Followers Of Entities Instead of Principles

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Posted on 19th September 2012 by Administrator in Economy |Politics |Social Issues

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The latest from our friend Harry P at his great website – http://thestrangestbrew.com/

 

Followers Of Entities Instead of Principles

– September 19, 2012
 
I read this Aldous Huxley quote on TBP:

One of the great attractions of patriotism – it fulfills our worst wishes. In the person of our nation we are able, vicariously, to bully and cheat. Bully and cheat, what’s more, with a feeling that we are profoundly virtuous. Aldous Huxley

And then I read Will Grigg’s article below.  It hit me like a railroad spike driven from a electromagnetic “rail-gun.”

There are many discouragings things at work here but there is one realization that is overwhelming (to me atleast). 

People do not follow principles, morals or ideas, they are followers and worshippers of other men/groups. 

I am finding it more and more sad each day when I see the blind worhip of the church-religions (catholicism, judaism, islam etc…) or the worship of the entity of “the state” (which is how patriotism is defined nowadays).  People are constantly looking for a “leader” to bring them to the promised land.  This is found in almost all aspects I see.  Whether through seeking salvation in the afterlife, comfort in this life or so they can find meaning in their current existence.  They seek approval and assurance, much like a lap dog.

I spent much of my elementary and highschool years at a catholic school but am not what most would consider a practicing catholic because I rarely go to a service.  Does this make me a bad person or even a bad Christian?  What makes you catholic; mindless chanting in unison, unwavering support to a criminal entity or actually following the teachings of the prophet/savior/god of your religion?

Whether Jesus was the “Son of God” or not is irrelevant, he was a good man who preached his philosophy.  Jesus preached non-violence and to respect your fellow man, voluntary cooperation, the Golden Rule.  It matters not the color of their skin, their religious choices or what natural resources they have in the ground beneath them.  I accept him as a true libertarian.

Are you a supporter of aggressive war?  Are you a person who justifies what the Catholic church has been caught doing to adolescent boys in recent years?  Do you believe that coercion is “good” as long as you recognize the entity doing it as “good?”  If you are this means you have situational ethics.  This means you lack principle and have a poor understanding of the word “good.”

I see this countless times in politics, even in the “freedom movement.”  Ron Paul has had my support during the last 2 election cycles, but I am not a worshipper.  I do not blindly follow what he dictates.  He is a man of unwavering principle and I am a supporter of his ideals because those ideals are grounded in the NAP (non-aggression principle); not because they were uttered from his mouth.  This is painstaking for me to say, but I definately can’t say that about many of his supporters; they are missing his point.  A man can die, but an idea can be immortal.

Is the morality of an activity defined by who the person/group committing it and their supposed “standing” or is it the person/group’s morality that is defined by the activities they choose to commit?

 

If This is “Christian Patriotism”….

by William Grigg

Bob Revere is the Mayor of Mount Columbus, a one-stoplight town in the Rocky Mountains. As a young man, Bob fought in the Vietnam War. He was proud to see his only son, Tom, enlist in the Army, but ambivalent when the 20-year-old was sent to fight overseas. Those misgivings were amplified by the fact that Tom was newly married, and his wife Kari was expecting the couple’s first child.
Just weeks before Tom’s first combat tour was to end, the Revere family (which by that time included Kari and the newborn grandchild, Christian) was visited by a U.S. Army Notification Team. This is how Kari learned that she was a widow. Driven by grief from her hometown, Kari relocates to California to raise Christian as a single mother.
Fourteen years later, Kari and Christian return to Mount Columbus. The young man is understandably determined to learn why he had never known his father.
“What did my Dad die for, Bob?” Christian asks his grandfather.
“That’s what happens in war,” is Bob’s quietly evasive reply.
“No – I mean why did he die?” Christian persists.
That question leads Bob Revere to ponder the perverse inversion of nature described by Herodotus: “In peace, sons bury their fathers; in war, fathers bury their sons.” Why is it, as he comments to a friend, that young men and women are dying overseas, yet “our rights are being taken away, one by one”? He concludes that the country he loves is descending into tyranny because “we’re letting it happen.”
 
This epiphany motivates Bob to take an inventory of his convictions. He had often pondered the irony that the freedoms he once enjoyed are evaporating despite “the sacrifices of those who fight for our country.” Now he understands why James Madison described war as the most dreadful of all enemies of liberty, and warned that “no nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”
Most importantly to him, Bob suddenly understands that the reflexive jingoism of many American Christians brings disrepute to the faith they profess, and the Name of the Lord they revere.
“Have you ever noticed that the mere mention of ‘Jesus’ nowadays seems to rub people the wrong way?” Bob muses to a friend. “Well, I’m very tired of not standing up for what I believe in.”
 
“I had been a coward – passive, and even selfish,” Bob reflects. “I had kept thinking about my son. Now is the time to honor his sacrifice.”
 
The most appropriate way to honor Tom, Bob decides, is to become a peacemaker. He commits to living the Golden Rule both as a private individual and, as Mayor of Mount Columbus, in his public capacity. Those who follow Jesus of Nazareth cannot commit or condone aggressive violence.
 
For the first time, Bob understands that it is obscene for American Christians to send their sons overseas to kill people who have never harmed or threatened us in any way. He begins to speak out in opposition to Washington’s wars abroad and its escalating assault on what remains of liberty at home.
 
Invoking the ancient Christian principle of sanctuary, and the Jeffersonian principle of interposition, Bob announces that Mount Columbus will be a refuge for members of the U.S. military who, for reasons of conscience, refuse to participate in criminal aggression overseas. He also makes it clear that his municipal government – including its police department — will not cooperate with the enforcement of the USA PATRIOT Act, the “indefinite detention” provisions of the NDAA, or any of the myriad enactments through which the regime in Washington is making war on the American people.
 
Predictably, this attracts the attention of the media, and provokes severe official reprisals. Bob is fired by the City Council. The charity mission his family runs is shut down by the health department for contrived and patently bogus reasons. After making an impassioned public speech from the roof of his shuttered mission, Tom is led away in handcuffs and spends Christmas in jail.
Bob Revere is the central character in the new film “Last Ounce of Courage.”
 
 
The foregoing quotes attributed to Bob were taken directly from the film, in which the character takes what we’re told is a heroic stand against the secularization of Christmas.
 
We’re invited to believe that a small-town mayor who sets up a huge Christmas tree in the town square, and puts a large cross inscribed with the phrase “Jesus Saves” on a rescue mission that he owns, would provoke a national scandal and wind up disgraced, thrown out of office, and behind bars.
 
Much of the film is a melodramatic riff on the “War on Christmas” theme promoted by Fox News blatherskite Bill O’Reilly (who has a cameo). It’s true there are people associated with the puritanical Left who would love to use the power of the State to extirpate Christmas celebrations – just as their counterparts on the statist Right would make such observances mandatory.
 
In the universe we inhabit, however, there is no way that a mayor who behaved as Bob Revere did in the film would have the kind of trouble he experienced. That kind of treatment, however, would quickly befall a mayor who acted on his Christian faith by confronting the Warfare State. In fact, as a recent essay in Small Wars Journal illustrates, the Pentagon is preparing mount a full-spectrum military onslaught against any municipality that rebels against the imperial Capital. A real-life Bob Revere who became a genuine Christian statesman would quickly be designated an “unlawful enemy combatant” and murdered by way of a drone strike.
 
If the producers of “Last Ounce of Courage” had been interested in creating an authentic drama, rather than a risible work of militarist agitprop, they could have told the story of Rev. Clarence Waldron, a theologically conservative Christian whose real-life sufferings were at once similar to, and much worse than, those experienced by the fictional Mayor Bob Revere.
 
In October 1917, the execrable Woodrow Wilson, had managed to maneuver the U.S. into World War I, commanded churches across the nation to commemorate an event called “Liberty Loan Sunday,” during which collection plates would be circulated to gather a war offering on behalf of the government.
 
 
 
At the time, Waldron was pastor of the First Baptist Church in Windsor, Vermont. Like many other theologically conservative Protestants, Waldron was devoutly opposed to American involvement in the European war.
 
To his eternal credit, Waldron defied Wilson’s demand that he decorate the sanctuary of his church in the imperial colors and sing the “Star-Spangled Banner.” Rather than offering a homily on the supposed virtues of state-licensed murder, Waldron preached the Christian gospel. The offering taken in his congregation was used to provide for the ministry and the needs of the poor.
 
The consequences for Waldron’s peaceful non-cooperation were swift, predictable, and severe.
 
As Vermont historian Mark Bushnell relates, following the service a mob swarmed Waldron in front of the church and forced him to swaddle himself in the flag and sing the National Anthem.
Shortly thereafter, Waldron was evicted from his position as pastor, in large measure because of suspicions regarding his “loyalty” to the “god” revered by adherents of the Social Gospel — the American State.
In December 1917, Waldron – who had never committed a crime against anybody — was indicted by a federal grand jury for violating the Espionage Act. Passed the previous June, that measure imposed prison terms of up to 20 years for any act or statement perceived as willfully obstructing “the recruiting or enlistment service of the U.S.”
The specification against Waldron was that “he had once been heard to say ‘to hell with patriotism.’” As Waldron admitted on the stand, he had uttered those words — in condemnation of Kaiser Wilhelm’s regime in Germany.
“If this is patriotism,” a disgusted Waldron had told his acquaintances after describing Wilhelmine Germany, “to hell with patriotism.”
Waldron was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison, eventually serving a little more than a year behind bars. Of the roughly 1,000 Americans convicted under the World War I Espionage and Sedition Acts, Waldron was the first to be imprisoned exclusively for his religious beliefs.
 
Veritas Entertainment Company, which produced “Last Ounce of Courage,” describes itself as committed to the promotion of “Family, Faith, and Freedom.” Wouldn’t a production company claiming that high and noble calling be interested in dramatizing the official persecution of Rev. Waldron? Probably not, given that Veritas – like the Megachurch-centered variant of Protestantism that produced it – is devoted to evangelizing on behalf of the Warfare State.
 
 
In the April 26, 1917 issue of Christian Century – published shortly after war was declared on Germany – contained the following lines composed by William P. Merrill that encapsulate the bellicose nationalism of “Progressive Christianity”:
 
The strength of the State we’ll lavish on more, than making of wealth and making of war; We are learning at last, though the lesson comes late, That the making of man is the task of the State.
“Last Ounce of Courage” is advertised as a Christian film. In fact, it promotes a variety of pagan nationalism similar to that peddled by Kaiser Wilhelm’s government. To understand this cynical bait-and-switch, it’s useful to examine the film’s final act.
 
Bob’s grandson, Christian, and several other high school-age students decide to sabotage the secularized Winter Play, a genuinely bizarre opus involving a visitation by space aliens. Without informing their drama teacher – whose elongated sibilants and fey manner make him a stereotype worthy of “The Producers” – the students stage an unauthorized dramatization of the Christmas Story from the Book of Luke.
 
After the rebellious students recite the familiar Christmas benediction “Peace on earth, good will to men,” Christian strides onto the stage and introduces the last video postcard his father had sent from Iraq, which is projected on a large screen.
 
“The people over here can’t even celebrate Christmas,” Tom insists by way of explaining why he had left his wife and son to wage war on the other side of the globe. (No mention is made, naturally, of the role played by the U.S. Government in fomenting the persecution of Christians in the Middle East.) As Tom attests that his mission has been worth the suffering he and his family endured, he is killed on camera by an artillery strike.
After Christian brings out a United States flag, the same audience that had greeted the Nativity play with mild amusement and sedate enthusiasm rose to its feet in tribute to his father’s sacrifice.
 
This moment, which plays like a communion service, encapsulates the moral message of the film: The “true” meaning of Christmas is found not in Christ’s promise of redemption from sin, but in the supposedly redemptive violence carried out by the armed emissaries of the Imperial State. Permanent war is our natural condition; killing and dying on behalf of the State is the highest and holiest calling.
 
“Last Ounce of Courage” is targeted at Republican-aligned Evangelicals who insist that Islam is a doctrine of warfare disguised as a religion. On the evidence of this film one would be led to believe that this description applies to Christianity. The film could be considered a photographic negative of “Joyeux Noel,” the exquisite French film depicting the 1914 Christmas Truce. Its core audience – assuming it finds one – would be the kind of pious, church-going militarists who booed Ron Paul’s invocation of the Golden Rule during last January’s Republican presidential debate in South Carolina.
 
To paraphrase Rev. Waldron: If this is Christian patriotism, to hell with it.
 
original article can be found here.
 
10 Comments

  1. GJH says:

    Good stuff Harry P

    My favorite line: “Bob suddenly understands that the reflexive jingoism of many American Christians brings disrepute to the faith they profess.”

    I’ve also come to the conclusion you have: “People do not follow principles, morals or ideas, they are followers and worshippers of other men/groups.”

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 0

    19th September 2012 at 12:29 pm

  2. TeresaE says:

    It just makes me so sad. So very sad.

    We have jailed men for refusing to subjugate and torture other men. For following the golden rule.

    And, we believe we are “free” and that loyalty to the government is our duty.

    How messed up is that.

    So many Americans think that we are “God Blessed” and “Chosen” and “Special.”

    All I think is, ‘Really?!?’ What part of spitting on Jesus and his teaching makes us the most special or blessed?

    What part of behaving in exactly the SAME bloodthirsty ways makes us chosen?

    Sad, just simply sad. The Fred Reed article flash has been linking too covers exactly this idea. Worth the quick read.

    Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 10 Thumb down 0

    19th September 2012 at 12:37 pm

  3. Yojimbo says:

    It reminds of the video I posted and how the man says over and over that we are “blessed”.

    Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 0

    19th September 2012 at 12:43 pm

  4. harry p. says:

    Yojimbo,
    Are you talking about that Bill Cook video about grilling and disagreeing but we’re still “free”?

    That video pissed me off for a few hours and I thought about including it in this post.

    Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 0

    19th September 2012 at 12:57 pm

  5. John Angelo says:

    If this post was the last thing I ever got to share with the folks on TBP, it’d be the following:

    First, a few short quotes from the New Testament in relation to Admin’s commentary on this article. The following is what some of you may be familiar with as the “Romans Road”. The book of Romans was written in said city by the Apostle Paul circa 60 AD.

    “Everyone has sinned and falls short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23

    “The wages of our sin is death.” Romans 6:23a

    “However, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23b

    “God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

    “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you’ll be saved. It’s with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it’s with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:9-13

    I consider it a privilege to share who Jesus with anyone who’s interested. I’m not here to convict, convince, or convert, just to share. Sharing this is born out of a love for seeing the best for others. Faith in Jesus has guaranteed me a glorious future and I’d want the same for those reading this. The salvation spoken of in the above verses is a gift of grace from God available to us all and thankfully we don’t have to DO anything to receive but believe.

    Jesus’ “kingdom” is different than any government, religion, business, or system of this world, regardless of what others have tried to make it over the past 2,000 years. Unfortunately “Christianity” and “Jesus” have become loaded terms that raise the hairs on many people’s necks and can be filled with negative connotations. A lot of bad things have been done under the guise of “Jesus.” I don’t consider Jesus to be a “religion.” Jesus came to give us a *relationship* with God. The awesome thing is, anyone can have a unique relationship with Jesus without conforming to how the world tells us to do it. It’s a relationship of unconditional love. I’ll always have room to learn and grow. I’ll still make mistakes as a Christ follower, but he loves me unconditionally and I hope everyone getting to read this gets the chance to experience that unconditional love both on earth and in eternity.

    You know what attracted me to TBP? Jim (Admin) sees what’s going on in our country (and our world) is leading to serious trouble and he has a burden on his heart to warn, inform, and prepare others. I believe the Lord has uniquely used Jim’s time and talents to be a good resource to us all. I’m thankful for the benefit we’ve received from this site and for the ability to share my faith with you. I’ll leave you with the traditional way I end my letters:

    All my best and God’s blessings to each of you.

    Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 1

    19th September 2012 at 1:39 pm

  6. AWD says:

    “People do not follow principles, morals or ideas, they are followers and worshippers of other men/groups.”

    People don’t follow morals, principles, or ideas any longer but they once did. Then came the baby boomers, and destroyed all the positive morals, values, ethics, and spirit of this country. The women’s movement dissolved the family unit, which is completely meaningless now. The civil rights movement, instead of leading to equality, lead to an entitlement mindset, institutionalized victimhood, quotas, affirmative action, and the $16 trillion in welfare spending as slave reparations. Boomers, and LBJ “the great society” and Nixon “started the DEA and the drug war”, and “took us off the gold standard”, destroyed our country. Once values, morals, ethics, and spirit are destroyed, and love of country turns to hatred of country, as the boomers profess to this day, we were doomed, and there’s no trade-backs. RIP.

    People worship money above all else. People will always be duped by religious leaders. Religion has always been men controlling other men, hence my favorite quote:

    “Don’t blame GOD for religion”

    Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 11 Thumb down 1

    19th September 2012 at 1:54 pm

  7. Ron says:

    Christanity has a problem,mankind. I find my interest in the church waining but My faith in God is the same.
    Unless someone is attacking our country directly im not interested.Im for pulling out of the middle east completely.Develope our own oil and natural gas,here. If a war is so needed declare it and have a draft to help support it.Fight to win and leave,dont rebuild countrys.
    I see the fear and evil that pervades our society as people get angry at the mere mention of jesus or God. My experience is the majority of non christians are the ones causing all the problems.Little morals or values.When the SHTF in the usa its not christians im going to have problems with. My opinion anyhow.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 1

    19th September 2012 at 2:29 pm

  8. GJH says:

    AWD – Boomers. I’m sure we agree that they don’t deserve, nor will they get, anwhere near what they think they have coming in SS, etc.

    But putting all the blame on boomers strikes me as empty. If an abstraction like a generation is the root cause, then there’s really nothing to be done.

    I’ll put the blame on the oligarchs, as well as human nature and long-term cycles.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 0

    19th September 2012 at 5:35 pm

  9. flash says:

    Harry P,
    God didn’t build this, but did allow it with a dire consequences spelled out.

    He also warned against dragging his holy name down into the mucky filth of political and personal ambition.

    “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.”

    1 Samuel 8
    6 But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. 8 As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. 9 Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”

    10 Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle[c] and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

    19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”

    21 When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the Lord. 22 The Lord answered, “Listen to them and give them a king.”

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0

    19th September 2012 at 6:13 am

  10. flash says:

    GJH – AWD is a self-loathing boomer.

    He said once slipped up and said he was 18 in 1976 which would have him birthed in ’58.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    19th September 2012 at 6:15 am

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