Category Archives: Christianity
“The successful reliance on voluntary activity”
What collectivism is destroying
In his “The Road to Serfdom”, the Austrian economist Friedrich August von Hayek (1899 – 1992) described the many virtues that the burgeoning collectivism was destroying:
“There is one aspect of the change in moral values brought about by the advance of collectivism which at the present time provides special food for thought. It is that the virtues which are held less and less in esteem and which consequently become rarer are precisely those on which the British people justly prided themselves and in which they were generally agreed to excel. The virtues possessed by Anglo-Saxons in a higher degree than most other people, excepting only a few of the smaller nations, like the Swiss and the Dutch, were independence and self-reliance, individual initiative and local responsibility, the successful reliance on voluntary activity, non-interference with one’s neighbour and tolerance of the different and queer, respect for custom and tradition, and a healthy suspicion of power and authority.”
What he doesn’t mention is that it was mainly churches that carried the voluntary activities.
Fmr. Greenpeace President Dr. Patrick Moore Says the Elites Have a ‘Suicide Pact’ to Reduce the World’s Population
He's "right on the money"
5 minute video here. He says the politicians give money via bureaucrats to the scientists. The scientists then tell the politicians what they (the politicians) want to hear.
Moore says he grew up in a logging/fishing community, so he knows that we have to extract stuff from nature to survive. However, Greenpeace now considers humans as an evil species.
It is this anti-human and anti-biblical attitude that Christians should be contending without compromise.
Waking Up in a Nightmare
Due to our loss of a connection to God
Excerpts (my emphases):
This topic is complicated. Of course the powers that be want us all to think that if it weren’t for the WHO, doctors, vaccines, and medical science, half the world would be dead by now.
That may actually be true, but what exactly would be killing us?—the natural world?—or the man-made world? It would be difficult to make this assessment, due, obviously, to the fact that there is no place on earth not infected by the greedy, and often evil, hand of man.
Other than medical issues, how else has technology diminished our lives? From a very broad perspective, what has gone down hill as technology has advanced up hill? Violence? Disease? Depression? Suicide? Anxiety? A feeling of meaninglessness? Less true happiness (being high with adrenalin and other ingested drugs doesn’t count), Loss of family values? Child abuse? Drug abuse? Alcoholism? Pedophilia? Isolation and abandonment?
[…]
Technology has attributed, maybe more indirectly, to gun violence in all the fundamental ways this article suggests: the degradation of the culture, the focus on consumerism and materialism rather than human values and character, the isolation and abandonment of the young (particularly young males) the loss of soul and spirit, and thus the loss of human morals, i.e. the loss of love.
[…]
Can we train ourselves to not be so obsessed with consumerism? Or not be so obsessed with living forever (our relentless pursuit to perfect the human body with technology), or avoiding the commonly experienced pains and sufferings of the body? What is it from the past that we had that we no longer have that kept all of this in some sort of sublime order?
I believe we had more of an understanding of our spirit and soul than we do now. Yes, a lot of that awareness was brought to us through religion, but unfortunately as the materialist paradigm descended upon us religion lost its stature. We need to come back to a deep awareness of nature, and our part in it, to understand that we were designed to live and subsequently die a particular way (in harmony with nature and with an acute awareness of the mystery of creation surrounding us). We must learn to love again.
[…]
Not many people seem to be concerned about our loss of soul, our loss of humanity, our loss of being human, and our loss of a connection to God. Yes, I said it, the “God” word. I mean it too.
That, to me, is the real threat, and if not addressed properly, it will be responsible for our eventual demise.
The churches, at least those in the West, are failing to see this or, if they do, are failing to act on it. They will have to change course, and soon.
Jordan Peterson’s message to CEOs
Ditch the evil, satanic "woke" stuff, the DIE and the ESG
He rains down fire, brimstone and pro-free market slaps in the face. He quotes Jesus to them: “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked” (but then mistakenly seems to say that this is from the Sermon on the Mount – it’s not, it’s from Luke 12:48, but that’s just a minor quibble).
When you remove the sovereignty of God
you transfer this sovereignty to a totalitarian state
James Delingpole interviews Reverend Jamie Franklin about “Lessons On Freedom From [Fyodor] Dostoyevsky “.
At the 1:50 minute mark, Franklin summarises the insight of the Russian thinker and author with regard to the episode “The Grand Inquisitor” from “The Brothers Karamazov” thus:
Dostoyevsky realised that when you remove the sovereignty of God from a nation, a civilisation, you inevitably transfer this sovereignty to a totalitarian state . . . It’s what’s happening now in our country [the United Kingdom].
How to combat this? Near the end of the 9 minute video, Franklin explains:
Dostoyevsky says that you will often encounter objectionable thoughts [of others]. You will be tempted to take them by force. Jesus teaches us to take them by humble love.
How the Culture Battles Were Lost
The War Continues
Why Should You Go to Church?
Because it's broken and needs you to repair it
And, furthermore, just look around you to see what is replacing it, says Jordan Peterson in this 6 minute video.
Message to the Christian Churches
By Jordan Peterson
“Young people, particularly young men are facing an unparalleled demoralization inculcated by an extremely damaging ideology. Dr Jordan B Peterson reveals the issues at hand, and challenges the Christian Church to step in.”
A Christian woman comments on the above video with her own video here.
Live Not By Lies
Jordan Peterson speaks with Rod Dreher
It never ceases to amaze me that almost every time Jordan Peterson goes on air, or rather on Youtube or similar outlets, he says something that is new, profound and evocative. And not just one “something”, but loads.
In this one (1 h 20 min), he uses the occasion of discussing Rod Dreher’s new book, “Live Not By Lies” to suggest that churches should make a special effort to attract young men? How? By inviting them to the adventure of taking up their cross and following Jesus by doing the best they can do with their God-given lives.
In the time of oppressive wokeness, where being male is tantamount to being the great spoiler of the world, this would be a truly bold move.
Then, JP says that in the face of the woke tyranny, not just all the Christians, but all the Abrahamic religions should band together to fight the common enemy.
Dreher’s title “Live Not By Lies” is derived from an essay written by Soviet dissident Alexandr Solzhenitsyn just before he was kicked out of his country. In it, he advised followers that the least they should do is to not participate in the lies that daily life in the Soviet Union foisted on people.
However, the Enemy may have learnt from that experience. When Black Lives Matter burst onto the scene, mobs pressured people to join in their chants and raised fists, shouting: “Silence is violence.”
So, it may have become more difficult even than in the Soviet Union to “live not by lies”. And if not yet, it may very well happen soon.