Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on May 19, 2021 9:33:39 GMT -8
In a market economy, every whim is to be satisfied. In a Christian or Jewish worldview, there are tons of impulses that can, and should, be restrained. Guess who’s winning?
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on May 19, 2021 11:22:19 GMT -8
That’s an interesting historical perspective on Christianity. One could say, analogously, that a meaning-gap was opened up by a Western culture that became fat, stupid, and happy with the abundance produced by free markets in the 20th century (if not earlier).
Leftism and Environmental Wackoism are arguably attempts at restoring meaning. And no use splitting hairs about how it’s mainly or partially about power for the elite. I know that. But it’s arguably the religious-like aspirations of their goals that appeals to the Eloi rank-and-file who give fuel to the whole project (including tons of useful-idiot Christians and Jews).
It’s an interesting new religion (which is taking over Judaism and Christianity) in that it has many of the touch-feely, can’t-we-all-just-get-along aspirations of the the traditional religions they are replacing. But the utopian/totalitarian nature of them means they can’t deal well with the difficult realities and conundrums of the world as it is and will always be. It thus inherently becomes a garbage-in/garbage-out kind of religion that can’t help but bring pain, unhappiness, and destruction. The internal contradictions are ultimately untenable.
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on May 19, 2021 13:11:14 GMT -8
Indeed, that larger tribe is what happened.
I think if you sat down with Dennis Prager, he’d have no problem saying that Jews were a chosen people. And I have no problem saying that. In a sad world of barbarity, dishonesty, cruelty, and coarseness, it was enough for the Jews to be the Jews. Their innate identity (we’ll call it, rather than “tribalism”) was not as readily amenable to the universalism of Christianity. But the ideas in the Torah are inherently universal. It is the philosophy of a God who created nature and is outside of it. Theirs is a god for whom the rules (at least the general ones, perhaps not the dietary ones and such) applied to everyone. The Jews were the ones for whom the laws were not just for tribal members. They were for all. And their mandate is to bring these truths to the rest of mankind. An open-minded Christian (who realizes that Jesus was truly, really, Jewish) might understand that Christianity was a furtherance of this mission. An open-minded Jew might think so as well. The devil is in the details, specifically regarding who Jesus was. But hindsight shows that Christianity has spread all over the world and it is (or was, or should be) thoroughly rooted in Judaism. And on the world stage we might see how Christianity is now severely fumbling its own mandate as they look to service the various forms of Marxism instead of staying true to God. Matthew 6:24. You can’t serve two masters.
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Sept 22, 2021 5:59:01 GMT -8
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Sept 22, 2021 6:18:04 GMT -8
Another good comment to the above article:
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Sept 22, 2021 6:32:59 GMT -8
That right-brain/left-brain dichotomy is interesting as in “neither side can have the full picture of the world.” What the Left is precisely is an attempt to totalize its understanding of the world via a few narrow ideas. Libertarians share this trait as well. Kumbaya Christians also share this trait. “If I just ‘tolerate’ the other, peace and love will practically ooze out of our bottoms.” Well, no, life and morality are more complicated than this formulation of fortune-cookie permissiveness.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Sept 22, 2021 8:08:45 GMT -8
The reality is probably that we have become too soft. We expect never to have to suffer. We expect good-time-rock-and-roll 24/7. Jesus on the cross now makes no sense to most people (other than that God can deliver yet another entitlement to you).
The main cutting-edge thing that I have been going on about (that I see reflected in this article) is the Madge Syndrome (You’re soaking in it!). I do not believe it is possible to wade around this sewer of a culture without getting your shoes dirty.
Granted, there are degrees of rejection. We could posit the Taliban are precisely 180 degrees opposite of Leftism (in ideas, not methods). But what is so wrong about the 90 degree mark where we have a general sense of live-and-let-live and yet remain able to dispense healthy doses of Vitamin N? (no)
The function of the masks is to mark your territory. The Left is making their claim on people’s lives. Jesus H. Christ, I was watching some YouTube over my brother’s shoulder yesterday and some promo came on for a series (HBO, Netflix, or whatever, I forget who). The entire content is basically a shrieking woman saying “I had sex las night and the condom came off!”
Listen, I’m no prude. But this garbage is mainstream now. You can’t escape it. And it is human nature to normalize any perversion that becomes common around oneself.
Thus we need a little Taliban in our bones if we are to successfully fight back. But few are willing to do that. There really is no end to this outside of a complete social crash.
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Post by artraveler on Sept 22, 2021 9:09:23 GMT -8
The reality is probably that we have become too soft Yes, I think that is true. But I think it is a softness of mind rather than a softness of body. You suggest that we have overdone tolerance of depravity and I think your on spot. We fear being called racist, sexist etc that we overdo our natural reaction to just say to someone's face, "you're a pervert". However, we do need to condemn hanging homosexuals from cranes or pushing them out of airplane without a parachute. Actions like that are as bad for our culture as the tolerance we have today. There must be a balance between condemning the sin and condemning the sinner. Some 40 years ago when Bloom wrote, "The Closing of the American Mind" he was mostly concerned about the depth of American education. That exposure to classical thought was limited and decreasing. If he were to write such a book today not only would he be horrified at the death of classical liberal arts but the lack of concern in academia about it. We have created at least three generations of cultural ignorant students whose only real education is "just do it". Of course not every student has gotten this message and there are still places where real education can be found, even in major universities, but you need a lamp and ask a lot of questions to dig out the kernels and it is getting harder semester by semester. I don't go on campus any more. It's depressing to see so many empty shells looking for knowledge and being filled from the toilet. Brings to mind an old joke. Life is like a sewer, you only get out of it what you put into it.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Sept 22, 2021 11:13:49 GMT -8
I don’t know how to respond to a post that doesn’t begin, “Brad, you ignorant slut.” But I’ll try to marshal on nevertheless.
Clearly you haven’t been to Walmart lately. But I would grant you both mind and body.
Pretty much right out of the mouth of Dennis Prager. No one has found a way to say, “If you’re gay, big deal. No problem. But don’t turn it into an agenda. Don’t use your sexuality as simply a way to beat people over the head because you’re angry at something.”’
Okay, there, I just said it. But you know what I mean.
I think Bloom wasn’t really ahead of his time (not that you said so). But I think he was actually describing the time when he wrote that book. And the results of his observations are playing out big-time.
I think all this indiscriminate “compassion” is turning our children into monsters. Still, I have two balancing anecdotes
A young fellow (19? 20?) was parked in my parking lot yesterday. I went and did my Parking Police shtick. Turns out he was waiting for his parents. He (and they) were going to check out the condominiums down the driveway. Okay, I said. No prob. And we discussed the parking situation around the place and I told him I think they only have one spot per tenant. And I told him I had to keep an eagle on on my parking lot lest I be overrun.
Turns out he liked the place and he (and the wife, I think) are moving in. Nice fellow. Seemed civilized. I had a very quick chat with the parents and they seemed civilized as well.
Then I’m out cleaning up one of my flower beds the same day. It was a beautiful last day of summer yesterday. A couple kids (15 or so) who live somewhere in these same condos came walking by. I know them both to some degree. I said hi. They ignored me (and they were mere feet away). I said “What a great last day of summer this is, huh?” They pretended I wasn’t there. I could see the monsters growing.
This is why we do what we do here. Out in the wider world, minds have become so delicate that they can’t face being exposed to larger truths — or, hell, just an honest difference of opinion. Why would I be on Facebook?
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Post by kungfuzu on Sept 22, 2021 15:55:10 GMT -8
Absolutely correct. With the phony mantras of "do your own thing" and "be yourself" the left has helped to create generations of drones. In the early-to-middle seventies, I came to one conclusion about Americans, which has not changed. "Never have so many tried so hard to be different by being the same."
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Sept 22, 2021 18:04:52 GMT -8
Doubly good because it is so Churchillian.
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