We continue to talk like Sam Adams and act like a Bob Hope character. Maybe it is just me.
Everyone I talk to in my little circle is upset about what they see happening around us. At the top of the list, of course, is the power grab by the Proregressives* who want to turn the United States into the Fourth Reich. That is a real danger and we watch the dance going on daily. A case of friendly trespass is portrayed as a nation-threatening armed insurrection. A mild virus is hyped as the end of life as we know it. Our military is being turned into a bunch of girly-men. Racism is wonderful as long as it is hatred for traditional Western culture.
I am not sure what to do about all that.
This same group is also upset about the choke hold that the social media is developing on information. They are upset that an ice cream company becomes rabidly anti-Semitic. They are outraged that a popular beverage company goes totally woke and calls for race warfare against whites. They get angry that the largest mail order company in history spends billions on left wing causes. The rage goes on. At the same time they continue to Tweet, Friend people, buy Ben and Jerry’s, drink Coke and shop at Amazon. It is kind of like claiming that Carbon Dioxide is killing the planet and then flying to a conference on the subject.
I do know what to do about that and nobody is doing it.
Almost everyone I know is still frequenting the companies they admit are destroying the American dream. When they need school clothes for the kids it seems that Walmart is the only place that has what you need. Amazon has everything and delivers almost instantly and, of course, you need it right now. The excuses go on. I understand. I really do. I have not sworn off Walmart for the rest of my life. When family harmony demands it I will walk through the doors if accompanied by an adult. I continue work at buying things at other places, yes and pay more, and take the time to look. It isn’t easy but can be done, but no one seems to be doing it. Since I never buy Ben and Jerry’s I don’t have the right to make an issue but I have weaned myself from Coke products.
Nothing will change if we do not change. I think that the CEO’s of social media read the protests of the Christians in this country the same way we used to read the comics in the newspaper. We are good for a laugh. I feel like a real weirdo when I am with “conservatives” and feel out of place when I say I don’t shop at Walmart any more.
I need more company.
*(Liberals, educators, the media, socialists, communists, crony capitalists, elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, BLM, MSM, Deep State, etc. Another word for swamp dwellers)
homo unius libri
Friday, July 30, 2021
Opus 2021-232: Time to Walk the Talk
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I believe that if we view recent and current events from St. Augustine's "two cities" assessment, some foundational clarity emerges. I think that the common ground of all we see is secular materialism with its goals of fame, fortune, power, and pleasure. If we are going to contend with all or part of this, the advice of the late Janes Montgomery Boice might help. He said if you are going to fight against the world, don't use the world's weapons. If you do, you will lose because the world has the greater skill in their use.
ReplyDeleteFor me, this means that attractive as protests and boycotts may seem, those are the weapons of our secular opposition, not to mention riots, looting, and firebombing. We can't compete at this level. compare, for example, the Jan 6 Capitol occupation with the multi-city riots of the previous summer (and how this is being used against the 1/6 protesters.)
We have weapons the other side knows little or nothing about. We have prayer. We have the privilege and responsibility of seeking an audience with our heavenly Father, asking Him for both justice and mercy, knowing that as He made the place, as well as provides for and sustains the place, that His plans for the future will be realized come what may.
I find solace in His promises to unconditionally love each of His adopted children, such that the good Shepherd will lose none of the flock given to Him by the Father. But I will pray, early and often, in granular detail if need be. I must pray. I believe all of us must pray.
Prayer should be our first action. Too often we hear people saying that since nothing else works we need to pray. I can almost see God wince at that one. I think that the other error we make is to think that prayer is the last or only thing we should do.
DeleteI just finished Judges and Ruth and am starting on I Samuel. I see times in the Bible where God tells His people to stand down and let Him take care of it. I see other places where He tells them to gird on their swords and march forward.
Jesus did not tell the disciples to stay in Jerusalem and pray for the salvation of the world. He told them to go.
I don't have the answer but I might suggest that if we are spending enough time in prayer then the methods of the world that we would stop trying to use would be the social media and businesses that are out to destroy us.
Not easy to find the right course all the time, which brings us back to prayer.
Grace and peace
Yours is the more balanced view as it is informed by scripture. There will come a time when we will have to take a stand, and perhaps the best way to do that is by putting on the whole armor of God, as per Ephesians 6.
DeleteThis may be a key to a better understanding of Dr. Boice's point, which would be when we contend with the world, do it in a scriptural manner. Sometimes armed self-defense is entirely justified, such as Jesus' counsel on the night He was betrayed, that the time had come for His disciples to carry a money bag, knapsack, and sword. (Luke 22:16)
I am unwilling to draw any kind of parallel between Passion Week and what we see going on around us now, but it does seem our current situation is astonishingly unstable and cannot continue much longer.
So I will stand, make preparations, and pray.
Balance and moderation are always the hardest routes.
DeleteGrace and peace
Everyone wants the "other guy" to do something about it.
ReplyDeleteWhile we are on that subject, I have an assignment for you.
DeleteGrace and peace