Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street. Award-winning film director Steven Spielberg recently said that his new movie could likely mess with a lot of people's theology. Disclosure days about what would happen if there were a sudden mass revelation about the existence of extraterrestrial life. According to Spielberg, the movie will force people, especially Christians, to rethink who God is.
As he told CBS Sunday morning, and I quote, what does this do to the fundamental beliefs that many of us have? Is God our God only on this planet or is God a God for every system when there's civilization, intelligent life, and even developing life? End quote.
Well, it's not unusual for celebrity artists to weigh in on things far outside of their expertise, but this talented filmmaker is clearly out of his depth here. Even if there were a real disclosure day, it would not alter anything at all about Christian fundamental belief. The God portrayed in the Bible created and oversees the entire universe. As the psalmist said, the Lord established his throne in the heavens. His kingdom rules over all.
That could easily include other worlds and other life forms. But of course, there's no evidence of any of that anyway. And to state the obvious, this is just a film. Spielberg must think that Christianity is barely hanging on from falling into the dustbin of history. And if so, he's certainly not the first to think that.
Expectations of Christian extinction go back to the very beginning. According to the Gospel of John, the high priest Caiaphas thought that killing Jesus would erase his influence. And when Jesus failed to stay dead, the Jerusalem authorities thought that bribes and rumors could stamp out this new faith. The very same authorities hoped that beating and scolding the apostles would keep them quiet. And then there was the Romans, who spent centuries trying to stamp out Christianity, from Nero, who infamously burned believers in his gardens, to Marcus Aurelius, who believed that he could mock them out of their faith.
But by the 200s, the church had grown so much that Emperor Decius decreed an empire-wide assault on Christians. By the beginning of the fourth century, Diocletian instigated the Great Persecution. In the end, persecution only set the stage for toleration. And eventually, under Theodosius I, the Roman Empire became Christianized. And then later, when the Western Empire fell to the Germanic tribes, the church did not fall with it, as expected.
Indeed, Christianity not only endured, but the pagans ended up being converted. Islam then tried to take down the church a few centuries later. After subjugating Christianity in the Middle East, Muslim raiders seemed poised to conquer Western Europe. But they were stopped in the middle of what is now France. Almost a thousand years later, armies of the Turkish Sultan advanced to Vienna twice before being pushed back.
The smart money at the time would have been that Christianity would have fallen, but it did not. During the Enlightenment, confidence that the church would fall was at an all-time high. In the seventeen hundreds the influential French thinker Voltaire claimed that he was, quote, living in the twilight of Christianity. In eighteen twenty two, Thomas Jefferson added that, and I quote again, I trust there's not a young man now living in the US who will not die a Unitarian. Both were wrong.
Voltaire's home, in fact, later housed a Bible society, and Jefferson's generation was quickly followed by religious awakenings and an explosion of missionaries that were sent around the world. And then in the 20th century, the communists predicted the end of what Marx had called the opiate of the masses. Everywhere they went, revolutionary groups assaulted religion, especially Christianity. In Russia, China, Cuba, and elsewhere, the very first targets of the communists were churches, pastors, priests, and other religious groups. And often the persecution got worse out of the frustration that the faith simply would not die.
But in the end, it was Christianity standing over communism's grave. not the other way around. In fact, the church had contributed to communism's demise.
Now, whether from internal failings or external threats, it's easy for Christians to get discouraged. But remember, to borrow this quip from Mark Twain, predictions of the church's demise have been greatly exaggerated. If empires and emperors and armies haven't been able to stamp it out, trust me, Steven Spielberg doesn't have a chance. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street with Breakpoint. Today's Breakpoint was co-authored with Dr.
Timothy Padgett. If you're a fan of Breakpoint, leave us a review wherever you download podcasts. And for more resources or to share this commentary with others, go to breakpoint.org. Colorado is at it again, trying to silence free speech. A law in Colorado forces businesses to use customers' preferred pronouns, even if they're biologically inaccurate, and even if using those incorrect pronouns would violate a person's religious beliefs or conscience.
That's a violation of free speech, but as Colorado has proved time and again, it has little concern for the First Amendment. At Alliance Defending Freedom, we're challenging the law on behalf of a Christian bookstore and a Colorado-based sports apparel company. But a court recently ruled against them. With ADF's help, they appealed the ruling, and they'll continue fighting to ensure Colorado doesn't get away with this next attempt to skirt the First Amendment. Your gift helps protect free speech in cases like this all over the country.
And for a limited time, your first gift to ADF is doubled by a special matching grant while funds last. Text Breakpoint to 838-48 or go to joinadf.com slash breakpoint. to have your gift doubled.
