The Echo Answers
By Soren Kierkegaard
Endless volumes have been written to show how one is to recognize what true Christianity is. This can be done in a far simpler way. Nature is acoustic. Pay attention to what the echo answers, and you will know at once what is what. When one preaches Christianity in such a way that the echo answers: “Glorious, profound, brilliant, articulate Christian, you should be exalted with high praise,” know that this signifies that this preaching is a base lie. Though it is not absolutely certain that he who walks with chains around his ankles is in fact a criminal (for there are many cases when the powers that be have condemned an innocent man), it is eternally certain that he who by preaching Christianity wins honor and prestige is a liar, a deceiver, who at one point or another has falsified the truth. It is simple: It is impossible to preach Christianity in truth without having to suffer for it in this world. When one preaches Christianity in such a way that the echo answers, “He is mad,” or “What nonsense,” know then there are considerable elements of truth in his preaching. However, this is still not the Christianity of the New Testament. He may have hit the mark, but he does not press hard enough, especially not by the preaching of his life. But when one preaches Christianity in such a way that the echo answers, “Away with that man, he does not deserve to live,” know that this is the Christianity of the New Testament. Capital punishment is the penalty for preaching Christianity as it truly is. Does Christ’s life indicate anything different? Hating oneself to love God; hating everything in which one’s life consists, everything to which human beings cling. Capital punishment is the penalty for preaching Christianity in character. Preaching less, appealing to forms of the interesting, the relevant, or the controversial, is nothing but a religious falsification.
The merit of “Christendom” is that the world has now become so tolerant, has made such progress, that persecution can no longer take place. There is nothing to persecute. Oh, yes, Christianity is perfectible! And oh how the echo answers!
-Kierkegaard is by far my favorite philosopher, in my search for the truth and for understanding the mysteries of God, he has helped in many ways, though his writings are some what technical, that is to be expected, but they are never to drawn out to long to cause disinterest, yet even His shorter writings demand your full attention in order to receive understanding... He was a sinner, but he is a saint in my eyes.
Soren Kierkegaard
Born May 5, 1813 -
Died November 11, 1855