A quote from Kierkegaard on...
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A quote from Kierkegaard on Christian persecution:
"Jesus speaks of how tribulation and persecution come on account of the word, and as a result, how one is immediately offended. The emphasis lies upon 'on account of the word.' Let me clarify this. When in sickness I go to a physician, he may find it necessary to prescribe a very painful treatment. Here there is no self-contradiction in my submitting to his remedy, for it is only a matter of time before I am healed. On the other hand, if I suddenly find myself in trouble, an object of persecution, because I have gone to that physician, well, then there is a true self-contradiction. The fact that I get involved with this physician, the Great Physician, and attach myself to him, that is what makes me an object of persecution. Herein lies the possibility of offense; herein lies the terror.
"Christ unabashedly speaks of what would await his disciples when they witnessed to him in the world ... the possibility of offense consists in being persecuted, ridiculed, cast out from society, misunderstood and finally put to death -- in such a way that those who do it think they are doing God, or the cause of righteousness, a service. It is to this suffering Christ speaks and promises heaven's reward." (Søren Kierkegaard, "To Suffer Christianity" in Provocations: Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard, edited by Charles E. Moore. [Farmington: Plough, 1999], p. 166.)
"Jesus speaks of how tribulation and persecution come on account of the word, and as a result, how one is immediately offended. The emphasis lies upon 'on account of the word.' Let me clarify this. When in sickness I go to a physician, he may find it necessary to prescribe a very painful treatment. Here there is no self-contradiction in my submitting to his remedy, for it is only a matter of time before I am healed. On the other hand, if I suddenly find myself in trouble, an object of persecution, because I have gone to that physician, well, then there is a true self-contradiction. The fact that I get involved with this physician, the Great Physician, and attach myself to him, that is what makes me an object of persecution. Herein lies the possibility of offense; herein lies the terror.
"Christ unabashedly speaks of what would await his disciples when they witnessed to him in the world ... the possibility of offense consists in being persecuted, ridiculed, cast out from society, misunderstood and finally put to death -- in such a way that those who do it think they are doing God, or the cause of righteousness, a service. It is to this suffering Christ speaks and promises heaven's reward." (Søren Kierkegaard, "To Suffer Christianity" in Provocations: Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard, edited by Charles E. Moore. [Farmington: Plough, 1999], p. 166.)
