This direct and premeditated desire to free society and in particular the government of any association with theistic religion was unprecedented. Nothing like it had ever happened in the prior two thousand years of European history. The concept of god had been used in positive ways and also in negative ways to justify crime and manipulate and control people. However, the protestant idea of placing everybody under God’s authority, putting even popes and kings under the power of the Scriptures, was a tremendous leap forward for individual freedom and rights. Before that, the Magna Charta had been a first step in that direction, kings could no longer do what they wanted without having to answer for it. Even kings were to be held accountable to God.
In essence, what the reformation said was; “No one is above God or the Scriptures. Not kings or dukes, not popes or pastors.” Interpretation would always be an issue, but placing a bible in the hands of the common people brought about a sense of empowerment and equality never heard of before in the annals of history. It also brought about one of the greatest leaps forward in literacy the world has ever seen. Whether you were a plow boy or the neighborhood woodcutter or a land owner and a Duke, you could read the bible for yourself and you could form your own opinion. This brought about in a very real way the first great democracies in modern history. It created a thriving common ground for a fervent morality which, among other things, brought an end to the African slave trade as well an end to child labor. It empowered people.
It was in this culture that modern science and medicine and humanitarian reforms flourished, though never perfectly. In a fallen world, even those struggling to follow God and his word will fall short, and every generation has it’s high marks and its lows.
But if the Bible is the Word of God, I have to believe He was pleased by seeing so many people able to read and meditate upon His word.
Unfortunately, Darwin and Lyell, Marx and Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky brought and end to all that. The bible wasn’t the word of God, Darwin had supposedly just proven that, and God was dead. He was out of the picture .Men and women, plow boys and Dukes could no longer have access to a book which informed them about the basic truths of life. They no longer had a book or common source that they could interpret for themselves to understand the basics of the human condition, nature, sexuality, and morals. No.
From now on, they would have to rely on the intellectuals to do that for them. And Stalin and Marx and the evolutionary and academic community were only to glad to take over the role previously played by scripture and scripture’s God. Darwin’s priests would tell them how life had formed and Lyell’s pastors would inform how old the earth was. Karl Mark would dictate to them who they were and how they should be governed.
See more in The Apostasia, coming soon in the Amazon Kindle bookstore
