A Point Concerning Christianity, Truth and Culture (with an assist by Chesterton)

Posted: November 14, 2023 by datechguy in culture
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Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.

Matthew 7:13-14

One of the things we have noticed from the left in general and from both the Biden administration and the pro-terror folks in media, academia and among the mob is that they are not on speaking terms with the truth.

Part of this, at least for the Arab mobs is understandable as they would have been indoctrinated their entire lives and you might even suggest that this would be the case for those in academic setting except for the fact that this would be a tiny part of their lives.

For a Christian this should not be a surprise, because as we are taught the devil, the father of lives is in fact the prince of this world and once people move away from the Judeo-Christian standard of false witness being sinful and wrong then words simply become another means to an end.

One of the things about living in Western Civilization particularly during the golden age of American power at it’s height as a Christian Nation a lot of people were convinced that Judeo-Christian values were the norm. If however you look at both history and the current age and of course scripture the church’s warnings about “the world” one must conclude that the values of Judeo-Christianity are completely contrary to human nature and that while in the long run these values used as a standard to live by, even if people fail lead to the kind of culture worth living in.

The irony of course is that that so many in the west reject these values not realizing that they are the bedrock on which their free and prosperous society is built while in the world who rush to migrate to the west in order live reject the values that make that society they are fleeing to possible.

Chesterton absolutely nailed it:

In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be called a paradox. There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, “I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.” To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.

Pope Francis divides the Catholic Church

Posted: November 14, 2023 by chrisharper in Uncategorized
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By Christopher Harper

From endorsing a policy that transgender people can participate in church sacraments to a worldwide meeting that may allow gay and women priests, Pope Francis has divided the Catholic Church so much that it is unlikely to recover for decades.

After three decades of leadership by popes who generally affirmed American conservative priorities, “Francis has been a complete shock to the system,” said John McGreevy, a historian at the University of Notre Dame. “It just has been tough for a big chunk of the American church, who thought these questions were settled and now seem unsettled.”

Others think the pope is out of touch with U.S. Catholics, who make up 20 percent of American adults. “The pope has only spent six days in the U.S. in the last 10 years, so it’s difficult to understand how he really understands Catholics in the U.S.,” said C. Preston Noell III, a spokesman for the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property. This Catholic organization describes itself as “on the front lines of the culture war.”

In a statement released last week, the Vatican outlined a policy that transgender people can be baptized, serve as godparents, and be witnesses at church weddings. 

Last spring, the American bishops’ conference issued its own doctrinal document stating that chemical and surgical interventions for gender transitions were “not morally justified” and instructed Catholic hospitals not to perform them. The conference has commented on the policy change.

Also, the pope has asked a Texas bishop to resign his post because of his opposition. Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, has accused the pope of undermining the Catholic faith and that other Vatican officials have veered so far from church teaching that they are no longer Catholic. He has warned that a landmark global gathering that concluded recently at the Vatican could threaten “basic truths” of Catholic doctrine.

“I cannot resign as Bishop of Tyler because that would be me abandoning the flock that I was given charge of by Pope Benedict XVI,” he wrote in an open letter to Catholics in his diocese in September.

That meeting last month considered a variety of issues opposed by many in the church:

  • The end of priestly celibacy
  • The inclusion of married men in the priesthood
  • The blessing of gay couples
  • The extension of sacraments to the divorced and remarried
  • The ordination of female deacons

It is unclear what the group will recommend to the pope and what he will do.

Whatever the case, the divisions within the church are likely to outlive Pope Francis. During his decade as the leader of the Catholic Church, he has worked to cement his legacy by replenishing the College of Cardinals, who will choose the next pope, with men who share his priorities.

The Catholic Church and I have had our ups and downs over the years, but this pope has been the worst in my lifetime. Fortunately, my local parish remains a friendly and valuable enclave for my faith.

Walking Before You Run Christianity , Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Rosalind Picard, Sc.D

Posted: November 13, 2023 by datechguy in catholic, Church doctrine
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Screwtape: Once you have made the World an end, and faith a means, you have almost won your man, and it makes very little difference what kind of worldly end he is pursuing. Provided that meetings, pamphlets, policies, movements, causes, and crusades, matter more to him than prayers and sacraments and charity, he is ours— and the more “religious” (on those terms) the more securely ours. I could show you a pretty cageful down here

C. S. Lewis The Screwtape Letters # VII

At Instapundit there were two different stories of promanent athiests becoming Christian. The first was Ayaan Hirsi Ali who said this:

But we can’t fight off these formidable forces unless we can answer the question: what is it that unites us? The response that “God is dead!” seems insufficient. So, too, does the attempt to find solace in “the rules-based liberal international order”. The only credible answer, I believe, lies in our desire to uphold the legacy of the Judeo-Christian tradition.

This is the first reason she give noting that all the secular freedoms that are enjoyed by Western Civilization come from Christianity but that’s not enough. She notes the unifying effect of a belief in God in her closing here:

The lesson I learned from my years with the Muslim Brotherhood was the power of a unifying story, embedded in the foundational texts of Islam, to attract, engage and mobilise the Muslim masses. Unless we offer something as meaningful, I fear the erosion of our civilisation will continue. And fortunately, there is no need to look for some new-age concoction of medication and mindfulness. Christianity has it all.

That is why I no longer consider myself a Muslim apostate, but a lapsed atheist. Of course, I still have a great deal to learn about Christianity. I discover a little more at church each Sunday. But I have recognised, in my own long journey through a wilderness of fear and self-doubt, that there is a better way to manage the challenges of existence than either Islam or unbelief had to offer.

The discovering a little more each Sunday is a start and people have to walk before they run but let me point out that as a Christian in general and a Catholic in particular let me unequally state the following:

There is only one reason to be a Christian, not for the history of civilization , not to defend the west, not to oppose radical Islam. None of these reasons are a reason to be a Christian.

The only reason to be a Christian in general and a Catholic in particular is Because it is True

If it is true we are obliged to do our best to combat our fallen human nature to follow Christ. To go to Mass and to spread the good news by deed, word and example.

If it is not true then on Sunday you’re basically going to an elk’s club meeting.

Now there is nothing wrong with an elks club but one should not base their worldview upon it.

As she notes she is learning, I find that the best thing to do is pray for people and let the Holy Spirit do the heavy lifting here. In the end I’m not going to devote my life to one.

Now note the contrast with Professor Picard as an engineer her journey was more about facts and evidence:

Note how she approached this on the evidence. She went from Athiest, to Agnostic, to Theist, to Christian. It’s as if she read Mere Christianity and applied Lewis’ argument.

Now for me it doesn’t matter in the end how someone finds Christ as long as they do so and even for screwtape notes that the primary goal is to get the person moving in the right (in his case the wrong) direction and different people move on that path at different speeds. But the big thing to remember is this: Never think for one moment that God can be used as an means to an end rather than an end itself.

That’s the danger. Remember it and avoid it.

National media ignores big Chicago anti-migrant march

Posted: November 12, 2023 by John Ruberry in immigration, News/opinion, opinion/news, politics
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By John Ruberry

Sure, there’s a lot of another news to sift through–the Israel-Hamas War is the biggest story right now–but on Friday, there was another protest march against the building of a large tent city migrant camp at 38th and California in the Brighton Park neighborhood on Chicago’s Soutwest Side.

The city has signed a lease on the tent city site, but it’s not a done deal, official say, as the final decision is pending an environmental survey.

It will happen, I am sure.

And as far as I can tell, the national mainstream media ignored Friday’s protest. That’s because the march, in a predominately Hispanic neighborhood with a large Asian presence, contradicts at least a couple of leftist narratives. Because they are “oppressed,” people of color are always on the same side against the majority. 

Of course, that majority is white people. While whites are the largest racial group in Chicago, America’s third largest city–for now–hasn’t a majority racial group for decades.

The other leftist narrative that the Brighton Parch marches and protests exposes as a lie is that the cities are havens from the xenophobia, unlike the exurbs and rural America, where those deplorable MAGA people live.

The Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune, both woke outlets, reported that “hundreds” participated in the Brighton Park anti-migrant march. 

ABC Chicago says that “residents have been protesting against the migrant base camp for weeks” and overall, “the pushback has been relentless.”

Oh sure, some goof from the New York Times, Mitch Smith, says Brighton Park is “divided” over the tent city, which is expected to house 2,000 migrants, most of the will probably be from Venezuela. But it sure seems hard to find Brighton Park denizens who support the Bidenville.

As I explained in my post last month about the opposition of the migrant camp in Brighton Park, residents learned from the rumor mill that the tent city was coming, not even the local alderman, a left-wing Hispanic woman was told about it. 

Chicago’s new mayor, Brandon Johnson, a full-blown leftist who, according to the rumor mill, has recently suffered from panic attacks, in his mind is always right.  Why is that?

Have you ever met a leftist who admitted to being wrong about something? 

Like Robespierre, Marx, and Lenin, contemporary leftists like Johnson believe they have the inevitability of history on their side.

But Robespierre ended up on the guillotine and the Soviet Union collapsed.

The decision to build the Brighton Park tent city, if it didn’t come directly from Johnson, who by the way is African American, surely it was the brainchild of a top aide of his.

So, another leftist narrative is collapsing. Nothing to see here, the media collectively says to itself. But let’s push out another dozen stories about MAGA insurrectionists.

Oh, let’s say that instead of building the migrant camp in Brighton Park, the Johnson administration chose instead a site inside the city’s 41st Ward, a predominately white area where many Chicago police officers and firefighters live. In 2020, Donald Trump came close to beating Joe Biden in that ward. 

And let’s say anti-migrant protests and marches were held in the 41st Ward. 

Such events would be the lead story for days on CNN and MSNBC. And the New York Times would have sent more than one reporter there.

John Ruberry, who is married to an immigrant, regularly blogs from his home five miles north of Chicago at Marathon Pundit.

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