I think a lot of good people are realizing that postmodernism is a dead end. It's great that you can point out all the things that are wrong with the world, but that's all you can do. And if all you can do is tear things down then eventually there's nothing left. There's obviously things that should be torn down, we tore down institutions such as chattel slavery, we largely ended absolute monarchy, there are all kinds of things that we ended, and many of those things needed to be ended, but the problem is it's a saw -- and if you apply a saw indiscriminately to anything it's going to get cut.
In the Bible and Christianity there are two separate things that are needed.
The Old testament tells us that there are rules and that God has a vision for how people should be and how the world should be, and that if you don't follow that vision it won't just affect you, it could affect your children, it could affect your lands, it could affect your people. And by the way, whether or not you think it's fair it is true. There are many people out there today who live without virtue whatever you wanted to find that virtue as, and by rejecting virtue they seal their fates.
Even if you don't believe in a God who is enforcing the rules, there is a physical world that will enforce the rules, and it is unforgiving and will wipe you and your entire bloodline out if you are too huberistic. Prior to the Christian religion, religions such as Greek myth or Roman myth saw the gods as much less fair, and that they were Petty and cruel and would mess with Petty mortals for arbitrary and capricious reasons. This represents the fact that out there in the world arbitrary things can happen. How many good people died during the hurricanes this year? Christianity's solution to this problem is to tell us that this is not the end, and if those people were good then even if they unfairly met their maker, if they nonetheless followed God's commandments they would face a reward we couldn't see. This is consistent with a god whose character is not arbitrarily changing and providing us with boons on a hollow whim, but one whose character is stable and can be relied on forever as loving his creation.
The New testament tells us that God recognizes our fallibility, and loves us and in spite of our fallibility as humans, he is willing to forgive those who repent in their hearts for all the times that they miss the mark. The synergy of justice and love is the final overall product, not just the Old testament and certainly not just the New testament.
Postmodernism would reject both of these Grand narratives. It would tear down everything, and to what end?
One thing that I do think is important is the fact that more than one ideology can exist and should exist at one time. Just as the Old testament and the New testament relate fundamentally different sorts of ideologies that must exist in synergy, Western Civilization further expands with things like classical civilizations philosophy which was the basis of the Renaissance and ultimately the enlightenment whose golden future we are living in today. I've written that length in the past that you need more than one ideology, and perhaps you need far more than one ideology. The one thing that you shouldn't have is your dominant ideology is the idea that you're tearing everything down.
Another thing that's probably quite important is the fact that where postmodernism and the current main line ideology of what's left of individualist consumerism is a road to misery, and so building to the Bible is a vision for how Christianity can help build communities. Church communities may be flawed, they are after all made up of flawed individuals, but they are important to the well-being of the individual, the community, city, and ultimately the nation. None of us are islands.
Of course, I'm just a retard on the internet so keep that in mind. I speak big words good, but I'm about his intelligence as dog digging up the yard trying to find that bone.
When my son was born, I bought an illustrated kids Bible that we are now on the second time through, and I bought him a beautiful leather-bound King James bible, but if I'm being totally honest with all the thees and thous, I have definitely considered picking up one of the modern English versions.
In the Bible and Christianity there are two separate things that are needed.
The Old testament tells us that there are rules and that God has a vision for how people should be and how the world should be, and that if you don't follow that vision it won't just affect you, it could affect your children, it could affect your lands, it could affect your people. And by the way, whether or not you think it's fair it is true. There are many people out there today who live without virtue whatever you wanted to find that virtue as, and by rejecting virtue they seal their fates.
Even if you don't believe in a God who is enforcing the rules, there is a physical world that will enforce the rules, and it is unforgiving and will wipe you and your entire bloodline out if you are too huberistic. Prior to the Christian religion, religions such as Greek myth or Roman myth saw the gods as much less fair, and that they were Petty and cruel and would mess with Petty mortals for arbitrary and capricious reasons. This represents the fact that out there in the world arbitrary things can happen. How many good people died during the hurricanes this year? Christianity's solution to this problem is to tell us that this is not the end, and if those people were good then even if they unfairly met their maker, if they nonetheless followed God's commandments they would face a reward we couldn't see. This is consistent with a god whose character is not arbitrarily changing and providing us with boons on a hollow whim, but one whose character is stable and can be relied on forever as loving his creation.
The New testament tells us that God recognizes our fallibility, and loves us and in spite of our fallibility as humans, he is willing to forgive those who repent in their hearts for all the times that they miss the mark. The synergy of justice and love is the final overall product, not just the Old testament and certainly not just the New testament.
Postmodernism would reject both of these Grand narratives. It would tear down everything, and to what end?
One thing that I do think is important is the fact that more than one ideology can exist and should exist at one time. Just as the Old testament and the New testament relate fundamentally different sorts of ideologies that must exist in synergy, Western Civilization further expands with things like classical civilizations philosophy which was the basis of the Renaissance and ultimately the enlightenment whose golden future we are living in today. I've written that length in the past that you need more than one ideology, and perhaps you need far more than one ideology. The one thing that you shouldn't have is your dominant ideology is the idea that you're tearing everything down.
Another thing that's probably quite important is the fact that where postmodernism and the current main line ideology of what's left of individualist consumerism is a road to misery, and so building to the Bible is a vision for how Christianity can help build communities. Church communities may be flawed, they are after all made up of flawed individuals, but they are important to the well-being of the individual, the community, city, and ultimately the nation. None of us are islands.
Of course, I'm just a retard on the internet so keep that in mind. I speak big words good, but I'm about his intelligence as dog digging up the yard trying to find that bone.
When my son was born, I bought an illustrated kids Bible that we are now on the second time through, and I bought him a beautiful leather-bound King James bible, but if I'm being totally honest with all the thees and thous, I have definitely considered picking up one of the modern English versions.
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