The Kingdom of God Is Within You by Leo Tolstoy

Author:Leo Tolstoy [Tolstoy, Leo]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Tags: Non-resistance to, Evil, Christianity
Published: 2011-07-09T21:25:13+00:00

CHAPTER IX.

THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION OF LIFE WILL EMANCIPATE MEN FROM THE MISERIES OF OUR PAGAN LIFE.

The External Life of Christian Peoples Remains Pagan Though they are

Penetrated by Christian Consciousness—The Way Out of this Contradiction

is by the Acceptance of the Christian Theory of Life—Only Through

Christianity is Every Man Free, and Emancipated of All Human

Authority—This Emancipation can be Effected by no Change in External

Conditions of Life, but Only by a Change in the Conception of Life—The

Christian Ideal of Life Requires Renunciation of all Violence, and in

Emancipating the Man who Accepts it, Emancipates the Whole World from

All External Authorities—The Way Out of the Present Apparently Hopeless

Position is for Every Man who is Capable of Assimilating the Christian

Conception of Life, to Accept it and Live in Accordance with it—But Men

Consider this Way too Slow, and Look for Deliverance Through Changes in

Material Conditions of Life Aided by Government—That Will Lead to No

Improvement, as it is simply Increasing the Evil under which Men are

Suffering—A Striking Instance of this is the Submission to Compulsory

Military Service, which it would be More Advantageous for Every Man to

Refuse than to Submit to—The Emancipation of Men Can Only be Brought

About by each Individual Emancipating Himself, and the Examples of this

Self-emancipation which are already Appearing Threaten the Destruction

of Governmental Authority—Refusal to Comply with the Unchristian

Demands of Government Undermines the Authority of the State and

Emancipates Men—And therefore Cases of such Non-compliance are Regarded

with more Dread by State Authorities than any Conspiracies or Acts of

Violence—Examples of Non-compliance in Russia, in Regard to Oath of

Allegiance, Payment of Taxes, Passports, Police Duties, and Military

Service—Examples of such Non-compliance in other States—Governments do

not Know how to Treat Men who Refuse to Comply with their Demands on

Christian Grounds—Such People, without Striking a Blow, Undermine the

very Basis of Government from Within—To Punish them is Equivalent to

Openly Renouncing Christianity, and Assisting in Diffusing the Very

Principle by which these Men justify their Non-compliance—So

Governments are in a Helpless Position—Men who Maintain the Uselessness

of Personal Independence, only Retard the Dissolution of the Present

State Organization Based on Force.

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