Martian Visitor VIII

A MARTIAN EXAMINES CHRISTIANITY by Arthur Levett, Page 51
Chapter VIII The Martian Examines The Character of The Christian Saviour “ His philosophy has some strange elements,” said the Martian, “ and I would like to consider them in detail. May I further examine your New Testament in order that I might understand the character of your god and saviour as he appears there? ” “ You will find we have not misled you,” said the Modernist. “ As I have said,” he added, “ many of us do not believe in the divinity of Jesus, but we accept him as a great and good teacher.” “ But you are Christians? ” asked the Martian. “ Yes, we are Christians because we endeavour to follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.” “ We deny they are Christians,” said the Fundamentalist, “ for no one can be a Christian unless he believes that Jesus is the Son of God and is God, and that the Bible is His Inspired Word.” “ I gather,” said the Martian, “ your difference in in the meaning of the word Christian. Our Modernist friend believes it means to follow the teachings of him whom you call Jesus, while you believe it means that you must also accept him as your god, begotten by himself, and in this way of divine birth.” “ I think that expresses the main difference,” said the Modernist. The Martian spent some time turning the pages. “ Your saviour’s character as evidenced by his words and actions seems to me strangely inconsistent. Page 52 I find him to be at times gentle and forgiving, while at other times he manifests traits of character which to my mind are not in keeping with a kind and loving person.” “ I challenge that statement,” said the Priest. “ And I also,” said the Fundamentalist. “ May I point out my difficulty? ” said the Martian. “ He gives voice to sentiments and to rules of conduct many of which, while they seem to me to be utterly impracticable and, if I may say so, foolish, nevertheless evince a profound love for mankind; a sweet gentleness and a tenderness that are most appealing. On the other hand, in many of his sayings and actions he appears irascible, unforgiving, and merciless towards those who disagree with him. For example, I find him foolishly and angrily cursing a fig tree because it does not bear fruit out of season; ¹ I find him vituperative towards your fellow-men, exclaiming, ‘ Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of Hell? ’ ” ² “ Those were the Pharisees,” said the Fundamentalist, “ who were His enemies.” “ So it would appear,” said the Martian. “ Then he says: ‘ If any man come unto me and hate not his father and mother and wife and child and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.’ ³ Does that mean that you, as his followers, all hate your wives and children and father and mother? ” “ Oh, you have misread that,” said the Fundamentalist. “ It does not mean that.” “ It is a mistranslation? ” asked the Martian. “ No, but you have misinterpreted the language,” said the Priest. ¹ Matt. xxi. 19. ² Matt. xxiii. 33. ³ Luke xiv. 26. Page 53 “ Nevertheless, it seems to agree with his further statement, ‘Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you Nay; but rather division; . . . the father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother.’ ” ⁴ “ He came to establish peace and goodwill on earth,” said the Fundamentalist. “ It would hardly appear so,” replied the Martian. “ Besides, he himself states that he comes not to send peace, but a sword.” ⁵ “ That means the sword of justice,” said the Priest. “ He taught us even to love our enemies.” “ Apropos of that,” said the Martian, “ I find this statement: ‘ These mine enemies which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay them before me.’ ” ⁶ “ He wanted to save everyone if they would only believe in Him,” said the Fundamentalist. “ Yes, that seems to be the condition there laid down,” said the Martian. “ And yet it appears he spoke in parables so that ‘ Seeing they may see and not perceive; and hearing, they may hear and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted and their sins should be forgiven them.’ ” ⁷ “ You do not get the correct meaning of that passage,” said the Fundamentalist. “ Possibly not,” replied the Martian, “ although it seems to accord with this passage addressed to his disciples: ‘ And whomsoever shall not receive you nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.’ ” ⁸ “ He was referring there to the obstinate who refused to receive His Word,” said the Fundamentalist. ⁴ Luke xii. 51. ⁵ Matt. x. 34. ⁶ Luke xix. 27. ⁷ Mark iv. 12; Luke viii. 10. ⁸ Matt. x. 14. Page 54 “ But I find that he himself stated in Matthew: ‘ I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the House of Israel, . . . it is not meet to take the children’s bread and to cast it to dogs; ’ ⁹ and instructs his disciples to ‘ Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ ¹⁰ In John he says: ‘ Salvation is of the Jews.’ ¹¹ These passages clearly indicate to me that he was concerned in saving only his own people, the Jews. Am I mistaken as to that? ” asked the Martian. “ You certainly are mistaken about that,” said the Priest. “ He came to save all sinners.” “ I should not so interpret those passages,” remarked the Martian. He went on: “ I understand, then, that all who believe in him shall be saved, but those who do not believe in him shall not be saved? ” “ Exactly,” said the Priest. “ You will find in Mark the statement that he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not, shall be damned.” ¹² “ And by damned you mean — ” “ Sent to Hell,” said the Fundamentalist. “ That Hell that you have described to me with its eternal tortures? ” “ Yes,” said the Fundamentalist. “ The unbelievers shall writhe in Hell for ever.” ⁹ Matt. xv. 24, 26. ¹⁰ Matt. x. 5, 6. ¹¹ John iv. 22. ¹² Mark xvi. 16. Page 55 “ Yes, I see,” said the Martian; “ that would seem to be the meaning of this passage in Revelation: ‘ He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; ’ ¹³ of the words in Matthew: ‘ And shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth; ’ ¹⁴ also of his remark, ‘ Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.’ ¹⁵ And you say that your saviour taught these sentiments? ” “Yes,” said the Fundamentalist, “ for He is a just God.” “ And that this is your god? ” “ Yes, a most merciful and loving God.” “ Who condemns anyone to Hell who does not believe in him? ” “ Yes, the penalty of sin.” “ Your god would punish the sin of unbelief by eternal tortures in fire? ” “ Yes, it is so written as He said and taught it.” “ I cannot refrain from remarking,” said the Martian, “ that I do not find anything quite so bad as this in your Old Testament. Your god is there portrayed as committing and sanctioning all manner of earthly crimes; but I do not see anywhere that he would send his children to eternal torture merely for not believing what their minds, which he gave them, were unable to accept as true.” “ But he will save them if they believe in Him,” said the Fundamentalist. “ And that is the god of the New Testament,” continued the Martian, waving aside the interruption, “ who, you say, is kind, loving, meek, and gentle. Judging by Martian standards, we would consider him a thousand times worse than your old god.” “ He offers each one a chance to repent,” said the Priest. “ Repent? Repent of what? ” asked the Martian. “ Of using the mind which your god himself gave him ? ¹³ Rev. xiv. 10. ¹⁴ Matt. xiii. 42. ¹⁵ Matt. xxv. 4I. Page 56 How can one repent if his mind is unable to accept what his reason tells him cannot be? Can you force yourself to believe the sun is not shining when you see its light? ” “ But do you not note also the noble words he speaks? ” asked the Modernist. “ I have observed them, and his many kind actions, his sympathy and help for the unfortunate. Nevertheless, on our planet we judge a man by all that he does and says, and as we have no gods I can judge him only by our standard. Your god is willing to save those that believe in him, but condemns those that fail in this respect, and might fairly be said to gloat over the prospective eternal torture of those who reject him. I cannot conceive of a father who would eternally torture any of his children that do not accept his teachings as infallible; nor of any father who could sit quietly in his home or elsewhere and know that some of his children were suffering horrible torments. No, no; no man could be So cold, unmerciful, and cruel as your saviour appears from his actions as a god. You say he is your god himself, although your god’s son (a statement I do not understand) and therefore able to save his children; yet he is bloodthirsty enough to condemn them for the mere inability to believe. Such a character makes one shudder with horror.” The Fundamentalist gazed at the Martian as if stupefied. “ Nevertheless,” said the Priest, “ we believe in Him as the Supreme Ruler to whom we must bow down.” “ But is it not only through fear, and that a childish fear? A slave bows to his master through fear, a vassal to a king through fear; you earthly men to this supposed supreme ruler through fear, for it cannot be through love.” Page 57 “ I love Jesus with all my heart and with all my soul,” exclaimed the Fundamentalist; “ that is why I kneel to Him.” “ But you must concede,” said the Modernist, “ that as a man and as a teacher of right living He cannot be surpassed and you must remember that we Modernists look upon Him only as a man.” “ If I may be permitted to sum up the character of your saviour,” answered the Martian, “ it would seem to me that as a man he would undoubtedly pass muster as a good man; for while he is shown as being contemptuous to his mother, ¹⁶ and at times bad-tempered, vindictive, intolerant, and spiteful, nevertheless his chief characteristics are gentleness, sympathy, and love towards the unfortunate. In other words, viewing him as a human being, we might say he had his faults, but showed high moral traits. As a god he is cruel, merciless, and unjust.” The Fundamentalist could no longer restrain himself. He leaped to his feet, pale with anger, and appeared ready to flee from the room. He cast a startled look about him as if he feared some manifestation of his god’s wrath. He controlled himself with difficulty as he addressed the Martian: “ Sir, I must beg of you to refrain from such wicked and sinful blasphemy! “ The Martian remained calm. “ Pardon me; I meant no offence. I cannot, however, give any other interpretation to the words I find in your Bible itself. I am unacquainted with your modes of thought, but it seems that whenever I refer to anything in your Bible that is favourable to your god you permit me to adopt its natural meaning. ¹⁶ John ii. 4. Page 58 When, however, I point to something that in the slightest degree reflects discreditably upon your religion or your god you insist I must either ignore it, or attach to it a meaning that its words will not bear out. Possibly I should not express myself so frankly.” “ But as a teacher,” asked the Modernist, “ you must find his precepts noble and sublime? ” “ His philosophy of life, aside from certain sound moral precepts apparently borrowed from others, is impracticable, foolish, and ignorant, for it teaches as its grand theme - the very essence of his philosophy - a contempt for this life in the hope of a reward in a visionary future of the existence of which you have not yet shown me a particle of evidence. You will recall his precepts, to ‘ take no heed for the morrow, but put your faith in God’; not to store up riches, but to give everything away and trust to him to provide food and rainment; to consider the lilies of the field which toil not. In other words, to do absolutely nothing to better your condition on this earth. Such a philosophy demands inertia and stagnation. He even inveighs against joyousness, exclaiming, ‘ Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.’ ” ¹⁷ “ And He is right,” said the Fundamentalist, who had somewhat recovered from his anger. “ What matters the short space of life on earth compared to our eternity of happiness in His presence? What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? ” “ He taught meekness and humility,” said the Priest, “ because it is by those traits that we reach Heaven, the blessed goal.” ¹⁷ Luke vi. 25. Page 59 “ As a matter of fact,” commented the Martian, “ you do not obey the teachings, for your whole system of jurisprudence and of economics, and the general conduct of your lives is contrary to your professed religion, and must be so if you would continue to progress or to find any joy in life.” Chapter IX The Martian Inquires As To Everlasting Life Chapter VII The Martian Examines The NEW TESTAMENT Home: Chapter I The Martian Visits The Earth

A MARTIAN EXAMINES CHRISTIANITY by Arthur Levett, Page 51

Chapter VIII
The Martian Examines The
Character of The Christian Saviour
“ His philosophy has some strange elements,” said the Martian, “ and I would like to consider them in detail. May I further examine your New Testament in order that I might understand the character of your god and saviour as he appears there? ”
“ You will find we have not misled you,” said the Modernist. “ As I have said,” he added, “ many of us do not believe in the divinity of Jesus, but we accept him as a great and good teacher.”
“ But you are Christians? ” asked the Martian.
“ Yes, we are Christians because we endeavour to follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.”
“ We deny they are Christians,” said the Fundamentalist, “ for no one can be a Christian unless he believes that Jesus is the Son of God and is God, and that the Bible is His Inspired Word.”
“ I gather,” said the Martian, “ your difference in in the meaning of the word Christian. Our Modernist friend believes it means to follow the teachings of him whom you call Jesus, while you believe it means that you must also accept him as your god, begotten by himself, and in this way of divine birth.”
“ I think that expresses the main difference,” said the Modernist.
The Martian spent some time turning the pages.
“ Your saviour’s character as evidenced by his words and actions seems to me strangely inconsistent.

Page 52
I find him to be at times gentle and forgiving, while at other times he manifests traits of character which to my mind are not in keeping with a kind and loving person.”
“ I challenge that statement,” said the Priest.
“ And I also,” said the Fundamentalist.
“ May I point out my difficulty? ” said the Martian. “ He gives voice to sentiments and to rules of conduct many of which, while they seem to me to be utterly impracticable and, if I may say so, foolish, nevertheless evince a profound love for mankind; a sweet gentleness and a tenderness that are most appealing. On the other hand, in many of his sayings and actions he appears irascible, unforgiving, and merciless towards those who disagree with him. For example, I find him foolishly and angrily cursing a fig tree because it does not bear fruit out of season; ¹ I find him vituperative towards your fellow-men, exclaiming, ‘ Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of Hell? ’ ” ²
“ Those were the Pharisees,” said the Fundamentalist, “ who were His enemies.”
“ So it would appear,” said the Martian. “ Then he says: ‘ If any man come unto me and hate not his father and mother and wife and child and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.’ ³ Does that mean that you, as his followers, all hate your wives and children and father and mother? ”
“ Oh, you have misread that,” said the Fundamentalist. “ It does not mean that.”
“ It is a mistranslation? ” asked the Martian.
“ No, but you have misinterpreted the language,” said the Priest.

¹ Matt. xxi. 19.
² Matt. xxiii. 33.
³ Luke xiv. 26.

Page 53
“ Nevertheless, it seems to agree with his further statement, ‘Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you Nay; but rather division; . . . the father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother.’ ” ⁴
“ He came to establish peace and goodwill on earth,” said the Fundamentalist.
“ It would hardly appear so,” replied the Martian. “ Besides, he himself states that he comes not to send peace, but a sword.” ⁵
“ That means the sword of justice,” said the Priest. “ He taught us even to love our enemies.”
“ Apropos of that,” said the Martian, “ I find this statement: ‘ These mine enemies which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay them before me.’ ” ⁶
“ He wanted to save everyone if they would only believe in Him,” said the Fundamentalist.
“ Yes, that seems to be the condition there laid down,” said the Martian. “ And yet it appears he spoke in parables so that ‘ Seeing they may see and not perceive; and hearing, they may hear and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted and their sins should be forgiven them.’ ” ⁷
“ You do not get the correct meaning of that passage,” said the Fundamentalist.
“ Possibly not,” replied the Martian, “ although it seems to accord with this passage addressed to his disciples: ‘ And whomsoever shall not receive you nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.’ ” ⁸
“ He was referring there to the obstinate who refused to receive His Word,” said the Fundamentalist.

⁴ Luke xii. 51.
⁵ Matt. x. 34.
⁶ Luke xix. 27.
⁷ Mark iv. 12; Luke viii. 10.
⁸ Matt. x. 14.

Page 54
“ But I find that he himself stated in Matthew: ‘ I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the House of Israel, . . . it is not meet to take the children’s bread and to cast it to dogs; ’ ⁹ and instructs his disciples to ‘ Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ ¹⁰ In John he says: ‘ Salvation is of the Jews.’ ¹¹ These passages clearly indicate to me that he was concerned in saving only his own people, the Jews. Am I mistaken as to that? ” asked the Martian.
“ You certainly are mistaken about that,” said the Priest. “ He came to save all sinners.”
“ I should not so interpret those passages,” remarked the Martian. He went on:
“ I understand, then, that all who believe in him shall be saved, but those who do not believe in him shall not be saved? ”
“ Exactly,” said the Priest. “ You will find in Mark the statement that he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not, shall be damned.” ¹²
“ And by damned you mean — ”
“ Sent to Hell,” said the Fundamentalist.
“ That Hell that you have described to me with its eternal tortures? ”
“ Yes,” said the Fundamentalist. “ The unbelievers shall writhe in Hell for ever.”

⁹ Matt. xv. 24, 26.
¹⁰ Matt. x. 5, 6.
¹¹ John iv. 22.
¹² Mark xvi. 16.

Page 55
“ Yes, I see,” said the Martian; “ that would seem to be the meaning of this passage in Revelation: ‘ He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; ’ ¹³ of the words in Matthew: ‘ And shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth; ’ ¹⁴ also of his remark, ‘ Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.’ ¹⁵ And you say that your saviour taught these sentiments? ”
“Yes,” said the Fundamentalist, “ for He is a just God.”
“ And that this is your god? ”
“ Yes, a most merciful and loving God.”
“ Who condemns anyone to Hell who does not believe in him? ”
“ Yes, the penalty of sin.”
“ Your god would punish the sin of unbelief by eternal tortures in fire? ”
“ Yes, it is so written as He said and taught it.”
“ I cannot refrain from remarking,” said the Martian, “ that I do not find anything quite so bad as this in your Old Testament. Your god is there portrayed as committing and sanctioning all manner of earthly crimes; but I do not see anywhere that he would send his children to eternal torture merely for not believing what their minds, which he gave them, were unable to accept as true.”
“ But he will save them if they believe in Him,” said the Fundamentalist.
“ And that is the god of the New Testament,” continued the Martian, waving aside the interruption, “ who, you say, is kind, loving, meek, and gentle. Judging by Martian standards, we would consider him a thousand times worse than your old god.”
“ He offers each one a chance to repent,” said the Priest.
“ Repent? Repent of what? ” asked the Martian. “ Of using the mind which your god himself gave him ?

¹³ Rev. xiv. 10.
¹⁴ Matt. xiii. 42.
¹⁵ Matt. xxv. 4I.

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How can one repent if his mind is unable to accept what his reason tells him cannot be? Can you force yourself to believe the sun is not shining when you see its light? ”
“ But do you not note also the noble words he speaks? ” asked the Modernist.
“ I have observed them, and his many kind actions, his sympathy and help for the unfortunate. Nevertheless, on our planet we judge a man by all that he does and says, and as we have no gods I can judge him only by our standard. Your god is willing to save those that believe in him, but condemns those that fail in this respect, and might fairly be said to gloat over the prospective eternal torture of those who reject him. I cannot conceive of a father who would eternally torture any of his children that do not accept his teachings as infallible; nor of any father who could sit quietly in his home or elsewhere and know that some of his children were suffering horrible torments. No, no; no man could be So cold, unmerciful, and cruel as your saviour appears from his actions as a god. You say he is your god himself, although your god’s son (a statement I do not understand) and therefore able to save his children; yet he is bloodthirsty enough to condemn them for the mere inability to believe. Such a character makes one shudder with horror.”
The Fundamentalist gazed at the Martian as if stupefied.
“ Nevertheless,” said the Priest, “ we believe in Him as the Supreme Ruler to whom we must bow down.”
“ But is it not only through fear, and that a childish fear? A slave bows to his master through fear, a vassal to a king through fear; you earthly men to this supposed supreme ruler through fear, for it cannot be through love.”

Page 57
“ I love Jesus with all my heart and with all my soul,” exclaimed the Fundamentalist; “ that is why I kneel to Him.”
“ But you must concede,” said the Modernist, “ that as a man and as a teacher of right living He cannot be surpassed and you must remember that we Modernists look upon Him only as a man.”
“ If I may be permitted to sum up the character of your saviour,” answered the Martian, “ it would seem to me that as a man he would undoubtedly pass muster as a good man; for while he is shown as being contemptuous to his mother, ¹⁶ and at times bad-tempered, vindictive, intolerant, and spiteful, nevertheless his chief characteristics are gentleness, sympathy, and love towards the unfortunate. In other words, viewing him as a human being, we might say he had his faults, but showed high moral traits. As a god he is cruel, merciless, and unjust.”
The Fundamentalist could no longer restrain himself. He leaped to his feet, pale with anger, and appeared ready to flee from the room. He cast a startled look about him as if he feared some manifestation of his god’s wrath. He controlled himself with difficulty as he addressed the Martian:
“ Sir, I must beg of you to refrain from such wicked and sinful blasphemy!
“ The Martian remained calm. “ Pardon me; I meant no offence. I cannot, however, give any other interpretation to the words I find in your Bible itself. I am unacquainted with your modes of thought, but it seems that whenever I refer to anything in your Bible that is favourable to your god you permit me to adopt its natural meaning.

¹⁶ John ii. 4.

Page 58
When, however, I point to something that in the slightest degree reflects discreditably upon your religion or your god you insist I must either ignore it, or attach to it a meaning that its words will not bear out. Possibly I should not express myself so frankly.”
“ But as a teacher,” asked the Modernist, “ you must find his precepts noble and sublime? ”
“ His philosophy of life, aside from certain sound moral precepts apparently borrowed from others, is impracticable, foolish, and ignorant, for it teaches as its grand theme - the very essence of his philosophy - a contempt for this life in the hope of a reward in a visionary future of the existence of which you have not yet shown me a particle of evidence. You will recall his precepts, to ‘ take no heed for the morrow, but put your faith in God’; not to store up riches, but to give everything away and trust to him to provide food and rainment; to consider the lilies of the field which toil not. In other words, to do absolutely nothing to better your condition on this earth. Such a philosophy demands inertia and stagnation. He even inveighs against joyousness, exclaiming, ‘ Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.’ ” ¹⁷
“ And He is right,” said the Fundamentalist, who had somewhat recovered from his anger. “ What matters the short space of life on earth compared to our eternity of happiness in His presence? What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? ”
“ He taught meekness and humility,” said the Priest, “ because it is by those traits that we reach Heaven, the blessed goal.”

¹⁷ Luke vi. 25.

Page 59
“ As a matter of fact,” commented the Martian, “ you do not obey the teachings, for your whole system of jurisprudence and of economics, and the general conduct of your lives is contrary to your professed religion, and must be so if you would continue to progress or to find any joy in life.”

Chapter IX The Martian Inquires
As To Everlasting Life

Chapter VII The Martian Examines
The NEW TESTAMENT

Home: Chapter I The Martian Visits The Earth