This is a classic rant.

There’s no need for a single man to hire a maid. Most single men live in small spaces anyway, even if a small house. A small house does not take that much time or energy to clean, especially if you have minimal furniture and “knick knacks”.

The only daily cleaning is dishes after cooking and eating. Once a week he can vacuum and clean the toilet bowl.

That’s why I say had middle to upper-middle class housewives had the internet back in the 50s and 60s, there would have been no 2nd Wave Feminism.

Betty Friedan was bored because there was no blogging.

So she wrote a book about how oppressive boredom was for the middle to upper middle class housewife who, after making breakfast, washing a few dishes and putting some laundry into a machine, had nothing else to do for the rest of the day til hubby got home.

Why do you think so many women are begging their husbands to allow them to quit working and stay at home? That’s right – THE INTERNET.

Who wants to go to work when you lay in bed, drink espresso from your own kitchen and BLOG???

Information technology could have saved us from 2nd Wave Feminism, but alas, it was too late in coming.

via German men « Traditional Catholicism.

I’ve just been checking the links. The link to the Flannigans now works.  They are continuing their discussion of logical fallacies by discussing denying the antecedent.

Paige is one of the more sensible commentators at Alte’s place. Her website has been added to the blogroll. She gives an accurate by unromantic discussion of pregnancy (the ex only found coffee nauseous when pregnant, but then… the smell set her off).  Her heart melted with the Royal Wedding. (In the Dominion of New Zealand, pukeko took his sons out to dinner to avoid the cloying sentimentality of the day). Alte, on the other hand, tried to describe the boxes her readers fall into, before going completely gooey when discussing German men.

In New Zealand, we have had a leadership change in the ACT party. This is an odd alliance of economic realists from both the liberterian and conservative positions. The new leader, Don Brash, is quite angry that the work he did to stablise NZ when head of the reserve bank is being destroyed by the current bunch borrowing a quarter of this year’s budget. Whaleoil has some comments from the Centre-Right: Cactus Kate (who is a loyal member of ACT) talks about how this should be sorted out: and Chris Trotter is the most polite of the left leaning bloggers in expressing his horror. Most are running around like headless chooks.

I spent the Easter week in Canada: that home of relentless political correctness. Walking around Vancouver, I felt that there was a sense of fin de siecle. In Manitoba, I had a long chat with a couple of conservative Christians who had got out of there and were finding in the priaries — despite cold winters and floods — a culture that allowed them to think freely and live in peace.

Because this has gone in Vancouver. A comic was convicted and fined — as was the club he was working in — because he abused hecklers. Canada is now a soft tyranny. For free speech to be free, it cannot just be for the deserving.

As far as the ongoing war between the elite tranzis (or SWPL) and the Narod, there is a discussion of the silent apartment — written by a woman who can no longer tolerate the cost that came with swallowing the swill she was told by feminists. Dalrock and his readers give some advice to women who want to change and  therefore marry. The Anglican church in Australia (again) proves it is Tranzi by calling for people not to breed. And Keivsky describes with compassion and truth on the coming fallout when austerity hits. Alte turned her sarcasm level up to 11 when discussing the ongoing deliberate devaluation of the US dollar. I’m finishing this post by reprinting a comment that I wrote and she commented on. (Alte is “the editor”)

Alte and all.

1. Get money out of the US. Kiwis, Aussies, Loonies, Renbi, Swiss Francs. (Editor: Only if you have a lot of it. Most of us are better off spending the money, than moving it around.)

2. Get some silver.

3. Buy real property. Dump your shares and bonds. (Editor: And fiat.)

4. Get the hell out of big cities. This includes you, Obsidian. You need to be somewhere smallish where you are known and liked. Because when the hyperinflation starts, society breaks down. And you don’t want to have your family and kids there.

We should be hopeful, but we also need to be realistic

One of my pet peeves is that modern translations of the creeds have a tin ear. The Presybyterians accept two creeds: the Apostle’s and Nicene. There have been subsequent creeds.

Let’s look at the Nicene. The Book of Common Prayer states it as follows:

I BELIEVE in one God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth,
And of all things visible and invisible:

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God,
Begotten of his Father before all worlds,
God of God, Light of Light, Very God of very God,
Begotten, not made,
Being of one substance with the Father,
By whom all things were made:
Who for us men, and for our salvation came down from heaven,
And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary,
And was made man,

And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.
He suffered and was buried,
And the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures,
And ascended into heaven,
And sitteth on the right hand of the Father.
And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead:
Whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Ghost,
The Lord and giver of life,
Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son,
Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified,
Who spake by the Prophets.
And I believe one Catholick and Apostolick Church.
I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins.
And I look for the resurrection of the dead,
And the life of the world to come.
Amen.

So far, so good. This is understandable to the modern reader. It reads out loud well. The text is fairly close to the Latin.

However, it had to be modernised.

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
and of all things, visible and invisible.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only begotten Son of God,
begotten of the Father before all ages,
God from God, Light from Light,
of one being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven.
He became incarnate by the Holy Spirit
of the virgin Mary, and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate.
He suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
according to the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He shall come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son
he is worshipped and glorified.
He spoke through the prophets.
I acknowledge one holy, catholic and apostolic church,
and one baptism for the remission of sins.
I look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

There are some differences. Catholick and Apostolick becomes “Holy, catholic and apostolic”. Begotten remains.

The catholics have had some problems. They did not use the anglican text, but re translated. The current version (from advent this year) has some changes.

I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

The two big changes are the use of consubstantial. It may or may not be accurate, but to my ears it reads… badly. In one being with the father is simpler and clearer. But the issue of faithfulness and accuracy remains. The wiki article on this is fairly good.

Then the revisionists came in. The old creeds were sexist. And the new versions remove not only the richness, but read horribly. This is from the United Church of Canada.

We are not alone,
we live in God’s world.

We believe in God:
who has created and is creating,
who has come in Jesus,
the Word made flesh,
to reconcile and make new,
who works in us and others
by the Spirit.

We trust in God.

We are called to be the Church:
to celebrate God’s presence,
to live with respect in Creation,
to love and serve others,
to seek justice and resist evil,
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
our judge and our hope.

In life, in death, in life beyond death,
God is with us.
We are not alone.

Thanks be to God.

Anyone could accede to that creed. The Uniting Church in Australia has stuck (fortunately) to the reformed tradition, and uses the Nicene and Apostles creed.

Creeds matter. We repeat them in the liturgy of communion. They help frame our interpretation of the word of God, and protect us from common errors. Although they are not scripture — which Jesus said that no person could alter by one letter and John ascribed curses to those who added or subtracted from — we have to be very, very careful with the words in our creeds. And yet, and yet, keep the music of the words.

For the creed is useless unless the congregation states, as it has for centuries.

Credo in unum Deum,
Patrem omnipoténtem,
factórem cæli et terræ,
visibílium ómnium et invisibílium.

Et in unum Dóminum Iesum Christum,
Fílium Dei Unigénitum,
et ex Patre natum ante ómnia sæcula.
Deum de Deo, lumen de lúmine, Deum verum de Deo vero,
génitum, non factum, consubstantiálem Patri:
per quem ómnia facta sunt.
Qui propter nos hómines et propter nostram salútem
descéndit de cælis.
Et incarnátus est de Spíritu Sancto
ex María Vírgine, et homo factus est.
Crucifíxus étiam pro nobis sub Póntio Piláto;
passus, et sepúltus est,
et resurréxit tértia die, secúndum Scriptúras,
et ascéndit in cælum, sedet ad déxteram Patris.
Et íterum ventúrus est cum glória,
iudicáre vivos et mórtuos,
cuius regni non erit finis.

Et in Spíritum Sanctum, Dóminum et vivificántem:
qui ex Patre Filióque procédit.
Qui cum Patre et Fílio simul adorátur et conglorificátur:
qui locútus est per prophétas.
Et unam, sanctam, cathólicam et apostólicam Ecclésiam.

Confíteor unum baptísma in remissiónem peccatorum.
Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum,
et vitam ventúri sæculi.

Amen

I was in another country over Easter. Waiting for the first of the three flights needed to get me back to Dunedin, I read Micheal Coren’s defence of the Roman Catholic Church.

This Protestant liked the book. I have some minor quibbles — the zeitgeist is much more anti-beleiver than Catholic. Any Christian who takes their faith seriously, and who does not beleive in the cafeteria method of Christendom, is labelled as either a fundamentalist fanatic or a lackey of the Pope.

Or both.

Coren makes the point that the Church set the Bible and the Church has primacy. This is disputed by both Orthodox and  Protestants. What is not disputed is the idea of catholicsm.

Simply put, catholicism sees the Church as imperfect, being made perfect in Christ. No person who understands that would be suprised by the abuses of the clergy, including sexual abuse. For there will be people drawn to all churches out of a lust for power, rather than a calling to serve. In that sense, we are all catholic, and the message we preach has not changed.

Acts 2:36-41

36“Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.”37Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”

Peter is the first one sent to the people of Israel, and this sermon, preached in the Temple, was an accusation that they, as a nation, had killed their Messiah

38Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.”

There are three elements to this — which is foundational — we must repudiate our wrong and walk rightly in penetence. There is no room for pride. That is repentence.

We are told to be baptised — to convert — publicly taking on a new life. Baptism for repentance was already within the Jewish rituals.

And we are promised the Holy Spirit.

40And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. 42They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.43Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. 44All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

via Daily Lectionary Readings — Devotions and Readings — Mission and Ministry — GAMC.

From the beginning, the gathered and public Church cared for those who were part of it and redistributed wealth. Money and power were no longer goals, but tools. There was a fundamental equality — not of ritual, for not all of those called were priests — but in Christ.

And in this the comforter helps us.

To his fellow believers Calvin wrote, “The increase, as well as the commencement of everything good in us, comes from the Holy Spirit.” Again, Calvin wrote, “God gives us the Spirit as our teacher in prayer, to tell us what is right and [to] temper our emotions.”8
Throughout his writings Calvin extolled the work of the Holy Spirit, whom he identified as both the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ, and urged Christians not to separate the Word from the Spirit, as some radicals were then doing. Spirituality requires the objective truth of divine revelation, for that is the basis for subjective life and its development. The Holy Spirit leads believers to embrace sound doctrine, and that doctrine must regulate all of life Book III of the Institutes of the Christian Religion reminds readers that books I and II deal with the knowledge of God objectively, as Creator and Redeemer, while conferring the subjective knowledge of God is the work of the Holy Spirit. While philosophers acclaim human reason as the supreme guide for life, Christians must subject reason to revealed truth, which requires reason to “yield, retire, give place to the Holy Spirit [and] subject itself to his direction.”

Repentance, proclamation that Jesus is Lord and Christ, Baptism, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the foundations on which the Church is built. The outward manifestation of the church will be flawed, because the humans who make it are flawed.

But the work of the Holy Spirit is to renew the Church, generation by generation, bringing into reality in each generation equality and justice within the Church and right living among each one of us.

It’s school holidays. Me and the boys are visiting people. Intermittent service until after Easter

One of the roles of people in leadership is to speak the truth even when it is unpopular with other leaders, or unpopular with the leaders. This elder defended Jeremiah when he was about to be put to death:

Jeremiah 26

8“Micah of Moresheth, who prophesied during the days of King Hezekiah of Judah, said to all the people of Judah: ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts,
Zion shall be plowed as a field;
Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,
and the mountain of the house a wooded height.’
¹⁹Did King Hezekiah of Judah and all Judah actually put him to death? Did he not fear the LORD and entreat the favor of the LORD, and did not the LORD change his mind about the disaster that he had pronounced against them? But we are about to bring great disaster on ourselves!”

The person who says that disaster is going to come is unpopular. The person who states what happened before and compares it with the current situation will be unpopular.

Chris Trotter is doing this for the left this week. he recalls a Labour MP from the 1930s and 1940s and compares him with the current labour list — full of unionists and people from Helen Clarke’s (when prime minister) department.

Yes, I know, it was a different world back then. But I can’t help comparing the by now long-forgotten Bob Walls with the Labour candidates of today. How many of them can bring to the table the extraordinary record of self-improvement and public service that he laid before the North Dunedin Labour Electorate Committee in 1945?

Bob Walls was a true representative of his Dunedin constituents, claiming their support not in recognition of the hand nature had dealt him – but for the way he had risen above it: for the man he had made of himself.

Not a gaggle or a self-server in sight.

It’s not only the left. On the right, there are people blaming others: foreigners, the left’s long march through the institutions, other generations.

Both the far left and the far right are quite good at throwing insults at other people.

I’m sure Micah of Moresheth would call us all fools. There is a financial crisis coming. We have a moral crisis. It is not time to blame each other, or quibble about fine points of ideology. It is time to act to preserve our families and cities.

Isn’t this the equivalent of aiding and abetting, or being an accessory to the fact?

In a legal first, a Hastings mother has been jailed for a year for failing to protect her daughters after they told her partner had been sexually abusing them.The 44-year-old woman was sentenced at the Napier District Court after being found guilty last month of neglecting a child under 16.The charges related to both of her daughters who were offended against by the woman’s partner – the biological father of the younger girl, Fairfax Media reported.The youngest daughter, then aged nine, told her mother her father had been sexually abusing her for four years. A few months later her father was investigated by police after she told a teacher.But her mother told police the girl was lying.Police contacted the girl’s older sister, who was then 22, who told them their father had sexually abused her twice a week for three years when she was aged between eight and 11.The abuse happened when she slept in the same bed as the man and her mother, but when she told her mother she was sent to live elsewhere.

via Mum jailed for ignoring daughters’ abuse – National – NZ Herald News.

North and South is one of the prime outlets for quality journalism in New Zealand. This month, they have devoted the bult of the issue to… men. And in doing so, the (female) journalist are documenting the institutionalised misandry that exists within their profession.

In Praise of Men

In the panic and confusion of a disaster, such as the Christchurch earthquake, men’s courage and selflessness come to the fore. But when the dust settles, how do we view and react to the often-forgotten male virtues – like bravery, practicality, logic and gallantry?

Writing in praise of men can be risky business, claims North & South editor Virginia Larson. Braving a feminist backlash, she celebrates the manly virtues and explains why men have been dubbed the “disposable” sex.

The Lost Boys

After 40 years of feminism, is it time to start worrying about how the other half live and die?

Donna Chisholm talks to researcher-economist Paul Callister, head of a three-year research project into New Zealand’s “missing men”.

The study suggests women have been the winners from the surging growth of the 2000s – and in looking at the female gaps at the top of the job market, we’re overlooking the growing body count of males at the bottom.

via In Praise of Men | Scoop News.

The magazine’s content is not online. However, Paul Callister is an academic, and therefore his data is available. He notes:

A group of young men has been increasingly ‘missing’ in official statistics. This has an impact on social policy analysis, including understanding disparities, working out mortality or unemployment rates, determining electoral boundaries and the allocation of fisheries resources. There is a group of men that is actually ‘missing’ in terms of educational participation and attainment, from family life, in labour market participation and in terms of reaching old age.  The project has also been contributing to work being undertaken by Statistics New Zealand to determine why men are missing in official statistics.

At IMF, these would be called Men going their own way. The conversations about how men are being alienated from their families. There is very little data on this, but Cantor andSlater (1995) noted:

Few suicide studies have examined the separation phase of marital breakdown or the influence of parenthood as predictors of suicide. This study tested the hypothesis that the acute disruption of attachments by separation might be associated with a different suicide rate compared with the longer phase of divorce. Further, we were interested in whether there might be gender differences.

A complex methodology was used to circumvent obstacles to this investigation. Subjects were 1375 people who suicided in Queensland between 1990 and 1992 inclusive. Marital status was determined from the Suicide Research and Prevention Program’s suicide register and the Register-General’s records. Rates of suicide were calculated using population data for each marital group.

Results showed that separated (compared with married) males were six times more likely to suicide, and this was greater in younger age groups. Separated female suicide rates were not significantly elevated but in the divorce phase both male and female rates were similarly elevated. Marriage was protective for both sexes, especially within the age range of 30 to 54 years. Females with more children had lower suicide rates. Married females who suicided did so later than married males. Males may be particularly vulnerable to suicide associated with interpersonal conflict in the separation phase. It is possible that females may be protected against suicide by child rearing responsibilities but that this protection declines as their children become independent.

However, there is some hope — in NZ, the mainstream media are following a trend of seeing the anti male biases inherent within the post-modern progressive discourse that still runs Wellington.