"The objective of the second approach—a strategy of erosion— is to convince the enemy that settling the political dispute will be easier and the outcome more attractive than continued conflict. To put it another way, erosion strategies seek to present the enemy with the probability of an outcome worse in his eyes than peace on the adversary's terms. This is accomplished through eroding or wearing down the enemy's will to fight, rather than destroying his ability to resist." -- MCDP 1-1: Strategy
Cultural Marxism has been running this erosion play on classic, western Judeo-Christian conservative values for quite some time now. The goal is to erode our confidence in our own foundation and come to see the outcome of resisting as worse than that of giving in. In other words, if "nice" can become en vogue, then otherwise conservative people may concede certain central points in order to avoid being considered "mean."
"Also, in the abstract, incrementalism is not necessarily ineffective in cultural battles. It has been the central tactic used against us by the Gramscians, and with devastating effect. They have managed their “long march through the institutions.” So incrementalism does not necessarily mean “lose slowly.” - Doug Wilson, Smashmouth Incrementalism
The strategy of erosion is less immediately gratifying. It requires patience and persistence, but it is quite effective when committed to overtime. If the enemy is willing to be reactive and acted upon, erosion can deteriorate a combatant beyond their ability to fight back before they realize that they need to.
"Any organization not explicitly right-wing sooner or later becomes left-wing." - Robert Conquest, 2nd Law of Politics
Anything being acted upon is being acted upon in one particular direction. Anything that is not intentionally hanging on is drifting away. Drift only works the one direction.
Wednesday, March 4, 2020
Tuesday, March 3, 2020
day no. 15,107: worship is warfare
"Policy is a rational subcomponent of politics, the reasoned purposes and actions of individuals in the political struggle. Hence, to describe war as an 'instrument of policy' is entirely correct. (War) is an act of force to compel our opponent to do our will."
-- MCDP 1-1: Strategy
Worship is warfare.
Genesis 3:15
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
He shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise His heel.
Because we are sinners, we are born wearing the wrong uniform. We are enemies of God and His Kingdom. In order for anyone to go to be saved, God must first conquer them. His will must be imposed upon them by His loving force. He defeats His enemies by making them His allies. But while made new, our old selves have been through years of basic training in enemy camps and it takes a lifetime to work out the bad habits we picked up in those barracks.
Romans 7:21-25
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
In order to justify us, God declares war on who we were in order to make us who we are in Christ.
In order to sanctify us, God declares war on who we've been and expects us to go to battle against what we've been up to. Our sin wants to do something other than worship God. The Holy Spirit helps us impose our will upon ourselves.
Romans 5:6-11
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
-- MCDP 1-1: Strategy
Worship is warfare.
Genesis 3:15
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
He shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise His heel.
Because we are sinners, we are born wearing the wrong uniform. We are enemies of God and His Kingdom. In order for anyone to go to be saved, God must first conquer them. His will must be imposed upon them by His loving force. He defeats His enemies by making them His allies. But while made new, our old selves have been through years of basic training in enemy camps and it takes a lifetime to work out the bad habits we picked up in those barracks.
Romans 7:21-25
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
In order to justify us, God declares war on who we were in order to make us who we are in Christ.
In order to sanctify us, God declares war on who we've been and expects us to go to battle against what we've been up to. Our sin wants to do something other than worship God. The Holy Spirit helps us impose our will upon ourselves.
Romans 5:6-11
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Monday, March 2, 2020
day no. 15,106: sin is not just sitting and waiting to be sanctified
"At its most basic, strategy is a matter of figuring out what we need to achieve, determining the best way to use the resources at our disposal to achieve it, and then executing the plan. Unfortunately, in the real world, all of these things are not easily done. Our strategic goals are complex and sometimes contradictory and may change in the middle of a military endeavor. The resources at our disposal are not always obvious, can change during the course of a struggle, and usually need to be adapted to suit our needs. Our adversary often refuses to fit our preconceptions of him or to stand still while we erect the apparatus for his destruction." -- MCDP 1-1: Strategy
Strategy is a threefold beast:
(1) what needs to be achieved
(2) what resources are at your disposal and which, used what way, best achieve (1)
(3) employing the use of (2) in order to accomplish (1)
God has given us principles upon which we can rely and He has given us practices based upon those principles. He has given us our mission and our methods need to be derived from the mission. Our methods, however, need to be flexible enough to achieve our mission as the battlefield changes. Our battlefield is sometimes changed by God above and other times by our enemy across the line. Our enemies are not static figures being operated on until we can accomplish our desires. They have desires of their own and are not merely waiting around for us to figure out how to defeat them.
2 Corinthians 2:10-11
Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.
Sin is not in a holding cell waiting its execution, it is wild and out and about attempting to achieve its own ends in your life and the world around you. Your strategy for fighting the world, the flesh and the devil must be rooted in God's unchanging mission and principles put into motion through timely methods and changing practices adapting to the landscape as it changes.
Sin is not just sitting and waiting to be sanctified as it turns out. It resists being brought to the light. It refuses to be tamed. A man of God must employ a strategy that takes that into account and trusts in the providence and principles of God to provide final victory.
Strategy is a threefold beast:
(1) what needs to be achieved
(2) what resources are at your disposal and which, used what way, best achieve (1)
(3) employing the use of (2) in order to accomplish (1)
God has given us principles upon which we can rely and He has given us practices based upon those principles. He has given us our mission and our methods need to be derived from the mission. Our methods, however, need to be flexible enough to achieve our mission as the battlefield changes. Our battlefield is sometimes changed by God above and other times by our enemy across the line. Our enemies are not static figures being operated on until we can accomplish our desires. They have desires of their own and are not merely waiting around for us to figure out how to defeat them.
2 Corinthians 2:10-11
Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.
Sin is not in a holding cell waiting its execution, it is wild and out and about attempting to achieve its own ends in your life and the world around you. Your strategy for fighting the world, the flesh and the devil must be rooted in God's unchanging mission and principles put into motion through timely methods and changing practices adapting to the landscape as it changes.
Sin is not just sitting and waiting to be sanctified as it turns out. It resists being brought to the light. It refuses to be tamed. A man of God must employ a strategy that takes that into account and trusts in the providence and principles of God to provide final victory.
Sunday, March 1, 2020
day no. 15,105: waiting and wailing
There are two types of waiting
"There is a waiting that causes our strength to dissipate, and there is a waiting that gathers our strength for us." - Douglas Wilson
The waiting that dissipates strength can be observed here.
Proverbs 13:12
Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
The waiting that gathers strength can be seen here.
Isaiah 40:31
They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles;
They shall run and not be weary;
They shall walk and not faint.
One type of waiting feels like running on fumes while the other feels like waiting for the dam to burst. Both involve waiting, one ends with a "kaput" while the other ends in a "bang!"
There are also two types of sorrow that parallel two types of waiting in that there is one that dissipates strength and one that restores it
These can both be seen in the following...
2 Corinthians 7:10
For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
Godly sorrow produces repentance that leads to the joy of salvation and freedom from regret, while worldly sorrow produces more and more sorrow that grinds to a halt in the ultimate sorrow of death.
God sometimes call us to wait and sometimes leads us to sorrow, but His waiting is our strength and His sorrow is our salvation.
Saturday, February 29, 2020
day no. 15,104: the talking dead
Our traditions are our opportunity to speak directly to our remote descendants. The inheritance we hand off to our children is not limited to finances and investments, but memories. Memories are the only way to take time with you and traditions are reliable ways to make memories. Quality time is a product of quantity time. The more you spend time together, the more likely it is that some of that time will be counted "a good time." Traditions are intentional efforts at making the best use of the time you set aside. In addition to spending a good deal of time with people, you can make some of that intentional through liturgy and family tradition. This is an inheritance you can provide for your family which allows you not only to influence them, but their children's children.
"A people which takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants." - T. B. Macaulay
If you do not look back and attempt to see the tapestry of your story in those who have gone before you, you won't give much effort or thought to ensuring your mark will make a difference one way or another in the future. You will produce what you have patterned: indifference to one's ancestors and your life's work will end being to your grandchildren what your grandparents' is now to you: like it never happened.
“Tradition is the democracy of the dead. It means giving a vote to the most obscure of all classes: our ancestors.” - G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
Traditions are your attempt to vote in future decisions. The more you establish traditions, the more what mattered to you will matter to your progeny. You can vote in future elections in the form of present influence and intentionality.
"If we have the opportunity to speak to our descendants, and we do, then I want to tell them that the joy of the Lord is our strength" - Douglas Wilson, God Rest Ye Merry
If you want your descendants to be Chestertonian Calvinists, and you should, live like one right now and establish traditions in keeping with laughter and logic, hilarity and high church, silliness and solemnity. God is the most serious thing in the world, which means you are the laughingstock of the universe. Take yourself lightly, take your faith seriously. Fix your eyes on God and let them be the windows through which duchenne smiles see the world.
Nehemiah 8:10
Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Eat the fat, drink the sweet, do not be grieved, be joyful, the Lord is our strength. That is an inheritance worth serving at your table and sharing with your children's children's children.
That is a vote worth casting for generations to come.
"People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors." - Edmund Burke
"A people which takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants." - T. B. Macaulay
If you do not look back and attempt to see the tapestry of your story in those who have gone before you, you won't give much effort or thought to ensuring your mark will make a difference one way or another in the future. You will produce what you have patterned: indifference to one's ancestors and your life's work will end being to your grandchildren what your grandparents' is now to you: like it never happened.
“Tradition is the democracy of the dead. It means giving a vote to the most obscure of all classes: our ancestors.” - G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
Traditions are your attempt to vote in future decisions. The more you establish traditions, the more what mattered to you will matter to your progeny. You can vote in future elections in the form of present influence and intentionality.
"If we have the opportunity to speak to our descendants, and we do, then I want to tell them that the joy of the Lord is our strength" - Douglas Wilson, God Rest Ye Merry
If you want your descendants to be Chestertonian Calvinists, and you should, live like one right now and establish traditions in keeping with laughter and logic, hilarity and high church, silliness and solemnity. God is the most serious thing in the world, which means you are the laughingstock of the universe. Take yourself lightly, take your faith seriously. Fix your eyes on God and let them be the windows through which duchenne smiles see the world.
Nehemiah 8:10
Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Eat the fat, drink the sweet, do not be grieved, be joyful, the Lord is our strength. That is an inheritance worth serving at your table and sharing with your children's children's children.
That is a vote worth casting for generations to come.
"People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors." - Edmund Burke
Friday, February 28, 2020
day no. 15,103: a good book rewards return visits
C.S. Lewis in An Experiment in Criticism proposed the test of a good book is that it rewards return visits.
Based on this, I've began in recent years to build a library of books that I read each and every year. I read new books as well and the good ones make their way into the re-read library, but the idea is to get to know a few really good books really well instead of a lot of decent books decently.
Here are a few of the permanent fixtures on my re-read library shelf:
The Bible - Holy Spirit
Orthodoxy - G.K. Chesterton
The Three Philosophies of Life - Peter Kreeft
Just Do Something - Kevin DeYoung
The Plan of Salvation - B.B. Warfield
Pilgrim's Progress parts 1 and 2 - John Bunyan
The Abolition of Man - C.S. Lewis
The Four Loves - C.S. Lewis
The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis
Future Men - Doug Wilson
My Utmost for His Highest - Oswald Chambers
How to Be Free From Bitterness - Jim Wilson
Beowulf - Seamus Haney
Marine Corps Doctrinal Publication, 1: Warfighting - U.S. Marine Corps
"Master those books you have. Read them thoroughly. Bathe in them until they saturate you. A student will find that his mental constitution is more affected by one book thoroughly mastered than by twenty books which he has merely skimmed." -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students: To Workers with Slender Apparatus
Based on this, I've began in recent years to build a library of books that I read each and every year. I read new books as well and the good ones make their way into the re-read library, but the idea is to get to know a few really good books really well instead of a lot of decent books decently.
Here are a few of the permanent fixtures on my re-read library shelf:
The Bible - Holy Spirit
Orthodoxy - G.K. Chesterton
The Three Philosophies of Life - Peter Kreeft
Just Do Something - Kevin DeYoung
The Plan of Salvation - B.B. Warfield
Pilgrim's Progress parts 1 and 2 - John Bunyan
The Abolition of Man - C.S. Lewis
The Four Loves - C.S. Lewis
The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis
Future Men - Doug Wilson
My Utmost for His Highest - Oswald Chambers
How to Be Free From Bitterness - Jim Wilson
Beowulf - Seamus Haney
Marine Corps Doctrinal Publication, 1: Warfighting - U.S. Marine Corps
"Master those books you have. Read them thoroughly. Bathe in them until they saturate you. A student will find that his mental constitution is more affected by one book thoroughly mastered than by twenty books which he has merely skimmed." -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students: To Workers with Slender Apparatus
Thursday, February 27, 2020
day no. 15,102: without black and white, there is no gray
"The vaguer the problem to be solved, the more resolute must we be in seeking points of departure from which we can begin to lay a course. " — Julian Corbett
The more gray the problem appears to be, the more work one must do to discover the black and whites producing the gray. Never forget that without black and white, there is no gray.
Adiaphora may appear to be without handles, but something cannot be morally complicated without the existence and presence of fixed moral principles. If there are no principles, it could not be complicated, because it would not matter. Things that don't matter are not complicated. If there are principles, but they are not in play in this particular instance, revisit scenario #1: not complicated because again, it doesn't matter.
The vaguer the difficulty, the more diligent we need to be to mine for the definites. If it is complicated, you can be assured your efforts will be rewarded by golden foundations somewhere underneath all the muck.
Proverbs 24:3-6
By wisdom a house is built,
and by understanding it is established;
by knowledge the rooms are filled
with all precious and pleasant riches.
A wise man is full of strength,
and a man of knowledge enhances his might,
for by wise guidance you can wage your war,
and in abundance of counselors there is victory.
The more gray the problem appears to be, the more work one must do to discover the black and whites producing the gray. Never forget that without black and white, there is no gray.
Adiaphora may appear to be without handles, but something cannot be morally complicated without the existence and presence of fixed moral principles. If there are no principles, it could not be complicated, because it would not matter. Things that don't matter are not complicated. If there are principles, but they are not in play in this particular instance, revisit scenario #1: not complicated because again, it doesn't matter.
The vaguer the difficulty, the more diligent we need to be to mine for the definites. If it is complicated, you can be assured your efforts will be rewarded by golden foundations somewhere underneath all the muck.
Proverbs 24:3-6
By wisdom a house is built,
and by understanding it is established;
by knowledge the rooms are filled
with all precious and pleasant riches.
A wise man is full of strength,
and a man of knowledge enhances his might,
for by wise guidance you can wage your war,
and in abundance of counselors there is victory.
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