Today is Advent one[1]. Yesterday we went to the markets with a detailed list of things to buy, and filled boxes to be given to the poor. This is an annual project of most of the churches in Dunedin: there are people who suffer at this time of the year, and the giving of boxes is coordinated so that those who need get what they want.

Advent, however, is not supposed to be a feast. We are reminded that the Jews waited for the Messiah to come, and we wait for him to return. The times are getting more ugly and more evil. Those cities we have that are attractive are over priced, so that young people cannot buy, or are depressed, so young people cannot get jobs. [2]

We hear rumours and we rejoice or fear. We are told to be afraid of this society or that: at times this is all spin, at other times a clear and present danger. But the spiral we are in, the narrative, ends in destruction.

So it is right to pray for Christ to come. This world is getting worse, as the fruit of our evil acts is seen.

Luke 21:5-19

⁵When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, ⁶“As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”

⁷They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” ⁸And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them.”

⁹“When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” ¹⁰Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; ¹¹there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.

¹²“But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. ¹³This will give you an opportunity to testify. ¹⁴So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; ¹⁵for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. ¹⁶You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. ¹⁷You will be hated by all because of my name. ¹⁸But not a hair of your head will perish. ¹⁹By your endurance you will gain your souls.”

Isaiah 64:1-9

¹   O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, 
          so that the mountains would quake at your presence — 
²   as when fire kindles brushwood 
          and the fire causes water to boil — 
     to make your name known to your adversaries, 
          so that the nations might tremble at your presence 
³   When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, 
          you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. 
⁴   From ages past no one has heard, 
          no ear has perceived, 
     no eye has seen any God besides you, 
          who works for those who wait for him. 
⁵   You meet those who gladly do right, 
          those who remember you in your ways. 
     But you were angry, and we sinned; 
          because you hid yourself we transgressed. 
⁶   We have all become like one who is unclean, 
          and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth 
     We all fade like a leaf, 
          and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. 
⁷   There is no one who calls on your name, 
          or attempts to take hold of you; 
     for you have hidden your face from us, 
          and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity 
⁸   Yet, O LORD, you are our Father; 
          we are the clay, and you are our potter; 
          we are all the work of your hand. 
⁹   Do not be exceedingly angry, O LORD, 
          and do not remember iniquity forever. 
          Now consider, we are all your people.

There is a war going on. It is on the internet, and it is not, despite what John Derbyshire says, temperamental. It relies on ideas: though John says it clearly, his plea for tolerance of error is flawed. We tolerate error because we are fallen and we are in error. We will have to repent for such: since I blog I will have much repenting to do.

In argument with a brother we discover truth. Without free speech we cannot expose lies. For truth gives not a whit for our introversion.[3]

Since I have no clue what the Alt Right perspective is, I went for inspiration to someone who believes he does know. This is the blogger Vox Day, who last year published a 16-point Alt Right Manifesto. In my address to the Mencken Club I read off Vox Day’s points and passed comment on each one.

As a format for a talk, this has somewhat of cheating about it; but spirits were so high, nobody minded, and my talk went over well with the audience.

Not so much with Vox Day, who picked nits with my comments on his website a few days later. That’s okay, and all in good argumentative combat. I respect Vox Day as an ally in the Cultural Counterrevolution, as well as a writer of wit and courage. We disagree about many things, but our disagreements are cordial.

Our deepest disagreement is anyway just temperamental. In the language of We Are Doomed, Chapter 7: he’s a religionist, I’m a biologian. He thinks the universe cares about the human race, and even about individual persons; I see no evidence of either thing. He thinks we are a unique creation, kissed with magic; I think we’re smart chimps.

There’s no use arguing about this. The difference is, as I said, temperamental, most likely genetic. It shouldn’t stop us liking and respecting each other, and acknowledging that both personality types have a part to play in the Cultural Counterrevolution.

I’d argue instead that if we seek truth we will find ourselves seeking God. We may look in wrong places: there are many who worship the state as God, as encouraged from Lenin to Mao. We may follow Buddha, and say there is no God, while bowing to a statue he would say was unneeded.

We can delude ourselves with the elaborateness of our discipline, our diet, and our asceticism. Our by the beauty of our art and worship.

Or our work.

To such, this season is harsh. It teaches that the world is going to be destroyed because of our evil, not our number. It talks about needing to endure. That the time of Christ’s return will be when no one expects, and the Whigs are celebrating their triumph.

For we have forgotten what the good Dr Johnson said: the Devil was the first Whig.

But the pain of this world is so great we cannot ameliorate it though we put all our salary into Christmas boxes. It requires Christ.

---

1. The reformed do not follow times and seasons. At times. My church does. The reason that the bible readings link to the lectionary here is that the preaching follows the lectionary, and I live in a society that the day after cyber Monday began the Christmas sales. The need for a time of reflection is needed.

2. I left the big city in 2006: I was born just outside Auckland and had lived there for over 40 years. Come the conflict, Auckland is not sustainable. It relies on dragging food in, and the transportation links are too fragile. It is now balkanized. We have now moved just out of the university town, as it is culturally enriched. Be where the crowds are not

3. Vox Day argues that atheism is a epiphenomena of autism: not sure. He also argues that the aluminium in vaccines could cause it, but again, not sure. We all have errors. I think that those who have rejected God are made fools and stupid, and I saw that last night at our annual party, when I was talking with about a quarter of the Dunedin Skeptics Drinking Club.