day no. 17,104: the calm and the cry

“A man is less articulate when he is humming than when he is calling for help.” — G.K. Chesterton, The Victorian Age in Literature

A good mood may produce mindless mumbles, but a bad place produces clear cries. The atmosphere of a man lost in good thoughts may resemble a melody, but the air of a man who feels lost is overcast with screaming.

If you are having a good day, you do not feel a compulsion to articulate it. You just sit back and enjoy. If you are having a rough go of it, you are highly motivated to put it into words. You cannot sit on it.

day no. 17,103: coarse words and smooth talkers

“This is the simple point that, nine times out of ten, the coarse word is the word that condemns an evil and the refined word the word that excuses it.” — G.K. Chesterton, The Victorian Age in Literature

Abortion sounds better than murder.

Affair does not sting like adultery does.

Affirmative action does not resonate the way unequal weights and measures does.

Alternative lifestyle does not hit as hard as perversion.

Breaking news sounds better than fake news.

Climate change doesn't offend the way depopulation does.

Confused is less offensive than perverted.

Deconstructing sounds better than apostatizing.

Diversity sounds better than depravity.

Equality sounds better than envy.

Fibs sounds better than lies.

Gender reassignment does not have the same bite as genital mutilation.

Healthcare sounds better than eugenics.

Homosexual does not sound the same as sodomy.

Immigration sounds better than human trafficking.

Inclusive sounds more noble than prejudicial.

Medicated sounds better than drunk.

Minor attracted persons sound less dangerous than child molesters.

Preference lacks the power of sin.

Redistribution sound more agreeable than plunder.

Social justice sounds better than injustice.

Spiritual sounds better than demonic.

Stunning and brave sells better than gay and retarded.

Tax is easier to swallow than pillage.

Tolerance is easier to enforce than acceptance.

Two-spirit sounds saner than possessed.

Ze/zem is a little less shocking than shman. 

And the list goes on...

"The battle (for the dictionary) is over the right to define the world.” — Douglas Wilson, Same Sex Mirage

Someone will dictate to someone else. Someone will speak and expect someone else to take notes. The only question is who will dictate and who will be dictated to. 

"The battle for the dictionary is the fight over who will be in charge of language and who will be in charge of our ability to describe the world as we see it." — Douglas Wilson, Plodcast Ep. 7

What is the world really like? According to whom? Whose standard is the standard by which all other standards must be evaluated? What is the reality and Whose reality is it?

Isaiah 5:20-21

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

In no uncertain terms, God claims authority over everything as our Maker, including every definition and attempt to declare what is really going on. So, we must get our definitions from our heavenly Dictator who spoke the world into existence and sustains it, even now, by the power of His Word.

"Do not give fair names to foul sins; call them what you will, they will smell no sweeter.” — Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening 

If we are to be forgiven, we need to begin with our words. If we are to offer forgiveness, we need to show the world what is lurking behind the words they prefer.

1 John 1:8-10

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Confessing our sins means saying the same thing as God say. "Confess" is the Greek word homologeo which literally means homo (same) + logeo (words). We must begin by saying what God says. This begins by calling our sins the ugly names that He does, but it ends in calling Christ our Savior, just as He does.

The Kingdom of God is not for smooth talkers, but for coarse words that sand the edges off our roughness.

day no. 17,102: muscular Christianity

“Kingsley, though romantic and attractive in many ways, was a great deal more like Nervous Christianity than Muscular Christianity.” — G.K. Chesterton, The Victorian Age in Literature

Nervous Christianity is always looking over its shoulder because it isn't sure the Savior has its back. It lacks faith in what God has said so it only keeps its ears attentive to what others are saying. It takes the temperature of the room and does what it takes to avoid registering any heat. It does not want to rock the boat because it worries that Christ might capsize. But it forgets that a lack of faith is the only thing that can send a man overboard. 

1 Timothy 1:19

Faith and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck.

Muscular Christianity is always abounding in good works because it is focused on its Lord. It has faith in God's Word and so it reads it before it reads the world. It is intimate with the timeless and so it does not fret the frivolous times. It is a fire from God constantly kindled and burning bright for all to see and some to be warmed by. It does not fear the storms. It walks on water. It finds safe harbor because Christ is both the Captain of its ship and the lighthouse on the Rock that never fails to provide guidance.

day no. 17,101: judeo-Christian and other oxymorons

“There is no such entity as the Judeo/Christian religion. As religions go, there is no way to combine the view that Jesus is the Christ with the idea that He was a fraud, or the claim that He rose from the dead with the counterclaim that He did nothing of the kind, or the idea that the New Testament correctly interprets the Old with the view that it is the Talmud that actually does. So as religions, they do not harmonize at the most basic level.” — Douglas Wilson, Mere Christendom

The Synagogue of Satan is not a Christian denomination, it is a Christian heresy. It is derivative. It is predicated upon a denial of Jesus as the Christ of God. As such, and at its most basic level, it is opposed to the Christian faith. The foundations of each are exclusive. They are not building on the same thing. The law and the prophets are not something they share. If Moses pointed to Jesus, and he did quite often implicitly and explicitly, then he cannot also NOT point to Jesus at all. If Isaiah saw Jesus enthroned, and he did, he cannot also be made to say that Jesus is not on the throne. 

Judeo-Christian is the modern equivalent of Tashlan. It is handmade religion. And note that it is only ever an evil entity that attempts to masquerade as the righteous one. Satan pretends to be an angel of light, but Michael never wants to look like a dark lord. Evil parrots good, but good does not speak a word of evil. The real Aslan would never pretend to be a compromise and when he shows up, one of the first thing he does, even if only by his appearing, is destroy the myth of neutrality. The new earth will not have any coexist bumper stickers.

Judeo-Christian is an oxymoron. You cannot say Christ was a fraud and Christ was legit at the same time in the same way. You cannot say He rose from the dead and that He didn't. He is either Lord of all or He is not Lord at all. You cannot split the difference. You cannot be kinda the King anymore than you can be kinda pregnant. You either are or you aren't.

Judeo-Christian is a farrago. It is cyanide in the salt. You can only use it to flavor your food if you're willing to die. It is an incoherent hodgepodge good only for being flushed down the toilet.

day no. 17,100: eighteen and life to go

My marriage is officially old enough to vote... or die for its country. Yet it is still young enough to have hopes and dreams of living a long time.

At eighteen, most people are beginning to get ready to launch out into the world and in many ways, being married for eighteen years is similar. We are getting ready to launch out some of our own children into the world, who themselves are now nearing eighteen themselves. The feelings are similar. When I was eighteen, I felt like I was getting the hang of this being alive thing and was ready to try new things. Being married eighteen years now, I feel like I am getting the hang of this being married thing and am ready for the next stage of family building, which will likely involve watching my children get married and have kids of their own. I do not say that to say that I am actually ready, but I feel like I am close enough to it now to realize that it is coming without being scared of it. In fact, I am excited for it (and maybe just a bit scared).

"Man must have just enough faith in himself to have adventures, and just enough doubt of himself to enjoy them." — G. K. Chesterton

day no. 17,099: conflict versus compromise

“He was of that temper which is tortured more by compromise than by quarrel.” — G.K. Chesterton, The Victorian Age in Literature

Conflict is inevitable. You will either have to fight for what you believe in or you will have to surrender some of what you believe in. Which situation are you more eager to avoid? Are you more willing to reconsider what you believe in order to avoid a potential collision or are you more willing to endure the impact of the clash in order to stick to your convictions.

"If we are not all trying to convince the world of the truth of our convictions, what in the world are we doing; or why in the world do we call them our convictions at all?" ― G.K. Chesterton

If you are willing to have your most cherished beliefs raped and pillaged by foreign concepts in order to coexist with them, compromise is your most cherished belief and you won't be holding it for long before you have nothing left to hold. Convictions always cost your something. If you are not willing to pay the costs, you cannot hold to them.

“The modern habit of saying 'This is my opinion, but I may be wrong' is entirely irrational. If I say that it may be wrong, I say that is not my opinion.” ― G.K. Chesterton

You cannot have an opinion that you do not have. If you are not willing to count the costs when it comes to owning it, then you are owned by someone or something else. Whatever you have, it is not an opinion. You may have thoughts about what happens next, but at some point, even those will be taken away from you.

When conflict and compromise fight, conflict always wins.

day no. 17,098: the light brigade

“Paganism was the largest thing in the world and Christianity was larger; and everything else has been comparatively small.” — G.K. Chesterton, The Catholic Church and Conversion

The Son rose and snuffed out every other lesser light. The light of Christ erased all of the shadows. And now that the light is directly overhead, seated at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, there are no more shadows. Everything is now seen in the light of day.

"Do not, I beseech you, be troubled about the increase of forces already in dissolution. You have mistaken the hour of the night; it is already morning.” — Hilaire Belloc

The only darkness to be found is crowding into the corners of the world trembling before the advance of the rising Son. Every enemy will be lit up. Every dark corner will be exposed.

“The sun has risen. Christ has come. He is the king. The light covers the world. A return to heathen midnight is an impossibility. Those who walk in darkness now are doing so in a world suffused with light. This is hard to do — you have to remain blind, or hide in root cellars. There are ways to stay out of the sunlight, but they are difficult to accomplish. Not only so, but as the day passes, they will get increasingly difficult.” — Douglas Wilson, God Rest Ye Merry

The light has shone in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. Christ walked into the world and turned the light on and there is no one capable of turning it back off. You cannot walk into a well lit world and turn the dark on. 

“Men have spoken too soon in claiming that the world has now entered a post-Christian era and we have been fools to believe them.” — Iain Murray, The Puritan Hope

The old world is gone. Christ remade the world and there is no going back. The only thing left to do is hold on and enjoy the ride.

1 Corinthians 15:25-26

For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.