The current orgy of Schadenfreude continues to escalate - energized a few days ago by a staged, acted and broadcast PR pseudo-spat over the Fire Nation war; a news-event which has been uncritically accepted at face value, and thereby ecstatically celebrated, by (apparently) hordes of people; individuals who, just a few weeks ago, expressed deep scepticism over the machinations of mainstream politics and the mass media.
Yet another Litmus Test massively failed!
It is becoming clear that the double-negative agenda is alive and well, dominating and sweeping-aside what has thereby been revealed as a shallow, feeble, self-gratifying, and this-worldly Christianity.
Double-negative values are a hallmark of The Left - which is united only by its opposition to (ultimately) God and divine creation.
The self-identified political "Right", including advocates of an imaginary and impossible "nationalism", have recently come-out as crypto-leftists - which, indeed, is the inevitable convergence of all primarily this-worldly and double-negative ideals.
In sum: The Right is united only by its rejection of The Left (i.e. particular-labelled individuals and institutions) - such that the only powerful source of Right triumphalism is when their Left-identified enemies appear to be getting humiliated and destroyed.
(Note: In our world, all is of-the-left - except where religion is put first - and where that religion is motivationally-rooted beyond this world).
There is a strong lure in religion that seems to combine success and status, power and prestige, pride and self-esteem, progress and historical inevitability, with aspects of real Christianity that is "not of this world".
The proposed syncresis of this and next-world benefits appears in many guises through history - and dominates much of online Christian discourse; which is the reason behind current ecstasies of virtual Schadenfreude.
The "prosperity Gospel" is indeed much more widespread than its crudest evangelists: the idea that the path to economic, or sexual, success lies via Christianity is a very popular and influential one online.
Of course, Christianity must and should be-of-this-world as well as the next: not least because the incarnation and mortal life of Jesus Christ is evidence of this.
In other words our mortal lives have purpose for as long as they are sustained by God. So a retreat from The World is not even a theoretical option for Christians - we must and should engage.
But... in a civilization and society so completely built upon materialism and the denial of the spirit; in a world dominated by corrupt, and demonic-allied, institutions; it ought to be perfectly clear and evident that goodness cannot, therefore will not, emanate from, nor be gifted top-down by, those with institutional and official power/ wealth/ social status.
It ought to be evident that politico-media-events intended to demonstrate the humiliation or destruction of people, organizations, nations - are not going to be evidence of, nor harbingers of, goodness.
Indeed, the likely reality behind the façade of apparent destruction is not even difficult to discern for those with a bit of accurate knowledge who stand-back from the contrived frenzy - even when these people have no religious basis.
(In a geopolitical world of puppet leaders; the spectacle of one puppet berating another for the cameras, should be obvious as what it is: a puppet-show.)
The spiritual war of this world is essentially about "hearts and minds" - and the great aim of the various factions of evil is not to impose physical/material slavery or misery; but to induce individuals to choose to commit themselves (hearts and minds) to one or another of the agendas of evil.
Evil is only spiritually effective when it has been freely embraced. That is why our enthusiasm, support, and hope; are so assiduously cultivated by The Establishment.
And that embrace of evil is precisely what we are observing, in real time, on a day-by-day basis. People who were, until recently, apparently Christian; are changing sides; abandoning salvation as their primary goal --
And instead they are committing more and more of their support, energies, enthusiasm, efforts (and, worst of all, hopes) on what is at root a negative, destructive, demon-motivated agenda.
6 comments:
It's all terribly disappointing and depressing. My list of "blogs worth reading" keeps getting shorter, week by week. Maybe that's how it should be in this time and place.
@Frank - "My list of "blogs worth reading" keeps getting shorter, week by week."
Same here.
Following FB's coment, the Internet has become like what people used say about TV: dozens of channels, nothing on.
I'm not really making a criticism of blogs, just that there seems to be less there than there used to be. And I think what it really comes down to is that the virtual world isn't self-sufficient and never could have been. The Internet was at its best when it was viewed as a supplement to the real world.
The idea was that the virtual world would be so realistic and expansive that people would want to spend time in it. At this point, a lot of people are tired of it, but they stay around because they don't know what else to do or they have to because of how society has changed. But that's not what was envisioned. It's like the difference between someone who plays poker because he loves the game and a compulsive gambler.
And what all this means is that all the prognostications about the inevitability and superiority of virtuality are wrong. Long-term, they won't pan out because they're based on a mistaken philosophy.
It looks like the lesson is to recognize the limitations of the virtual world and focus on the real world, including the most real world of all, the spiritual.
@NLR - Excellent comment!
Part of it is probably increasing discernment.
When I first engaged with blogs in the middle 2000s, I was non-Christian and near-mainstream (somewhat libertarian, keen on economic growth, trade, globalism etc) in politics; and there were so many blogs I liked reading that it used to take a couple of hours a day to "keep up"!
My interests have become much more minority on the one hand; and on the other side, left-ideology has corrupted more and more of what used to be non-political online stuff (music, literature, history etc).
i made the mistake of watching two minutes of that publicity stunt and thought that surely no one could believe that was 'for real' (as in, what is being filmed is an actual exchange between political leaders, and not mere actors acting upon a script - a terribly written one at that). then i went into the comments (another mistake) and it was, to put it very mildly, quite depressing. i keep thinking surely no one can't take this or that seriously, but they do, and think it's 'winning'. and not just the common maga people, but the 'intellectuals'. maybe it was always like this. i don't know who is winning, but it's not God, or truth, or anything good - how can it not be obvious to everyone with a functioning mind? apologies, venting like this is sinful, but i feel like i'm going insane sometimes. though it's reassuring to know i'm not the only one who sees this pathetic charade for what it is.
@Laeth - Indeed.
It seems to afflict those "incorrigible optimists" who rely on optimism in order to maintain life motivation - and therefore absolutely Must clutch at whatever Fake Straws are currently on offer - https://charltonteaching.blogspot.com/2024/02/clutching-at-fake-straws.html
Post a Comment