The Pendragon's Hall

"He so connects the Enemy's Son with everything that it's almost like turning the clock back 2,000 years and hearing Him speak again. Hereema actually takes seriously that verse about taking every thought captive and giving it to Him. We haven't been able to get him to worship at the great American shrine of Freedom of Thought. He positively loves to bow."
--from "The Snakebite Letters" by Peter Kreeft.

I have been learning lately that the American church's greatest weakness is (surprise!) not that it is American, but that it succumbs to the same chronological snobbery that the European church succumbed to a long time ago. As Kreeft's fictional demon, above, points out, under the name of Freedom of Thought we have cut ourselves off from our base and decided we know better than those who came before. This is especially prevalent among Christians in higher education. We decide we know better than the church fathers, these men of God from history and look instead to our own times for Biblical teaching, often to people who don't even believe the Bible. This is what the Pharisees did, by the way, and why Jesus had to constantly correct the erroneous views of the common people on the Law--they thought they knew better than Moses. Now we think that we know better than Augustine, Luther, Aquinas, even Paul! Our arrogance must be unbelievable to the Lord and by doing this, we have cut off our own source of authority. More than any other religion, Christianity is a religion based on history but we have the audacity to believe that we have somehow latched on to the secret of Christian living in OUR age alone. Believe me, I have seen and read some of the finest our age has to offer, and I'm not convinced they, to say nothing of the heretics disguised as "balanced" secular professors, have the intelligence or spirituality to match an Augustine or Luther, or indeed to make much a contribution at all compared to those of the past. Besides, once you debunk the past traditions, where does that leave you? If you know better than those five hundred years ago, how about those two thousand years ago?

Breaking news: according to the Bush Re-election webpage (www.GeorgeWBush.com), Senator Zell Miller (D-GA) is set to endorse the President's re-election campaign. Sources quote him as saying, "The next five years will determine the kind of world my children and grandchildren will live in." And he wouldn't "trust" any of the nine Democratic presidential candidates with governing during "that crucial period," he said. "This Democrat will vote for President Bush in 2004."

One wonders just how long the media can keep up the myth that President Bush's approval ratings are falling, when the Democrats can't even hold onto their own people.

Some thoughts on war, in a voice from the past:

"Freeing the slaves was not a war aim when it started out, but war changes things, it sorts things out. Come outside; I want to show you something.
"All these thousands of men...each one of them a whole person, loved and cherished in some home far away. Many will never return.
"An army is power. Its entire purpose is to coerce others. Such power cannot be used recklessly or carelessly; such power can do great harm. We have seen more suffering than any man alive should ever see, and if there is to be an end to it, it must be an end that justifies the cost. Now, somewhere out there is the Confederate Army--they claim they are fighting for their independence, for their freedom, and I cannot question their integrity. What I do question is a system that fights for its own freedom while denying it to others, to a whole race of people. I will admit it, Tom: War is a scourge, but so is slavery. It is the systematic coercion of one group of men over another. It has been around since the Book of Genesis, but that is no excuse for us to tolerate it here. As God is my witness, no man alive is dearer to my heart than you, but if your life or mine, is part of the price to pay to win this war and end this terrible evil, then let God's will be done."
--Joshua Chamberlain, from "Gods and Generals."

Sarah, something you said during our earlier conversation got me to thinking. You mentioned the case in Florida with the woman on the feeding tube and said that while you respected the pro-life aspect of Governor Bush's assuming responsibility for feeding the woman as a good thing, you still thought it was scary that the government had that much power. These are my thoughts on the situation.

A government derives its authority, according to the Bible, from being "an agent of God to do good and punish evil", and as such is a legitimate and godly institution. This case is a clear cut example of government fulfilling that God-given role. It is not, as a professor I asked pointed out, as if the decision was being made simply to withhold medical treatment...people can sometimes still survive without it and if they do, you're not going to kill them yourself. To stop feeding a person can have only one end: death. And you'd have to be pretty stupid not to know it, which makes you a willing murderer, whom it is the government's duty to stop, regardless of what you think may be your "rights" in this situation.

What's really scary about this whole scenario is that government actually HAS to do this. John Jay once remarked, "You will be governed by the Bible or the bayonet." In other words, unless people are taught from the inside, to control themselves and to do good, the government will have to beat it into them from the outside. That is, after all, what governments are for. Time was, when to even consider doing something like this, starving a woman still fully alive, would have been unthinkable. Our Founders didn't specifically put this in the Constitution because it wasn't an issue in those days. Now it is, apparently, sadly, and THANK GOD one state government still lives up to its responsibility under the law. :-/

Well, they've done it again. After spending the first half of their season convincing the rest of the NFL they are a lousy team the New York Giants again proved they have the Minnesota Vikings' number, defeating the heretofore undefeated team in their own home stadium. Snapping their three-game losing streak, the Giants kept Fassel's streak of never having coached four losses in a row going. Kerry Collins threw for 375 yards and 2 TDs. While this may spark rumors that the Giants will take over the NFL and win the Super Bowl, let it be borne in mind that the real test is coming next week when the Giants will seek to prove they can actually beat the lousy teams of the NFL as they take on the New York Jets. I'm not worried about the Panthers or the Bills or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers: I know the Giants can beat them. I'm worried about the Jets, the Falcons and the Saints. Have the Giants rescued their season with a 29-17 win over Minnesota? That remains to be seen. I sure hope so. :-)

"Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors....." The Lord's Prayer.

I was just a child when I felt the Savior leading;
I was drawn to what I could not understand
And for the cause of Christ I've lived my days believing
That what He'd have me be is who I am.
As I've come to see the weaker side of me
I've realized His grace is what I need.
When sin demanded justice for my soul
Mercy said, "No! I'm not going to let you go.
"I'm not going to let you slip away. You don't have to be afraid."
Life and death stood face to face and darkness tried to steal my heart away.
But thank You, Jesus: Mercy said, "No!"
--Greg Long

We had a great sermon on this in church this morning. What a relief to know that God forgives us and longs to forgive us. What a mess we'd be in otherwise.

Sunday is always a good day to think about theology and during devotions this morning, I found an interesting quote from "The Snakebite Letters" by Peter Kreeft:

"Sometimes the typical dormitory in the typical Christian college in America on the typical weekend can make ancient Rome look positively Puritan. Their teachers just don't talk about this (lack of morality) because they don't dare tell them anything unpopular anymore....Meanwhile they feel self-righteous and non-conformist by protesting racism, militarism and other evils they are not really in danger of."

The scary thing is it's so true. I'm at a Christian college right now (where shall remain nameless as most of you reading this probably already know) and while the idea of drunkenness or adultery which Kreeft mostly has in mind in writing this is not tolerated, nevertheless in subtle ways it is there. Worse of all, the theology department imagines themselves to be some kind of social reformers, but they are largely silent on sins they could do something about like purity on the campus or sins that are really huge and deserve full-fledged condemnation from the Church, like abortion or homosexual marriage. They instead attack the war on terrorism on the basis of its supposed "racism" and defend pacifism with a zeal deserving of a better cause. The environment and women's rights are other big issues, really not issues at all. But they enjoy it and it makes them feel like they're the Martin Luthers of this generation. Meanwhile, the real Martin Luther once declared he saw universities separated from the Word of God (which says very little about these supposed "moral" issues but a lot about things like abortion and homosexuality) would be "wide doorways to Hell." Kind of awakening, I think.

Welcome to blogger, Rob. ;-)

"First of all, Jessica Lynch deserves all the treatment that she is getting," Jackson said. "She was a victim of Iraq, and the Army built around her this caricature of American bravado. They said she was shot and stabbed and shot to the last bullet, and she did not say that, and that did not happen. But they sought to use her as a propaganda tool for American bravado."
--from CNN.com

How nice of Mr. Jackson to concede this. It's a good thing he's around or our people would forget all about racism because they would see there is no real difference between black and white when it comes to things that count. But with Jackson always sniffing out insults and slights, even or maybe especially, where none is intended, how can we ever forget these supposed "differences"? Any time a white makes more than a black, it's considered a racial slur. It apparently never occured to him that quite possibly the white might
deserve to get paid higher based on the job they were doing, or in this case, the nature of their injury.

Jackson and his ilk should give it up. There's only way to combat racism and that is teaching the people that they were all created, red and yellow, black and white, in the image of God and that there is only one race to which we all belong. "From one man, He has made all men," said the Apostle (Acts 17:26) and modern science confirms it. But don't hold your breath for Jesse Jackson and his "equal (superior in the common tongue) rights" brigade to be using this approach. After all, if they acknowledge God as the creator of a single race of which we are all a part, it's not very special to be a "minority" and their constituency might begin to think of themselves as...horrors! brothers with the other people of the world. Then it will be too hard to feel sorry for themselves, and that's really all Jackson wants. Because then he can manipulate them easier.

Oh, this is a good one: Susan Rice, writing today in the NYT (the terrorist world's favorite newspaper) talks about the comparisons of Bush's postwar Iraq plans to the Marshall plan since apparently the president himself as been making them. It's kind of a silly comparison already (unless the unwillingness of Europe to help in both occasions should count as a similarity) but Ms. Rice's piece is even sillier. For example,

"The goal was not only to rebuild Europe but also to encourage former adversaries to form partnerships that could endure after United States assistance ended. The plan succeeded so well that Europe has followed the road of cooperation all the way to the European Union."
Oh yay! :-P It also succeeded so well that for fifty years the Soviet Union blockaded Eastern Europe from the rest of it and they all lived in fear of nuclear war and communist aggression.

"The Bremer plan recalls the cold war era, when the United States pumped billions into corrupt dictators' coffers and asked questions later."
All this from the newspaper that wants Saddam Hussein back in power and defended nations like France and Russia who sold illegal weapons to the Iraqis in exchange for oil. Very interesting.

"The Marshall Plan was also devised to be finite in cost and duration."
I'll bet it was. We've still got troops in Germany though, and their economy is quite dependent on it, to say nothing of their defense system.

"We cannot afford to fail in Iraq. Congress has a responsibility to examine the president's request thoroughly — and it should heed the central lesson of the Marshall Plan and use Mr. Bremer's billions to help unite Iraqis in rebuilding their country."
This is true. We should learn the lesson of the Marshall Plan: It's better to do things yourself than rely on allies, particularly European allies. Postwar Germany, divided between communist Russia and the US, with Britain and France ended up worse off than postwar Japan where the United States ran things. Why do we want to get them involved in governing Iraq? If you support freedom in Iraq, say it with money. Keep your troops where they'll do the most good. At home.

I'm all for uniting the Iraqis but Ms. Rice's article gives no idea how to do this, other than "let the Iraqis decide" how to run their country. The international community once pressured Britain into giving up its African colonies, making them sovereign states overnight and many of them still struggle with anarchy. The Iraqis already govern themselves more than they did under Hussein, although the Shiites would like to take his place. People used to thirty years of oppression aren't ready to govern themselves immediately as is evidenced by the constant riots. Give me a break. And we haven't even been in Iraq a year! Why on earth would you want to follow the mode of plan that has kept us in Germany for over fifty? Perhaps when the President compares the two, he should say, "Let's make of this a Marshall Plan that actually works."

Then again, apparently Ms. Rice was assistant secretary of state for African Affairs under President Clinton. Her idea of a war on terror is probably blowing up an aspirin factory in Sudan.
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This is how tired I have been lately: I'm sitting in Executive Power and the Presidency talking to a fellow history major about our respective backgrounds (I'm both Polish and German). Dr. Meilaender walks in at the tail end and wants to know what we're talking about. We told him and then speculated about how you get Polish and German together, since they're usually fighting. I mention without thinking that the German never married the Pole really, it was two different families. I meant in the old country, but Dr. Meilaender just gives me a shocked look and says, "Well, I hope they got married at some point." I tried to explain but it just wasn't working, so Dr. Meilaender just says, "Well, you know what we can say now when discussion gets heated in class: ADAM, YOU BASTARD!" I've always liked his sense of humor. :-P But I think I'd better not talk if I'm tired around him.

If you didn't know or can't tell, I am a history major minoring in political science and I definitely have opinions. Ask Dr. Meilaender. Much of this blog is likely to be my take on politics and the state of the world. I may be a historian but at heart I'm still a social reformer, wanting to change the world.

OK, I've finally been convinced to try one of these things out. Welcome to The Pendragon's Hall, where Arthur's spirit still lives on. Hope you enjoy reading my take on things. I believe we should see the world as it can be, not just as it is.

"Well answered," said the Stranger...."But as for my third question, no man knew the answer but myself. Who shall be Pendragon in the time when Saturn descends from his sphere? In what world did he learn war?"
"In the sphere of Venus I learned war," said Ransom. "In this age, Lurga shall descend. I am the Pendragon."
--from "That Hideous Strength" by C.S. Lewis.