I've been blogging for a while about my conviction that the "Sorathic" demons-of-destruction are now displacing the "Ahrimanic" demons-of-totalitarianism - and this has become pretty obviously correct over the past couple of weeks.
Our civilization is actually-collapsing, now - and deliberately.
The powers that-should-not-be are still using a rhetoric of being engaged in creating a New World Order, with their idea of order being omni-surveillance and micro-control - but what is actually happening is been a massive injection of top-down destruction of order, and a calculated increase of chaos.
Of course, the masses (and indeed the intelligentsia) are by now so stupid-stupid-stupid that none of this is visible - they/we will apparently accept event the most tissue-thin excuses of 'good' motivations and supposed long-term consequentialism.
So that taking a sledgehammer to the world economy, trade and finance here-and-now; is blandly or enthusiastically accepted/ cheered as 'peaceful sanctions' that will Oh-Yes-For-Sure lead to collapse/ surrender/ retreat of The Enemy at some point down-the line.
But for Christians there is a very real question about whether this collapse of the most-evil-civilization in the history of the world is A Good Thing, overall?
After all, from our perspective the civilization is already - and becoming ever-faster and ever more so - a machine for mass damnation.
Isn't it good (from an eternal resurrected point of view) that it should end, before it gets even worse?
There certainly is something in that; to the point that it is hard to see how any Christian can defend our civilization or do anything (assuming he could!) to sustain it.
Of course, we all want very much to avoid deadly disease, starvation and violence for ourselves and those we love - but that is not really an option with the collapse of global civilization. Delaying for a few extra days, weeks or months is not avoidance - and successful postponement of imminent disaster may well lead to worse horrors, when they inexorably arrive.
On the other hand, we cannot realistically expect the state of accelerating chaos that follows the collapse of even such an evil civilization to be a spiritual improvement. After all, the collapse is motivated by evil, and two evils do not cancel-out - but synergize; unless there are Men of courageous Good to take advantage of a temporarily beneficial situation.
Our main job, then, is to prepare spiritually for what seems inevitable; including to hone our discernment of Good - just in case it becomes an available option for ourselves or somebody else.
The difficulty will probably be that chaotic collapse will tend to make people worldly-survival-orientated - whereas Good will necessarily be rooted-in and orientated-towards eternal life in the world to come.
It's likely that sooner-or-later we will each be faced (perhaps more than once) by the stark choice between a 'chance' of ameliorating or extending our mortal lives - or instead doing what is right in the context of the fate of our immortal souls, and those whom we love.
The way things are going; this choice will likely be simple, clear and obvious to anyone genuinely Christian and motivated by Faith, Hope and Love - and what will be very difficult is not so much knowing the right choice; but actually making the right choice.
Dr. Charlton:
ReplyDelete"The difficulty will probably be that chaotic collapse will tend to make people worldly-survival-orientated - whereas Good will necessarily be rooted-in and orientated-towards eternal life in the world to come."
That's a key statement to always keep in mind. INterestingly, groups like e.g. the Amish or others that value the eternal life to come more than the material will likely fair better in many ways. Without meaning, many or most will just simply give up.
@Todd - re Amish. from what I know they will presumably do better in a spiritual way. In terms of physical survival, they will last only until somebody arrives to take all their stuff.
ReplyDeleteOr until they come under the protection of a future "warlord," who appreciates their pastoral abilities and old-fashioned craftsmanship. ;)
ReplyDeleteMore seriously, though, Dr. C., I do see a form of feudalism coming back. People will do anything to find order, including accepting feudal lords.
Personally, I wouldn't mind a Christian feudal lord.
And as you always drill into us, be open to providence. Providential ways of cooperating with the remaining good souls may occur, and I believe that we should reach out to them and cooperate. And just war theory would tell me (to the extent I understand and believe in it) that it is acceptable to defend one's village from evil. WWHD? (What would Hobbits do?)
Greetings Todd. I have had similar hopes. Many people are fleeing cities for suburbs or smaller cities and they have every means to find each other as is like them and create something in place of the failed system. While I personally want to preserve a homogeneity of Armenians secluded in the Sierra Nevadans, they will need to quicken their misbeliefs in a tolerant diversity to escape their anonymity. Diaspora begets diaspora all too easily.
Delete@Todd and Tolken - On the other hand:
ReplyDeletehttps://charltonteaching.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-prepper-delusion.html
Dr. Charlton, I hold no assumptions that I am anywhere near prepared to undergo the mortifications of Christ. His were perhaps three, the baptism, the fast, and the crucifixion by those he sought to return to. May my only hope be that I too weep at the only necessary time.
DeleteBless Us
I hate to say it, but I wonder if the past two years has been a blessing in disguise in that, at least for some people (e.g. myself), it has helped to hone their discernment in these matters. We have seen, several times (e.g. lockdowns, pecks), "ameliorating or extending our mortal lives" being offered to us -- at the cost of "doing what is right in the context of the fate of our immortal souls, and those whom we love". In each of these cases, the actual number of lives saved was outweighed by the lives lost through those measures. One can hope that these lessons carry over to the bigger choices that are likely to arise sometime in the relatively near future.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds bizarre, but I wonder whether the survivors of the Apocalypse will have more resources than they know what to do with - mountains of food and supplies. The Apocalypse being more like that movie The Happening. The mass suicide of the West.
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