Our civilisation is already set up to demand that we all provide for each other.
For each other.
Every other.
Not just the so-called poor and needy.
But now, we provide for one another only via contracts and threats.
Bring the day, Lord, when we will work what we work for love and for Thee.
Give us willing hearts, Father, and a determination to labour for that which has lasting worth.
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Monday, August 15, 2016
Why I love Him
Jesus died and rose again to save, not to condemn. In a way I do not understand, but deeply believe to be true, His suffering in Gethsemane and on the cross really has put him in a position to lift us up to stand before the Father both to judge and be judged and to move into eternity. With the exception of a very, very small group of individuals, all who have ever lived will move on to some degree of glory, power, and happiness. I do not say that everyone will be or receive the same, but I do claim that everyone is going to much better off — more powerful, more peaceful, more happy — than they are now.
If this is obvious to you, please allow me to explain why I dwell on it. This is a point of such deep import because it indicates just how universal and infinite the redemption of Christ is. When I say "all but a very, very few" will be saved, I don't mean that a very, very few will NOT be saved, but that after EVERYONE has been saved — after EVERYONE has been called from death and from the hell of separation from God, only a very, very few will decide to willingly go back to hell. Christ will not leave anyone there. His offering does not just redeem the repentant sinner — it covers EVERYONE.
Not everyone who is saved can be trusted. Not everyone who is saved will know God in the same way. Not everyone who is saved will know what to do with the freedom Christ offers them. Not all will ever become life as Jesus is. But we ALL will be brought back from death. We ALL will be brought back into the presence of God the Father. And all but a very, VERY few will choose to stay there.
Christ's victory has done that.
And don't be surprised if Hitler or Qaddafi, or Richard III, or Stalin, or Mao ze Tung, or even I am there, among the saved who are offered and who choose to stay WITH God. "All manner of blasphemy against the Son of Man will be forgiven," He said. That covers a lot.
So, we will all be there — very literally by the grace of God, — standing clean before the Father. Most of us will be full of gratitude and anxious to enter in to a newness of life, stunned that the burden of our sin could actually have been removed from us.
Again, I don't say that everyone will either BE, CHOOSE, or BE GIVEN the same thing after thist moment, but up to that moment what is given by Jesus will be the same: He will stand before the Father and say, "I have taken the sins of all these upon Me. I received the punishment meant for them all. They are all free."
After that will begin the distinction: "What have you become with this freedom? What have you learned to desire? Do you have it in you to know Me? Will you choose the weight of My glory?"
Perhaps God will deal first with those very few whose hearts are, impossibly, still past feeling, pointing them the way to an endless hell prepared for the devil and his angels. Perhaps He will weep over them one last time as they depart, knowing what could have been for them.
Then to us: "Well? What can you do now?"
And we will go, one to the stars, another to the moon, still others to the Sun to be and do what we have learned to dream.
Without Jesus, we would all have been irretrievably lost. We would not stand before God, clean or otherwise. We would never see the tears of the Father again —.either for grief at our continuing to choose misery or for His joy in our repentance. "For I have found that which was lost! Jesus has brought you back to Me!"
Friday, August 12, 2016
The trouble with "utopias"
so called, is that they are obsessed with consumption in the same way a dystopia is. Production is viewed as a necessary (even if not necessarily undesirable) evil to facilitate consumption. All planning is toward streamlining and mechanising the production process. Traditional u- and dys-topias (both hereafter referred to singularly as dys-topias) view consumption of the end product as the justification for its existence.
What's the opposite? Before we give it a name, let's define it. In stark contrast, whatever is on the other side of consumption-obsession is something devoted to the idea that we are made first to produce, to create, to share, to give, to make — an activity that justifies consumption. Something that claims the consumption is simply a means to that end. What fuels the creative, regenerative process must be consumed, otherwise, it lets things be.
In dystopias, nothing is safe from the eventual lust to satisfy appetite. Because the focus is on consuming, dystopian members are at constant war with themselves: the desire to destroy (ingest, digest, burn, oxidize
Dystopias work with entropy, heaven replenishes the order entropy feeds on.
Entropy may not be the enemy, but it is the force working opposite to the creative power of gods and men. Utopias join the work of breaking down, while this other thing's sole motivation is to build up.
What's the opposite? Before we give it a name, let's define it. In stark contrast, whatever is on the other side of consumption-obsession is something devoted to the idea that we are made first to produce, to create, to share, to give, to make — an activity that justifies consumption. Something that claims the consumption is simply a means to that end. What fuels the creative, regenerative process must be consumed, otherwise, it lets things be.
In dystopias, nothing is safe from the eventual lust to satisfy appetite. Because the focus is on consuming, dystopian members are at constant war with themselves: the desire to destroy (ingest, digest, burn, oxidize
Dystopias work with entropy, heaven replenishes the order entropy feeds on.
Entropy may not be the enemy, but it is the force working opposite to the creative power of gods and men. Utopias join the work of breaking down, while this other thing's sole motivation is to build up.
Credo, or: The Foundation for a New Society
I reject the notion that I must be compensated for my labour.
I give and do with no other thought than that I can.
What I can do, I will do.
I will be and do what I know must be done for me and my society to become Zion — one heart, one mind, dwelling in righteousness, having no poor among us.
I will treasure industry that feeds the human spirit.
I will honor industry that feeds the body.
I will not accept or acknowledge the worldview that keeps us beaten into our present submission.
I DO have an obligation to my fellow man.
What I can do, I will do.
I will work tirelessly today doing what is in my power to feed the spirit.
There is enough.
I will not fear.
I will give.
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
New Pro-Choice rhetoric demands new Pro-Life perspective
Very interesting perspective. The "pro-choice" group is starting to refer more and more often to unborn children as 'alive,' but that verbal-cognitive acquiescence hasn't changed their heart-behavior advocacy of abortion.
This illustrates something that is true about many of the left's regressive, miserly, anti-human arguments: they are COMPLETELY emotion-based. Their stances don't start with facts and work toward policy, they start with whim, then they find "facts" to support them. If facts arise that negate the legitimacy of their foundation arguments, they just make up new facts and keep doing the same.
A real life hydra.
Facts, reality, expert argumentation — these are not the tools needed to fight the Left's dehumanizing, regressive agenda. Something has got to change in the heart. What's needed is conversion to Christ and access to the power and clarity of HIS heart.
What's needed is a complete world-view overhaul.
That said, what I'm writing here is NOT a vindication of the so-called conservative Right — that they have somehow been right all along and the Left needs to become clones of them.
Not by a long shot. The Right is, in many ways, similarly godless.
"What? All the praying, church-going, scripture-readers? All the 'God bless the USA'? All the defend life crew? The traditional marriage advocates?"
Yup.
Here's the clincher: campaigning for a few ideals that God espouses doth not a believer make.
What doth is a massive exodus to JESUS — not just the ideals that He taught. In absolute defiance of logic, our species' salvation is found in the PERSON of Jesus Christ — not just the life-skills that He taught. That is part of what is so wrong with the world today: we have taken parts of Christ's (and every other major god-figure of history) and distilled His person to a couple of quips that give license to do whatever we want.
Don't judge. Love your neighbour. Take care of the poor. Legislate change. Care for the earth.
Very nice.
Except, with the exception of loving your neighbour, he never said those things.
And even then, the problem of obsession with His message over devotion to His person remains.
Jesus did say that His followers would have life in Him, and have it more abundantly. But he predicated that life upon death: "Whosoever will save his [own] life will lose it. But whoever will lose his life for MY SAKE and the good news I bring will find it."
"To be My follower, you must deny yourself, and take up your cross, and follow Me."
Where? Follow Him where?
To Gethsemane and Calvary.
And from THERE, to life in Him.
In HIM.
Not in a few extracted principles that He taught.
Either He is the creator and life of the world, or He isn't. We need to get past the patronizing, "Oh, you can believe that if you want," and deal with whether or not we are going to live our lives in harmony with that great reality — that Jesus IS God. That He IS out there. That He DOES care about how our hearts are developing. That His intent for humanity is that we actually become HUMANE as He is.
What the Left wants us to believe is that we are not a rebellious, immoral people — that all this we debate is simply a matter of personal preference and civil friction. And that MAN is ultimately the measure of all things. That the happiness of a few at all costs is the goal of government. That a well-justified, well-defended, well-accepted lie is a lie permissible to live out.
The reality of God's existence does not change to suit our lust.
Very interesting perspective. The "pro-choice" group is starting to refer more and more often to unborn children as 'alive,' but that verbal-cognitive acquiescence hasn't changed their heart-behavior advocacy of abortion.
This illustrates something that is true about many of the left's regressive, miserly, anti-human arguments: they are COMPLETELY emotion-based. Their stances don't start with facts and work toward policy, they start with whim, then they find "facts" to support them. If facts arise that negate the legitimacy of their foundation arguments, they just make up new facts and keep doing the same.
A real life hydra.
Facts, reality, expert argumentation — these are not the tools needed to fight the Left's dehumanizing, regressive agenda. Something has got to change in the heart. What's needed is conversion to Christ and access to the power and clarity of HIS heart.
What's needed is a complete world-view overhaul.
That said, what I'm writing here is NOT a vindication of the so-called conservative Right — that they have somehow been right all along and the Left needs to become clones of them.
Not by a long shot. The Right is, in many ways, similarly godless.
"What? All the praying, church-going, scripture-readers? All the 'God bless the USA'? All the defend life crew? The traditional marriage advocates?"
Yup.
Here's the clincher: campaigning for a few ideals that God espouses doth not a believer make.
What doth is a massive exodus to JESUS — not just the ideals that He taught. In absolute defiance of logic, our species' salvation is found in the PERSON of Jesus Christ — not just the life-skills that He taught. That is part of what is so wrong with the world today: we have taken parts of Christ's (and every other major god-figure of history) and distilled His person to a couple of quips that give license to do whatever we want.
Don't judge. Love your neighbour. Take care of the poor. Legislate change. Care for the earth.
Very nice.
Except, with the exception of loving your neighbour, he never said those things.
And even then, the problem of obsession with His message over devotion to His person remains.
Jesus did say that His followers would have life in Him, and have it more abundantly. But he predicated that life upon death: "Whosoever will save his [own] life will lose it. But whoever will lose his life for MY SAKE and the good news I bring will find it."
"To be My follower, you must deny yourself, and take up your cross, and follow Me."
Where? Follow Him where?
To Gethsemane and Calvary.
And from THERE, to life in Him.
In HIM.
Not in a few extracted principles that He taught.
Either He is the creator and life of the world, or He isn't. We need to get past the patronizing, "Oh, you can believe that if you want," and deal with whether or not we are going to live our lives in harmony with that great reality — that Jesus IS God. That He IS out there. That He DOES care about how our hearts are developing. That His intent for humanity is that we actually become HUMANE as He is.
What the Left wants us to believe is that we are not a rebellious, immoral people — that all this we debate is simply a matter of personal preference and civil friction. And that MAN is ultimately the measure of all things. That the happiness of a few at all costs is the goal of government. That a well-justified, well-defended, well-accepted lie is a lie permissible to live out.
The reality of God's existence does not change to suit our lust.
Friday, August 5, 2016
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