Alright, so I have had as many problems with the God-squad as the rest of us in the West. Paedo priests, woke churches, kumbaya nonsense, appeasers of corrupt governments, logical contradictions, unprovable claims, etc.
Yet(!), after two years of pseudo-one-world-governance and stay-at-home orders in the UK, I can’t help but feel the absence of our Christian soldiers. Where were the Knights Templar to protect the down-trodden pilgrims? Even if we were only making our weary way to the municipal swimming pool, or the local gardening store?
That’s why I’ve started writing. I allowed myself to comply for too long. I thought I could hide in plain sight, and ride it out. But, it is now time to nail my colours to the mast, come what may.
We were disarmed, my friends. They turned our own homes into an open-air Gulag. The armour of philosophy and the sword of truth were taken from us by a cruel and howling mob. A mob led by people in power who believe that whatever they do is for the ‘greater’ good, because ‘they are the good’.
Well, I’m here to tell you, they are not good. And you are not insane to think that the world has taken a wrong turn recently.
This Easter, I have experienced something of a revelation. One that has given me relief and comfort. I saw the eternal struggle between good and evil revealed, through the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection. In parallel, I saw the same story being acted out around me. We have seen the crucifixion of the truth, and our culture, for two years. And it continues.
The Crucifixion
So here’s the story. Everyone’s favourite Jewish joiner goes around Palestine. He tells the people that they don’t need to pay money to banksters or rabbis to get into heaven. They shouldn’t pay any more attention to Caesar than they absolutely have to. And that the tax collector is not here to bring you salvation.
You don’t need approval from ‘experts’, no. You can find morality yourself. Through Jesus’ words. No permission slip from earthly authorities required.
Jesus stands trial for Hate Speech and is promptly cancelled.
And, yet, through his act of voluntary self-sacrifice, we can see a hero for all time. One who sacrifices himself, not others, for the greater good.
His example shakes the ancient world to its core. Ultimately ending the heroic culture of antiquity, where every story is a revenge tale and the moral is ‘might is right.’
Rome falls, and the Roman Christians move into the Basilicas. There they don the purple robes of state left empty across Europe, and form the Roman Catholic church. The empire lives on, but not as we knew it.
The resurrection happened.
We have been shown the power of a life, and a death, that embodies integrity to the end. And we still live with the results of his actions today.
Is it real?
You should watch the excellent film called, A Case for Christ, on Prime Video this weekend. It shows how the resurrection story meets the highest standards of verification possible. It’s a great film. Almost as good as Mr Rogers, or Arthur Christmas.
But even if you don’t buy the story as true, I urge you to consider it metaphorically. Don’t like the magic in the bible? Understand, that there is a reason Jesus had to have magical powers. That was so that when he went to his death, you know he did it voluntarily.
The point is that consent is one of the highest virtues. And one of the most powerful. Something our modern leadership seem to have completely abandoned.
He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. Hebrews 9:12 ESV
One of the things I was angriest about when I looked back on my childhood, was my religious education. Not the study of it, exactly. We never sat and read the books. Up to the second year of high school, we learned religion from state-licensed socialists. They gave us their questions, and their answers, without any real dialogue. Looking back, the table was set by Marxists, before we were even asked if we were hungry.
Religion was always presented as a sedative for losers with nothing better going on in their lives. Something akin to UFO fanatics, or bigfoot spotters. Not, as it turns out to be, the foundation of our morality, legal system, culture, and the power that conquered Rome.
The question of whether religion is ‘real’ or not is one thing I love about Jordan Peterson. His presentation of biological evolution alongside religious mythology, in particular. It answers the chicken and the egg question quite nicely. (FYI, These are often not the rhetorical questions people claim. Dinosaurs evolved into birds and chickens, and they laid eggs before the transition. Thus, the cleidoic egg definitely came first. Sometimes there is a right answer).
Turn the question upside down.
All cultures that survive today have had religion associated with them. All human beings show a physiological response to prayer. We all have a neuro-chemical ability to experience religious euphoria. Even atheists can experience God. Such feelings can be reliably induced in a lab.
So what, you might say? If I can induce it artificially, that just shows how superficial religious experience is. That proves religion is a cheap magic trick that exploits the poor masses. Just take drugs instead, it’s less hassle.
This is a fallacy that I experience all the time. In my profession as a Merchant Navy officer, I teach collision regulations to young cadets. The most common response to which is: ‘urgh. What is this made up arbitrary rubbish? Do I have to know this? Just don’t hit anything’.
If something is ‘made-up’, or artificial, that does not mean it is arbitrary or meaningless. These things were invented to keep you alive. And they were usually born out of blood.
I will write more on this one day. The collision prevention regulations are a masterpiece. They embody the non-aggression principle and apply Christian philosophy in a practical way. When you understand them, you’ll see the power of philosophy in action.
One point Peterson also makes is that things that we create, are in a sense, discoveries. Writing is the articulation of a pattern observed. The naming of parts is the real essence of science.
“Some people, in order to discover God, read books. But there is a great book: the very appearance of created things. Look above you! Look below you! Read it. God, whom you want to discover, never wrote that book with ink. Instead, He set before your eyes the things that He had made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that?” Augustine of Hippo
It may be boring to read the international regulations for the prevention of collision at sea (IRPCS/COLREGs). Just as boring as it is to read the bible when it isn’t relevant to you. At least, it usually is for the young initiate. It is only later, after some life experience, that the reading becomes relevant. Then that impenetrable legal jargon allows you to apply your knowledge to the real world. When you start the life and death decision making. You can then begin to appreciate the beauty, logic and coherence of the principles behind the rules.
The rest
But let’s face it. It’s 2022. Easter isn’t easter, the way it used to be in Britain. Even when I was a kid, it was a much bigger deal. Because it was about the resurrection. Nobody I spend time with goes to church for Easter any more. Why would you?
The last time I went to church at all it was an Anglican Cathedral in Brisbane, Australia. I had been working on the Great Barrier Reef for a couple of months and I had been missing my wife terribly. I had a day to kill before the red-eye home to Edinburgh. I thought, naively, that I might find some guidance in a church, along with a place to stop my pasty Scottish skin from sizzling like bacon in the sun.
The church was full, clearly, some gathering had just ended. I went to find a pew, lay down my giant bag and have a good read. But wait. No bibles!?
I asked around, and a kindly old gent offered to help. Some kind of church elder, having his birthday party at the church, it seemed. Even he had to search high and low for a bible. Eventually, giving me his personal copy. ‘Sorry, we don’t seem to have any. You can borrow mine’.
I mean, what was that?
My wife is Jewish, so naturally, I ended up reading Paul’s letter to the Hebrews, in which he basically says: ‘Come on guys. Give it a rest. We’ve given you the answer’. And that sort of helped.
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Ephesians 5:25 ESV
But when my new friend came back for his bible, we had a little chat. He informed me of how great their church was. How they were so progressive. How their vicar was a lesbian genetic scientist or something. How they do lots of activism. Etc.
When his homosexual partner came over and said it was time for them to leave, I thought I’d best be on my way too.
I’ve nothing against homosexuals. I’m glad they can marry now. I’m quite envious of them, in some ways. But I clearly wasn’t going to get the sage theological wisdom that I was hoping for. You know, about being married to someone of a different faith, raising kids together, etc.
That was me dipping my toe in the water with Christianity after decades of disregarding it. I didn’t like the temperature. This pool seemed a bit grubby. The lifeguards were nowhere to be seen, and that guy in the Sauna was making way too much eye contact.
I’ve had this feeling that I should go to church for a few years now. It’s still there, like, a little nagging voice that’s getting stronger. But every time I walk up to one, the bloody doors are locked!
Or even worse, like my local church of Scotland, they’ve gone woke!
My nearest church actually has UN-sponsored, Gaia worshipping, ‘save-the-planet’ flags up. ‘Save God’s Creation’ hanging from its railings. ‘Erm, mate. The flood. Rainbows. Did you forget that bit?’
Where is the church? Not in the world I live in, that’s for sure.
Good News
Thankfully, I can read.
The church being terrible and woke, is no barrier to me stumbling closer to the truth and the way.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6 ESV
So I won’t be going to church this Easter weekend. I’m not ready yet. After their performance the last 2 years, I don’t know if I can do it.
I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. Romans 16:17
But I’ll say this for my Hebrew chums. They let me into their Orthodox temple in Glesgae last year, for Yom Kippur. And it was great. And the only good thing about masking was, that nobody could tell the stupid Goy didn’t know any of the words!
Happy Easter, from the monastery of the sea.
Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you. Hebrews 13:1-25 ESV