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Title: If God Is Dead…
Source:
Patrick J. Buchanan - Official Website
URL Source: http://buchanan.org/blog/if-god-is-dead-125152
Published: Apr 26, 2016
Author: Pat Buchanan
Post Date: 2016-04-26 18:17:59 by nativist nationalist
Keywords: None
Views: 2704
Comments: 27
In a recent column Dennis Prager made an acute observation. “The vast majority of leading conservative writers … have a secular outlook on life. … They are unaware of the disaster that godlessness in the West has led to.” These secular conservatives may think that “America can survive the death of God and religion,” writes Prager, but they are wrong. And, indeed, the last half-century seems to bear him out. A people’s religion, their faith, creates their culture, and their culture creates their civilization. And when faith dies, the culture dies, the civilization dies, and the people begin to die. Is this not the recent history of the West? Today, no great Western nation has a birthrate that will prevent the extinction of its native-born. By century’s end, other peoples and other cultures will have largely repopulated the Old Continent. European Man seems destined to end like the 10 lost tribes of Israel — overrun, assimilated and disappeared. And while the European peoples — Russians, Germans, Brits, Balts — shrink in number, the U.N. estimates that the population of Africa will double in 34 years to well over 2 billion people. What happened to the West? As G. K. Chesterton wrote, when men cease to believe in God, they do not then believe in nothing, they believe in anything. As European elites ceased to believe in Christianity, they began to convert to ideologies, to what Dr. Russell Kirk called “secular religions.” For a time, these secular religions — Marxism-Leninism, fascism, Nazism — captured the hearts and minds of millions. But almost all were among the gods that failed in the 20th century. Now Western Man embraces the newer religions: egalitarianism, democratism, capitalism, feminism, One Worldism, environmentalism. These, too, give meaning to the lives of millions, but these, too, are inadequate substitutes for the faith that created the West. For they lack what Christianity gave man — a cause not only to live for, and die for, but a moral code to live by, with the promise that, at the end a life so lived, would come eternal life. Islam, too, holds out that promise. Secularism, however, has nothing on offer to match that hope. Looking back over the centuries, we see what faith has meant. When, after the fall of the Roman Empire, the West embraced Christianity as a faith superior to all others, as its founder was the Son of God, the West went on to create modern civilization, and then went out and conquered most of the known world. The truths America has taught the world, of an inherent human dignity and worth, and inviolable human rights, are traceable to a Christianity that teaches that every person is a child of God. Today, however, with Christianity virtually dead in Europe and slowly dying in America, Western culture grows debased and decadent, and Western civilization is in visible decline. Rudyard Kipling prophesied all this in “Recessional”: “Far-called our navies melt away; On dune and headland sinks the fire: Lo, all our pomp of yesterday/Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!” All the Western empires are gone, and the children of once-subject peoples cross the Mediterranean to repopulate the mother countries, whose native- born have begun to age, shrink and die. Since 1975, only two European nations, Muslim Albania and Iceland have maintained a birthrate sufficient to keep their peoples alive. Given the shrinking populations inside Europe and the waves of immigrants rolling in from Africa and the Middle and Near East, an Islamic Europe seems to be in the cards before the end of the century. Vladimir Putin, who witnessed the death of Marxism-Leninism up close, appears to understand the cruciality of Christianity to Mother Russia, and seeks to revive the Orthodox Church and write its moral code back into Russian law. And what of America, “God’s country”? With Christianity excommunicated from her schools and public life for two generations, and Old and New Testament teachings rejected as a basis of law, we have witnessed a startlingly steep social decline. Since the 1960s, America has set new records for abortions, violent crimes, incarcerations, drug consumption. While HIV/AIDS did not appear until the 1980s, hundreds of thousands have perished from it, and millions now suffer from it and related diseases. Forty percent of U.S. births are out of wedlock. For Hispanics, the illegitimacy rate is over 50 percent; for African-Americans, it’s over 70 percent. Test scores of U.S. high school students fall annually and approach parity with Third World countries. Suicide is a rising cause of death for middle-aged whites. Secularism seems to have no answer to the question, “Why not?” “How small, of all that human hearts endure, That part which laws or kings can cause or cure,” wrote Samuel Johnson. Secular conservatives may have remedies for some of America’s maladies. But, as Johnson observed, no secular politics can cure the sickness of the soul of the West — a lost faith that appears irretrievable.
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#1. To: nativist nationalist (#0)
God isn't dead. I'm not so sure about America.
Psalm 37
Who cares? I know it's a thought you're not going to like, but don't knee jerk it. Sit for a moment and stew in the discomfort. God is alive and well. And moreover, nothing - including the death of America - happens without the permission of the Father. If America is dying, it is because God, in his Providence, has ordained that it be so. His reasons may be any of a great number of things - God is inscrutable. But regardless of his reasons, if God has pronounced the doom of America, then America is doomed, so why should we mourn it? God doomed the Canaanites. Shall we mourn Canaan? God doomed ancient Israel. Shall we mourn it? The Jews did, but shall we? God doomed Rome, in its turn. Shall we mourn it? God doomed the German Empire, the British Empire, the French Empire, the Italian Empire, the Spanish Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Russian Empire, the Soviet Empire. Shall we mourn any of them? God doomed the Confederate States of America. Shall we mourn it? God doomed the Batista government of Cuba. Shall we mourn it? Does God know what he is doing? If he does, then what God has doomed, he has doomed for a reason, and that reason is right and just and true. Now think of the reasons why God would sweep away America. What are the evils that America has done and does? They pile up to heaven, don't they? Was God going to wait forever? Did he ever spare any other evil Empire in the end? God is alive, and America is falling apart. Do we think that God's justice has failed suddenly, that God his lost his faculties? No? Then remember what God's Son said: you cannot serve two masters. You can serve God, or you can serve something else. If God has turned his back on America, to whom is YOUR loyalty? Why?
I'm aware of the state of this nation. It's better days are behind. It has turned into a Hollywood extravaganza, hardly fit for habitation.
Psalm 37
You can serve God, or you can serve something else. If God has turned his back on America, to whom is YOUR loyalty? Why? Actually it's, "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." (Matthew 6:24)
Actually it's, "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." (Matthew 6:24) What is the difference between the two? For reference, what God's Son actually said was: "oudeis dynatai dysi kyriois doulouein..."
And they aren't very well studied in secularism.
The difference is that in what you posted you left out the part about mammon.
That's funny cause I don't embrace any of these at all.
Money was the example, given for the general case. No man can serve two masters. Example: no man can serve God and money.
Vic said he would vote for Hillary if Trump isn't the nominee. The catholics regularly misquote scripture. Victoria must serve two masters.
Trump has run away with the election. The only way he could be deprived of the nomination would be orchestrated corruption by the Republican Party. If they do that, I will indeed vote a straight Democrat ticket to destroy them. They're not going to do that, so it's moot. I don't misquote Scripture. Catholics use the full canon of Scripture. Protestants use an abridged version.
Are you talking about the Pope's supplements to the Holy Bible?
Psalm 37
There are none, so no.
Martin Luther removed Old Testament books that did not fit his doctrine. He even considered to remove one book of New Testament but did not dare to do so.
To be even more pedantic, it means literally: Nobody has strength two lords to serve.
Ok, I won't even get into it.
Psalm 37
I'm Independent Baptist, but I've noticed the Lutherans are gravitating back toward the Roman Catholic Church.
Psalm 37
Other Protestants follow Luther's redaction of the Bible too.
No, it says it means and means what it says. "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." (Matthew 6:24)
I really don't know about that, but we don't.
Psalm 37
Don't worry, I do not question what you say. I just want to show how the translations can miss subtle shades of meaning. The original Greek is powerful, deep, precise and poetic (poetry is notoriously hard to translate) . The word dynatai translated as "being able", means in original - mighty, strong, dynamic (same root as in original), having force/power, energetic. There is a difference between having strength and being able. You can have strength without ability or ability without strength (for example when you are tired). In this passage not being able is a consequence of not being strong/powerful/dynamic enough, so it is enough for regular use. But for the key debated passages, consulting the original Greek is necessary. That is why I recommend to everyone having a real (some people play hanky-panky by translating reversely KJV into Greek) interlinear text (maybe Zondervan), where you can look up literal meaning of each word, and also in an hours master Greek letter and dictionary. I will bring a really important example. In the Latin (Western) Church and its Protestant offshoots, the sin is mainly associated with guilt and breaking of the law. Yet in the original Greek it is "hamartia" - missing of the mark, what is close to be derailed, lost or falling. The parable of the lost sheep, or falling into abyss becomes alive and touching the heart. Christ is looking for the sheep who lost their way and can fall into ravine. God's saving grace is a kind hand that is extended to those who are getting drown and are willing to grasp it.
Thank you for a historically interesting post. Please feel free to ping me to any similar posts you make.
BOYCOTT PAYPAL AND CLOSE YOUR PP ACCOUNTS NOW! ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO DO SO,TOO! ISLAM MEANS SUBMISSION! Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012) American Indians had open borders. Look at how well that worked out for them.
That Greek meaning corresponds very well with the Hebrew concept of the word we translate as "sin". In the Hebrew, it means "departing from the marked path"...which, for a shepherd in the desert, could very well result in death for himself and his sheep.
When you put your faith and trust in the Lord and His Word, He really does show you great mysteries. But it is with your blind faith (like to that of a child) that only a child would understand because adults have been programmed to use reason and sensibility rather than faith.
You are right, but I would not call it blind faith. It is faith that sees Truth, Goodness and Beauty with a pure heart like a child. With the eyes of the soul. As the prayer goes: "The angels in heaven, O Christ our Savior, sing of Thy Resurrection. Make us on earth also worthy to hymn Thee with a pure heart."
For the record I didn't call you Victoria that is the stupid android spell checker thing.
#2. To: nativist nationalist (#0)
#3. To: Don (#2)
(Edited)
God isn't dead. I'm not so sure about America.
#4. To: Vicomte13 (#3)
#5. To: Vicomte13 (#3)
(Edited)
Then remember what God's Son said: you cannot serve two masters.
#6. To: goldilucky (#5)
Then remember what God's Son said: you cannot serve two masters.
#7. To: nativist nationalist (#0)
The vast majority of leading conservative writers … have a secular outlook on life.
#8. To: Vicomte13 (#6)
#9. To: nativist nationalist (#0)
Now Western Man embraces the newer religions: egalitarianism, democratism, capitalism, feminism, One Worldism, environmentalism.
#10. To: goldilucky (#8)
#11. To: goldilucky (#9)
(Edited)
#12. To: A K A Stone (#11)
Vic said he would vote for Hillary if Trump isn't the nominee. The catholics regularly misquote scripture. Victoria must serve two masters.
#13. To: Vicomte13 (#12)
#14. To: Don (#13)
(Edited)
Are you talking about the Pope's supplements to the Holy Bible?
#15. To: Don, Vicomte13 (#13)
Are you talking about the Pope's supplements to the Holy Bible?
#16. To: Vicomte13, goldilucky (#6)
oudeis dynatai dysi kyriois doulouein..."
#17. To: Vicomte13 (#14)
#18. To: A Pole (#15)
#19. To: Don (#18)
#20. To: A Pole (#16)
#21. To: A Pole (#19)
#22. To: goldilucky, sneakypete, Vicomte13, TooConservative (#20)
No, it says it means and means what it says. "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." (Matthew 6:24)
#23. To: A Pole (#22)
#24. To: A Pole (#22)
Yet in the original Greek it is "hamartia" - missing of the mark,
#25. To: A Pole (#22)
(Edited)
#26. To: goldilucky (#25)
When you put your faith and trust in the Lord and His Word, He really does show you great mysteries. But it is with your blind faith (like to that of a child) that only a child would understand because adults have been programmed to use reason and sensibility rather than faith.
#27. To: Vicomte13 (#12)
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