Sacred World; Sacred History
Materialists like to portray Christians as living in an unreal, make believe world. It's a small step from there to paint Christians as ignorant simpletons. Uneducated rubes.
Another (related) slur is that Christians are anti-science because they do not value the world of matter. They are so "heavenly minded" they are of no worldly good.
Of course these slurs are just that. They betray a profound ignorance of that which materialists presume to criticise.
Friday, 11 May 2012
Thursday, 10 May 2012
Mass Liquidation Project
Facing the Facts
We posted recently on Malthusian Cassandras who are predicting the end of civilization and humanity as we know them. The only solution (we are told) is twofold: reduce population growth and globally redistribute property.
Now The Onion has got in on the act, "reporting" on a recent scientific convention in the US. Here are some excerpts. (Warning: contains advocacy of extreme justifiable violence.)
We posted recently on Malthusian Cassandras who are predicting the end of civilization and humanity as we know them. The only solution (we are told) is twofold: reduce population growth and globally redistribute property.
Now The Onion has got in on the act, "reporting" on a recent scientific convention in the US. Here are some excerpts. (Warning: contains advocacy of extreme justifiable violence.)
Dumb and Dumber
Promiscuity in New Zealand
A brouhaha has broken out amongst the Commentariat over promiscuity amongst the young in New Zealand. The Prime Minister has gravely informed us there is no evidence that New Zealand women are more promiscuous than women in the rest of the world. Other politicians have jumped all over Colin Craig (leader of the Conservative Party) when he claimed that Kiwi women were the most promiscuous in the world and should not benefit from state funded contraception. This from the NZ Herald:
A brouhaha has broken out amongst the Commentariat over promiscuity amongst the young in New Zealand. The Prime Minister has gravely informed us there is no evidence that New Zealand women are more promiscuous than women in the rest of the world. Other politicians have jumped all over Colin Craig (leader of the Conservative Party) when he claimed that Kiwi women were the most promiscuous in the world and should not benefit from state funded contraception. This from the NZ Herald:
Wednesday, 9 May 2012
Douglas Wilson's Letter From America
The Problem With Their Syncretisms
Culture and Politics - Politics
Written by Douglas Wilson
Wednesday, 02 May 2012
Suppose a measure is before your state legislature to build a bridge over a river in your town. There are ardent Christians in your town who think this is a good idea, and ardent Christians who want to leave well enough alone. Surrounding these pro and con Christians are the unbelievers who also, not surprisingly, divide up into for and against camps.
Some of the "in favor" secularists want to build the bridge because they want to make money, money, money, while the hipster antis do not want to disturb the river god any further than we already have. The Christians who are for and against divide up into another two groups (we have now cut that pie into four quarters). Some of the pro Christians fall into the money, money, money school of thought, and some of the anti Christians wish that Jesus were a little more green friendly, like the river god is.
But there are other Christians, both for and against the project, who came to their conclusions in a conscientious biblical manner.
Culture and Politics - Politics
Written by Douglas Wilson
Wednesday, 02 May 2012
Suppose a measure is before your state legislature to build a bridge over a river in your town. There are ardent Christians in your town who think this is a good idea, and ardent Christians who want to leave well enough alone. Surrounding these pro and con Christians are the unbelievers who also, not surprisingly, divide up into for and against camps.
Some of the "in favor" secularists want to build the bridge because they want to make money, money, money, while the hipster antis do not want to disturb the river god any further than we already have. The Christians who are for and against divide up into another two groups (we have now cut that pie into four quarters). Some of the pro Christians fall into the money, money, money school of thought, and some of the anti Christians wish that Jesus were a little more green friendly, like the river god is.
But there are other Christians, both for and against the project, who came to their conclusions in a conscientious biblical manner.
Austerity is Dead, Long Live Austerity
The Toys Are Flying Out of the Cot
The latest chapter in the European melodrama represents a somnambulistic pageturner. We are watching the animated gyrations of the living dead. Let's see if we can make some sense of the slow moving tragedy.
The first evident lesson is that voters are like capitalists--indeed like all human beings. They are acutely self-interested. Voters in both Greece and France have caught the rest of the world napping. Who would have thought that they would vote to reject government-inflicted hardship. Qu'elle surprise. Ah, yes but the problem lies here: self-interest may lead one to submit to an operation, acutely painful in the immediate, but lifesaving in the longer term. Or not.
The latest chapter in the European melodrama represents a somnambulistic pageturner. We are watching the animated gyrations of the living dead. Let's see if we can make some sense of the slow moving tragedy.
The first evident lesson is that voters are like capitalists--indeed like all human beings. They are acutely self-interested. Voters in both Greece and France have caught the rest of the world napping. Who would have thought that they would vote to reject government-inflicted hardship. Qu'elle surprise. Ah, yes but the problem lies here: self-interest may lead one to submit to an operation, acutely painful in the immediate, but lifesaving in the longer term. Or not.
Tuesday, 8 May 2012
Charity Begins At Home
China's War Against Families
China's One Child policy has been hailed by an effete liberal West as an intelligent and progressive response to population control. In reality it represents a brutal destruction of individual and family life. It also is beginning to tear the fabric of Chinese society apart. Genuine Chinese patriots understand that an ancient demon that has been loosed upon the Middle Kingdom.
One such patriot, Jing Zhang comments upon the case of blind Chen Guangcheng, who has been actively protesting the One Child regime, and upon the tyrannical policy in general.
China's One Child policy has been hailed by an effete liberal West as an intelligent and progressive response to population control. In reality it represents a brutal destruction of individual and family life. It also is beginning to tear the fabric of Chinese society apart. Genuine Chinese patriots understand that an ancient demon that has been loosed upon the Middle Kingdom.
One such patriot, Jing Zhang comments upon the case of blind Chen Guangcheng, who has been actively protesting the One Child regime, and upon the tyrannical policy in general.
A Revolution By Other Means
Violent, sudden and calamitous revolutions are the ones that accomplish the least. While they may succeed at radically reordering societies, the usually cannot transform cultures. They may excel at destroying the past, but they are generally impotent to create a future. The revolutions that genuinely alter human reality at the deepest levels--the only real revolutions, that is to say--are those that first convert minds and wills, that reshape the imagination and reorient desire, that overthrow the tyrannies within the soul.
Christianity, in its first three centuries, was a revolution of the latter sort: gradual, subtle, exceedingly small and somewhat inchoate at first, slowly introducing its vision of divine, cosmic, and human reality into the culture around it, often by deeds rather than words, and simply enduring from one century to the next.
[David Bentley Hart, Atheist Delusions: the Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009), p.183.]
Christianity, in its first three centuries, was a revolution of the latter sort: gradual, subtle, exceedingly small and somewhat inchoate at first, slowly introducing its vision of divine, cosmic, and human reality into the culture around it, often by deeds rather than words, and simply enduring from one century to the next.
[David Bentley Hart, Atheist Delusions: the Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009), p.183.]
The Christian Revolution
Turning the World Upside Down
When all is said and done, the pagan critics of the early church were right to see the new faith as an essentially subversive movement. In fact, they may have been somewhat more perspicacious in this regard than the Christians themselves. Christianity may never have been a revolution in a political sense: it was no a convulsive, ciolent, or intentionally provocative faction that had some "other vision" of political power to recommend; but neither, for that reason, was the change it brought about something merely local, transient, and finite.
The Christian vision of reality was nothing less--to use the words of Nietzsche--a "transvaluation of all values," a complete revision on the moral and conceptual categories by which human beings were to understand themselves and one another and their places within the world. It was--again to us Nietzsche's words, but without his sneer--a "slave revolt "from above," if such a thing could be imagined; fir it had been accomplished by a savior who had, as Paul said in his Epistle to the Philippians, willingly exchanged the "form of God" for the "form of a slave," and had thereby overthrown the powers that reigned on high.
[David Bentley Hart, Atheist Delusions: the Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009), p. 171.]
When all is said and done, the pagan critics of the early church were right to see the new faith as an essentially subversive movement. In fact, they may have been somewhat more perspicacious in this regard than the Christians themselves. Christianity may never have been a revolution in a political sense: it was no a convulsive, ciolent, or intentionally provocative faction that had some "other vision" of political power to recommend; but neither, for that reason, was the change it brought about something merely local, transient, and finite.
The Christian vision of reality was nothing less--to use the words of Nietzsche--a "transvaluation of all values," a complete revision on the moral and conceptual categories by which human beings were to understand themselves and one another and their places within the world. It was--again to us Nietzsche's words, but without his sneer--a "slave revolt "from above," if such a thing could be imagined; fir it had been accomplished by a savior who had, as Paul said in his Epistle to the Philippians, willingly exchanged the "form of God" for the "form of a slave," and had thereby overthrown the powers that reigned on high.
[David Bentley Hart, Atheist Delusions: the Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009), p. 171.]
A Connecticut Victorian in Trans-Pacific Partnership
"Free" Trade is What I Say It Is
Regular readers of this blog will be aware that they are at a strongly free-trade site. Our position rests on three main arguments. The first is principial. State barriers to free trade (tariffs, quotas, subsidies) represent an indirect assault upon the property of others. They are theft by other means. They are a form of soft-redistribution of wealth from many to the favoured some.
The second is more pragmatic. State trade barriers distort price signals making the market inefficient--and, therefore, wasteful.
The third argument is political.
Regular readers of this blog will be aware that they are at a strongly free-trade site. Our position rests on three main arguments. The first is principial. State barriers to free trade (tariffs, quotas, subsidies) represent an indirect assault upon the property of others. They are theft by other means. They are a form of soft-redistribution of wealth from many to the favoured some.
The second is more pragmatic. State trade barriers distort price signals making the market inefficient--and, therefore, wasteful.
The third argument is political.
Monday, 7 May 2012
Douglas Wilson's Letter From America
Our Doctrinal and Liturgical Bramble Bushes
Theology - Life in the Regeneration
Written by Douglas Wilson
Monday, 30 April 2012
I am fond of saying that grace has a backbone, but I think it is time to explain what I mean by that. The context of these remarks is the general and current ongoing discussion about the worrisome trajectories of all those incipient legalists and antinomians out there. The incipient legalists are the ones the incipient antinominans are worried about, and vice versa.
Of course, as things stand right now in the Reformed world things are generally copacetic, at least as far as this topic goes. If we lived in a truly confessional age, with great preaching, theological geniuses writing their tomes, and so on, then we would have to worry about the naked Quakers running through Safeway again, and legalistic Anglican bishops cutting off people's thumbs for having broken some stupid rule. But as it is, we are too anemic to get into serious trouble with legalism or antinomianism. We are the bland leading the bland,
Theology - Life in the Regeneration
Written by Douglas Wilson
Monday, 30 April 2012
I am fond of saying that grace has a backbone, but I think it is time to explain what I mean by that. The context of these remarks is the general and current ongoing discussion about the worrisome trajectories of all those incipient legalists and antinomians out there. The incipient legalists are the ones the incipient antinominans are worried about, and vice versa.
Of course, as things stand right now in the Reformed world things are generally copacetic, at least as far as this topic goes. If we lived in a truly confessional age, with great preaching, theological geniuses writing their tomes, and so on, then we would have to worry about the naked Quakers running through Safeway again, and legalistic Anglican bishops cutting off people's thumbs for having broken some stupid rule. But as it is, we are too anemic to get into serious trouble with legalism or antinomianism. We are the bland leading the bland,
New Communism on the Trail
The Comeback Kid
Communism is making a comeback. The windshift has fired up the radicals of yesteryear and got them out on the barricades again "occupying" things.
Where is the new wind coming from? A cluster of intellectuals who have "had it" with capitalism. Strangely they are being listened to. Apparently desperate times call for desperate measures. Irony lurks here because the European Union of Socialist Republics has told itself for generations that if the states of Europe did not agree to subsidize and fund everyone using other people's money the resulting social dislocation would lead to a recrudescence of National Socialism. Apparently the diagnosis and prognosis was right yet quite wrong. The hardships of fiscal austerity are causing a resurgence of interest in Communism amongst the intellectual elites, not Nazism (which so far remains the preserve of the uneducated disaffected).
Alan Johnson, writing in World Affairs, documents the new Communism. Funnily enough it looks woolly, vacuous, and wishfully utopian--remarkably like the Occupy Wall Street people.
Communism is making a comeback. The windshift has fired up the radicals of yesteryear and got them out on the barricades again "occupying" things.
Where is the new wind coming from? A cluster of intellectuals who have "had it" with capitalism. Strangely they are being listened to. Apparently desperate times call for desperate measures. Irony lurks here because the European Union of Socialist Republics has told itself for generations that if the states of Europe did not agree to subsidize and fund everyone using other people's money the resulting social dislocation would lead to a recrudescence of National Socialism. Apparently the diagnosis and prognosis was right yet quite wrong. The hardships of fiscal austerity are causing a resurgence of interest in Communism amongst the intellectual elites, not Nazism (which so far remains the preserve of the uneducated disaffected).
Alan Johnson, writing in World Affairs, documents the new Communism. Funnily enough it looks woolly, vacuous, and wishfully utopian--remarkably like the Occupy Wall Street people.
Saturday, 5 May 2012
Douglas Wilson's Letter From America
A Whipped Up Tolerance Mob
Culture and Politics - Sex and Culture
Written by Douglas Wilson
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
We live in a highly politicized (and therefore dishonest) culture, and this means that before you decide whether you are for or against any proposed measure, law, or pr campaign, you have to look past the language. "Hate crimes" is code. "Anti-bullying" is code. Invariably it turns out to be code for some aspect of the radical egalitarian agenda for human sexuality.
Things are so bad that the Left has lost almost all sense of irony or self-awareness.
Culture and Politics - Sex and Culture
Written by Douglas Wilson
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
We live in a highly politicized (and therefore dishonest) culture, and this means that before you decide whether you are for or against any proposed measure, law, or pr campaign, you have to look past the language. "Hate crimes" is code. "Anti-bullying" is code. Invariably it turns out to be code for some aspect of the radical egalitarian agenda for human sexuality.
Things are so bad that the Left has lost almost all sense of irony or self-awareness.
Cosmic Warfare, Part II
The Exhilaration and the Scandal
The early Christians understood they were involved in a cosmic battle between the forces of evil--forces which were personal, albeit finite, yet much more powerful than they--and the newly enthroned King of all kings, the Lord Jesus Christ. They understood that when they were converted to Christ out of paganism both they and their households were delivered from captivity to Satan to a captivity to Christ. But captivity to Christ meant untrammelled goodness and blessing; it meant abundant, eternal life.
Modern Christians, deeply influenced by the prevailing secular materialism of the West, tend to gloss over expressions in Scripture which teach just such a cosmology of redemption. David Bentley Hart summarises the biblical perspective of the cosmological battle:
The early Christians understood they were involved in a cosmic battle between the forces of evil--forces which were personal, albeit finite, yet much more powerful than they--and the newly enthroned King of all kings, the Lord Jesus Christ. They understood that when they were converted to Christ out of paganism both they and their households were delivered from captivity to Satan to a captivity to Christ. But captivity to Christ meant untrammelled goodness and blessing; it meant abundant, eternal life.
Modern Christians, deeply influenced by the prevailing secular materialism of the West, tend to gloss over expressions in Scripture which teach just such a cosmology of redemption. David Bentley Hart summarises the biblical perspective of the cosmological battle:
Friday, 4 May 2012
Just-So Stories About the Early Church
Passing On the Apostolic Faith
One of the myths perpetrated by modern Unbelieving New Testament scholars is that orthodoxy in the early church is a myth. The thesis is that there was no orthodoxy--only a plethora of different, competing, and contradictory theologies. "Orthodoxy" only came about with certain factions subsequently winning control of the Church, which then proscribed and repressed competing (earlier) theologies.
This thesis is yet another case of a good story unsupported by the facts. The data shows that right from the beginning, the Church operated with a Rule of Faith--which was a summary of the teachings of Scripture. Andreas J. Kostenberger puts the record straight:
One of the myths perpetrated by modern Unbelieving New Testament scholars is that orthodoxy in the early church is a myth. The thesis is that there was no orthodoxy--only a plethora of different, competing, and contradictory theologies. "Orthodoxy" only came about with certain factions subsequently winning control of the Church, which then proscribed and repressed competing (earlier) theologies.
This thesis is yet another case of a good story unsupported by the facts. The data shows that right from the beginning, the Church operated with a Rule of Faith--which was a summary of the teachings of Scripture. Andreas J. Kostenberger puts the record straight:
Cosmic Warfare, Part I
Spitting at the Devil, Swearing Allegiance to Christ
The cosmic implications of baptism have been sadly occluded in our modern times. This is a grave weakness in our contemporary understanding of the Christian faith. Secularism has demoted and devalued the cosmic invisible realities in the mind of many Christians. Even as the Bible speaks of the "powers of the air" and traces their demonic connections, we are more comfortable with material causes and effects.
David Bentley Hart describes the ritual of baptism in the early Church--how it enacted the real cosmic battle and drama.
The cosmic implications of baptism have been sadly occluded in our modern times. This is a grave weakness in our contemporary understanding of the Christian faith. Secularism has demoted and devalued the cosmic invisible realities in the mind of many Christians. Even as the Bible speaks of the "powers of the air" and traces their demonic connections, we are more comfortable with material causes and effects.
David Bentley Hart describes the ritual of baptism in the early Church--how it enacted the real cosmic battle and drama.
Thursday, 3 May 2012
Douglas Wilson's Letter From America
Getting Our Sensate Groove Back
Culture and Politics - Creative Control of the Reformation
Written by Douglas Wilson
Monday, 23 April 2012
I recently caused a small stir on Facebook by saying this:
I thought it might be good for me to explain what was behind that comment, at least a little bit. . . .
I have no problem with evangelicals receiving criticism for producing schlock. That is what criticism (rightly conceived) is for. What I cannot abide is schlock criticism -- memes that make no sense getting endlessly repeated as though they were some kind of wisdom. One of those memes is that evangelicals are unique in their ability to produce this stuff. Anybody who says this cannot have been in a video rental store recently. Evangelicals make bad movies because making good movies is hard, which turns out to be the same reason why people generally make bad movies. Evangelicals make bad movies for the same reason evangelicals have ten toes -- they are people and people tend to generate lots of crapola.
Culture and Politics - Creative Control of the Reformation
Written by Douglas Wilson
Monday, 23 April 2012
I recently caused a small stir on Facebook by saying this:
"One of the greatest aesthetic and
arististic gifts the world ever received was the casting down of images
in the Protestant Reformation."
I thought it might be good for me to explain what was behind that comment, at least a little bit. . . .
I have no problem with evangelicals receiving criticism for producing schlock. That is what criticism (rightly conceived) is for. What I cannot abide is schlock criticism -- memes that make no sense getting endlessly repeated as though they were some kind of wisdom. One of those memes is that evangelicals are unique in their ability to produce this stuff. Anybody who says this cannot have been in a video rental store recently. Evangelicals make bad movies because making good movies is hard, which turns out to be the same reason why people generally make bad movies. Evangelicals make bad movies for the same reason evangelicals have ten toes -- they are people and people tend to generate lots of crapola.
ERO Is Coming to A School Near You
Pomo Maori Education--Another Trick by Whitey
What is Maori? Who knows? But apparently it's now really important for government schools to be able to answer that question.
Recently, we came across a directive from the Education Review Office ("ERO") which audits all schools in New Zealand and rates them accordingly. We quote:
What is Maori? Who knows? But apparently it's now really important for government schools to be able to answer that question.
Recently, we came across a directive from the Education Review Office ("ERO") which audits all schools in New Zealand and rates them accordingly. We quote:
ERO considers educational success for Maori, as Maori as (sic) a key indicator of school performance. We are interested in:The phrase "Maori, as Maori" is plastered all over the document which lays out how ERO will now be evaluating all schools. The focus upon "Maori, as Maori" is to be a key indicator of whether or not a school is performing. The question is begged, What does "Maori, as Maori" mean?
- The context of the school in relation to Maori in the school and the local community. [A prize is offered for the bright spark who can exegete the meaning of that sentence.]
- The conditions and environment that support educational success for Maori, as Maori.
- How schools know they are being successful in improving educational outcomes for Maori, as Maori.
Wednesday, 2 May 2012
Grand Utopian Projects
Human Progress and Its Fruit
The quotation below is from David Bentley Hart: it is a brief de-construction of the pathogens in modern Unbelief. Bowing to the freedom of autonomous human will has resulted in barbaric cruelty and crushing tyranny. When the human will is regarded as sacrosanct, the State's fangs grow long and sharp.
Idealism becomes ruthless. The concept of freedom becomes savage. The autonomous utopias of Man devolve into bloody dystopias.
The quotation below is from David Bentley Hart: it is a brief de-construction of the pathogens in modern Unbelief. Bowing to the freedom of autonomous human will has resulted in barbaric cruelty and crushing tyranny. When the human will is regarded as sacrosanct, the State's fangs grow long and sharp.
Idealism becomes ruthless. The concept of freedom becomes savage. The autonomous utopias of Man devolve into bloody dystopias.
Christopher Hitchen's Legacy
Futile in Their Speculations . . .
Christopher Hitchens is well on his way to canonisation amongst the high priests of Unbelief. That's expected. There is nothing untoward in honouring those who have gone before, particularly those one regards as exemplars of one's faith.
He will no doubt enter the secular atheist pantheon as one who kept the faith, stayed true to the end, and who proved up his beliefs with a holy life. (We use "holy" in the root sense of the word--set apart as a servant to one's truth.) He died a particularly difficult and painful death. We honour him for his courage. But not his stubborn foolishness.
Christopher Hitchens is well on his way to canonisation amongst the high priests of Unbelief. That's expected. There is nothing untoward in honouring those who have gone before, particularly those one regards as exemplars of one's faith.
He will no doubt enter the secular atheist pantheon as one who kept the faith, stayed true to the end, and who proved up his beliefs with a holy life. (We use "holy" in the root sense of the word--set apart as a servant to one's truth.) He died a particularly difficult and painful death. We honour him for his courage. But not his stubborn foolishness.
Tuesday, 1 May 2012
Something Rotten in Denmark
The Boon of a Disinterested Free Press
A free, active, disinterested press has sometimes been called the Fourth Estate of government. When it does its job properly the benefits of its constraint upon abuse of power are significant. The corollary is also true: when the press abuses its position and tolerates conflicts between its own, commercial interests and the impartial truth it can do great damage to the body politic. Regrettably, we have seen far too much of the latter: a self-interested Press sensationalising stories to generate headlines, gain attention, and increase subscriptions. When this happens, truth is the first casualty. Civic freedom is the next.
Here is a prima facie example of the salutary power of the Fourth Estate--a free press--properly used.
A free, active, disinterested press has sometimes been called the Fourth Estate of government. When it does its job properly the benefits of its constraint upon abuse of power are significant. The corollary is also true: when the press abuses its position and tolerates conflicts between its own, commercial interests and the impartial truth it can do great damage to the body politic. Regrettably, we have seen far too much of the latter: a self-interested Press sensationalising stories to generate headlines, gain attention, and increase subscriptions. When this happens, truth is the first casualty. Civic freedom is the next.
Here is a prima facie example of the salutary power of the Fourth Estate--a free press--properly used.
Malthusian Cassandras
Purblind Arrogance and Invincible Ignorance
Malthusian despair grips the Western world in a vicious vice. It is a puzzling phenomenon if one considers that the economic theories of Thomas Malthus were discredited centuries ago. But the puzzlement exists only if one also believes in a false, objective rationalism, ignoring the blind foolishness attenuating the human heart. Did not the prophet say, "the heart is deceitful above all things and is desperately sick; who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)
We are sonorously told by modern sages that over-population threatens the continued existence of the planet. Assuming that the world is one vast fixed, zero-sum game, our oh-so-wise cassandras insist that more mouths to feed means less food for everyone. If one eats more, everyone else is condemned to eat less. If a country expends more energy, there is less energy for every other nation.
The latest voice is the respected and revered Royal Society. Its purblind stupidity belies its reputation.
Malthusian despair grips the Western world in a vicious vice. It is a puzzling phenomenon if one considers that the economic theories of Thomas Malthus were discredited centuries ago. But the puzzlement exists only if one also believes in a false, objective rationalism, ignoring the blind foolishness attenuating the human heart. Did not the prophet say, "the heart is deceitful above all things and is desperately sick; who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)
We are sonorously told by modern sages that over-population threatens the continued existence of the planet. Assuming that the world is one vast fixed, zero-sum game, our oh-so-wise cassandras insist that more mouths to feed means less food for everyone. If one eats more, everyone else is condemned to eat less. If a country expends more energy, there is less energy for every other nation.
The latest voice is the respected and revered Royal Society. Its purblind stupidity belies its reputation.
Monday, 30 April 2012
Letter From the UK
Ignorant Luddites and Their Greek-Chorus Government
On extracting gas from rock, or putting it in there, the greens are equally confused
The push for 'carbon capture' and the row over 'fracking' are both misguided.
On extracting gas from rock, or putting it in there, the greens are equally confused
The push for 'carbon capture' and the row over 'fracking' are both misguided.
Christopher Booker
The Telegraph
A delightful parable unfolded last week over the scarcely believable shambles
we are making of our national energy policy. Ever more people are waking up
to the fact that “renewables” such as windmills are absurdly expensive and
hopelessly inefficient. Meanwhile, our nuclear plans have been thrown into
disarray, our North Sea gas is fast running out, and we have turned our back
on coal, even though it still often provides us with half our electricity.
So how will we keep the lights on?
There were headline stories last week from two areas of energy policy that
highlighted our predicament.
Delicious Irony
Life Outside the Beltway
The folly of Kiwibank, along with its parent NZ Post, is becoming more and more obvious by the month. Both alike face a long, lingering death. Neither can overcome the commercial challenges facing them.
Let's consider NZ Post first. It has long been part of received wisdom that the government must ensure a functioning reliable, inexpensive postal service. Consequently, most postal services around the world have been government owned and operated. New Zealand took a gigantic step forward some years ago when it was decided that NZ Post needed to run along commercial lines. It was made a State Owned Enterprise, which meant that it had to function as an independent commercial entity and make a profit for its owner, the government.
It did. So far so good.
The folly of Kiwibank, along with its parent NZ Post, is becoming more and more obvious by the month. Both alike face a long, lingering death. Neither can overcome the commercial challenges facing them.
Let's consider NZ Post first. It has long been part of received wisdom that the government must ensure a functioning reliable, inexpensive postal service. Consequently, most postal services around the world have been government owned and operated. New Zealand took a gigantic step forward some years ago when it was decided that NZ Post needed to run along commercial lines. It was made a State Owned Enterprise, which meant that it had to function as an independent commercial entity and make a profit for its owner, the government.
It did. So far so good.
Saturday, 28 April 2012
Douglas Wilson's Letter From America
Five More Volleys on Effeminate Worship
Liturgy and Worship - Liturgical Notes
Written by Douglas Wilson
Tuesday, 24 April 2012
A short while ago I posted something about effeminate worship that has since that time excited some comment. The original piece was here, and you can see a couple of responses here and here.
This is not so much a point-by-point refutation as it is getting out a wetvac to clear up some misunderstandings. Once we understand each other, it is unlikely that this will bring about sweet concord on the subject, but at least we should be closer to the heart of the actual disagreement.
First, effeminacy and femininity are not synonyms.
Liturgy and Worship - Liturgical Notes
Written by Douglas Wilson
Tuesday, 24 April 2012
A short while ago I posted something about effeminate worship that has since that time excited some comment. The original piece was here, and you can see a couple of responses here and here.
This is not so much a point-by-point refutation as it is getting out a wetvac to clear up some misunderstandings. Once we understand each other, it is unlikely that this will bring about sweet concord on the subject, but at least we should be closer to the heart of the actual disagreement.
First, effeminacy and femininity are not synonyms.
Biggest Casino Makes a Deal with A Minnow
Gamble Away
Historically, gambling has been judged sinful, evil, a violation of God's law. The question is, On what grounds?
One modern school of thought is that gambling is just another form of entertainment--a kind of competitive sport by proxy. Just as one goes to the cinema, one can attend the local horse racing meet, place bets to give some "edge" to the entertainment, and thereby make the whole experience more participatory, exciting and diverting. At the other edge is professional poker playing, which clearly is a participative, competitive sport, requiring finely honed skills to be successful. We grant both points.
For the Christian, the issue is not one of entertainment: there are plenty of ways to relax and find exhilarating enjoyment. The issues are stewardship, covetousness, and the love of money--which is the root of all kinds of evil (I Timothy 6:10).
Historically, gambling has been judged sinful, evil, a violation of God's law. The question is, On what grounds?
One modern school of thought is that gambling is just another form of entertainment--a kind of competitive sport by proxy. Just as one goes to the cinema, one can attend the local horse racing meet, place bets to give some "edge" to the entertainment, and thereby make the whole experience more participatory, exciting and diverting. At the other edge is professional poker playing, which clearly is a participative, competitive sport, requiring finely honed skills to be successful. We grant both points.
For the Christian, the issue is not one of entertainment: there are plenty of ways to relax and find exhilarating enjoyment. The issues are stewardship, covetousness, and the love of money--which is the root of all kinds of evil (I Timothy 6:10).
Friday, 27 April 2012
Douglas Wilson's Letter From America
Your Worship Service Might Be Effeminate If . . .
Liturgy and Worship - Liturgical Notes
Written by Douglas Wilson
Monday, 16 April 2012
For a number of interesting reasons, Christian worship in the West has become increasingly effeminate. Leon Podles outlines some of these historical reasons in his fine book, The Church Impotent. Ann Douglas makes a fine addition to the discussion in her book, The Feminization of American Culture.
To emphasize masculinity in worship is not a practice that excludes women. Rather, it includes them, brings them along, and makes them feel safe. If you reach the men, you will reach the women. Moreover, you will find yourself reaching the worthiest of women, the true mothers in Israel. Think tent pegs and mallets.
This being the case, and in the spirit of those lists you see from time to time -- "you might be this or that if . . ." -- I would like to offer a small checklist for pastors and elders, in no particular order.
Liturgy and Worship - Liturgical Notes
Written by Douglas Wilson
Monday, 16 April 2012
For a number of interesting reasons, Christian worship in the West has become increasingly effeminate. Leon Podles outlines some of these historical reasons in his fine book, The Church Impotent. Ann Douglas makes a fine addition to the discussion in her book, The Feminization of American Culture.
To emphasize masculinity in worship is not a practice that excludes women. Rather, it includes them, brings them along, and makes them feel safe. If you reach the men, you will reach the women. Moreover, you will find yourself reaching the worthiest of women, the true mothers in Israel. Think tent pegs and mallets.
This being the case, and in the spirit of those lists you see from time to time -- "you might be this or that if . . ." -- I would like to offer a small checklist for pastors and elders, in no particular order.
Ideological Civil War
We Have a Voice! . . . Finally
An ideological war has broken out within the Commentariat in New Zealand. It does not happen very often, making it all the more diverting. The field of battle is the government education system.
On one side are the Allies--a fighting coalition of three powers which has held sway in our education system for four decades or more.
The first of the Allied powers are the Marxist education theoreticians and their followers who argue that the power structures and their ideologies in New Zealand must be broken down if the New Society is to be built. Therefore, education is a process of teaching a student to criticise everything, accept nothing, and reject everything (except Marxist dogma, of course).
The second member of the triumvirate is the oh-so-trendy "pomos"--the post-modernists--who argue that there is no truth, only narratives, stories.
An ideological war has broken out within the Commentariat in New Zealand. It does not happen very often, making it all the more diverting. The field of battle is the government education system.
On one side are the Allies--a fighting coalition of three powers which has held sway in our education system for four decades or more.
The first of the Allied powers are the Marxist education theoreticians and their followers who argue that the power structures and their ideologies in New Zealand must be broken down if the New Society is to be built. Therefore, education is a process of teaching a student to criticise everything, accept nothing, and reject everything (except Marxist dogma, of course).
The second member of the triumvirate is the oh-so-trendy "pomos"--the post-modernists--who argue that there is no truth, only narratives, stories.
Thursday, 26 April 2012
Modern Prejudice
Chronological Snobbery and the Spirit of Our Age
Justin Taylor
J. I. Packer describes the heretical spirit of our age, which holds that:
Justin Taylor
J. I. Packer describes the heretical spirit of our age, which holds that:
- the newer is the truer,
- only what is recent is decent,
- every shift of ground is a step forward, and
- every latest word must be hailed as the last word on its subject.
The Destruction Wreaked by Faux Human Rights
Righteous Anger Over Chinese Poppies
In New Zealand our veteran's association is called the Returned Services Association, or the "RSA". Anzac Day is the statutory holiday when we remember our veterans and express our thankfulness for their service to us all. In the last couple of years controversy has swirled around the Anzac season. It has to do with the Chinese.
Well, indirectly. The RSA raises funds at this time of the year by selling artificial red poppies which the public buy in large quantities and pin to their coats. It is an effective visible way of showing respect for our veterans and our commitment to the memorial Anzac season. It also funds the on-going activities and services of the RSA. Two or so years ago, the RSA decided to get its red poppies manufactured in China. People resent that. Previously the poppies were manufactured in New Zealand. Now the job has been exported; working people in New Zealand have missed out. Folk are protesting the "Chinese poppies" as an alien, unwanted, exploitative violation of the true spirit of the Anzac season.
The back story, however, is far, far more sinister.
In New Zealand our veteran's association is called the Returned Services Association, or the "RSA". Anzac Day is the statutory holiday when we remember our veterans and express our thankfulness for their service to us all. In the last couple of years controversy has swirled around the Anzac season. It has to do with the Chinese.
Well, indirectly. The RSA raises funds at this time of the year by selling artificial red poppies which the public buy in large quantities and pin to their coats. It is an effective visible way of showing respect for our veterans and our commitment to the memorial Anzac season. It also funds the on-going activities and services of the RSA. Two or so years ago, the RSA decided to get its red poppies manufactured in China. People resent that. Previously the poppies were manufactured in New Zealand. Now the job has been exported; working people in New Zealand have missed out. Folk are protesting the "Chinese poppies" as an alien, unwanted, exploitative violation of the true spirit of the Anzac season.
The back story, however, is far, far more sinister.
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
Romney's Moral Antennae
Bloodshed and Buggery
Culture and Politics - Politics
Written by Douglas Wilson
Sunday, 22 April 2012
So Mitt Romney hired Richard Grenell as his foreign policy spokesman, and Grenell is an "out and proud" homosexual. Well, who could have seen that coming?
The issue is how these things get mainstreamed. There is a certain kind of conservative who, in Dabney's immortal phrase, is the shadow that follows radicalism to perdition. It makes a gruff show with a respectable amount of growling, but in the end acquiesces to the last set of the left's innovations, and runs on the hard right conservative platform of trying to make socialism work. It has no idea, Dabney said, of being guilty of the folly of martyrdom.
It is not just about elections.
Culture and Politics - Politics
Written by Douglas Wilson
Sunday, 22 April 2012
So Mitt Romney hired Richard Grenell as his foreign policy spokesman, and Grenell is an "out and proud" homosexual. Well, who could have seen that coming?
The issue is how these things get mainstreamed. There is a certain kind of conservative who, in Dabney's immortal phrase, is the shadow that follows radicalism to perdition. It makes a gruff show with a respectable amount of growling, but in the end acquiesces to the last set of the left's innovations, and runs on the hard right conservative platform of trying to make socialism work. It has no idea, Dabney said, of being guilty of the folly of martyrdom.
It is not just about elections.
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