GUEST COLUMN – Is God forgotten?

IT WAS well said that “with the death of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn on August 3, 2008, the world has lost one of the great souls of this or any age, a writer of skill and grace and a true friend of human liberty and dignity”. They were still meeting some 25 years later at Harvard to discuss what is perhaps his most famous speech – http://bit.ly/alexander_harvard. His Templeton lecture however, is where I begin. Solzhenitsyn perfectly summarised the principal trait of the 20th century: “Men have forgotten God.”The failings of human consciousness, deprived of its divine dimension, have been a determining factor in all the major crimes of this century.” He was speaking from experience. Solzhenitsyn experienced militant atheism first hand and identified “hatred of God”, not “their political or economic pretensions”, as the principal driving force.  Solzhenitsyn’s relevance today cannot be overstated and like other notable writers, his words ring true even in death. In his essay, Repentance and Self-Limitation in the Life of Nations he writes: “We must stop blaming everyone else – our neighbours and more distant peoples, our geographical, economic, or ideological rivals, always claiming that we alone are in the right. “Repentance is the first bit of firm ground underfoot . . . . Repentance is the only starting point for spiritual growth. For each and every individual. And every trend of social thought.”  Repentance? That might have been fine in Jesus’ day when He began to preach: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” But men who have forgotten God are now asking: Repent to whom, and more importantly, of what? We are now masters of our domain. “The humanistic way of thinking,” says Solzhenitsyn, “which had proclaimed itself our guide, did not admit the existence of intrinsic evil in man, nor did it see any task higher than the attainment of happiness on earth.” He notes that, in the West, “. . . a total emancipation occurred from the moral heritage of Christian centuries with their great reserves of mercy and sacrifice. State systems were becoming more materialistic.“The West has finally achieved the rights of man, and even to excess, but man’s sense of responsibility to God and society has grown dimmer and dimmer.” There is nothing inherently evil in creature comforts. The inherent evil comes in the motives and means by which we acquire them; sometimes at the expense of our souls. But what shall we give in return when that very soul is required of us? In stark contrast to the common ideal of unlimited freedom, Solzhenitsyn gave us the true definition of freedom: “restriction of self for the sake of others.”  In the words of our Lord: “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Or more to the point: “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Can true and lasting freedom be found elsewhere? Perhaps it is only fitting to end on the note with which Solzhenitsyn began his Harvard address: “Truth is seldom sweet; it is almost invariably bitter.  A measure of bitter truth is included in my speech today, but I offer it as a friend, not as an adversary.”