Merry Christmas! Here is my gift to you, dear readers. The next volume in the Ancient Truth series is now published — Ancient Truth: Pastoral Letters. You can get your free copy here. The cover art is a shot of Theriso Gorge on the western end of the Island of Crete. Titus was serving on that island when Paul sent his letter.
As always, just a reminder that I don’t consider Christmas a biblical holiday. It’s a cultural holiday passed through several pagan filters, and was never a part of the church until the political establishment hijacked Christian religion. The church leadership decided it was okay to adopt the mythology — to lie about it — for the sake of political favor. Two significant points: (1) Hebrew culture didn’t make much of birthdays and (2) Jesus wasn’t born in any part of the winter months. The main point is I don’t invest any significant religious fervor in the Winter Festival.
Sadly, it has become a secularist commercial exploitation opportunity, and little more. Watch how the kids whine, scream and fight over material possessions during this time of year. I’ve come to hate that part of it, because it guarantees they’ll grow up whiny and insecure.
To the degree I give any gifts this year, I wish for you this one thing: emotional security. The thing is, no one can give that to you. It lies entirely in your own soul to make it happen. People do tend to develop it if you give them a chance, encourage it, put it within their reach and draw attention to it.
I’m not blaming anybody, but no one tried very hard to help me with it, so I was well into adult life before I got anywhere close to the kind of internal security it takes to face the world as it ought to be faced. That is, I don’t take it too seriously. This is one of the few things the Laws of God offer to any human regardless of spiritual condition. You don’t have to let this fallen world drag you down into insanity. You can have a pretty firm grip on things and not sweat the small stuff.
That would be a symptom, so instead of wishing you didn’t take the world seriously, I’m hoping you’ll think about what’s involved and reach for the one thing you can give yourself.
In the final vision that Zechariah received that night, he saw chariots emerging from between Mount Zion and Mount of Olives, rushing down the Kidron Valley. The symbolism is well established: red horses for war, black for economic and social disturbances (calamity), white for conquest and celebration and dappled for disease and pestilence. They report to the Angel of the Lord where Zechariah is standing. The Angel tells the prophet they have been quite eager to pursue a mission; he then commands them to execute.
The horses of calamity and conquest headed north to the Euphrates crossing, preparing to enter Babylon. We know the old displaced Babylonian nobility rose up in revolt against the Persian emperor a few years after this vision, but the Angel reports the chariots will succeed in their mission. Babylon’s nobles were decimated by Darius’ troops. The horses of pestilence headed toward Egypt, but we aren’t told what happened to the horses of war. Perhaps they were all over the place. The vision ends abruptly.
The chapter continues with a symbolic act. It serves well to remember here Hebrew symbolism is far more complex than mere allegory. There is no precise intellectual meaning to savor, but a call to commitment. It’s a vision of what God wants to do for the people of Judah if they will obey.
A delegation had come down from the exiles in Babylon, bringing offerings for the continuing work on the Temple. The names are impossible to trace and the prophet mixes in nicknames that tend to confuse modern readers. For example, Hen (“Grace”) is short for Josiah (“Gracious One”). From the gifts they brought, Zechariah was to take some silver and gold to make a memorial crown. The language used indicates it was two rings, a double crown. It symbolized joining the two offices of priest and king, so vividly portrayed earlier. In this case, the prophet shows God’s desire to bring His Messiah (“Branch”) to rule over the people, joining the two offices as one.
To symbolize this, the prophet uses the High Priest, who isn’t permitted by Moses’ Law to wear a crown, and places it on his head. Then he pronounces the meaning. It’s worth noting here this image was twisted out of shape a couple of centuries later when the High Priest did usurp the civil authority shortly before Rome conquered the area. Meanwhile, the little ceremony sees Zechariah announcing God wants to build his real divine Temple — His home — among the people in the person of this coming Messiah, who will rule as both king and priest, two offices with one head.
Then the crown was handed to the delegation for delivery to the exiles as a memorial, a message that would encourage them to come home and join in building the Temple. When these additional people join the Restoration, everyone would see it as fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy, but only if the people there continued walking faithfully in the Covenant.
Most political talk is little more than bad religion.
We can define wisdom as a mental structure which views all things in terms of morality. Not the mythology of Western Civilization which attempts to rig up a moral system from nothing, but the ancient moral truth of human nature. More importantly, it is the nature of reality itself as defined by revelation. Nothing of any real importance has changed since the Fall, though cultural perception has drifted all over the map. The wise course in any context is what makes the most of things, bringing the focus back to what really does work.
Jesus Christ as a human being was born a moral genius. It is orthodoxy to say He was perfect and always knew the will of His Father, but that phrasing is buried in cultural mythology, so we have to find something we can say that shakes free of the vast pile of intellectual rubble. On a human level, Jesus always seemed to know exactly what was the wisest course in any context because He saw through the lies of this fallen existence. He understood instinctively the intersection of Eternity with this world. He suffered no confusion, not even from His own cultural background. He was constantly correcting false impressions.
Not once do we have a record of Him or His associates telling someone it was wrong to be involved in human politics. It’s not possible to escape politics, from the micro to the macro. Your level of involvement is a matter of context and moral imperatives, not logic. Jesus knew politics had no business in His calling, but that didn’t keep Him from making choices with clear political impact. What we do have is discouragement from a silly life of activism and a lot of talk about the best way to live in your context. That includes people who find themselves in political positions. Something Jesus said or did pricked their consciousness of moral need; they rose to a desire of wisdom, rose just a bit out of themselves to see things from a higher perspective.
Memories of yesterday are there so you have some hope of understanding what makes you tick. Reading history gives you some hope of seeing what makes people tick, but reading revelation tells you what makes reality tick. There is a time and place for dwelling over your failures and sorrows, but when it’s time to act, you can’t let that bind you. The question remains, “What do we do now?” Wisdom is applying moral reasoning to the context where you are, and committing yourself to making it a habit.
There are some issues which, for all practical purposes, are absolute. There are some things extremely hard to justify in any context. The assumption we therefore always have an obvious course of action based on a single defining attribute of the moment is morally evil. In a fallen world there are seldom any good choices. Almost everything here is a matter of seeing the wisest and least evil of bad options. The most tiresome and evil thing we face today is political orthodoxy. The mere suggestion of rational structure in politics is pushing blasphemy. The notion anyone could propose a frame of reference that pretends to account for all, or even most, of what we need to understand is itself an evil lie. Recognizing a moral failure is one thing; deciding what to do about it is another. If any significant number of people can predict your actions most of the time, you have no business leading your own self, much less others.
The ability to decide what is morally appropriate is itself a separate moral question.
You as an individual stand before God on two levels. We can hardly discuss the level of ultimate reality in the Spirit Realm. The most practical answer we have about that is: God knows and decides for Himself. But on the human level we stand before God according to His revealed moral truth. The mission of seeking to satisfy the spiritual necessities includes a concerted effort to fulfill earthly moral imperatives. Don’t confuse the two realms. If we do not start from the assumption our cultural context is inherently anti-moral here in America, we cannot hope to explain to anyone what is wise. Fundamental to Western culture is the utterly stupid notion we can construct a set of rules and guidelines that we can use to avoid having to think about the situation. If you misinterpret human history consistently, by ignoring the invisible moral flavor as God defines it, then you cannot hope to formulate a wise course of action.
There is no objective; there is no heaven on earth. There is only a path which you see in retrospect, where you held to, or strayed from, moral wisdom. There is nothing to achieve, only a job to fulfill while you live. It’s not about being; it’s not a question of what sort of person you are against some orthodox standard. Nor is it a question precisely of doing, but of living. Morality is not an attribute of actions and persons, but an orientation beyond persons and actions. Wisdom is the drive to find your own moral center, to discover the thread of existence which brings you the greatest sense of peace. It’s not something you can measure by what it accomplishes toward some external standard, but fulfilling your own piece of moral reality. Moral reality is too big for any one of us to comprehend because it is, in a sense, an aspect of God Himself.
Don’t pretend you can understand God for everyone else. It’s all you can do to understand your own piece of Him. Likewise, you cannot hope to understand what is politically good and right for everyone else. This evil appetite to control, to hold your world in tight grip by projecting your reasoning onto reality is a fundamental sin. Don’t pretend any human mind, much less your own human mind, is capable of grasping reality beyond your personal experience and duties. Finding a sense of peace is possible, but it will often be contrary to what makes sense to you. Prefer the sense of peace over the sense of logic.
Demanding an intellectually satisfying answer is itself evil.
I had forgotten how sharp an old “safety razor” could be. I also forgot how much they hurt. The blades are very cheap, if you can find them.
I found a copy of Corel WordPerfect Office X5 Standard someone had returned to the vendor. The key had been de-registered, but since the box was open and it was the older version (X6 has been out for awhile), they cut the price. A lot. It was the very most I could get for the money from a selection of 50+ possibilities. It was approximately $35 (US) with shipping, when it retails around $250, ordered through Amazon. We’ll see if it turns out so well, since shipping could take a week or two.
I’ve been spending a lot of time playing with Virtual Machines on my computer. Microsoft’s Virtual PC is good for XP and almost nothing else. You can install other operating systems, and they have it rigged for really old Linux and Unix packages. But it’s about worthless. I tested the free VMware Player. It’s pretty hard with things like Win98, because the folks at VMware don’t tell you the whole story. On the other hand, older Linux distros work really well.
I got Ubuntu 8.04 installed automatically, all neatly scripted. It’s a good way to run WordPerfect 8 for Linux. When I tried Ubuntu 10.04, none of the GUI got installed. Fortunately, once I figured out what was wrong, I knew how to finish out the install and get things running. I really do prefer to use Linux on the Internet; it’s much more secure. Also, there are a lot more dirty tricks I can use which are very difficult or simply not possible on Windows. In essence, Linux is closer to the real standards of the Internet, the original ideas of complete freedom, common standards, etc. At the same time, Linux people tend to ignore all the DRM and other restrictions on media the commercial giants use, the same giants who keep trying to break all those old rules.
Also, viruses are wholly unlikely on Linux, even as a virtual computer inside a Windows box. Linux still sucks for anything else, including the new GUIs. That Ubuntu 10.04 was the last good GUI release, so supported or not, I’m not running anything newer.
I confess I drooled over some new type mountain bikes with 29″ wheels. I’m praying I can save up for one; they start around $200 for the cheap junk, and decent starts at around $300.
It’s not likely I’ll get much writing done during the Christmas holidays. There are some other projects I’ve had on hold while I finished working on Paul’s Letters. Would you believe it? Within 12 hours of publishing it on Smashwords, it already had 25 downloads. Meanwhile, the book which started it all — The Mind of Christ — is still getting a few each week. It was at 85+ this morning.
Okay, I’ve wasted enough of your time.
As many have noticed long before me, a life worth living is a lot of hard work. If only this had been the meaning behind the iron motto, “arbeit macht frei” — I would have supported it with my own life. The pool of meaning in the German word “frei” includes sanity and independence. Western Civilization creates a false dichotomy between irresponsible childhood and dour sober adulthood.
The real joy of life is mocking this world as one big lie.
Cling to the highest level of cynicism you can build, but don’t slip into the false assumption of Existentialism, which asserts there is nothing beyond this life. I note Existentialism is so very close to the truth, in that it teaches you not to expect much. It teaches you that grand cynicism, which says the only thing good is first knowing, then being true to, your own nature. Recognize mythology for what it is and what part it plays, but don’t ever actually believe it.
You know you have found some good friendship and fellowship when hanging out with them doesn’t expose you to airhead nonsense.
On the one hand, I love my sheeple and do what I can for them. On the other hand, a critical element of what I can do for them is polarize things by always exposing the roots of anything that gets attention from everyone. So on places life Facebook I say exactly what I think, but not everything I think. I challenge people consciously to put their feet back on the ground and stop being airheads. I’ve been “unfriended” several times, and it’s a good thing.
Thus, I haven’t been faced with too much whining about the insane slaughter in Newton, CT. The bigger story is everyone’s reaction, not the event itself. I offer two links which reflect my own take. First: It’s her tragedy, in which we see feminist assumptions rule.
This is further evidence that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that female solipsism cannot take and make about the woman who stands at the center of life, the universe, and everything. It can actually become rather amusing to watch the clash of solipsistic universes, as women — and a number of men as well, don’t think they don’t — posture in an attempt to one-up each other concerning who feels the tragedy more closely.
Second: Gun lobbyist ready to give up is entirely too long, but almost worth reading to find this —
Because so-called “news” media gun stories are not news, they are propaganda. Showing the image of a mass murderer 100 times a day isn’t news, it is propaganda. Because staying on the same single event for a week or more isn’t news — even reporters would call it old news, or yesterday’s news, or yellow journalism, if they were being honest — a trait many have long since lost the ability to exercise. It is propaganda by every definition of that term.
It is designed to disgust, and cause revulsion, and motivate mob mentality. It serves no news purpose other than to induce fear and cause terror. In five minutes you have told the story, nothing new is added, yet it rolls on with images on endless loop. It promotes evil, encourages copycats, with zero redeeming news value. It violates every rule of ethical news behavior there is.
It doesn’t matter which of the numerous populist theories people embrace regarding why it happened. Not only are they all wrong, but this whole debate is inherently evil. If the folks with whom you hang out don’t make such a fuss about the slaughter, you have found yourself in relatively wise company.
God’s Laws always come first and foremost.
You can characterize that in a lot of ways, but you should assume it means that I put the mystical revelation of God in my Spirit first. I’ve stated often enough how that can’t be put into words easily, so if I say I’m committed to His Laws, you’ll get the picture. That means I live by His revelation, I cling to His moral fabric in Creation and I filter all questions through morality first.
Fundamental to that revelation is placing a very high value on the sheeple I serve. Not on their whims — God forbid — but I place emphasis on what God says they need from me. This consumes most of my attention. It’s the reason I spend so many hours writing, and not a few hours hunting down writing tools. But I write what my sheeple need to read. Often I write in hopes of giving verbal substance to moral concepts about their needs. When I complained about Open Source abusing users, that was pleading the case for my sheeple. When I write computer HOWTOs, I’m offering help to my sheeple. When I tell you anything commercial software producers have abandoned can be found and downloaded for free if you really want it, I’m doing what I can to bless my sheeple. There’s no moral violation that I can discern.
If these things did not provide tools for my mission, I wouldn’t bother. The Army had a false motto, sheer propaganda, but it expresses reality as God sees it: “Mission first; people always.” Translation: The mission comes first, but people’s needs are part of the mission. You’d be stupid to believe for one second the US Army actually operated that way, but it’s how I operate. When I did it while serving, it got me into all kinds of hot water, as it does with every other government agency I’ve encountered.
On the other hand, I am first to denounce the notion of human rights. It’s anti-biblical, a Western intellectual construct raised up in defiance of God’s revelation. There are some sheeple God placed under the control of others folks who are accountable to God, but not accountable to some abstract notion like human rights. There is a certain amount of harm to people which is simply the result of the Fall and it can’t be fixed by anybody. Thus, I don’t subscribe fully to the ethics of “zero aggression.” It’s a nice ideal, but it won’t fit everywhere. You have to give God room to move in your spirit in ways you’ll never comprehend. I can solemnly testify at least once I’ve been moved to violence in a way which didn’t fit that rule, and I’m totally at peace with it still. That’s because people don’t come first; the mission does.
What does it take, in your best estimation, to make your mission? That’s what you do, regardless how much or how little sense it makes by human reason. Reason is the manager, not the owner.
If something my sheeple want will kill them, I tend to let them have it, anyway. I figure people are accountable to God first, not me. It won’t matter what I believe is in their best interest. Voluntary compliance is the fundamental leadership principle that I can put into words. If I can persuade, I’ll try, but if it doesn’t hurt my mission, I’ll let it go. There’s even a certain amount of latitude in cases where their choices hurt others, because some things are simply a sheeple’s choices and no one can take that away. I’ll treat your kids as my own, but I can’t justly interfere with the very generous latitude God gave parents to decide things.
It’s not as if I make myself some saintly martyr in our colloquial meaning. It’s only hard because Western Civilization is so stupid and hateful. It could be worse, indeed, but it could most certainly be easier. This moral imperative of voluntary compliance is highly inconvenient for me. I have to absorb a lot of unexpected variations from my plans. Doing that gracefully requires a significant amount of preparation in my soul. In short, I almost never get what I want and dare not push for it.
The shepherd’s calling is something you should avoid at all costs. When it has you, nail yourself to the Cross, because you’ll be driven contrary to your own interests every step of the way.
Whew! Got it done. It was a real blessing to have someone provide an upgrade to Office 97, because Word 2000 had some critical enhancements that made the whole process easier. I’m still hoping I can get a copy of WordPerfect newer than 6.1 for Windows.
Meanwhile, you can find the book page here, so go download your free copy now.
Next: the Pastoral Letters, which Paul wrote to specific individuals. Thank you for your support.
