I’m currently reading C. S. Lewis’s masterpiece Mere Christianity. As literature, it’s scintillating. As philosophy, it’s invigorating. As a guide to Christian living, it’s chastening.
Here’s Lewis on what a fully Christian society would be like.
… the New Testament, without going into details, gives us a pretty clear hint of what a fully Christian society would be like. Perhaps it gives us more than we can take. It tells us that there are to be no passengers or parasites: if man does not work, he ought not to eat. Every one is to work with his own hands, and what is more, every one’s work is to produce something good: there will be no manufacture of silly luxuries and then of sillier advertisements to persuade us to buy them. And there is to be no ‘swank’ or ‘side’, no putting on airs. To that extent a Christian society would be what we now call Leftist. On the other hand, it is always insisting on obedience — obedience (and outward marks of respect) from all of us to properly appointed magistrates, from children to parents, and (I am afraid this is going to be very unpopular) from wives to husbands. Thirdly, it is to be a cheerful society: full of singing and rejoicing, and regarding worry or anxiety as wrong. Courtesy is one of the Christian virtues; and the New Testament hates what it calls ‘busybodies’.
I challenge anyone reading this post to tell me that the society Lewis envisages is not vastly superior to the one we live in today.
(In the course of searching for the C. S. Lewis quote—so I didn’t have to type it all out—I came across a non-retarded atheist blog, viz. Rick Beckman. How do my co-bloggers feel about a new blogroll category, “We the Damned”? :-P)
Martin Luther King was one of many Civil disobedient Activists who found himself in jail for resisting Racial segregation. Ultimately He gave his life for the righteous cause of racial equality before the Law.
Dakta Green is behind Bars tonight because of his stand for the rights and liberties of Cannabis users.
If it were not for the High morals and defiant yet Peaceful Civil disobedience of brave and enlightened People like Dakta Green, Western civilization would never have risen out of Barbarism.
Yet the quest for Freedom and justice is not yet won.
We may have to a large degree escaped many of the Classic evils of Bygone days yet only naive and foolish sheeple do not appreciate the fact that corrupt political powers and Subjection to tyranny still abounds.
There are plenty of Righteous causes and oppressed minorities in dire need of champions.
And when such champions arise, they face a vicious multi headed beast!
Bigorty and Tyranny.
Though they know they will be mauled, yet still their Conscience and love of humanity moves them to put themselves in jeopardy for the sake of Liberty and Justice.
One thing Political Evil cannot tolerate is defiance!
In Cold resolve of self preservation the tyrants move to crush the righteous, to break their spirits, and trod them under… as an example to the rest of the sheeple to stay in line…or else!
And when this happens… and the champions of Liberty and justice are in chains… who will rise up for their sakes?
I am not Surprised….yet still it was with shock, Depression, and Indignation that I received the news tonight that Cannabis Law Reformer Dakta Green is back behind bars.
It was to be expected given the fact that though Dak had only just been release from Prison for his Activism to end Cannabis prohibition, and ‘Living like it’s legal’… had declared that though he did not wish to go back to jail… he was resolved to continue his civil disobedience and crusade to end the oppression of Cannabis users.
This could only result in one thing.
The Machine is determined to break Him… and so acting under pressure from the Polit bureau the ‘Bastards in Blue’ paid him another visit. He was arrested for ‘breach of bail conditions’… I am not sure if this means he is facing new charges in relation to cannabis use. I do know
I am not writing this blog merely to report it travesty.
I am writing it to ask all decent and liberal minded people what they intend to do about this?
We must Rally!
Our Man needs Backup!
Will you sit back in front of the telly and do naught?
I am sitting here wondering what I am going to do about this…and I will be doing something more that typing about it!
Duty calls.
Activists must Act! (peacefully and with all respect for good law)
I will report back when I have decided what I can do.
I suggest those of you who care… those of you with a spine… that you contact talk to your friends and families about this, and rally them to the cause! Contact Norml.
Contact Me.
twikiriwhi@yahoo.co.nz
Oh it’s not convenient right now for you to do anything?
*Slap yourself for me!*
When is it ever convenient to stand against Evil powers?
Dak needs us *NOW!*
I implore you to rise up!
I will see you at the front of the picket line!
Tim Wikiriwhi
Christian Libertarian.
Mayor Ann Johnston told the city council which endorsed the move it was “the most difficult and heart-wrenching decision” they had ever faced.
As has become the Norm these days Stockton Officals attempt to pass the blame upon the ‘Global market collapse’ rather than their own gross overspending, Yet a quick search of the Net reveals the same old story of Grand scheming…Heavy handed Government. They got into debt building and running Parking buildings… which as usual was *a fail*… just like it was for the Hamilton City Council. The City of 300 000 carries a debt of $700 Million.
Which, by comparison ought to show Hamiltonians just how grievious is their own situation being a Population of 152641 and city debts of $400 million
When the population of Stockton and US exchange rate is factored, This ruffly equates to an equivelent debt of $450 million to Hamiltons $400 Million.
We will be there by the next Local Body elections!
Thus We can safely say Stockton was brought to it’s knees by the same Pig headed Political Folly as has plagued Western democracy in General… including Hamilton New Zealand. If only Hamiltonians had listened to me!If only The Waikato Times had been able to grasp the reality of what I was saying, and given me equal time with the other candidates in their paper to present my arguements to the Ratepayers of Hamilton!
We would not be facing such a finacial catastrophy as we do now!
Tim Wikiriwhi
Libertarian Independent.
Hamilton West.
If you think Christians are free from discrimination in this country, think again. (Note that the MSM doesn’t even have the courtesy—or the literacy—to capitalise ‘Bible’.)
A SkyCity Casino worker has been threatened with dismissal for carrying a pocket bible with her when she works.
Last week Tuni Parata, who has been a SkyCity employee for more than a decade and is currently a tower host at the casino, received a letter to attend a disciplinary meeting on Thursday over alleged misconduct for breaching departmental policies.
The letter said that the possible outcome of the meeting was “a final written warning”.
Mike Treen, Unite union national director, said the action was “absurd”.
“Since when does carrying a bible in your pocket become unlawful in New Zealand workplaces. For some Christians carrying a bible on the person at all times is a vital part of their faith and relationship to God.
“We do not believe that ordering staff not to carry a pocket bible is a lawful or reasonable instruction in a workplace in the 21st Century.”
Treen said the union had tried to reason with the company. “We tried to explain that the image the company is getting for its unhealthy relationship with the government will not be assisted by this stupidity… However our efforts fell on deaf ears.
Calls to SkyCity were not returned.
It’s good to see Mike Treen doing something useful, though! Good luck with this one, Mike.
NZ Fighters puts up some very interesting posts on their facebook feed.
Today they posted this picture and Quote:
“When man learns to respect even the smallest being of creation, whether animal or vegetable, nobody has to teach him to love his fellow man. Compassion for animals is intimately connected with goodness of character, and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to animals cannot be a good man. “Albert Schweitzer”
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This is undeniably True.
Even when we must eat Animals …Even when we must exterminate them (destructive and dangerous Pests) we must never be cruel, but seek to dispatch them in as ‘humane’ a fashion as possible.
That these Pugilists put up such a post on their page is an excellent example of True Martial character.
It demonstrates the truth that Martial arts, and even Military Professionalism is not of necessity accompanied by a Brutish or Sadistic personality, but can and ought to be regulated by high morals…as opposed to the Love of violence for violence sake. The strong and powerful man ought also to be Meek, and a friend of the Lowly.
This is what distinguishes the likes of David Tua from thugs like Mike Tyson.
In war it distinguishes the honorable and truly heroic soldiers like Rommel, from the depraved and barbaric monsters like Chemical Ali. (Hey; I hope Tyson figures this out…maybe he has? The great truth is People can change for the better if they so wish!)
Getting back to the subject of having compassion for the lower creatures…
As a Christian I believe the value system of the Bible, whereby God gives Man Dominion over the Earth, and all the things therein. Ie They exist for our use, sustenance and enjoyment.
Thus the Bible places Mankind above the animals…but below the Almighty.
This being so does not mean we can abuse these blessings or make use of them to satisfy perverse lusts… like sadism.
The Bible teaches us to be dillegent gardners and to practice righteous Husbandry… these being examples of good character… Christ even being described as ‘The Good sheppard whom giveth his life for his sheep’.
This is the Christian ethic and heirachy of values.
It is important to understand that while we must never be cruel to animals, or reckless with the environment, we must take care never fall into the snare of de-valuing Humanity by valuing other creatures above Mankind.
Eg we ought to be prepared to sacrifice our most treasured animal companion should that be necessary to save a human life.
I post that warning because there is a very real Danger today due to the prevalence of ‘Earth worshipping’ ‘Anti-humanity’ philosophies… propagated by Atheists whom despise the ethics of Christianity and work like Transylvanian Gypsies for Dracula lobbying Governments around the globe to pass laws and prohibitions which sacrifice the wellbeing of Mankind to ‘the Goddess Earth Mother’… and this involves a perverse hierarchy of values the exact opposite to Christianity.
Radical Environmentalists consider Mankind a disease.
I have witnessed this hatred for mankind from Environmentalists whom think it is a virtue to go to war against humanity for the sake of some ‘endangered species’.
Take care never to be sucked into supporting such wicked Anti-freedom anti-humanity politics.
You don’t have to be a member of the Green party to care about the environment or to work for the preservation of species.
As a Libertarian I care a great deal about these things, yet I promote the pursuit of these noble goals via non-coercive means which do not involve oppressive Laws which violate the rights and liberties of Humanity.
Libertarianism is about instilling High values and personal ethics in the hope of raising the level of civilization via voluntarily action.
The Christian ought to realise this Libertarian modus opperandi is the perfect fit for the dissemination and practice of our faith which functions via voluntarily embraced and self-imposed duties and moral obligations.
The Christians whom support the Left/Right Green lobbyist organizations whom function via Political force are supporting an antichrist/ definitively Unchristian ideology… a ‘pseudo morality’ that is in direct competition with Christianity… A Cult Of Wolves in sheep’s clothing.
They are the Chumps of Christ hating atheists.
They walk in Darkness with the Lost.
They need to experience a Libertarian ‘intervention.’
Tim Wikiriwhi.
“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God…”
(Psalm 14vs1)
“For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:”
(Rom 1vs20)
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” St Paul. (Gal5vs1)
Once upon a time… before I became a Christian , I was a Teenage Nihilistic Atheist who worshipped Jim Morison.
Its dangerous for young men to idolise such lost souls… By the age of 28 Jim was Dead!
I was Lawless, yet not free. I was a slave to ignorance.
Thankfully I was saved by Jesus Christ!
Now that I have the bible as my guide I am wiser, and in a better position to understand all the delusions, all the anger, all the carnality such Dark idols are expressing.
I have been saved from being carried away into oblivion by the Riptide that such pop cultural perspectives exert upon the Lost masses.
Though I now acknowledge Moral reality… I have been set free.
Some people believe Christianity is morally oppressive and hypocritical, and that to become a Christian requires a person to become a fraud…’to pretend to be something they are not …and then they begin to site all the heinous examples of so-called pious Christians whom are found guilty of committing vile crimes…as if these sorts of examples are definitive of Christianity.
I must sympathize with them, not that their definition of Christianity is actually true. Its not. Nonetheless their acusations still hold true for a great majority of hypocrites and bigots whom claim to be Christians.
Still if that was the whole truth, and Christianity really was as these critics describe it…I would never have become a Christian as I despise phony’s, hypocrites, and Bigotry.
^Fake!^ Yet whats a Real Christian supposed to look like?
In reality Christianity is about being honest, both to yourself, and to others…for truths sake, yet to appreciate this one must firstly be of pure heart…ie be able to be objective in your judgments about your self and the world around you.
To investigate the truth, and be able to apprehend Christianity is trustworthy is to overcome the great deception which is at the heart of the mass delusions of our age.
Under Gods grace I can live honestly as myself, not as a phony card board cut out of a fanatic. I can be Libertarian in political outlook. I can admit that I really like the metal band Tool. If ever asked if I think a calendar girl is ‘hot stuff’, I don’t have to pretend otherwise.
This is how I describe the true Christian pilgrimage.
Christianity is about living under grace in honesty and not faking a bogus self righteousness. I can do this because I’m saved by grace, not by my own righteousness or works.
I am secure in Christ whom hath made me free.
I now know who/what I am, and what is really going on in the world, and why.
I now swim against the flow… being guided by my newly awakened Conscience…as a self reliant individual.
Sadly this is not a popular thing to do… but it is the right and wise thing to do.
Tool’s Maynard James Keenan.
My knowledge of the gospel truth hath made me free from enslavement to delusion which those whom don’t know Christ are susceptible. From my Christian vantage point I can appreciate the genius of many Nihilistic artists of our day and understand how they came to perceive the world as they do, yet I do not blindly and trance like Idolize such Masters of carnal reality as Maynard James Keenan, or Jim Morrison as I once was prone to do. I can objectively consider them, I clap at their cunning and performance, yet choose rather to follow the values of Paul (the Apostle of the Gospel of grace), rather than those of these crooner peacock sons of fallen Adam.
Maynard may be a musical genius…yet he is utterly depraved. He revels in depravity, and he intentionally encourages others to join with him in rebellion to Christian values. He does it with such Diabolical art and cunning. Its impossible for me not to appreciate his artistic genius, but beware his hedonistic worldview.
Because of the godless philosophies of our age it is easy to see why so many are beguiled by Him, not having the light of the word of God to keep them from going astray. Fools choose to hide themselves from moral reality.
False gospels that base salvation upon self righteousness, keeping the Law, and Good works, always lead to pretentious hypocrisy. Christians whom have been deluded into thinking Christianity is about legalistic obedience fall into this evil habit to hide their own true selves and keep up the facade of piety. They often cry out in displays of moral indignation…seeking to impose their Moral legalism upon others via the law. This is the sort of religion Maynard and Jim rebelled against. I rebel against that too! I’m keeping it real under Gods grace.
^^^^My rendition of a 21st century Christian.
My Testimony is a refutation of the Stereotypical notion of what Christianity is supposed to represent.
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John8vs32)
Life is not meaningless and amoral.
It is in fact a ‘Stanley Milgram’ Experiment.
A test of your Moral character and conviction.
The decisions you make throughout your life are all being observed and recorded.
One day you will be asked to give account.
When confronted with your sheepish (yet vicious) conformity to the Ungodly system of Leviathan will you reply “I was only following orders!” ???
Will you expect such an excuse to save you from the Judgement of Almighty God?
The Stanley Milgram Experiment was created to explain some of the concentration camp-horrors of the World War 2, where Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, Slavs and other enemies of the state were slaughtered by Nazis. Read this description of the experiment
How Evil are you?
To what degree will you subordinate your own values to those in power and authority?
Do you have a code of ethics powerful enough to overcome submission to tyranical powers… powerful enough to stop you from tyranizing over the weak?
Or will you obey evil commands?
And where are your charitible deeds?
Where is your compassion? Where is your humility?
Do you practice forgiveness, or do you store up wrath and guile?
“For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” (Mat 7vs2)
These are questions that shine a light into the dark places of the soul, and highlight the essential part a persons faith in the moral nature of Reality plays in determining how we live and behaive when faced with morally weighty circumstances… exposing our ultimate values and ideals (Or lack thereof).
“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.” (Rev20vs11,12)
Here we sit.
The reality is we all fail the Great Moral test of life.
To understand this moral truth is an enlightenment.
We all sin and come short of the glory of God.
Yet God commenteth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinner, Christ died for us.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Tim Wikiriwhi
Me: Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. (Genesis 3:8)
C: And that’s supposed to tell me what? That God had legs? God was the creator of the Universe, apparently, so he was around before there was any need for legs, before there even was legs.
I find it hard to get my head around the idea of a disembodied consciousness. I’m pretty sure that my consciousness can’t be disembodied and remain … conscious. As for the mind of God … I have absolutely no idea.
But I reprise this snippet of a conversation to make the point that the label ‘Christian’ makes people assume all sorts of unwarranted things. It gets annoying after a while. I’m not given to angry outbursts and acts of homicidal violence, but please don’t push your luck with, “You’re a Christian, so you must be a socialist!”
Anyway, in an apparent synchronicity, blogger Glenn Peoples posted an excellent post today on something he calls minimalist Christianity. Here are a couple of paragraphs (but do make sure to read the whole thing).
A number of times the Apostle Paul warned first century Christians about getting into foolish controversies over doctrine. This isn’t to say that they shouldn’t believe what they find most convincing about a whole range of things, but they were taking it further, making those things points of contention that threatened to divide the church. When writing to Timothy, a young church leader, Paul urged him no fewer than five times to stay away from – and to urge others to stay away from – unproductive quarrels over such things. But this is what really grabbed my attention recently, prompting this blog post: When Paul was in Athens preaching the Gospel, a number of philosophers asked him to come and speak to them because, here it comes, they wanted to know what the Christian faith was. They were accustomed to examining different worldviews but they had not yet heard of Christianity, so they said to Paul, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean” (Acts 17:19-20). Every evangelist and apologist reading this passage should be on the edge of their seat: They are about to get a bona fide New Testament example of what it actually looks like to sum up the Christian faith. And what does Paul say? I assume that Luke’s record is not intended to be verbatim, and only sums up what he thought was important (which in a way helps me to make the point even clearer). Here’s the whole talk as recorded in Acts 17
Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for
‘In him we live and move and have our being’;
as even some of your own poets have said,
‘For we are indeed his offspring.’
Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.
Every time I have made this observation, I have been met with almost immediate misunderstanding, so let me labour the point: Nothing that I have said here implies that Christians should believe as few things as possible – or even that it’s a good thing to only believe the bare essentials. I think holding a lot of bad theology is bad for you. It has “knock on” effects into other things you believe and do. When I talk about theology at the blog and podcast, hopefully I make it obvious that I do care about what I believe – and what others believe too – beyond the bare essentials (just as a dietician cares about what you eat beyond the bare necessities needed to keep you alive). There is much growth, intellectually, spiritually and practically, in moving beyond the bare essentials of Christian thought and into the riches of biblical theology. But I have become convinced of this: The acceptance of the Christian faith does not require that anyone shares your convictions (however important they might be to you) on everything you believe that you have found among those riches.
The post in its entirety is well worth reading. Thanks, Glenn.
