By: Keith Miles
Seeing the latest film about the hidden graves led me to think about the contrasts between various systems and ideologies.
One obvious and good method is to contrast the way the different ideologies view key actions.
If we consider Christianity, I would say that the three key matters for this faith are Love, Forgiveness, and Service,
If we contrast this with Communism I would say Hate, Fear, and Retribution.
Of course, we must admit that not all Christians have lived up to these ideals, and not all communists have been part of the totalitarian repressive regimes. However, as the old saying goes you cannot judge a book by its cover, although ancient wisdom says you can judge by the actions and the friends that are kept.
Perhaps the best-known quotation is from the Bible – Matthew 7:16-18
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Less well known are the following that have the same or similar meaning:
Latin: Noscitur a sociis – He is known by his companions.
Greek: Euripides who died circa 406 B.C. – Every man is like the company he is wont to keep.
Cervantes: You shall know the person by his company: You shall know the person by his company:
Goethe: Sage mir mit wem du umgehst, so sage ich dir wer du bist (Tell me who you associate with, and I will tell you who you are.)
The recent and still developing series The Chosen that is about Jesus and his disciples, and the developing mission is interesting in the early episodes because it shows Him choosing the disciples. They are a cross section of society at that time. Plain men, working men, one or two intellectual, one or two fighters, some not particularly well educated, but all are decent and drawn to the love and charisma that Jesus of Nazareth exuded.
Contrast that with communist and other totalitarian leaders, and with Marx and Lenin, and Engels and Mao, Stalin, and others. They pretend to be on the side of the ordinary man but are driven by hatred of their opponents so that the greatest crimes of the 20th century were perpetrated by communists. Mao and Stalin killed millions. Pol Pot in Cambodia did likewise. Castro and Che Guevara were not far behind. The evidence of Tito’s killings is uncovered with the opening of the hidden graves.
Over many centuries some Christians did bad things but the doctrine over-riding Christian belief was Love and Forgiveness and Service. Also Christians acknowledge their sins and shortcomings on a regular basis through confession. The parallel doctrine of the ‘Servant-King’ also has been very important because for Christians leadership means also being a servant. This doctrine also greatly affected non-practising Christians through the social inheritance of European culture.
The contrast with the elitist behaviour of communists and hard leftists could not be more clear. Just look at how left totalitarian regimes awarded themselves with all the trappings of wealth. Tito had more palaces than European Kings. The book ‘The New Class’ by Milovan Djilas sets out this so clearly and should still be read by students in universities if they want to see reality from the past.
Contrast also the failure of present-day leftists to acknowledge the crimes of communism with the regular confession of Christians of their errors and mistakes and failure to live up to Christian ethics.