The old theme looked noisy. One of the advantages of wordpress is that people who have graphic skills can develop the darn themes. The indiandong theme looks good, so I’ve changed.
Monthly Archives: April 2010
The greens in one paragraph: comment of the week.
The topic was how irrigation in North Otago was improving the social and economic prosperity of the community. And the stream was looking better as well.
Which the greens hate. Hence this gem:
They wear hand made sandals, have a built in arrogance, hug trees, have an education that they erroneously believe they paid for, and have an unshakable belief that they alone can save our planet from the greedy wealth creators who just cant be trusted to look after our planet in their pursuit of economic success. Many of them live in an ivory tower that was built by those same greedy wealth creators, enjoy a good salary again provided by the greedys and have the luxury of having the time to plan their disruption, obstruction and if possible prevention of the development and completion of the next steps in the building of the prosperity that will sustain the opportunities for the noisy protesters to continue their waste of oxygen.
via Hunter Downs irrigation scheme gets consent « Homepaddock.
Simon strikes again.
Simon… ECT works. You live in NZ. I suggest you read S.60 of the Mental Health Act.
They say the secret to a good relationship is to be able to forgive and forget – and so I’m working hard on the forgiving bit with the PFY.
He, for his part, is working on the forgetting – which I’m told is a perfectly normal by-product of ECT – even though a lot of private hospitals frown on the use of it unless it’s accompanied by a believable signature on the release form and a large donation. I make a mental note to call the School of Dangerously Experimental Medicine and see if he’s made any progress with his delusions of my demise…
See, I’m feeling better already.
Grabbing the third rail, again.
This is the beginning of the differentiation of Christianity form Judaism. It was written by Paul, and he is encouraging a bunch of Gentiles — who as had occurred in Jerusalem, were being persecuted.
1 Thessalonians 2
13We also constantly give thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God's word, which is also at work in you believers. 14For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you suffered the same things from your own compatriots as they did from the Jews, 15who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out; they displease God and oppose everyone
via PC(USA) – Devotions – Daily readings for Thursday, April 29, 2010.
I think this would count as hate speech in the humourless and frozen North. But there is a context. For the members of the Jerusalem Church… were Jewish. The tenchant criticism of the leadership of the Roman province of Judea was a bunch of Hellenized and liberal elite and a religious based, more popular but conservative group of Rabbis. Together, they made up the council — and most of them had not only voted for the death of Jesus but did the same for Stephen…
… Which, as Paul points out, was consistent with the treatment of the prophets when Isreal was a kingdom.
But this response — of persecution and opposition — is not limited to one group. Paul says that the Thessalia had persecuted those who were in the Church. And commends them for their famithfulness. For if you do not see the words of the gospel as coming from G_d, you will see them as repugnant, repulsive, and against the spirit (or Gods) of the nation.
In NZ, these Gods are: the libertine, the worship of Maori, the need for equality of outcomes (or jealousy), and the natural world (we must “save the planet”). As the Isrealites, under Moses & Joshua, broke up the alters and Baals of the people in Canaan, we must break the idols of this age.
But we will be seen as stupid and uncouth — we are speaking into the postmodern silence. We are grabbing the third rail.
Boring admin stuff.
One of the joys of raising boys is that they need to get hold of the intertubes during the term. Which either means three to four computers wired into a router (one boy uses one to research and the other to write) or using wireless.
Old router had bad reception. New router works, but forgot DNS tables. After two days of guessing, logged onto ISP site, where they have generic advice.
It is now working, which means I can get the electronic lectionary…
Contra pseudogospelum socialorum.
This is a time when the persecutions begin. I note that South Park can be blasphemous about Jesus, but not Mohammed. Because they are afraid of their skins. I see that the left is afraid that there will be a winnowing of them, while accusing their opposition of being genocidal racists, perverts, and worse.
I’m not that courageous and I prefer to be in comfort. Yet I claim to follow this person>
Matthew 4,
23Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. 24So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them. 25And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
Jesus was a healer and preacher. He attended to the needs of people who came to see him. But does this mean, to be like him, we have to remove from the rich to give to the poor? In Acts a couple came to Peter saying they had sold all to give to the church but had held some back. They were killed (without a hand on them) and Peter commented that their property was theirs, they could choose to keep it, sell it, and give what they wanted. Their crime was claiming to what they are not.
Colossians 3:1-17
1So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, 3 for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. 7 These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life. 8 But now you must get rid of all such things – anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices 10 and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. 11 In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!
via PCUSA – Devotions – Daily readings for Saturday, April 24, 2010.
From this: we must be truthul, pure, not jealous of other’s blessings — instead be happy for them.
- We should neither demonize or praise the rich. I note that both occur far too often in our political discourse.
- We should be honest. If our brother is struggling, he needs help, but if he feels he has to pretend to not have problems… how can he get help.
- We should resolve our differences in house.
- We are all one. There is no place for playing the politics of colour.
- We are one. We should not encourage the lords of this earth to steal from us.
- We should do good. One could argue that the state is not the means for this: for it is not sustainable in times of poverty. Families should look after their own and we should then provide for those who do not have. If we don’t have a few homeless people coming in for the food we are not doing our job.
- In the end, we are hidden in Christ. We have to account to him. Each day we can do good, or not, and that is our responsibility, And if we were not hidden in Christ, it would be our condemnation, for each day we do not meet these standards.
So moving to a social gospel, to a gospel that proclaims and ruminates on imagined oppression and the need for some authority to punish, is not a gospel. If one preaches this, one ins against Christ.
The Gospel needs to be available and understandable by a child — and the current neopagan gaiaist syncretic liberalized faith ain’t that.
Three dangers, no four
There are three or four dangers here.
- The danger of listening to reason and ignoring the suppositions behind it. It one supposes there is no need to invoke the deity — G_d is not on the playing field — the Bible is mere supersition, and is treated with contempt.
- The Danger of listening overmuch to authority. I am responsible for my walk next to G_d (which is very intermittent). I cannot rely on the life of any pastor, any saint.
- The Danger of ritual and tradition, no matter how beautiful, obscuring the need to rely on Jesus. This is the danger of religion, and it is real: If I keep Kosher, do not use a computer, live as a Mennonite… I am holy. (I am not holy. Only G_d is holy. I stumble towards my aspirations.) Our salvation relies on the cross.
- There is a fourth problem. We can take on the rituals and prohibitions of the world. We can become too Green, to concerned with Social Justice — in the end because we think we can manage that which we cannot (I am speaking of the climate, on abolishing evil and inequality). We should do good, but the rituals of atonement such as carbon credits — add little, and, like the indulgences in Luther’s time, need to be condemned.
Colossians 2:8-23
8See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. 9For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority.
16Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths. 17These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking, 19and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God.
via PC(USA) – Devotions – Daily readings for Friday, April 23, 2010.
Basic morals. Broken.
This is the base of our ethics. And it would be unpopular.
- For G_d claims exclusivity — you cannot shake and bake your own G_d.
- For G-d demands that all rest at least one day of seven.
- For it is commanded that you respect your parents.
The no murder, theft and adultery were seen as self evident. Anyone who has lived through a broken marriage would agree with the last being there, but the current ethos celebrates being unfaithful.
There are arguments about untruthfulness, but not many argue about perjury being wrong. However, the 10th commandment gets us all. Drooling over, and wanting to get, our neighbours toys, not being content with our blessings, is sinful.
Exodus 20
1Then God spoke all these words: 2I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3you shall have no other gods before me.4You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, 6but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.7You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.8Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 10But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work – you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. 11For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.12Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.13You shall not murder.14You shall not commit adultery.15You shall not steal.16You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.17You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
And we have entire industries that aim to make us covetous.
PCUSA – Devotions – Daily readings for Today
The boy and I watched the news channel last night. There is a large amount of anxiety at present. People’s plans for travel are being disrupted: this is affecting me, but not as bad as this. However, the new trainee pointed out that in Hungary her family are completely unaffected: they are too poor to travel.
From today’s lectionary (Well Mondays — I am 16h ahead of the USA server).
I Peter 5
6Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. 7Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. 8Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. 9Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. 10And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. 11To him be the power forever and ever. Amen.
A boot in your face, forever.
The Left, in the 1890s, had a hypothesis. That if a revolution occured, and those who were workers (the low, the proles) ran their own lives by means of a dictatorship of the proletariate (well, I guess that is Lenin, in 1905) then all will be well.
It failed.
Now the Left have abandoned the proletariat, and instead advocate identity politics. Which consists, simply of forcing us to approve their decisions, regardless of what they are.
America is not yet remotely comparable to Orwell’s England of 1984. We’re still a rich people…though Washington has impeded our ability to advance and prosper as we've historically done. We’re still largely free to speak our minds…though Washington, the Left, and the barons of the Main Stream Media are doing their best to make sure only their preferred messages are widely heard. We’re still permitted to vote out our current scoundrels and vote in a new set, every two years…but have you noticed how little things have changed these past few decades, no matter who's “in” and who's “out?” (And that’s before we address the effect of ever-expanding vote fraud and voter intimidation.)
No, not everyone who advocates for increasing federal activism, taxation, and regulation is a would-be tyrant. Some sincerely if naively believe that what they advocate would only be for the best. But their opinions are, to an increasing degree, handed out to them by others — and those others are predominantly persons of no morals, consumed by a great lust for power.
It’s time we ceased, once and for all, to attribute good intentions to our adversaries as a default condition of our discourse. As the old English order of chivalry, the Order of the Garter, inscribed as its motto: “Honi soit qui mal y pense:” “Shame upon him who thinks evil.” Those who can be led to understand better might be many, but they must not be credited with better intentions than they display by their deeds. Those who already understand perfectly well, and approve of the damage to freedom and prosperity wrought by Leftist policies, must get no shrift at all.
I’d sugges that we should not permit those in power to shut us up. We should not permit them to ruin our businesses. For the elite rule only with our consent.
And it is time to take that consent back.