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ON CHRISTIANITY TODAY:
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"On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return."
-- Annie Dillard, Teaching a Stone to Talk |
ON THE CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW:
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"...[T]his is a world filled with both true and false notions and...we have a rational obligation to separate the two and a moral obligation to follow truth. We don't understand that because our own Christian world view is not broad. We don't have a rich understanding of the ramifications of what we hold to be true. Instead, things aren't true or false; they're pleasant or unpleasant, appealing or unappealing, liked or disliked. The fact is that our Christianity is not our preference. It ought not be for you. If your Christianity is what you prefer, you're missing entirely what Christianity is all about. I do not prefer Christianity. I prefer agnosticism. It's much easier. It's much less troublesome. I could do more of what I want. The fact is, I believe that Christianity is true so I'm rationally and morally obligated to follow it. And because it's true, there is a necessary quality to it."
-- Gregory Koukl, Preference or Truth? |
ON THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE IN AMERICA:
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As far left as the DNC has marched in the last 40 years, the GOP has matched them step for step, proving that it is plagued with the same disease. The GOP cannot provide the cure, as long as it remains afflicted. For the affliction warps the vision of the host such that the avenues that lead to a cure are obscured. |
ON PUBLIC EDUCATION:
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If you can, grasp this: public education is a national sin more egregious than the holocaust of abortion, for abortion denies life to the innocent, yet inducts them into an eternity in Heaven; public education warps the minds of the living, often for the entirety of their Earthly existence, and, insofar as it may become permissible under Law, sets them on-course for an eternity in Hell. What's that? "Outlandish!!" you exclaim? "Ludicrous!!"?
I don't blame you in the least; I once thought as you do, for I myself am a recovering product of that much-touted system, having never before seen its true nature nor the true extent and cost of all that it has wrought. You may protest, you may rail against me, and you may speak ill of me if you so desire, but grant me this one courtesy: before doing any of those base things, explore the system, yourself, from a vantage point the benefit of which you have never before had. Begin with an eye-opening review of history:
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/historytour/history1.htm Next, engage "The Underground History of American Education" for a far more in-depth exploration:
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/index.htm Finally, acquire resources that will bring further clarity:
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/bookstore/index.htm |
ON THE ENVIRONMENT:
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"If you think we ought not rape the environment, then the reason is that we have a stewardship. But then you've got God in your lap, as well, and a whole bunch of other things come with it, too. That's the way world views work."
-- Gregory Koukl, World Views & Earth Day |
"JUST WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!"
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I am the Master Machine Controller, High Priest of Power, Guru of Gasoline, and Exalted Keeper of the Most Holy Switch. The ranks of the mechanized bow before me, for I, alone, stand as intermediary between them and The Infinite EMF. |
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"Weather. We've got -- wwweather..."
STANFORD UNIVERSITY FOLDING@HOME PROJECT
"BUT SERIOUSLY, FOLKS..."
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A good friend sent me a link to a story about a new Catholic church in Qatar, and I thought that, to the extent it advances the cause of Christ in that quarter of the globe, it was very good news. In the face of ongoing capitulation to Islam by nations in the West, I was happy to see some material evidence that Jesus is waging a successful counterinsurgency. Praise The King.
I then began to think more deeply, and concluded that I am also a good 'target' for the counterinsurgency of Christ. I recognized that this old world had been trying to squeeze me into its mold, and had been having too much success with me; that I could do well with a fresh, personal invasion of the Risen Christ.
As I drove in to work that morning, I was listening to a Focus on the Family Radio Theatre production of "Bonhoeffer: The Cost of Freedom". At one point in the dialogue one of Dieterich's allies chides him for being "an Idealist". I nearly stopped the recording at that point, because I was startled with the unmistakable awareness that all we who truly follow Christ are -- or, at least, ought to be -- irrecoverable idealists; our faith directs us to the pursuit of that which is prefect. I realized, too, that -- for me -- this idealism drives beyond my profession and practice of faith to the very core of my being, because I was not made into an idealist by my faith; I was born an Idealist, and apprehending this faith in Christ has only amplified that which God had created me to be. Indeed, any who have worked alongside me for any length of time will be familiar with one of my favorite affirmations, "Perfection is my business."
The result of this is that my life in this world is fraught with a simultaneous recognition of great futility, and ultimate purpose. It is the most trying dichotomy possible, I think, because the futility is here, and now, and the great purpose is "out there" in the future. I strive, as did so many of old, as one who works for the fulfillment of that which he knows he may not ever see with his own mortal eyes. I plant knowing that Winter is coming, but also knowing that there will follow an unending Spring, when all that I plant, now, will burst forth into eternal life. The present burden is lightened only by the realization that, in this labor, I am in good company.
On the one hand, I see that The Great Apocalypse is inescapable; that the world must descend into hideous evil, and suffering; that the night will come when no one can work, and how great will be that darkness. This, of course, means that all of our well-intentioned organizations will be subsumed in the flood tide. It means that all of our right-minded campaigns for good judges, the sanctity of marriage, the end of abortion, <insert righteous cause, here> must at some point be snapped off at the ankles and swept away. I surmise that many true Christians will observe these things and sincerely feel that their lives have been wasted in utter futility, and knowing these things will come, I already feel that to some degree. I wonder, at times, "What is this effort accomplishing that will survive the coming darkness?" and I am forced to confront the reality that, in too many cases, the answer is, "Not much," or, worse, "Nothing."
But I am not a one-handed Idealist, and -- on the OTHER hand -- I see that there is an overriding purpose to all of this effort, even in the face of the coming turmoil and upheaval: to winnow out the harvest and separate -- finally -- the wheat from the chaff; to bring forth a pure Bride. Happily, I had been directed to Bob Sorge's book on Job, because having read it, I am now beginning to see the more complete meaning of his take on it as an end-time prophecy for the Bride of Christ; that only the horror of The Apocalypse is a crucible sufficient to the emergence of a suitable counterpart for He Who Is. To wit: there is a surpassing glory that will, afterward, vindicate all of the effort we expend in advance; that insofar as the encroaching darkness will appear to devour all that is right, good, and Holy; all the more so, the coming of that unending Dawn will annihilate every trace of corruption, and expose the full measure of that for which we now expend our very lives; even The Bride, herself, glorious, pure, and suitable for The Hand of her Savior; radiant in a final glory that is -- as was the restoration of Job -- seven times that which she had before the darkness descended upon her.
All of that led me to question, "Is what I am presently doing with my life contributing to that ultimate purpose? If so, to what degree? If only partially, what must I change to make it a 100% effort?"
I pray those questions challenge you -- as they do me -- to daily recommit at a deeper level. |
"WHAT ELSE DO YOU BELIEVE?"
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I believe I'll go fishing. |
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