Dancing and Silin

this accurately shows my reaction to today (found on photo bucket)

Today is an exciting today. Life is good. The sun is shining. The sky is blue. It's not too hot outside. I'm headed up to New York City (!) tomorrow on the train. and I FINISHED HIGH SCHOOL TODAY.

I am so happy.

The last thing I had to do today in order to be done was to finish reading the last book in my church history class called Turning Points by Mark A. Noll. I have to say that it wasn't my favorite. It was ok but not the best. HOWEVER the last part of the book was worth reading all 315 pages. I wanted to share it with you. I had never heard about this man, however I do know about Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, and this unknown man was known by Solzhenitsyn.

"If the survival of Christianity under Communist regimes comes to be regarded as a major turning point of the twentieth century, it will be because the church as a whole takes to heart the witness of believers like Anatoly Vasilyevich Silin. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was drawn to Silin during his own incarceration in the 1950s, because of the dedication to poetic composition he shared with Silin. Silin was raise with atheist instruction in an orphanage but then found Christian books while in a German prisoner-of-war camp during the Second World War. That slight acquaintance was enough to set him on a life of dedicated Christian witness. When Solzhenitsyn met him, Silin had spent his entire adult life in the camps. With no formal training, almost no access to religious books or even other believers, Silin went on writing and memorizing poems in his head, which he could recite at great length when he found a sympathetic listener like Solzhenitsyn. Untutored, untrained, persecuted, usually along, Silin could yet rise to supernal heights of theological reasoning. He believed, for instance, that Christ suffered, not only to atone for human sins, but because God himself, out of pure love to his creatures, wanted to experience the full measure of human suffering. Silin could express a serene theodicy, or explanation for the existence of evil in the world:

Does God, who is Perfect Love, allow
This imperfection in our lives?
The soul must suffer first, to know
The forfeit bliss of paradise...
Harsh is the law, but to obey
Is for weak men the only way
To win eternal peace.

According to Solzhenitsyn, Silin also displayed a gentle meekness to all who crossed his path, despite the extraordinary harshness of his lot.
... A hint as to how Christianity survived under Communist oppression, as well as a suggestion why the reasons for that survival could define a turning point in the world history of Christianity, are contained in part of what Solzhenitsyn reported about his friend Anatoly Vasilyevich Silin.

'Before the war Anatoly Vasilyevich had graduated from a teacher' college, where he had specialized in literature. Like me, he now had about three years left before his "release" to a place of banishment. His only training was as a teacher of literature in schools. It seemed rather improbable that ex-prisoners like us would be allowed into schools. But if we were- what then.
"I won't put lies into children's heads! I shall tell the children the truth about God and the life of the Spirit."
"But they'll take you away after the first lesson."
Silin lowered his head and answered quietly: "Let them."' "

WOAH. Considering that his man had no formal training in the gospel and, as it sounds, no Bible even, His Faith Was So Strong. I'm so inspired by this man who had nothing, yet would do anything to spread the world of the Lord. My Mind= BLOWN.

The last thing that really got to me at the end of this book was this final quote:
"The church survives by the grace of God, not because of the wisdom, purity, or consistent faithfulness of Christians."


What a merciful Father we have! He doesn't need us, but out of His grace and mercy, He continues the church so that we may be in awe of Him, Glorify Him and Enjoy Him Forever.

Well. This is my last post as a high school student. Whatever the next post will be, it will be as a free woman. After August 25th, any post will be as a college student.

This is what I want my summer to look like.

SOLI DEO GLORIA.