On Sunday we went to the late service. Our minister was not preaching: his mother is deathly ill, and was (appropriately) at her bedside. So the master of Knox spoke. looking particularly at Tabatha, and Peter, and putting onto them a feminist and queer theology that God allows us all to minister, and we should be free. Which was roundly rejected by the boys: the saw through the religious language (and his Anglican garb: he was wearing a chasuble in a Presbyterian Church) to the crappy theology behind this. Sons were disappointed, as the usual minister is superb and biblical.

I am aware that Knox is challenged. The halls of residence are being confronted by the vice chancellor, who sees the traditions as outmoded: the building requires strengthening as it was built well before we had good earthquake engineering, and the Presbyterians, who used Knox as a theological college, now have a school of ministry now works primarily by distance learning. But an accommodation to the gnostic spirit of this age is foolish. For persecution is coming.

Now, I really pray we do not face this. I like the Internet. I like the fact that I can get the lectionary online. I appreciate that I can read sermons and access libraries. A fair amount of the work I do requires computers — I can work out standard deviations, and confidence intervals for mean differences by hand, but a spreadsheet is such a useful tool. I am grateful that I can worship freely, and that my ministers leave the church for family reasons, not in fear of their lives. But Christ was persecuted by the authorities. That makes it normative, and accommodation with the authorities crappy theology.

Luke 23:1-12

¹Then the assembly rose as a body and brought Jesus before Pilate. ²They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man perverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king.” ³Then Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” He answered, “You say so.” ⁴Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no basis for an accusation against this man.” ⁵But they were insistent and said, “He stirs up the people by teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he began even to this place.”

⁶When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. ⁷And when he learned that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him off to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time. ⁸When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had been wanting to see him for a long time, because he had heard about him and was hoping to see him perform some sign. ⁹He questioned him at some length, but Jesus gave him no answer. ¹⁰The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. ¹¹Even Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him; then he put an elegant robe on him, and sent him back to Pilate. ¹²That same day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; before this they had been enemies.

I have no doubt that we will be shunned. We will be challenged. We will become less popular. That being Christian will, again, be unpopular. Our society, our elite, has rejected the power behind true religion. They have kept the form while turning their back on the living God.

To their peril.

The trouble is that their policies have consequences. We are on the track toward the destruction of the progressive project under a weight of debt: we need to pray that we will be spared from trial by the hand of God, and that our time does not remain normative. Because we confront the elite overmuch — to the point where political enemies find themselves as friends. If Pilate, the Roman could become friends with Herod (who was a client of his political enemies back in Rome) we should not be shocked when the leftist activists ally with the Islamists (in the full knowledge that under Sharia they would all be hung if lucky, stoned if not) to oppose the church.

For they ascribe our presence as offensive, and our speech as hateful. Having a crappy theology of compromise will not help. The cells can always accept another person. For they know that the Western Endgame will either destroy the church, or the church will restore the West. Pray it is, as it has in other eras, been the church that restores.

When we talk about the law in theology, we are referring to the Law of Moses. That harsh thing. 600 odd commands. How oppressive. Not.

It is very hard to talk about the oppression of the law when the current tax and health laws in the US run to thousands of pages, a woman gets arrested by the alcohol police (Alcohol police?) after buying a six-pack of water, and a man is facing jail time for writing anti bank slogans on the footpath. With Chalk.

Which brings me to the comment of a rational man, who married a certain member of the blogerati who is returning to her husband’s native land. from the USA.

Yes, my husband is counting down the days. I was like, “Well, you’ll have to come back occasionally to visit my parents.” He gave me a long look, “No, you have to come back occasionally to visit your parents. I’ll stay home and pray for you.”

But we were not called to be slaves. We were called to be free. We bled and fought to gain freedom for all, to remove slavery from this world. So that we would be able to seek God, not so that the state would again enslave us.

Romans 4:13-25

¹³For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. ¹⁵For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.

¹⁶For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, ¹⁷as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”) — in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. ¹⁸Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “So numerous shall your descendants be.” ¹⁹He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, ²¹being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. ²²Therefore his faith “was reckoned to him as righteousness.” ²³Now the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone, ²⁴but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, ²⁵who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.

Galatians 5:1, 13-25

¹For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

¹³For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. ¹⁴For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁵If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.

¹⁶Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. ¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. ¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, ²⁰idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, ²¹envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

²²By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. ²⁴And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.

Now, there is a spirtual application here. We are not to let ourselves get distracted. For the larger states, like tyrannies from time immemorial sell security, bread and circuses: security to get the cooperation of those who are educated, and bread and circuses to keep the ruling elite secure from the mob.

It is therefore not surprising that the elite keep the educated and licensed in fear. They require a clean criminal record so you can practice as a lawyer, a doctor… and the make most skilled trades require the same level of probity (down to a beautician) and make almost everything a criminal act.

The law of Moses was not nearly as oppressive as this anarchistic state. I live in a country with many laws, and many of those laws are ignored. They are on the books for symbolic purposes. No policeman would take them to court, in front of a jury, because it would get out and there would be a reaction. But I live in a small country, where many people are educated, and where the politicians have to interact with the rest of society — simply because their children go to the same schools, they eat at the same cafes, and (the minority) worship at the same churches — about the same proportion of our politicians are Christian as the general population.

But in the USA and Australia and the UK and the EU the political class can live apart from the people, who they consider as children, requiring guidance, or as slaves, whose labour can be exploited. We can keep them content quite cheaply with professional sports, celebrity gossip, and trashy movies.

We are to be free. And this may require that we go somewhere where we can be so.

People expect that the righteous, those chosen by God, those who we look up to, those who were the prophets and kings of old to be flawless. To have this static state of perfection, like some kind of living ikon. And woe betide the celebrity that breaks the narrative, or worse seeks help to become some kind of static image. It’s reached the point where the US media has the hubris to imply that entire parties are wrong to remove a leader (because she is a girl) because they want the girl-ikon, not the woman who is leading a party to defeat.

The Biblical heroes were flawed. Moses was a murderer: he was trying to set up an armed struggle to liberate the people if Israel. Peter was a oathbreaker. God used them. God enjoys taking the person who society has rejected and then forcing him to lead. The reluctant and stuttering Moses at 80 succeeded where the articulate and youthful Moses failed.

Acts 7:17-29

¹⁷“But as the time drew near for the fulfillment of the promise that God had made to Abraham, our people in Egypt increased and multiplied ¹⁸until another king who had not known Joseph ruled over Egypt. ¹⁹He dealt craftily with our race and forced our ancestors to abandon their infants so that they would die. ²⁰At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful before God. For three months he was brought up in his father’s house; ²¹and when he was abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. ²²So Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his words and deeds.

²³“When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his relatives, the Israelites. ²⁴When he saw one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. ²⁵He supposed that his kinsfolk would understand that God through him was rescuing them, but they did not understand. ²⁶The next day he came to some of them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you wrong each other?’ ²⁷But the man who was wronging his neighbor pushed Moses aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? ²⁸Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ ²⁹When he heard this, Moses fled and became a resident alien in the land of Midian. There he became the father of two sons.

Luke 22:31-38

³¹“Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, ³²but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” ³³And he said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death!” ³⁴Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow this day, until you have denied three times that you know me.”

³⁵He said to them, “When I sent you out without a purse, bag, or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “No, not a thing.” ³⁶He said to them, “But now, the one who has a purse must take it, and likewise a bag. And the one who has no sword must sell his cloak and buy one. ³⁷For I tell you, this scripture must be fulfilled in me, ‘And he was counted among the lawless’; and indeed what is written about me is being fulfilled.” ³⁸They said, “Lord, look, here are two swords.” He replied, “It is enough.”

This does not mean that the actions of Paul and Peter did not have consequences. Moses lived in a desert until he was an old man. He was afraid to return to Egypt. Peter was forgiven by the sovereign act of a risen Christ, and he never forgot it. And at times, when we fall and fail, we feel that we can no longer be a Christian, because we are not perfect, but fallen, broken, bleeding, and hurting those around us.

We grieve for the ikon we could have been, not understanding that God does not want us to worship human ikons, but him alone. Our morals come from him. That we do that is good flows from him. for we are fallen. And as Vanessa says, we do our duty.

I know, but think about how counter-cultural that message is. Think about how many people enter into a marital or spiritual “dry spell” and just give up, cash in, pick up their toys and stomp out, run off to join the moral circus. And then think about the people who stick it out. Who work it out. Who just keep-on-keeping-on in the hope that there’ll be a light at the end of the tunnel.

They show up at church on Sunday. They say their daily prayers. They study the Bible. They follow the liturgy and the laws. They try to do good and no harm all the days of their lives.

It’s easy to say, “Well, they’re just going through the motions!” they way people say, “Well, they’re just staying for the sake of the children!” Yes, they are, at least for a time. But that still counts for something.

God’s listening to your prayers, even if you don’t know it. He’s watching what you do, even if you don’t notice Him observing you. He’ll not forget that what you did and what you said when you thought nobody knew it. When you worried that it was pointless and that you were just going insane because you spent so much time essentially talking to yourself. When you thought even He didn’t know it.

He won’t forget that. And when you do eventually come out of that spell and your spiritual life regains vigor, you won’t forget that, either. And it will change your walk forever. So stick it out. Hang in there. Do your duty. I can see the light ahead.

So do not look to the externals. Only method actors and psychopaths appear to have perfect lives. And method actors have trained themselves to lie, just like psychopaths. For you will fall: as Christ predicted for Peter, even though we start each day in a state of grace (God willing) at the end of the day we have accounts to clear with the almighty. We are clay: we are of the dirt: we are peasants.

He is the almighty,righteous king, and his goodness is terrible. Compared with him, the celebrities and leaders of this world, the self-help gurus, the products of our media with their false images and photoshopped veneer of beauty and goodness are frail, false and ugly. Break them. Ignore them. Turn again to Christ, and leave the stinking lies and signifiers of this post-modern superstition aside.

And then, the stink of this age will dissipate, and you will see clearly.

Over the last year or so this Blog has become more overtly religious and less political. It’s also become less about the other things that happen in my life — in part because I do not want civilians harmed (one has respect privacy. Including within one’s family) and in part because focusing on the lectionary drives you to write about the matters of the spirit. This annoys Rodney Hide who wonders why religious people talk about this all the time. And as he notes, the public ceremonies now even occur in a special language.

And so what to make of the karakia row taking place at Kelston Intermediate, revealed in the Herald on Sunday? We would rightly object to a Catholic priest or an Anglican bishop or an Islamic mullah taking such a daily prayer. That’s because we have long concluded that state schools are best to teach our children to read and to write and to think critically. The religious instruction is better left to parents, church groups, temples and mosques and to those who choose a religious school for their children.

But somehow the karakia has popped up in our schools. Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples defends the karakia as a vital part of the Maori lifestyle and as making Kelston culturally safe, whatever that means.

But it’s not the traditional Maori prayer of pre-Christian times: it’s a Christian prayer in Maori. The early missionaries must be looking down from heaven and having a good chuckle. I stand there at Playcentre pretending to mumble the words. I try to be polite but I think it’s double bollocks: once for being hocus-pocus and twice for being in Maori that no one in the centre understands or appears to care about.

Over the years I’ve picked up enough Maori to know that half the time the preyer’s (Karakia) are to Tane Mahuta, not the LORD Almighty. My objection to all this is it elevates pagan idolatry to be part of civil and public religion in this place. Technically, New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy — or a monarchical republic. We do not have an established religion and clerics with political power, as the constitutional theocracy called England has.

I’m reformed. I do not consider any person is more holy than any other. We are all fallen. We can all turn to seek God’s mercy and we all need to do this daily. But the move to pagan worship is another sigh that we are falling, and that the time of the end is getting closer. For as the church becomes less influential, worse ideologies will take over.

Luke 21:29-36

²⁹Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; ³⁰as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. ³¹So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. ³²Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. ³³Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

³⁴“Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, ³⁵like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. ³⁶Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

I find the warnings against drunkenness and dissipation astute. We will not fall because of what we believe, but because of our habits. And whenever I write this, I feel my words speak against me: the idea that I’m in some manner without sins or difficulties is laughable. But we have to chose what we do carefully.

Because Paganism is at the door. And the Pagans will enforce their idols, demand their public religion, the religion of the tribe, be it the resurrection of the animistic Maori system or the slightly less bloody tribal worship of that Arabian Idol in Mecca. We accede by being polite — and trust me, the use of Maori elders and prayers is now throughout the education system and the health system: we pay people to be elders because of their tribal links.

And this is wrong. Constitutionally, we are all equally subjects of the crown. Morally, we are all agents: we all have the ability to chose and know good from evil (and we protect those who cannot, because of youth, old age, or imbecility). And as we are all moral agents, we are responsible for the evil we have done, and we all need the Gospel.

And that, Rodney, is why we preach. For it is necessary that the power of the gospel is proclaimed, even by those who are fallen and imperfect. Moreover, that is why we need to smash the idols of this public religion, for they proclaim comfort, and give… none, but instead lead to perdition.

It’s winter here, and the first thing you turn to is the weather in the morning. We expect wind, rain and snow in the next few days — and people in the town often cannot get home (and staff who live in the rural parts of the city often cannot get home either). It’s going to be an unusually difficult storm: enough to probably close Dunedin down, and it could start this afternoon.

We are heading into a storm, however: there are those out there who consider saying “Death to the Infidel” is not hate speech, while saying that Muhammed was a loon who liked little girls and will send you to hell IS hate speech. Slight difference. We are trying to persuade people out of error. The Islamists want us silent or killed.

The opposition has degenerated. At least the Sadducees were smart.

Luke 20:27-40

27Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him 28and asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. 29Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; 30then the second 31and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. 32Finally the woman also died. 33In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”

34Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; 35but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. 37And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 38Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.” 39Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” 40For they no longer dared to ask him another question.

One of the correct answers to feminism and their insistence that there are no differences between men and women is to remind them that it is in the life of the resurrection that we are all like angels, and we will be complete. We will not need comfort and companionship in this fallen age.

But at present we are what we are. We are not perfect: we will be made perfect. We have a duty, while we are not silenced, while we are still alive, to do good and to proclaim the gospel. And part of that is confronting those who are in error. Telling the progressives and the Islamists that they will go to Hell, if they are not in it already. unless they change and repent.

And remind them that Atheism, though comforting (that we will not be held accountable for our actions, but instead cease to exist), is a lie, or Christ himself is a lie. We need to remind everyone that after this life comes the judgment. And we want to be able to claim the Blood of Christ and his mercy, or else whe are forever damned.

So, I for one will not be silenced, while I breathe. I will be smart — I am fortunate enough to live in a small country that is blessed by a lack of hate speech laws and a general contempt for the race relations bureaux — but it is my duty to proclaim the gospel, here at least, and (I pray) by by actions and words in that thing we call real life.

There is a very long thread over at TC called “don’t wife them up”. It talks about the number of men who end up being destroyed by the people who they marry. Marriage minded men are not filtering well. I’ll use Cranberry’s story as an illustration here.

My husband’s cousin is one of these guys. Happened long before I met my husband, but Cuz still bears the scars. He’s full MGTOW for almost 15 years now (he’s 43 years old). Hubs told me the story: she was so sweet, and nice, and seemed really into Cuz, but had a kid and wasn’t sure about a new man in her life, etc.

Well, they gave it a go, and within a few months she went completely crazy. Leaving the kid with him to go to bars and hook up with other guys, calling him crying on the phone to get back together or she’d kill herself and leave the kid without a mom…Cuz just couldn’t take it any longer and moved FIVE STATES AWAY to get away from her. Thank God they never married. Now, whenever we see him, he seems so lonely but is gun-shy of any woman that isn’t related to him in some way. Poor guy.

Unfortunately, I think my sister might be one of these women. Tatooed up and down her arms and back, beautiful but illegitimate daughter with a guy who has psychological problems (she’s a single mom, living with our parents right now), hard worker and kind but when it comes to guys she plays far too many games and becomes a person I hardly know. She’s tried dating but always finds fault with them for some reason or another. I need to sit her down and have a long talk about Mr. Perfect Don’t Exist, and she needs to get on it if she hopes to provide a modicum of stability for her lovely child (whom we all love dearly, we love my sister dearly, but I see her getting all avenues of her life straight except the Search For Mr. Right). Talking to her about these things, though, is so hard, because suddenly we all hate her and don’t understand her needs and are judging her too harshly…she’s the youngest, I suppose that’s how it goes?.?…

I want to contrast this… and the tendency that is shown in Cranberrys Brother (of just giving up) with a couple who hod a troubled marriage. And before the ignorant say it was all his (Elkanah’s) faout for having two wives, may I remind you that the Levirite rules applied: you had to wife up your brother’s wife if he died without issue. And note that the woman with kids was being horrible to Hannah: the Bible is far more realistic about the psychology of women than our current feminist ideology.

1 Samuel 1:1-20

¹ There was a certain man of Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham son of Elihu son of Tohu son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. ² He had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

³ Now this man used to go up year by year from his town to worship and to sacrifice to the LORD of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the LORD. ⁴ On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters; ⁵ but to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the LORD had closed her womb. ⁶ Her rival used to provoke her severely, to irritate her, because the LORD had closed her womb. ⁷ So it went on year by year; as often as she went up to the house of the LORD, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. ⁸ Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”

⁹ After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented herself before the LORD. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the LORD. ¹⁰ She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD, and wept bitterly. ¹¹ She made this vow: “O LORD of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head.”

¹² As she continued praying before the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. ¹³ Hannah was praying silently; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard; therefore Eli thought she was drunk. ¹⁴ So Eli said to her, “How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? Put away your wine.” ¹⁵ But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman deeply troubled; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the LORD. ¹⁶ Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time.” ¹⁷ Then Eli answered, “Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.” ¹⁸ And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your sight.” Then the woman went to her quarters, ate and drank with her husband, and her countenance was sad no longer.

¹⁹ They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the LORD; then they went back to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered her. ²⁰ In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, “I have asked him of the LORD.”

Hannah, like most women, wants a child. Not any child. A child from her man, for her. The children of her sister-wife do not count. And like most women, she does not like sharing her man: she would prefer him to herself, and there is conflict between her and her fellow wife.

And the words of her husband, who loves her, do not matter. Nor does his love. For among Jewish women, to be childless was to be pitied, and having a large number of children was a glory. Now, Hannah is seen as righteous, and when she prays, she is heard. And the last judge is her child she bore.

How have we, as a society fallen. Hannah was not that happy, but she was able to turn to the Almighty, and she was loved. Many women now just acquire a child from fornication, and then ascribe to themselves righteousness by simply being a mother. There is no shame, there are no tears, but there is no righteousness, no joy, and no salvation. And one fears for their children, raised without protection, and away from the house of our God.

In this time being fussy about who you go our with, cautious in moving to engagement, and waiting until wed is rational. For sex is unitary: it makes us desire more the person we are with (feature, not bug) and makes us jealous of any who interfere with this (again, feature not bug). But if we bond poorly, and this is broken, frequently we find ourselves broken.

And an increasing number of men are choosing not to play that game, because it hurts too much. They turn to hobbies, beer and the gym. We in effect have a secular monastory. This is a consequence of our scoiety being antinomial for at least two if not three generations: the remnant who have morals and decency are now called hateful and weird, and sex is divorced from passion, love, shame and jealousy, and becomes just another form of aerobics.

It becomes boring, for it does not have a person attached to it. Any society who falls down this path is going to die, because if enough men stopy marrying and breeding (which is different from sexing up women of the city) then there will not be anotehr generation.

We need more Lkanahs. We need more Hannahs. And we need to reform our society and kirk.