A Warning to the West

Here is a video recently posted by Dr. Jordan B. Peterson entitled A New Years Letter to the World. It is quite interesting and I encourage you to watch it (just over 20 minutes).

Peterson states that the real problem of conflict in our world is not religion, but rather tribalism. And the problem with tribalism is that people will cooperate with each other but only in small groups which are in conflict with other small groups. This causes division and is unavoidable when people group together to defend a value system. The solution is not to devalue everything, which causes nihilism, nor is the solution a totalitarian state, which forces all people under one value system. The solution is individualism — but not a selfish individualism; instead, one of personal responsibility and caring action.

Human History According to Franz Rosenzweig

“What happens in history, [Rosenzweig] says, is not a struggle between man’s faith and man’s reason but a struggle between God and man. In world history the absolute powers themselves are dramatis personae [the characters of the play]. Revelation breaks into the world and transforms creation, which is the Alpha of history, into redemption, which is the Omega. Philosophy has a pagan quality. It is an expression of the Alpha, of creation, of pure nature to which God has given freedom — even against himself. But as revelation comes into the world, it gradually absorbs philosophy, deprives it of its pagan elements, and illuminates it with its own light. The Omega of history will be realized after the element of creation, the world’s freedom, has spent itself. Then God, who has allowed the world to be in the Alpha, will again be the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega.”

~Alexander Altmann, from Franz Rosenzweig and Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy: An Introduction to Their “Letters on Judaism & Christianity”, from Judaism Despite Christianity, University of Chicago Press, 1935, page 33.

Notes on Scary Stuff in Romans 9 (Re-blog)

This article is written by Mark Horne, and is re-blogged from Theopolis.

What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? As indeed he says in Hosea… (Romans 9).

Ultimately, there is great mystery and terror in contemplating the infinity and power of God. The fact that he knows and plans all things, the fact that he “works all things according to the counsel of his will,” cannot be escaped. Trying to solve the problems this seems to bring by making the ultimate plan to be what falls together from the conglomeration of human choices simply transfers mystery and terror from God to “reality,” “the universe,” or some other title for the metaphysical casino that results when we make ultimate reality impersonal rather than personal…

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Atheism is Not a Religion, But…

Atheism is not a religion, but it is a world-view, and as a world-view it takes on many of the attributes of religion.

1) Seeking Converts

Atheists want everyone to believe as they do and are continuously trying to convert people to their world-view. If you don’t agree, think of Bill Maher, the late Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, that guy with the bow-tie who does kid’s shows, and all the guys on Youtube.

2) Controlling Politics

Atheists want their people in office to create policies which favour the atheistic world-view.

3) Punishing the Heretics

If you are not an atheist, you are not welcome in their society.

4) Preaching Salvation

Salvation comes through atheistic/humanistic moralism and science.

Religious people and atheists do all these things alike. This is why people will say that atheism is a religion. Sure, atheists don’t worship a super-natural being, but they do worship something. We all worship something.

When God Laughs He Laughs at Atheists

I was at this time of living, like so many Atheists or Anti-theists, in a whirl of contradictions. I maintained that God did not exist. I was also very angry with God for not existing. I was equally angry with Him for creating a world.
~C.S. Lewis

A couple of other good titles for this article could be: “Let Us Rage Against the Unicorn” or “When Atheists Lie They Lie to Themselves (and They’re Always Lying)”.

You’ve got agnostics, who are like the potheads of the issue–“Hey man, whatever man”. And you’ve got the atheists, whose two tenets are: 1) “I don’t believe in God”; 2) “I hate God”. Christopher Hitchens described himself as an anti-theist, which meant that even if he acknowledged the existence of God he would still rebel against God. At least he was honest. And this is the funny thing about atheists: the outright rage against something they claim doesn’t exist. It doesn’t make sense. Look, I don’t believe in unicorns, but I’m not seething in anger against those monokeros bastards. I’m pushed to conclude that atheists know God enough to hate Him.

But, of course, the atheist would argue that he does not hate God; he hates Christianity, Christians, and Conservatives. He’ll blame war, human suffering, and intolerance on Christianity. “Remember the Crusades?!”

But when we judge the actions of people, we have to ask if their actions are in line with who they say they are and what they say they believe. A Catholic priest who molests young boys does not represent the heart of Christianity, he is a troll. Let’s use the crusades as an example. In the eleventh century, peace had been imposed by the church in Europe, which was supposed to stop the bloody feuds between competing lords and knights. It was not wholly successful. So when the Eastern Orthodox Church appealed to the European Pope for help in holding back the invading Muslim Turks, Pope Urban II saw a fortuitous occasion to rid Europe of its violent fighting men and to save the Holy Land from the Muslims. The crusaders sent south on those missions were like a bunch of Hell’s Angels bikers who had just completed a six month vow of alcoholic and sexual abstinence. They did not act Christ-like, they acted a lot more like…well, atheists. And the results were devastating, driving a deeper wedge between the Western and Eastern church, and fueling the misplaced rage of atheists for centuries to come.

Jesus said, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation.” If I want to convert a village to Christianity, I’m not going to recruit a bunch of 20 year old, single, male, atheists to do the job. And 30 years later, when the old village women lament to the atheist documentarian about all the half-breed children they had to raise by themselves, I would rightfully be criticized for being shortsighted in regards to my team selection, but no one could accuse Christianity for being the cause of the village’s distress simply on account of my ineptitude.

A lot of atheists attempt to take the moral high ground and describe themselves as being tolerant, loving, and a bunch of other self-righteous spew. At this time the atheist needs to be reminded that the word ‘atheist’ simply means to not believe in God, that’s it. There is no moral scheme attached to the word. And so, again, when the atheist gets moral, it’s just more fist shaking aimed at the vacant skies. As an example, when someone (atheist or not) says that gay marriage is all about individual happiness, I have to say, “But, if God created us male and female, then should we not strive to remain within those boundaries?” And the response is either, “There is no God, throw off your chains!” or “God is love, throw off your chains!” Both those responses are just unqualified created beings redefining that which was defined by the Creator. Not smart. “So there is no God, and all things can change and morph, and there are no boundaries? Great! Now excuse me while I try to impregnate this chihuahua.”

Consider Psalm 2…

Why do the nations rage,
And the people plot a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,
“Let us break Their bonds in pieces
And cast away Their cords from us.”

He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
The Lord shall hold them in derision.
Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,
And distress them in His deep displeasure:
“Yet I have set My King
On My holy hill of Zion.”

“I will declare the decree:
The Lord has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron;
You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’”

Now therefore, be wise, O kings;
Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear,
And rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
And you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.
(NKJV)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction.” The second psalm is a no nonsense, ultimate, statement of reality, and if you’re opposed to it, you are on the wrong train.

God has created all things, and not just that, He has created all things to be something specific. Accepting that fact is freedom. A fish in the water is free. A rebellious fish out of the water is dead, and God laughs at it.

“If you ask why we should obey God, in the last resort the answer is, ‘I AM.’
To know God is to know that our obedience is due to Him.”
~C.S. Lewis

Further reading: Bestiality brothels are ‘spreading through Germany’ warns campaigner as abusers turn to sex with animals as ‘lifestyle choice’