when facing death? I don't know what my attitude will be.
It's like being knocked out cold. What is the attitude just before that punch hits? Well, I've been knocked out cold and when I recovered, I didn't remember it. Can I say that I'm now no longer "afraid" of getting punched? No. The body always feels defensive and tries to avoid damage. So I can't say what my attitude or reaction would be to facing death.
But would my mind change concerning belief in Jesus Christ? No. No more than YOUR attitude about Santa Claus would change if YOU were facing death!~
Why would YOU not start thinking about Santa Claus and about your soul being frozen forever in a block of ice ....... for failing to believe in him properly? Think about that.....
Napoleon obviously was a believer in what he was taught by his Catholic church all of his years. He may have thought he was BIGGER than the church ........ and/but then ultimately, when whipped, he "saw the light" and repented.
And that's precisely the dynamic which causes western peoples to rebel and repent and "turn to the Lord." They initially rebel because they feel resentment at being told what they should do and what they should believe and about the restrictions placed upon them. When their lives begin to fall apart, they believe it's BECAUSE of their rebellion that their lives have fallen apart ......... and so they repent and embrace ........... what they've really secretly believed all of their lives to be "true." Yet, they repent and embrace -NOT because of any investigative work they've done themselves to find out if the whole Christian philosophy is based on truth and fact- but because they simply BELIEVE that it must be or has to be because of everyone they know or are familiar with ......who has believed it.
Now, if you want to read some counter-balance to Napoleon ......... read Thomas Paine's
AGE OF REASON.
Thomas Paine was an British American (before Americans were invented), of an Anglican-Quaker background .... who got caught in the French Revolution in the latter part of the 18th century. (The revolution ended in 1792). He spent a substantial amount of time being held in a French prison under terrible conditions ...... quite convinced that he would be killed any time. So you talk about the thoughts of someone facing death, and what such thoughts might be .....
Napoleon was facing death and had HIS thoughts. That was probably about 20 years after Thomas Paine faced death in France and expressed his own thoughts. The two men had very DIFFERENT thoughts! (Paine did not care for Napoleon). Same country and/but different thoughts!~
And take note of the difference in the expression of their thoughts! Napoleon's came entirely from emotion ............... Paine's came from reason.
-Vince
