No Bravery

This Twitter (X) post came to my attention today

We’re celebrating Reformation Day 506 in Rome, Italy. We decided to wear our Luther shirts for the occasion. (St Peter’s Basilica). #ReformationDay #Reformation pic.twitter.com/6a82LqDPHI

— 𝙅𝙤𝙨𝙝 𝘽𝙪𝙞𝙘𝙚 (@JoshBuice) October 31, 2023

This pastor, Josh Buice, and his wife decided to visit St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome on Reformation Day, wearing Martin Luther T-Shirts and take pictures of themselves doing that there. How stunningly clever! How brave! I’m not Roman Catholic, nor have I ever been, but this couple embarrasses me as an American because they reinforce all sorts of stereotypes about clueless and rude Americans in Europe. However, Andrew Isker, a fellow Protestant, takes them to task as well here: (full tweet text below)

It is remarkable just how immature these guys are.

The "immaturity" I am talking about is not "making memes." It is well known how Luther and the reformers used the 16th Century version of the internet (the printing press) to poast. I am not talking about that.

But rather the… https://t.co/mOJVN16UmB

— Eighth Century Woodchipper 🌳🪓 (@BonifaceOption) November 2, 2023

It is remarkable just how immature these guys are. The “immaturity” I am talking about is not “making memes.” It is well known how Luther and the reformers used the 16th Century version of the internet (the printing press) to poast [sp]. I am not talking about that.

But rather the immaturity of not knowing what time it is, and pretending like re-fighting the battles that were pressing in the 16th Century is both extremely edgy and a worthwhile pursuit as our enemies are actively destroying every last remnant of Christendom.

I don’t fight with other Christians over doctrine, even ones I consider to be in very, very serious error unless that doctrine is relevant to the battles we are currently fighting. I don’t fight baptists over baptism. I don’t fight orthos over icons. I don’t fight Catholics over soteriology and the papacy. This is not because I don’t think these things are extremely important doctrinal concerns. They are.

There are not, however, where the battle facing the church is at this moment. It is not the 16th and 17th Century anymore. Anyone with any awareness of the world we live in knows you are infinitely more likely to go to prison for opposing the regime than the Papacy—a regime that murders countless babies, mutilates the genitals of children, sends hundreds of thousands to die in pointless wars, and robs everyone of both their wealth and their historic way of life.

To engage in such pointless trolling, to edgelord in the safety of battles fought by much more courageous men centuries ago is to demonstrate profound immaturity. A childishness that plays silly games as our entire civilization burns to the ground.

-Andrew Isker

Isker is spot-on here, especially in talking about the internet trolling and how safe it was for the two of them to do this. What was the worst that was going to happen? Somebody telling them they had to leave because their clothing wasn’t appropriate? Big deal! Apparently, that didn’t happen, because had it, they probably would have posted about that as well.

This reminds me of a story from years back, either in 2006 or 2007. I had already moved back to the US, but I was visiting a dear friend in Germany, and he had taken me to Eichstätt, where there is a major Catholic university. Outside of town, he drove me to a little Turkish restaurant where, he said, the food was more authentically Turkish than most döner stands in Germany.

Once the man standing at the counter looked at us, I was filled with fear. He wasn’t mean or nasty, but my blood ran cold as he saw the three-bar-cross hanging from my neck. I have never had something anything like that happen before or after. We ordered our food, and sat down in the small dining area to the right of the front counter and acted as normally as possible.

A very clear thought came to my mind, “If you know what is good for you, you will NOT cross yourself before you eat.” Whether it was the voice of fear itself, or whether there was some other reason that came to my mind, I don’t know. I just had the strange feeling as though I would be risking my life to show any more outward sign of being Christian. Part of me felt as though I was falling into nonsense, and I fought the feeling back. When we had our food, I paused for a moment, crossed myself and quietly prayed, “Lord, Jesus Christ, bless the food and drink of these your servants, for you are ever gracious, holy, blessed, and love mankind, Amen.” All in all, what, ten seconds?

My friend and I ate our food. We weren’t exactly in a rush, but we didn’t dawdle, and we left immediately after we had finished. We exited the restaurant, and before we got to the car, my friend – who is extremely gentle and had probably seen me pray before a meal hundreds of times before – turned to me and chastised me, saying, “Why did you have to cross yourself like that? You could have gotten both of us killed!”

The strange situation had gotten even stranger; I had said nothing to him about the weird sense I had gotten in the restaurant, particularly not that I felt that I was in danger. My response was, “And if he killed me, that’s on him, not me, isn’t it?”

(I almost wanted to apologize for the fact that he probably would have been killed with me, as I had actually thought of that, but I didn’t.)

The momentary flash of anger dissipated. Although my friend knew that I took being an Orthodox Christian seriously, I believe this was the first time he realized that I’d actually be willing to die for my faith. He understood that I hadn’t just done something foolish because I didn’t know better. I sensed awe mixed with tenderness in him as he answered, “I guess you’re right.” He wasn’t even angry that he probably would have suffered for my “sin” as well.

I don’t know what in the world happened that day, whether the man or the place had some sort of evil attached to them, or the two of us were suffering separate but shared delusions. I just know that I did not feel safe there, showing the outward expression of Christianity, and neither did my friend.

I’m not saying the pastor above isn’t a brave person; I don’t know him or his story, so I can’t speculate. However, there wasn’t an ounce of courage required to pull off this stunt. There was more courage standing up to whatever malevolent force was in that restaurant. There’s more courage with Jewish students in the US (much less Europe) wearing things that identify them as such. There’s more courage in the sixth-grader I know who refused to bow to the whims of his school administration by refusing to “admit” that there are more than two genders. Maybe the pastor just meant to be funny, but then he ought to have been clear about that (and maybe not worn shorts).

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