Was Tolstoy a Christian?

Question

I am not asking this for religious reasons so please so no negative responses. I am a huge admirer of Tolstoy since I am a Christian, a Pacifist, a Vegetarian, I identify with the great thinker in many ways. I have always read that he was a Christian and identified himself as a Christian, but recently in reading his 'A Letter to a Hindu' I wondered about that because of a statement he made in the letter, I have pasted it below:

If only people freed themselves from their beliefs in all kinds of Ormuzds, Brahmas, Sabbaoths, and their incarnation as Krishnas and Christs, from beliefs in Paradises and Hells, in reincarnations and resurrections, from belief in the interference of the Gods in the external affairs of the universe, and above all, if they freed themselves from belief in the infallibility of all the various Vedas, Bibles, Gospels, Tripitakas, Korans, and the like, and also freed themselves from blind belief in a variety of scientific teachings about infinitely small atoms and

molecules and in all the infinitely great and infinitely remote worlds, their movements and origin, as well as from faith in the infallibility of the scientific law to which humanity is at present subjected: the historic law, the economic laws, the law of struggle and survival, and so on-if people only freed themselves from this terrible accumulation of futile exercises of our lower capacities of mind and memory called the

'Sciences', and from the innumerable divisions of all sorts of histories, anthropologies, homiletics, bacteriologics, jurisprudences, cosmographies, strategies-their name is legion-and freed themselves from all this harmful, stupifying ballast-the simple law of love, natural to man, accessible to all and solving all questions and perplexities, would of itself become clear and obligatory.
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This statement of his made me question his faith, I am merely curious about it because I am eager to learn more about him. Do any other philosophy enthusiasts have any ideas on this subject?

To ringm: No my view of him would not change, as I mentioned at the end of my question I am asking this out of curiousity. I want to learn more about him. Yes, I know he converted at around 60 but he wrote 'A Letter to a Hindu' when he was 80 which is why I'm asking as his statement confused me, it is a mere curiosity.

To Nunitak: Thank you very much for your answer
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I look forward to hearing more views

Answer 1

You said you're not asking for religious reasons - could you then tell us just in a couple phrases WHAT are your reasons for asking? Would your attitude to Tolstoy change if you would figure out he's not a Christian? Or what if you weren't, would it change then?

For the answer, you could have easliy looked this up in Wikipedia yourself. He 'converted' (if you may say so) when he was around 60, and he always had his own non-dogmatic interpretation of Christianity.

upd: Well, you see, being non-dogmatic was precisely what he told about in this letter. He just accepted Christianity because of its moral teachings. Not because of everything else. That's up to you if you will still call it "Christianity" or not.

And there's a lot of nice guys around, just like him. They do not need all this stuff about liberation from sin through faith. They accept Christianity just because they want to be good, and love everyone around, and it's fvcking hard to be good alone in this evil world. Christ immediately gives you a feeling that you're not alone anymore, and absolute support for what you want to be. Bamm!!! All the rest, all the evil God did including killing his own son with a pretty strange explanation - you can just filter all that. Human brain is very good at filtering thoughts.

Also, and that's just a guess from my own experience, as I was one of those 'nice guys' - I'll tell you that it wears out with time. Eventually I understood I can do without a religion. That wasn't easy, of course.

20 years is quite enough for it to wear out considerably.

Answer 2

Tolstoy the final I know a little teeny bit about.

He was very, very kind and recommended lovingkindness.

His life was an expansion of I Corinthians Ch. 13 (hope I have that right, the famous saying of Paul on love and charity).

I do not discard science like him. I believe there is such a thing as a true Christian. Just as certainly I believe Christ, in disguise as another man, and advocating the same truth as before, even tailoring it for the modern era, would be executed again, possibly even by so-called Christian churchmen or members.

I would like to see everyone attain a truer understanding of what Christ taught.

Most assuredly, he did not teach and advocate ritual. He did not ask us to believe in a doctrine.

Rather, he asked us to invite God, our Heavenly Father, into our lives and souls. The result of doing so becomes a spiritual reality, not a doctrine.

Yes, it even outranks all other knowledge. This last line is how I would put it. Not condemning science, etc.

Our learning is not yet perfect. But it must continue to grow towards perfection.

The process is helped, indeed, all of life is helped by having a personal relationship with the Heavenly Father. And by having the ministry of God as a presence in your mind and soul.

For a fragment of the I AM is with us each and all.

A doctrine about God which one holds in one's mind has NO COMPARISON to that true personal relationship.

Tolstoy did the best he could for his time and locale.

It is MUCH EASIER for someone living today to find greater truth than Tolstoy. But you see few who are actually greater than Tolstoy.

Could that be because they are not looking? Do they have more important things to do than to find God?

Did not Christ say, "Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find....?

I would recommend working on the LIVING relationship. It is the LIVING WATER, which Christ told Nalda, the Samaritan woman, about while standing at Jacob's well.

Nothing replaces personal requests and action, but I would recommend THE URANTIA BOOK as the greatest aid in sorting oneself out. If the five next greatest books are 1000 candlepower, then the book mentioned is TEN MILLION CANDLEPOWER.

And the presence of God in your life and soul is LIFE ETERNAL and knowledge of a certainty, drowning out mere belief in an ocean of truth and wisdom.

We will see Tolstoy in heaven, I am sure of it.