Paul's Passing Thoughts

“The present-day gargantuan internet pushback against the philosopher kings follows forty-three years of silence by the clergy in the face of unspeakable violence against the laity.”

The spiritual infomommas over at The Wartburg Watch blog propagate the idea that the internet is the modern-day Gutenberg press, and I agree 100%. During Medieval times when the concerns of people at large were totally disregarded by the elite few, the people had no knowledge and no voice. Civilization has a natural balance; those in power are greatly outnumbered by those who aren’t in power. Lack of knowledge and lack of communication has always been the strongest army against the masses. Armies help, but they do much better against other armies. Wars against the masses are hard to define and messy. History teaches us that wars against countries endowed with loyal citizens are almost impossible to win in the long run. That’s why nationalism is strongly emphasized if a leadership is smart.

The spiritual peasantry of our day has been denied a voice by the Protestant philosopher kings. Though emasculated by the Enlightenment era, Protestantism’s Geneva Light began brewing its malt liquor in 1970, and since then, an incomprehensible crying out for justice has fallen on deaf ears. In essence, Protestant ideology rejects the concept of victim, and where there are no victims justice is not necessary. John Calvin scoffed at the idea of justice, calling it “mere iniquity.” Protestant fruit has never fallen far from the Catholic tree.

Perhaps this idea has never been better articulated by Alex Grenier, a defendant in a civil lawsuit filed against him by tyrannical clerics, who are also his parents:

There is no denying that injustice does occur. We petitioned the church, we petitioned the government [their hands are often tied for many reasons; e.g., church/state issues]—still no justice in our situation. Freedom of speech is often the last resort for victims.

Be sure to finish this post by listening to Alex’s short, but profound video on this issue.

And freedom of information works, because in the final analysis, the producers make things tick. As a business associate once told me: “Nothing happens in American business until a salesman sells something.” And spiritual tyrants can’t put on the feed bag without the agreement of their producers. And when the producers are getting hammered with unbecoming news, tyrants begin to live from paycheck to paycheck. Can we say, “James MacDonald”?

The present-day gargantuan internet pushback against the philosopher kings follows forty-three years of silence by the clergy in the face of unspeakable violence against the laity. It is a huge contingent with a one-two punch: doctrinal discernment and behavioral whitepapers. The controversy among them that makes me smile is the following: doctrinal discernment bloggers accuse the spiritual abuse bloggers of focusing too much on behavior and not the doctrine that causes the behavior. On the other hand, spiritual abuse bloggers accuse the discernment bloggers of focusing on doctrine only with little regard for the pain and suffering caused by the behavior. I love it. Together, they have become a powerful force.

But this has now gone far beyond blogging. Blogging has put feet to warfare in the civil courts. And warfare in the civil courts is forcing secular law enforcement to get involved. When victims cannot get justice within the church, and they go to the media, the media will usually shy away from the story because they have to substantiate all of the facts themselves. But with a lawsuit, the facts are substantiated in court, and that makes for easy reporting. When the abuses become headline news, this also makes it easy for law enforcement, and they also avoid the they are persecuting the church accusation. There are now several of these lawsuits afoot. I think these lawsuits will lead to the demise of the New Calvinist movement which is due for a historical social death anyway.

The clergy has no one to blame but themselves for this mess. Clergy doesn’t confront clergy. Very well, eventually, the laity will rise up and do the confronting. This is the way it has always been. It is the natural bent of reality.

paul