As I’m reflecting on this year (between tidying up) I am thinking of a prayer I wrote in the diary this time last year. I prayed that I would find someone who could be a stepmother for the boys.

There is, at this time, no one. And… since I am fully aware that once one is sleeping with a women your ability to discern if the relationship is correct will go.  (It is no sex before marriage for practical reasons).  Now… there may be some reasons for this.

1. I may have not been psychologically ready for a relationship. I certainly did not put much effort into finding someone. Looking after the boys and myself has been the priority this year — I had one boy sit his first set of senior exams, ran a conference, and re established two hobbies (viola and photography).
2. It may be wrong to re-marry. This certainly is Catholic Doctrine. It is not Reformed doctrine.
3. It may have been the wrong time for my boys to realise that I had someone else in my life. I’ve seen this with friends. We all may be middle aged, but it does not stop imitating the most silly of giddy teenagers when we fall in love. And the idea of this is… to our children… simply gross.  It is bad enough for a pre teen or early teen to consider that his parents may still be having sex, but her or his parents dating? Awful.

And my older son gave me the “I don’t want a girlfriend because you have to give them attention and spend money on them” speech again about three weeks ago. It simply may have been the wrong time.

Or it may be never.There is no question that the current rules of our society are based around serial monagamy — and this itself needs defending, which is one reason that I’m linking to Susan Walsh as well as Dalrock.

But the reformers had it right. They argued that families should help their daughters choose an eligible man of good characther who could support her. They could not rely on the crown (for they were generally dissenters) and the expectation was that families provided for one’s own. The woman’s sense of attraction was important, but the young people were encouraged to know each other, and then learn to love each other once married. In their late teens (for the girl) and mid twenties (for the boy). Divorce was shunned — and in a divorce, the woman lost everything.

We can argue about what has changed here, but some of the components that led to the loosening of morals include:

• The development of a social welfare system that supports single mothers (ie. supporting widows extended to divorcees and then to single mothers)
• The move to alimony, female custody of children and child support payments tilted the financial equation for divorce in women’s favour.
• A de-emphasis of the theology of incarnation, and bodily resurrection within the church. This has led to a functional form of gnosticism that tolerates immorality — particularly serial relationships — and does not call out bad behaviour, female or male.
• Birth control. This has led to young woman considering sex as a form of recreation apart from fertility (and, given that a third of NZ women have chlamydia when screened in pregnancy, the women who have many partners [ut their fertility at risk).
• Neo-Gramscian Feminism... as an ideology that has made a "long march through the instutitions" now sees the current situation as normal, inevitable and sustainable. The cost to men, in this view (such as increased suicide, decrased ambtion, and the move to a relationship strike) is acceptable.

There is one problem. Look at this graph

Hat tip to zero hedge and Will S from Patriactionary

We are not living in the times that are increasing wealth and growing a vibrant culture. In the West, we are in decline. The burden of the state is such that what used to be simple is now complex. We have a large bureaucratic class, and the members of this are sheltered from competition or production. In fact their rules make the West less competative.

We may not have killed the golden goose, but we have given it an gastric bypass, and it is starving.

The consequences for this is… that the current social democratic welfare state is doomed. Tax reciepts are down — even in NZ, which technically is in recovery. You cannot grow the size of the welfare state when the size of the economy is shrinking.

And this will break the bedrock assumptions of the current feminist zeitgest. The state will not be around to provide jobs. The family will have to step up.

And families need mothers, yes. Hence the prayer last year. But they also need fathers. One of the reasons I am on this planet is to be a father for my children. I pray regularly that God will give me time to see my chidlren grown, and my grandchildren grown, (See, I’m greedy!). But this means that I am likely to live through the destruction of the social welfare state.

And during that time, many will suffer greatly. I am praying not for that, but that we will, as a society, return to a more sustainable, crunchy, and traditional way of living. By choice, and before we have no alternative.

This year this site has been read. I switched wordpress stats off for a few months, but even so, the site has ten times the traffic as it had a year ago.  And this year, for the first time, the comments outnumber the posts (there are 935 posts and 1300 comments as of this morning).

Months and Years

I am aware that those of us who try to discuss the word, and what God commands, cause controversy. Dalrock has recently commented on a dual standard by some women — they demand evidence when challenged, but their very statements cannot be challenged. In the same way, Elspeth and Alte have been dealing with this. Joycalyn, one of her commentators, noted.

My friend posted this article on her FB page and asked for comments. The ladies were all over it with charges of “judgmental,” “my daughter can do anything she wants – this is just a weird Catholic dude with 5 kids being perverted,” “this is just a man trying to keep women down,” “I found this article completely offensive and misogynist,” and more such foolishness. When I pointed out that wanting things to be a certain way doesn’t make them that way and that refusing to acknowledge the reality of male/female sexual natures the next comment was “I don’t deny we have certain natures, the question is what should we do with those natures?” This was from the woman who found the article to be misogynist. Sigh. These are Christian women. Discouraging, to say the least.

Well. Patriactionarchy labeled these people correctly. As Christian Ferals.

John has some words about this.

3 John 1-15

1 The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.

2 Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul. 3 I was overjoyed when some of the friends arrived and testified to your faithfulness to the truth, namely how you walk in the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than this, to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

5 Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the friends, even though they are strangers to you; 6 they have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on in a manner worthy of God; 7 for they began their journey for the sake of Christ, accepting no support from non-believers. 8 Therefore we ought to support such people, so that we may become co-workers with the truth.

9 I have written something to the church; but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. 10 So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing in spreading false charges against us. And not content with those charges, he refuses to welcome the friends, and even prevents those who want to do so and expels them from the church.

11 Beloved, do not imitate what is evil but imitate what is good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God. 12 Everyone has testified favorably about Demetrius, and so has the truth itself. We also testify for him, and you know that our testimony is true.

13 I have much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink; 14 instead I hope to see you soon, and we will talk together face to face. 15 Peace to you. The friends send you their greetings. Greet the friends there, each by name.

Gauius is a faithful man. He does good. He refrains from evil, he is hospitable to the workers of the church, and he respects the authority of the apostle. Demetrius does not respect authority, does not practice hospitality and does no good. Within the church, we argue, but we respect authority. Within scripture. Within the church (see below). And those who teach that we can be solo, wild, or feral Christians forget Donne’s comment that none of us are self sufficient, none is an island.

[I am fully aware that some will take this as an argument for apostolic succession, which it could be. But I am reformed, and there are no bishops, but an elder and consistory (or session). At this point it does not matter. I have a duty to pray for these people, and to respect their leadership. I also have a duty to listen carefully to their teaching, and correct if there is error... but within the church.]

We are not taught to be feral, to do what is wrong. We are told to meet, to respect authority: to be civilised, not feral. For the poison of the left leads us to some pagan form of women’s spirituality, whilt the poison of the right leads to worship of the pagan volk. We have to return to the teachings of old. There is nothing new. If we were told not to rebel during the time of the Roman Imperium (which was by no means good, noble, kind or holy) then we must remain subjects and citizens now. And part of this is submission to authority, not claiming our own.

I am not quoting from the beginning ot the epistle in the lectionary today, but I want to allude to this. John started off by saying he was writing to the elect lady. For the Church is CHrist’s bride. TO a certain extent, and as far as a group of people can be aligned, the church is feminine… and Christ is masculine. We obey, he commands.

2 John 1:4-11
4I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we have been commanded by the Father. 5But now, dear lady, I ask you, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning, let us love one another. 6And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment just as you have heard it from the beginning — you must walk in it.

7Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh; any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist! 8Be on your guard, so that you do not lose what we have worked for, but may receive a full reward. 9Everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ, but goes beyond it, does not have God; whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10Do not receive into the house or welcome anyone who comes to you and does not bring this teaching; 11for to welcome is to participate in the evil deeds of such a person

John was writing about the proto Gnostics and the dualists: those who could not accept the incarnation of Jesus — that God was in the babe and was the babe that Mary carried in her womb. nowadays, the same heresies occur. It is our duty to deal with the heresies that occur in our time. We do not, for instance, need to deal with the race driven fascism of Germany — Bonhoeffer and Pius X had to.

Our burden is a form of rebellion. I noted at the beginning that the church is feminine, not masculine. It is described as the bride of Christ. And the role of a bride is to be a helpmeet, a willing helper, to do what their husband commands (or should command). God is the captain and owner of the church. We are not.

But… there are a group of women who simply do not want to obey. They want to explore their spirituality, and the teaching about submission is seen as nn anathema. In their view, women should rule, for men are crude, simple, unspiritual, unworthy, and without subtlety.

This is an error. It leads to moral laxity, a lack of fervour in doing good, and death of the church. For the word of God is Christ, and he is alive, active… and able to discern our errors. (I will note that men have made one error in the last two generations in the Church… they have pandered to women power instead of holding to the truth of the gospel).

It is time for men to lead. For doing that is to be in obedience with the teaching of Christ. So let the feminists squeal, they are not of us, and they must not be allowed to deceive us. For we must obey, not rebel.

Ikon St Stephen, hat tip acts of hope.

I generally don’t know what the Saint’s day is. But in the Anglican church, today is the feast of St Stephen the first martyr. So this day should not be boxing day… it should be martyrs day.

To call it stoning day. We don’t need to encourage the Persians, who seem to make a habit of killing uppity women in this manner.

But to the text. Which describes two martyrs… Zechariah and Stephen, both of whom were stoned to death.

2 Chronicles 24:17-22

¹⁷Now after the death of Jehoiada the officials of Judah came and did obeisance to the king; then the king listened to them. ¹⁸They abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and served the sacred poles and the idols. And wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs. ¹⁹Yet he sent prophets among them to bring them back to the Lord; they testified against them, but they would not listen.

²⁰Then the spirit of God took possession of Zechariah son of the priest Jehoiada; he stood above the people and said to them, “Thus says God: Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has also forsaken you.” ²¹But they conspired against him, and by command of the king they stoned him to death in the court of the house of the Lord. ²²King Joash did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada, Zechariah’s father, had shown him, but killed his son. As he was dying, he said, “May the Lord see and avenge!”

Acts 7:59-8:8

^7:59While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he died.

^8:1And Saul approved of their killing him.

That day a severe persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria. ²Devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him. ³But Saul was ravaging the church by entering house after house; dragging off both men and women, he committed them to prison.

Now the clear contrast is not that their deaths were unfair (they were) or politically driven (they were) or painful (they were).  It is in their final words. Zechariah asked for the LORD’s vengeance. Stephen followed his LORD, and asked for forgiveness.

And Stephen’s actions were new. The person who had done that bevore him was his LORD. The response of a people to martyrdom is to embolden and encourage — from Vietnam to the Arab Spring… when people choose to die publicly for a cause, then tyrants fear. And Zechariah follows that >

that his brothers — his Jewish neighbours, who barely tolerated Hellenized Jews like him — were forgiven. So the Collect for today should be our prayer.

Grant us, O Lord, to learn to love our enemies, by the example of thy martyr Stephen, who prayed to thee for his persecutors; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen.

Bit the boxing day Sales that began on Christmas eve,

The family has now (but for me and a son) gone home, and my parents and son are asleep. we opened gifts as a family on Christmas eve, Have had breakfast with my sister and parents, and lunch in a restaurant… with my other sister, brother, aunt and parents.

It is 5 PM.

And I am reflecting on the one part of today that was calling me beyond my family and celebration — and that was the sermon at my old church.

Titus 3:4-7

UPDATE.

Ratzinterfrom the midnight service at St Peters.

“Today Christmas has become a commercial celebration, whose bright lights hide the mystery of God’s humility, which in turn calls us to humility and simplicity,” he said in his homily to about 10,000 people in the basilica and millions more watching on television throughout the world.

“Let us ask the Lord to help us see through the superficial glitter of this season, and to discover behind it the child in the stable in Bethlehem, so as to find true joy and true light.”

4But when the goodness and loving-kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. 6This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

I did not like the service. It was too clappy. Too jolly. Too much greet me (I do not like strangers coming up and wanting to hug me. I am Presbyterian But the sermon as about God emptying himself of his divinity and becoming flesh… and how when we do good the “gospel is seen through human skin”. For the purpose of the incarnation was that we would be saved by Christ, and by his mercy.

This is not to distract from being with my family, or having a celebration, or exchanging gifts. There is nothing wrong with any of these things, and I am glad that we are sill able to be together on Christmas day.

But the day is more than the Commonwealth version of Thanksgiving. It is a recollection of God coming to this earth, and for us.

UPDATE:  I am no Catholic, but this Pope does at times preach sense.

“Today Christmas has become a commercial celebration, whose bright lights hide the mystery of God’s humility, which in turn calls us to humility and simplicity,” he said in his homily to about 10,000 people in the basilica and millions more watching on television throughout the world.

“Let us ask the Lord to help us see through the superficial glitter of this season, and to discover behind it the child in the stable in Bethlehem, so as to find true joy and true light.”

A road cone in luqefaction, following earthquate, Via herald and Twitter

Yesterday Christchurch was hit with its third earthquake. On the Friday before Christmas. This morning the story in the Herald is about exhaustion, and people abandoning Christchurcn.

So this monring, this Dunedin person (the other South Island cenrre that usually dislikes Canterbury), raised in AUckland (the big city, which Christchurch hates) is peaying for Christchurch. I’ve already seen what it does… I have seen those who leave (we havee had three big quikes since Christmas last year).

Psalm 90

¹   Lord, you have been our dwelling place  in all generations.
²   Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
³   You turn us back to dust, and say, “Turn back, you mortals.”
⁴   For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night.
⁵   You sweep them away; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning;
⁶   in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.
⁷   For we are consumed by your anger; by your wrath we are overwhelmed.
⁸   You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance.
⁹   For all our days pass away under your wrath;our years come to an end like a sigh.
¹⁰  The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty, if we are strong; even then their span is only toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.
¹¹  Who considers the power of your anger? Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.
¹²  So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.
¹³  Turn, O LORD! How long? Have compassion on your servants!
¹⁴  Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
¹⁵  Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us, and as many years as we have seen evil.
¹⁶  Let your work be manifest to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.
¹⁷  Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands — O prosper the work of our hands!

In short, we are dependent on the mercy of the Almighty for our very breath.

Tomorrow is Christmas, I will be worshipping at my old church (God willing, if I can get in and out of Christchurch on the journey) and witth my family. Happy Christmas to everyone.