “his adultery and fraud”. At all. Not in the least. Firstly, what fraud?? Secondly, he’s being persecuted for his politics not his old extramarital affairs. The charges have nothing to do with having sex with anyone, but persecutions over alleged financial documentation.
I don’t like to use the word “crucified” but he’s being pilloried for his politics.
Thank you: succinct and on point. I believe those prosecuting (and many others) would give Trump the Julius Cesar treatment if they could. Some many be thinking about it.
Mention martyrs for the Republic, and I think many here would immediately think of the many innocents who are among the J6 prisoners.
Whenever permitted, they have a small patriotic and religious assembly outside their cells in the hallway, where they recite the pledge of allegiance and then bow their heads in prayer.
Recently I watched a short video of such a meeting, and it was an extremely powerful reminder of how some people valiantly work on their inner strength, even when everything important to a human is denied them. (Including decent food, exercise, natural daylight and fresh air, family life, normal daily activities like chilling in your own house listening to favorite music.)
I am sure that in his darker moments, he does turn to his Christian faith.
He is a Christian, and he has been martyred repeatedly. The attacks on his reputation, many of which involved not his adultery or his fraud, did involve the idea that he had sold himself out to Putin.
I can’t imagine how anyone loving the USA would feel when being pilloried over their status with Russia, especially given that almost every word of these diatribes were lies.
No one is asking he be considered a saint.
But when he ran for office, he never once thought that the Left would attempt to force his best ideas for what the country needed to be shelved while they scrambled along attempting to derail his Presidency.
Despite all that, until March 2020, he had ensured that our economy was lifted out of the toilet and once again was a major force in the world.
It is my fear that we will not see someone of his ambition and true love for the nation again in the WH during our lifetimes.
Agreed.
The universality of the Gospel message is one of the few forces to combat the increasing tribalism from which we suffer today. The downfall of Christendom is not going to be pretty.
Trump is being attacked ruthlessly because the attacks work on the silly woosies on our side.
I have mentioned before how in the spring of 2018 I inadvertently clicked on a video which filmed a panel of men over in Europe discussing the success that they were seeing in bringing the population of Europe to a point where Muslims would outnumber Christians prior to 2026. (Apparently they had been aiming for 2030, but the program they had created was so successful the date had been moved up! Through the media fostering certain notions across Europe, the public had been persuaded that it was intolerant to respect their own national borders and that vast numbers of poor people from Africa must be welcomed. By the time people woke up to how detrimental it was to their nations to have such a thing happen, it was too late.)
I have no idea of who the sponsor of this group was, as at the time, the World Economic Forum was not a household name. But I have concluded that these men were of that group.
Their names were not revealed but all of the 6 or 7 men were very affluent and between the ages of 25 to 40. They spoke in the manner that academics speak, very formally and coldly. I doubt that one fact that did not escape their thinking was that the program that they were concocting would be very harmful to almost everyone in Europe as well as in Great Britain, Ireland, and Scotland. But the average person was considered to be several levels beneath them, and not of any intrinsic worth.
The very same week that I watched this video, Germany’s leader Merkle announced that there must no longer be crucifixes hung on the walls of German classrooms, in order to ensure that newly arriving students of the Muslim faith would feel welcome at their new schools.
That sounds familiar. They did the same at Boston College(!) — a Jesuit school. Peter Kreeft tells a great story about one of his student’s negative response to the removal. I believe he was Muslim.
Contempt for people is yuuuge on the Left. It’s a defining feature. Also an anti-Christian one, and destructive to western civilization, which is grounded on the Christian belief in the inestimable value of every person, since we are created the image and likeness and God.
You (the OP) refer to MLK as a secular martyr, and I guess that’s true overall. But he was referred to as the Reverend Martin Luther King (or Doctor, which referred to his divinity degree). His civil rights organization(s) started from his and other Christian churches and much of his speeches were sermons originally delivered from a pulpit.
Then you refer to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who defied the Communist Party’s anti-religious stance as a member of the Russian Orthodox Church.
They were popular in the secular culture, but I doubt that they considered themselves secular, to the extent they were martyrs (Solzhenitsyn wasn’t killed, and though imprisoned, I’m not sure he was even tortured; though all these things hung over his head and he knew it).
I’ll also add that the very people who engage in the present day social oppression also use martyrdom as an argument. I don’t consider George Floyd a martyr, but the left convinced enough people that he was, so those people turned around and burned down their own neighborhoods.
Martyrdom to change minds? It’s a mixed bag.
There are white martyrs (those who suffer for the faith) and red martyrs (murdered for the faith).
Yes, MLK was a reverend, but he wasn’t killed explicitly for the faith, but rather for his efforts for justice for blacks. A noble effort, but civil rights are a secular matter, not that there’s any reason to sneer at secular justice.
Solzhenitsyn similarly stood against the injustices of communism. Also a noble secular effort.
As to the “martyrdom” of George Floyd, there is nothing the
devilLeft cannot corrupt. I will not surrender the term to the likes of the devil, and Floyd’s criminal history and drug induced death are certainly not the type of “martyrdom” I’m advocating. I hope that was clear.It was clear. Floyd’s type of martyrdom is just as effective, however.
By the way, regarding Jesus’s and his Apostles’s martyrdom, I’m not sure it was the case with every Apostle — though it was in the case of Paul — but they were executed by a government. In your modern day examples, Solzhenitsyn was oppressed by a government, and so was MLK, though in the end he wasn’t killed by the government.
For that matter, MLK’s hero, Ghandi, was an informal part of the Indian government when he was martyred.
The general argument that people have to make sacrifices to fight a culture “war” is a good one to make. But the oppression of Christianity in the West is no where near the level that it is in Muslim countries and Communist countries.
I’m not saying you’re wrong, but a little perspective is useful too.