Politics Archives - Page 26 of 93 - Kuyperian Commentary

On March 20, 2014 By Uri Brito In Culture, Politics Like

What can we learn from the death of Fred Phelps?

By Uri Brito

The incendiary founder of Westboro Baptist has died.

Fred Phelps Sr., the founder of a Kansas sect known for its anti-homosexuality picketing at military funerals, has died. He was 84.

The former figurehead of Westboro Baptist Church was hospice-bound in Topeka, Kan., and had stopped eating and drinking at the time of his death on Wednesday night, his estranged son Nathan told the Associated Press on Sunday. Nathan Phelps said a new board of eight elders excommunicated his father last summer after a power struggle, possibly contributing to the decline in his health. “I’m not sure how I feel about this,” he wrote on Facebook. “Terribly ironic that his devotion to his god ends this way. Destroyed by the monster he made.” Nathan Phelps left the sect 37 years ago and is now a religious skeptic and gay-rights advocate.

Phelps’ Westboro Baptist–an unaffiliated church–will now be left in the hands of other family members who will most likely continue the vision of their leader. A documentary was produced of the small Kansas congregation.

So, what can we learn from the death of Fred Phelps?

First, we learn that truth can be easily mis-applied. Phelps once noted that, “you preach the Bible without preaching the hatred of God.” Any sober-minded interpreter will attest to the Scriptural God who condemns sin and acts justly against sin. Any sober-minded interpreter will realize that the Marcionite heresy of dividing the Old Testament God from the New is not an orthodox option. The same God who destroyed and killed evil societies also judged his own people. That same God promises everlasting judgment upon those who do not believe in his Son (John 3:36). But this God of vengeance (Psalm 94) is also a God of everlasting love (Psalm 36:7). To overemphasize his wrath and to build one’s entire ministry around the wrath of God is to offer an unbalanced picture of the God of the Bible.

Further, it must be emphasized that the God of the Bible stressed mercy before judgment. Our God is an all consuming grace before He is an all consuming fire. Jesus offered himself to the people of Israel in mercy before he came and destroyed Jerusalem (Mat. 23:37). Phelps emphasized the wrath of God, but that message obscured the mercy and grace of God toward sinners (I Peter 3:15).

Second, we learn that angering the leftists is not always in our best interest. The Left hated Phelps and his group. “The Westboro Baptist Church is probably the vilest hate group in the United the State of America,” Heidi Beirich, research director for the Montgomery, Ala.-based Southern Poverty Law Center, told The Associated Press in July 2011. Indeed those who are in darkness will despise the witness of the light, but sometimes we who are light can portray a dim light immersed in unfruitful activities in the name of the Gospel. Yes, they will persecute us, but let us be wise to not pursue unnecessary persecution. The Gospel itself is enough to gain enemies. Let us not then debase its purity by bringing evangelicals and God-haters together against a common cause.

Third, we learn that picketing at homosexual and military funerals is not the way of the Gospel, but it is a way of death itself. Though we may vehemently disagree on matters of foreign policy, military soldiers and their families have the right to grieve. Grieving is a necessary means of emotional and physical relief. Though we oppose homosexuality and the practice of it on biblical grounds, even homosexuals have the right–as image-bearers–to grieve for their loved ones. To not allow them to weep is to de-humanize men and women created in the image of God. Instead of picketing and protesting at funerals, Christians need to establish a vision of marital faithfulness that is compelling to those who have rejected the agenda of God for man and woman. By picketing and protesting, the Phelps clan left a poor example of Christian compassion rooted in the imago dei. We must oppose the homosexual agenda at all costs, but we must proclaim truth winsomely and holistically, realizing that we are dealing with fellow human beings created in the image of God.

Fourth, we learn that independent groups like Westboro Baptist suffer from a severe lack of accountability. This individualized ecclesiology leaves no room for correction. They are the end all of theological decisions. We need a catholic vision that allows the local church to be held accountable to and connected with other congregations. This does not necessarily require a formal connection–as I would propose–but even an informal one where there would be genuine opportunities to exhort and challenge others to godly practices.

Finally, we learn that the legacy we leave is fundamental to our vision as Christians. How will our children remember us? Will they remember a contentious father who viewed evangelism as a means to de-humanize others–however different their moral agenda was? Or will they view us as lovers of truth who practiced truth in love; rebuking and exhorting; calling evil, evil, but winsomely engaging those outside of the covenant with the message of hope and communicating salvation as a restoration of the whole cosmos? Calling homosexuals to repentance while guiding and shepherding them in the process?

The agenda of Fred Phelps failed to communicate what the Bible intends to communicate about the nature of God. His tactics brought great harm to the cause of Christ. Many–even in his own family who have fled–have been negatively affected by this cult-like group^a. Phelps’ death reminds us that the way you live and present the Gospel matters, and that your zeal for truth can actually work against truth itself.

<>разместить на google

According to World: ” The couple had 13 adult children, nine of whom remain in the church and four of whom have left the church, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal. Roughly 20 of the couple’s 54 grandchildren also have left the church.” (back)

On February 6, 2014 By Kuyperian In Politics Like

The Anvil Stone: a Review of Gravity

A movie review from Remy Wilkins first posted on the Whole Garden Will Bow

[[Editor’s note: Gravity is being released on Blu-Ray this month. I do not mention the DVD version on purpose, ’cause Blu-Ray. Watch the movie, on Blu-Ray, as many times as it takes for you to get your critical self out of the way (it takes me three times). And then read on]]

For more movie reviews, see FilmFisher ^a

In a world where simple stories are needlessly bejazzled and crampacked with gibber, it is refreshing to watch a movie that exults in its simplicity. Here is a movie titled Gravity about an astronaut in space named Stone. The narrative is as easy as falling down.

There have been numerous digs at some of the infelicitous dialogue and the scientific inaccuracies (all granted and most excused by all but the most severe pedants), but there is one questionable element that I believe hasn’t been given the notice it deserves. Astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson took issue with Stone, a bio-medical engineer, servicing the Hubble, but this is not an inert detail. She is there to equip the Hubble to search for a habitable planet. The movie begins with her suspended between worlds, for as we were told at the beginning: “Life in space is impossible”. She is searching out new life as the old world holds nothing for her.

The reason why life is no longer possible for her on earth is given when she tells Kowalski that she lost her daughter to a fall. Something “as stupid as that” she says. Far from being a throwaway detail, or a maudlin grab for sympathy, her daughter’s death is mentioned to show that there is nothing on earth for her. Since that time she has been on the move, driving, just driving; between destinations.

A line is drawn between Kowalski and Stone when he mentions that he had a wife, who was lost to him while he was on a mission. Through death and adultery they have been rendered alone yet their perspective of earth (pardon the expression) is different.

In the beginning of the film, having fled earth, she still roils (a detail established in the fifteen minute virtuosic opening shot); green not just to inexperience but also motionsick. Her world spins. This is true well before the shrapnel sends her spinning into the black. For well over half the film she is tugged, pushed, thrown, spun and threatened with motion without rest.

Names:

Ryan Stone (played by a pitch-perfect Sandra Bullock):

Ryan = “Little King”
Also Ryan Stone is a pun on rhinestone, a stone that is not what it appears to be, an imitation.

Matthew Kowalski (played by the jocose George Clooney):

Matthew (“Gift of God”, ala Theo from Alfonso Cuarón’s masterpiece Children of Men).
Kowalski = of the Blacksmith

The name on the Russian suit that Stone dons (see above) is Demidov (it bears the number 42, the answer to life: a hat tip to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy). This surname comes from a prominent family of blacksmiths (Demid Antufiev, was a free blacksmith from Tula). Demidov means “of Demid”; Demid means “cunning as Zeus” and is derived from Diomedes = “Godlike”.

Aningaaq, the voice on the ham radio, is the name of the moon in Nordic mythology and means “Big Brother of a Girl”. The short film of the same title, directed by Jonás Cuarón (son of Alfonso and co-writer of Gravity), can be found here.

What better name for an astronaut than blacksmith? Matthew is the cool thinking mentor that navigates Stone through the perilous events. To survive she must become like him. His character is centered on earth, constantly falling back on stories of life on earth. His other passion is to beat the record for the longest spacewalk, an ironic phrase considering there is not one single step made in the entire movie.

To survive, Stone must become like him – focused on earth.

Set in the future:

Kessler Syndrome is a potential future event in which the density of objects in low orbit become so great that a cascading series of collisions render space exploration unfeasible for several generations.

Ryan refers to her mission as STS-157 in one of her transmissions. In real life, the 135th and final Space Shuttle mission was STS-135. It launched on 8 July 2011. Taking the average of manned spaceflights from the 60s to today of 28 flights every decade then mission 157 would hit some time after 2021.

The real-life Chinese Space station is named Tiangong (Chinese: 天宫; pinyin: Tiāngōng; literally “Heavenly Palace”) and currently consists of only one small inhabitable module. The goal of the Tiangong program is the construction of a space station much like the one in the film by the year 2022.

In Cuarón’s 2006 film The Children of Men (based on the novel of the same name by P.D. James), earth in the year 2027 has been struck by infertility for two decades. Society is beginning to collapse.

A story: According to the legendary account of his life, Christopher was a Canaanite 7.5 feet tall. While serving the king of Canaan, he took it into his head to go and serve “the greatest king there was”. He went to the king who was reputed to be the greatest, but one day he saw the king cross himself at the mention of the devil. On thus learning that the king feared the devil, he departed to look for the devil. He came across a band of marauders, one of whom declared himself to be the devil, so Christopher decided to serve him. But when he saw his new master avoid a wayside cross and found out that the devil feared Christ, he left him and inquired from people where to find Christ. He met a hermit who instructed him in the Christian faith. Christopher asked him how he could serve Christ. When the hermit suggested fasting and prayer, Christopher replied that he was unable to perform that service. The hermit then suggested that because of his size and strength Christopher could serve Christ by assisting people to cross a dangerous river, where they were perishing in the attempt. The hermit promised that this service would be pleasing to Christ.

After Christopher had performed this service for some time, a little child asked him to take him across the river. During the crossing, the river became swollen and the child seemed as heavy as lead, so much that Christopher could scarcely carry him and found himself in great difficulty. When he finally reached the other side, he said to the child: “You have put me in the greatest danger. I do not think the whole world could have been as heavy on my shoulders as you were.” The child replied: “You had on your shoulders not only the whole world but Him who made it. I am Christ your king, whom you are serving by this work.” The child then vanished.

The icon of St. Christopher is on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

When Ryan Stone turns back to earth she is embracing life in a place that, for her, has no life. She is therefore embracing the hope for new life. The world is dead to her, but hearkening to the voice of the faithful blacksmith she becomes not a fake rhinestone, but a true rock, with faith that she will be fashioned into a jewel. Crawling out of the water she mutters a terse “thank you”. She is reborn, passing through the human stages of conception, through the travail of birth (despite the abortive efforts of space), in order to emerge from the amnion to stand much more than homo erectus, but as homo spes, hopeful man.

<>

for a less favorable review of this flick, visit our friend Zachary Parker’s film review blog and read his review (back)

On January 24, 2014 By Kuyperian In Books, Culture, Politics, Theology, Wisdom Like

City of God: An August Enterprise

No man can be a good metropolitan if he loves his title but not his task

First Things contributor Collin Garbarino has started an admirable undertaking for the year ahead, and it’s not too late to join in the fun. Participants will be reading St. Augustine’s City of God over the course of a year. And a Facebook Page has been created for reading schedule updates, supporting commentary & readers’ notes, and group accountability. The group has amassed over 1300 participants to date.

Resources:

The Reading Schedule
http://collingarbarino.com/reading-city-of-god/

Translations & formats:

Book list from Amazon
(The moderator of the project is using the Penguin Classics translation)

A digital copy of the 1871 Dods Translation is in the public domain

As well as a Librivox audio version, if you’re into that sort of thing

On Augustine the Man:

An introduction

The Great Courses also has a course on Augustine: Philosopher & Saint (that periodically goes on sale)

There are also great lectures available at WordMP3 from Pastor Steve Wilkins‘ Church Fathers series and a lecture from Pastor Douglas Wilson to the ACCS

As well as Dr. George Grant on Augustine’s Theology of Wonder

Other Resources:

Dr. Peter J Leithart, Senior Fellow at New Saint Andrews College and President of of Trinity House Institute, has many articles about St. Augustine and his writings over at First Things

Mentalfloss will even help you fake your way through a conversation about St. Augustine

<>копирайтер спб

On January 11, 2014 By Adam McIntosh In Culture, Politics, Pro-Life Like

Liberal Jesus Strikes Again

Three weeks ago, Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson caused quite the controversy over his comments on homosexuality. Media and social networking sites were outraged. Robertson was called a homophobic bigot by critics while fans of the show supported Robertson by wearing camouflage to church and buying a lot of Dynasty merchandise. And as one might expect from a nationwide frenzy centered around the Bible and sexual ethics, it was only a matter of time before Liberal Jesus showed up.

What do I mean by “Liberal Jesus”? I’m talking about internet memes that paint Jesus as a pro-gay, pro-abort, long-haired, socialist hippie. These memes attempt to demonstrate just how stupid conservatives are for basing their views on the Bible when Jesus supposedly never advocated conservative views himself. I’ve addressed memes like this before (here and here), but I couldn’t resist saying something about the newest Liberal Jesus that popped up following the Duck Dynasty fiasco.

This meme (seen below) comes to us from comedian John Fugelsang, the guy who co-hosted America’s Funniest Home Videos in the late 90s. He’s no Danny Tanner, that’s for sure, and if this meme tells us anything, he’s no biblical scholar, either. (more…)

On December 25, 2013 By Adam McIntosh In Culture, Politics, Theology Like

Two Births of Jesus

One night in Nazareth, God became man in the virgin womb of Mary, a young lady betrothed to Joseph of Nazareth. Three trimesters later, Jesus was born on Christmas day. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes (Lk. 2:7). Gentile worshipers brought him gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Mt. 2:11). The infant’s life was threatened by an evil king, but he escaped death (Mt. 2:13-15).

Thirty-three years later, Jesus had his life threatened again by evil rulers (Mt. 26:65-68). Instead of escaping, he volunteered to die (Jn. 10:18). At his death in Jerusalem, Israelite worshipers prepared spices and oils for him (Lk. 23:55-56; Jn. 19:39-40). He was wrapped in fine linens and buried in a virgin tomb, a tomb owned by Joseph of Arimathea (Mt. 27:57-60; Lk. 23:53). Three days later, he was reborn on Easter Sunday.

As we celebrate the nativity of our Lord today, let us recall the glorious providence of God. Let us remember that not only does Christ’s first coming look forward to his second coming, but that his birth out of the womb foreshadows his birth out of the tomb. King Jesus conquered death and now sits on heaven’s throne. We join his mother in singing these words from the Magnificat: (more…)

On December 3, 2013 By Kuyperian In Culture, Politics, Scribblings, Wisdom Like

The Tip That Keeps on Giving

Information does tend to flow in trends through the social media conduits. For sheer lack of time, I find myself being fed ideas on what to think about in a given day, or what book to put on the reading list for the new year. And that’s okay, we tend to see what’s in front of us by design. Such is our need for community.

Of late, a bit of chatter that seemed to be recurrent in my November social feed troughs are several stories about the behavior of members of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ at the table. Not the communion table, mind you, but the local eatery. Said stories regard the practice of tipping of food servers. One article even asked, “what would Jesus tip?”

My wife and I have a long history of a debate that I lovingly refer to as “The Tip”. The Tip Debate began back before our eleven-year marriage. It even threatened said-marriage from ever materializing at one point in time. It caused me to seriously question my life decisions and God’s will in my life (Lord, forgive me but it’s the truth). In an effort to preserve the union, the Tip Debate has caused me to black list certain establishments wherein my wife has formerly been employed due to the unbearable dining experience of trying to enjoy a meal and maintain rare adult conversation while she leaves mid-sentence to go find the maitre d’ in order to report an observed insufficiency in staff performance. Yeah. It was a dark time.

An old friend, with what some would refer to as a sense of the humorous, had a propensity for the charming habit of placing a stack of brand new one dollar bills on the table, in plain view of the desperately stressed, over-worked and under-appreciated server. As the attendee would approach the table, my friend’s keen gaze would intensify and his hand would hover over the meager mound of moolah ^a. One wrong move, and he would swipe away one of the dollars with a relished drama. No tip for you!

I’m happy to report that today I am in a position to regard myself as somewhat of a good tipper, which is closer to where my wife wants me to be. All was well on that front.

But then these shysters in sheep’s clothing have to come along and stir up the coals of a long quelled discussion on proper tipping etiquette. The first to come to my attention was the story of Christian diners who left a “tip tract”. You’ve heard of these ingenious devices that turn the two-edged sword of the Word into a knife in the ribs? They consist of what appears to be a respectable tip – a tenner, a Jackson, a Benjamin, WHAT?!? – but once removed from the bill holder by the server, it is revealed to be a slight-of-hand Gospel witness all up in what was your momentarily excited face.

: Stupid Human Tricks

Another such instance of the golden tip was a tale circulating about Christian patrons who left no tip whatsoever. At least, not in monetary form. Rather, an explanatory note was left that read: Sorry, but I can’t tip as I do not agree with your lifestyle, Love you (emoticon winky, bemused, apologetic smileyface, tear). Treasures in heaven, y’all, which you will never enjoy because you won’t ever get there lest ye REPENT!!! And I’ll give you your pen back if you give me an extra mint (they’re wafer thin). Bill Maher couldn’t believe it ^b

The Internet Justice Brigade (IJB) wasted no time in exposing this story as false and discrediting the former Marine as a troubled soul with an instagram account and a history of conduct issues – reportedly. Wounded warrior indeed. Your chosen means can weaken your cause.

The story was then book-ended by a tale of the most bodacious tip ever left in the name of Christ. Customary gratuity is bush league to @TipsForJesus ^c. That’s one way to do that, steward. I hope you’re still giving thanks to YahWeh when the APR kicks in on that American Express. May we all aspire to such generosity at sports bars.

You know the kind of tipping story I’d like to read? One that mentions the vocational courses in Europe that can last as long as two years or more before restaurateurs will allow be-gloved servers to hit the floor and represent their brand. And how no one is entitled to an income just for showing up, especially if they cannot fulfill their job role in a satisfactory way that is equal to or greater than their agreed upon compensation. And I say that as a person who has worked in kitchens and on wait staffs, and stunk at it. Your relationship with Jesus may get you a job, but it’s still up to you to see it done.

I personally like the stories of innovators in the food industry who have raised their pay scales, done away with Darwinian tipping system, and won lifelong loyalty in customers (and employees) in doing so^d. Showing up again ought to be all the gratitude any of us require. A little extra expression of gratitude – a manifestation of appreciation in tangible means? Well, that’s straight gravy. Serve your neighbor as you would be served. Judge your neighbors service as your would have your service judged.

A little Capon is appropriate, I believe:

‘O Lord, refresh our sensibilities. Give us this day our daily taste. Restore to us soups that spoons will not sink in and sauces which are never the same twice. Raise up among us stews with more gravy than we have bread to blot it with, and casseroles that put starch and substance in our limp modernity. Take away our fear of fat, and make us glad of the oil which ran upon Aaron’s beard. Give us pasta with a hundred fillings, and rice in a thousand variations. Above all, give us grace to live as true folk – to fast till we come to a refreshed sense of what we have and then to dine gratefully on all that comes to hand. Drive far from us, O Most Bountiful, all creatures of air and darkness; cast out the demons that possess us; deliver us from the fear of calories and the bondage of nutrition; and set us free once more in our own land, where we shall serve thee as though hast blessed us – with the dew of heaven, the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine’. – Robert Farrar Capon, 1925-2013 ^e

<>поддержка а битрикс

from the Irish moll oir – pile of gold, Daniel Cassidy, How the Irish Invented Slang, 2007 (back)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/11/10/1254527/-MUST-SEE-Bill-Maher-BLASTS-selfish-Christian-hypocrites-who-don-t-tip-waiters# (back)
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/12/02/248245882/tipsforjesus-is-leaving-thousands-of-dollars-for-servers (back)
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/culturebox/2013/08/tipless_restaurants_the_linkery_s_owner_explains_why_abolishing_tipping.html (back)
The Supper of the Lamb: A Culinary Reflection (Garden City: Doubleday, 1969), 278 (back)

On November 16, 2013 By Kuyperian In Books, Politics Like

Democracy Promised, Dictatorship Provided

If you are a regular here at the KC blog, then you know full-well that I’ve been reading Rosenstock-Huessy’s Out of Revolution and enjoying it immensely. Although it is an 800 page book, he covers a lot of ground and, therefore, must move along quite rapidly. Often, he presumes upon the reader to already know the basics of the history he’s interpreting. As I read, he progressed through the 2nd Russian Revolution too quickly for me. I got lost in the details. So, I decided to learn more.

In my research to acquire more info on the Russian Revolution, I came across the historian Richard Pipes. It turns out that everyone had heard of him except me. Sometimes that happens. Anyway, Richard Pipes is the Baird Professor of History, Emeritus, at Harvard University. He’s one of the foremost scholars on Russian communism, such that in 1992 he was called as an “expert witness in the Russian Constitutional Court’s trial against the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.”

The book I’m reading now, Communism: A History, is 160 pages long. His Concise History of the Russian Revolution is about 400 pages long, and the non-concise version comes in 3 volumes. So, if you’re interested in finding out more about 19th and 20th Century Russian history, Richard Pipes is a solid place to start.

I would love to entice some of you to order, and subsequently read, more about 20th Century communism. The parallels between communism, fascism, and the democratic-socialism currently being preached from DC’s legislative and executive pulpits are much too similar to be accidental. Now would be a great time to buy a Richard Pipes book and assign it to your high-schoolers. Better yet, read through it with them. You have a first-hand experience with the Cold War and the fall of the regime. Pass along what you know. Show them what “Utopia” looks like if you start with man and end with man. Utopia looks like famine, murder, and despair. Tens of millions of people were murdered in the pursuit of this atheistic ideal. Don’t miss the chance to put the bad taste of communism in their mouth before some freshman English teacher at the local junior college tries to teach them otherwise.

Here’s a quote from Communism: A History, chapter 2, “Leninism”:

The coup took place on November 7 (1917) when pro-Bolshevik units took over the capital without firing a shot. There was some fighting in Moscow, but in the rest of the country the transition proceeded quite smoothly. Lenin later said that taking power in Russia was as easy as “lifting a feather.” The reason was that he had cleverly camouflaged the seizure of power by himself and his party as the transfer of “all power to the soviets,” which slogan promised grassroots democracy rather than dictatorship. Even Lenin’s socialist rivals, who suspected his intentions, were not terribly upset, convinced that a Bolshevik one-party dictatorship could not possibly last and would soon yield to a socialist coalition. They preferred to let him exercise power for a while rather than unleash civil war that would only benefit the ‘counterrevolution.’

As it turned out, the Bolsheviks would stay in power for seventy-four years. Communism thus did not come to Russia as the result of a popular uprising: it was imposed on her from above by a small minority hiding behind democratic slogans. This salient fact was to determine its course. (emphasis mine)

Democracy promised. Dictatorship provided.

The up-and-coming generation will probably not get a course in communism from their high school curriculum. You’re going to need to show them.

You can order the book here.

Here are some of my previous quotes and thoughts on Marxism and communism on KC:

Your Weekly Dose of Rosenstock

Paul Johnson on Karl Marx

Rosenstock-Huessy on Tolstoi and Dostoevski

Lincoln, Lenin, Roosevelt, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Obama

<>site купить продвижение а

On November 5, 2013 By Joffre Swait In Culture, Politics Like

The New Kingdom Almanac: Guy Fawkes Fires Light Our History

by Joffre Swait

Here at Kuyperian Commentary we go from strength to strength, marking one holiday after another, processing through the year beset on all sides by significance, meaning, and the weight of history.

Today is another holiday. It is Guy Fawkes Day.

Remember, remember the fifth of November, the Gunpowder treason and plot!

This is the day the English celebrate the foiling of a plot to blow up parliament in 1605.

I have never celebrated Guy Fawkes Day, but I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t aware of it; my mother had been educated at a British school and had painted vivid images of bonfires and burnings in effigy. Seemed like a pretty cool holiday. I mean, fire.

This is not a call for you to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day rightly. It is not a call for you to celebrate it at all. But today would be a good occasion for Kuyperians, we who wear the Orange, to recall our own shared heritage and history, and perhaps to look forward. As we see it, there’s no need to engage in the Girardian scapegoating of burning a Guy in effigy.

As the Ecclesia Semper Reformanda, who just observed Reformation Day on All Hallows Eve, we like to remember their doctrines and old books, but are sometimes guilty of being weak on our own history that solidified them as a people – a forgetfulness that has helped to fragment us.

As much as Guy Fawkes has become a political icon, especially as a symbol for anarchism (would you care to purchase an Anonymous/wikileaks Guy Fawkes Libertarian/revolution Hacker Anarchy T‑shirt?), the Gunpowder Plot was not simply a political plot. It was a plot by Roman Catholics to install a Catholic monarch.

Now, most American Christians who are aware of the holiday or the Plot know that Fawkes was Catholic. But he wasn’t just Catholic.

Guy Fawkes was part of a struggle between Protestants and Catholics that engulfed most of Europe and traveled with the Europeans to the Americas. Guy Fawkes was a soldier. He became a soldier not by joining an English army. Fawkes went to Holland, where the Dutch were fighting for independence from the Spanish Empire. That war is not often called the Dutch War of Independence, but the Eighty Years’ War. This was an epic struggle. It was a war between Roman Catholics and Protestants. Not simply a war that happened to be between “Catholic” and “Reformed” belligerents, but a war that was about their Roman-ness and Protestant-ness. Guy Fawkes made his way over to the Low Countries specifically because he wanted to fight Protestants. Then he brought the fight home. This was common on both sides (Sir Philip Sydney was a kick-ass knight of Protestantism who could write a mean poem – he died of a wound taken on a Dutch battlefield).

The Roman Catholic Church, his Most Catholic Majesty of the Spanish Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, and many popish powers and principalities were wishing and willing to exterminate Protestants. To us, this ought not be just bare historical fact. If we are Reformed, we ought to embrace that history as our own. Thirty years before Fawkes the Huguenot Protestants were driven underground and out of France. After the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, they were scattered to the four winds of the world. Wherever they settled, if the Catholic powers found them, they were exterminated. Unless they settled in English territory.

The orange in the flag of today’s Catholic Ireland is there because of English involvement in the Eighty Years’ War. If you don’t know how, I’ll let you play the wikipedia game to figure it out. Scotland gets involved too. All of Western Europe and North America was involved.

What is all this to say? That we Protestants are enemies of the Catholics? No. Those days are gone. All this is to say that Protestant and Reformed history goes beyond Reformation Day. We’re not just about 95 Theses. We’re about everything that came before, and everything that came after. Perhaps you identify with the Covenanters, or the Oxford Martyrs, Sir Francis Drake and the Spanish Armada, or William of Orange. There are many streams.

We tend to identify ourselves by our theological stream. But do you know who else was alive, or what deeds were being done, when your favorite theologians were writing? When we think of the Reformation, we should not only think of the dissemination of theologies, but of the mustering of armies, the flight of refugees, the building of ships, and the plottings of assassinations. It is more salutary to get our identity from our history, than our theology. It is from our history that we gain perspective, growth, and forgiveness. I would even dare to say that history plays a greater role than theology in helping us trust God. What is better in trusting God than knowing how he has cared for his people through every age?

I don’t celebrate Guy Fawkes Day, really. I’m not English. But I kind of dig it. I’ve decided that it’s part of my history, not only by blood, but by Christian identity. And yes, unlike many Reformed, I identify more with the English than with the Scots or the Dutch. Here’s what I ask of you: know where you come from, what your stream is. Find out its history, not just its theology.

Your children should not see your theology as something you picked off an a la carte menu, even though for a lot of Americans, including me, it definitely feels that way. Assume the entire mantle of your theology, and let it cover you in its history.

This is not a call for you to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day rightly. It’s not a call for you to celebrate it at all. But today would be a good occasion for Kuyperians, we who wear the Orange, to recall our heritage and history, and to look forward to making more.

The Fifth of November (c. 1870)

Remember, remember!
The fifth of November,
The Gunpowder treason and plot;
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot!
Guy Fawkes and his companions
Did the scheme contrive,
To blow the King and Parliament
All up alive.
Threescore barrels, laid below,
To prove old England’s overthrow.
But, by God’s providence, him they catch,
With a dark lantern, lighting a match!
A stick and a stake
For King James’s sake!
If you won’t give me one,
I’ll take two,
The better for me,
And the worse for you.
A rope, a rope, to hang the Pope,
A penn’orth of cheese to choke him,
A pint of beer to wash it down,
And a jolly good fire to burn him.
Holloa, boys! holloa, boys! make the bells ring!
Holloa, boys! holloa boys! God save the King!
Hip, hip, hooor-r-r-ray!

<>узнать тиц а

On November 1, 2013 By Joffre Swait In Culture, Politics Like

Outlaw Porn Billboards

by Joffre Swait

My wife and I were married at a beautiful bed and breakfast in the small and historic town of Micanopy, Florida, just a few miles south of Gainesville, where we met. Micanopy is a charming little town, the sort where you stop in to go antiquing on Saturdays, or where you might brunch before a little visit to Payne’s Prairie.

Alas that no one in Florida knows that Micanopy. Because what Micanopy really is is Cafe Risque. Like a pornographic South of the Border, I-75 for miles in either direction as one approaches Micanopy is dotted with billboards letting truckers and general citizens know that a world of greasy and tawdry delights awaits them at exit 374.

The edifice pictured here is not Cafe Risque. This is where we were married…the Herlong Mansion. Are you being serious right now? “Herlong”? Yes.

_____________________________________

Of the several grocery chains in our area, Bi-Lo is the shadiest, and you can see it in the check-out aisles. Few grocery stores in the area exercise what I think would be the common courtesy of covering up the Cosmo magazines at the check-out, but Bi-Lo is the worst about shoving them right in your face.

The thought that my nine-year-old daughter might be consistently exposed to the sort of misogyny embodied in desperate headlines like “25 Orgasm Tricks That Couples Love” displeases me. I would love to see more grocery store chains adopt policies of covering up those magazines. Ideally, of course, they wouldn’t sell that type of sad pornography for women, but I realize that’s asking the moon.

It would only take enacting a policy. Whatever private company decided to be consistent about such a policy would likely become my new favorite grocery store.

And certainly no one would argue with a private business’ right to choose such a policy.

_____________________________________

I detest federal centralization. I’m all about local representation and a small federal government. I mean, come on, I’m Presbyterian. Even my church polity is about decentralization. The South was right on constitutional grounds…it was a War of Northern Aggression. Lincoln was The Great Centralizer, our Constitution is broken, and now the country’s poorer for it.

Have I established my rabid and crazed anti-federal and anti-centralization radical bona fides? I hope so, because I’m about to get all anti-libertarian on you.

I want city and county governments to make pornographic billboards illegal. GASP! Surely you don’t mean that! Those billboards are on private property!

How wonderful to live in a society with a (at least somewhat) representational government. And that government does not solely exist to keep people off each other and allow them go about their private business. A libertarian thinks that building codes are ridiculous; I think that federal building codes are ridiculous. It’s quite wise of a city or county to make sure no one comes in and starts building and selling really crappy houses to their people. At which point some libertarians say caveat emptor and I ask them to go read Rand by themselves in their selfish little corners.

I am not a libertarian because of Cafe Risque. Or, more appropriately for me now that we’ve moved, because of Bedtyme Stories near Blacksburg, SC.

Cafe Risque is actually outside the city limits of Micanopy, which is why it can do what it does. Still, I would love to see the county take care of the problem (yes, I know it won’t because of moneymoneymoney).

The goal of our Constitution was to have minimal federal government.Nothing wrong with a more robust and virile government at town, county, and state levels. In fact, I think that would help in dealing with the federal government. Does this mean that I long for a piling on upon a piling on of laws? No. But I would like Christians to consider being less resentful of the only governments God has put over them that are immediately representational: local government. Of course, most never vote in local elections because they’re busy talking about the evils of Democrats and the Fed.

We have to many laws and too many codes at every level of government. That doesn’t mean we reject all government. The solution is not some principle that rejects the whole package. The solution is the hard work of doing it right. The State exists and is (“Alas”, we think to ourselves) ordained by God. If we have anything to say about the State, it is that it must not be the Leviathan it wishes to be, but that it has a place on the earth. We musn’t abstract government into some sub-category of a sacred meta-concept like Private Property or The Right to Trade.

_____________________________________

Am I suggesting that we legislate morality?

Of course. Is there something else a law is?

Originally posted at Joffre the Giant.<>стоимость а москва

On October 29, 2013 By Kuyperian In Culture, Politics, Theology, Wisdom, Worship Like

The KC Team: What’s in a Name? Abraham Kuyper

“On this day in 1907,” writes George Grant, “the entire nation of the Netherlands celebrated the seventieth birthday of Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920). A national proclamation recognized that “the history of the Netherlands, in Church, in State, in Society, in Press, in School, and in the Sciences the last forty years, cannot be written without the mention of his name on almost every page, for during this period the biography of Dr. Kuyper is to a considerable extent the history of the Netherlands.”

To celebrate the birthday of this titanic figure in history, we, Kuyperian Commentators, would like to tell you briefly what we have learned from this giant of history who called us to see the Lordship of Jesus over all things.

Kuyper turned my world upside down! Not only did he engage every sphere of life with a joyful passion, but he provided the intellectual tools to develop a compelling narrative of the Christian Gospel. —Uri Brito, Founder of Kuyperian Commentary.

Kuyper was a man who refused to abandon God’s covenantal blessings in any area of life. We are the heirs of this Kuyperian vision of incarnational theology. That by Christ’s death salvation has come to all men, giving us dominion over death, and all creation has been made new. This is the Gospel. May we live as Kuyper describes here: ” instead of monastic flight from the world the duty is now emphasized of serving God in the world, in every position in life.” — Steve Macias, Kuyperian Commentary Contributor

“The spheres of the world may each have an earthly head, but those heads are all subject to the one sovereign, the Lord Jesus Christ.” — Luke Andrew Welch, Contributor

Kuyper made me more conscious of my tendency to abstract spiritual matters, instead of applying them. A common problem, I know, but Kuyper was the kick in the pants that this guy needed. — Joffre Swait, Contributor

Abraham Kuyper’s life drives me to dream bigger than I feel I ought, and then take one step toward that goal, even if it’s a small one. And then another. And then another. He was a living, breathing, long-suffering, succeeding example of Calvinism at work: an unswerving faith in God’s good plan and an unrelenting struggle to take every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ. —Marc Hays, Contributor

Some of my favorite Kuyper quotes and paraphrases:

“Never forget that all state relief for the poor is a blot on the honor of your savior. The fact that the government needs a safety net to catch those who would slip between the cracks of our economic system is evidence that I have failed t…o do God’s work. The government cannot take the place of Christian charity. A loving embrace isn’t given with food stamps. The care of a community isn’t provided with government housing. The face of our Creator can’t be seen on a welfare voucher. What the poor need is not another government program; what they need is for Christians like me to honor our savior.” ~ Abraham Kuyper, The Problem of Poverty

“If you see a thing, you are called to it.” ^a

“A Christian culture is established through the education of a Christian populace. You cannot teach mathematics apart from God because math implies order, and God is the creator of order.”

“In the midst of corruptions, your duty as an equipped disciple of Christ is to always seek to uphold that which is honorable, that which is lovely and that which is of good report among mankind.”

“Kuyper’s desire for the Netherlands was that the nation would revive and persevere in its Calvinistic heritage with its doctrine of limited government that respects the autonomy of all spheres of authority and thereby guarantees the freedom of its citizens. ” ~ James McGoldrick ^b
— Aaron W Eley, editor and contributor

What has the work of the Holy Spirit through Abraham Kuyper meant in your life?

<>в топ