I’ve written about many subjects on this blog but there is none that equals the significance of this one considering the uncounted millions of human lives lost in the 20th and now the 21st Century!
Very often we hear the expression ‘they made the supreme sacrifice’, usually meaning humans have sacrificed their life for some political objective as determined by government’s led by emperor, dictator, monarch, president, prime minister, etc., etc, elected or not.
I suggest this scenario is little changed throughout thousands of years of human history, i.e. the projection of a nations power, or defense, via the sacrifice of their human population! *
Therefore the question that I believe may fairly be asked then is this; Are such human sacrifices not in reality ‘religious perversion’?!
For example; historian’s well discern that in the Mayan culture human sacrifices were often made to ensure the success of crops or other untold various interests. Interestingly, in our day, those ancient human sacrifices, be they men, women, or children, are often regarded as atrocities, perverted abuses of the populace by their rulers, supported by their religious representatives, in other words the ruling elements of their society!
“politics and nationalism…exalted the state as divine…or identified it with the march of God in history.” For some, the “worship of the state as the personification of the spirit of the nation was essential for realization of the national destiny.” (Ideas in Conflict, Edward Burns) *
My question is; what has changed today? Modern day governments may regard themselves as well informed and progressive, but doesn’t the sacrifice of human lives for one national purpose or another simply reflect all those ancient sacrifices made in the Mayan culture, or in hundreds of other cultures throughout thousands of years of human history?
When young men and women are encouraged, even trained, to make the ‘ultimate sacrifice’ of their lives for some national, or dare I say ‘cultural’ cause, what difference is there to all those ancient societies? Societies that interestingly no longer exist in spite of those sacrifices.
How can it be said that ‘modern’ man is any more advanced in his thinking than historically significant societies like the Mayan’s and countless others?
The reality is that mankind is in darkness spiritually speaking. No amount of technological advances can overcome this fact. No matter how it may be couched in glowing terms, human sacrifice is still a common practice after thousands of years. In other words there has been no progress spiritually for the nations of mankind, in fact the scale of human lives lost in national conflicts is ever increasing, aided and abetted by religious elements as always. “Kill one man and you’re a murderer, kill a million and you’re a conqueror.” (Jean Rostand quote)
Why can’t it be understood that ‘God wants mercy and not sacrifice’? (Matt. 9:13) Make no mistake about it; sacrificing human lives for any national purpose is in no way the ‘will of God’! They have not and will not receive his blessing for doing so. On the contrary, they are condemned by him for doing so.
As the BeeGee’s song of decades ago said it… ‘the answer my friends is blowing on the wind’, the ‘scriptural wind’ imho.
* “Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.”
(Albert Einstein)