Story Comments

This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »

I agree. He brought up three examples, and in all three cases perhaps a little good came from the fanaticism and definitely a lot of evil.

He said in his sermon:
"And I would invite you to just stand quietly and hold up 'Whatever it takes'. . .
I'm looking at a stadium full of people who are saying 'whatever it takes'.
Whatever it takes, God. Time, talent, energy, money, effort, vision... God, whatever it takes.
Whatever it takes, that's what I'm going to do. "

"Whatever it takes" is another way of saying "the end justifies the means." It asks you to suspend your thinking and moral values and be willing to commit any kind of deed, even evil ones, as long as you believe (or are told) that it serves the ultimate goal. That was the problem with the Nazis and the fanatical Communists too. They were unquestioning followers, which can end only in disaster, no matter how good the original intentions were. Members of the Inquisition were servants of God, and they too believed that the end justified the means. They too were willing to do whatever it took to "save the soul" while torturing and killing the body.

2 Replies