I find these letters to be remarkably brilliant and full of truth. They are also inspiring to me as a Christian believer and help me in my understanding of God's ways. Both of you are so insightful and the witty comments are excellent. I also want to say that I listen to Mr. Klaven on his Daily Wire podcasts and I am so grateful for his courage and conviction. I have shared many of the podcasts with my wife and friends and they have loved them too.
What I also want to say is that I know that you are always being attacked for speaking the truth and am so respectful that you continue to do so despite the attacks. I particularly loved your comments on the Good Friday episode where you talked about your faith that in many ways mirrors my beliefs.
As you well know, all great battles are spiritual battles and you are incredibly brave to have joined the battle so courageously. Always remember that there are so many millions of believers who support you than the nasty individuals who attack you.
I know you know this Biblical passage but want to end with it as you exemplify this so amazingly.
Joshua 1:9 Do not be afraid or discouraged for the LORD you God will be with you wherever you go.
One of THE most beautiful and meaningful songs (in melody and lyrics both) I have ever come across is Steve Winwood's "There's a River." For some reason, it's not a well-known song but I would encourage everyone to listen to it; you can find it on YouTube.
TNJ's recent musings on time and life and God being like a river put me in mind of this song again:
I hope this song touches you, as it has touched me. I can't sing it all the way through without crying; I am (hopefully) still many miles away from death's doorstep but I would like this song to be played at my funeral when the time comes.
"We struggle so to keep from losing what we have — our youth, our civilization, our world. But when, through faith and tradition, we plunge into the River of the Ever-Living Thing, we find that even death is part of a pattern grander than time." - Reading this helped me understand myself better... I am not a sad person, even losing my parents over time did not bring me the sadness I expected. Instead, I feel them with me at certain moments - their life runs through me - the River of Ever-Living Thing. I find comfort in traditions. Comfort in reading the Bible, knowing what was then is still now and everlasting.
I’ve noticed the new atheists and agnostics are changing their tunes. Not that they are any more open to Christ or God than they were 30!years ago, but they are now seeing the damage they’ve caused to society. They now understand (although Dawkins understood 10 years ago) that diminishing religion is tearing apart the fabric of our society, or as Dawkins put it, Christianity is a “bulwark against something worse.” And, indeed, now calls himself a “cultural Christian.”
Better late than never, I suppose. Our Founders were not all men of God, but they were all spiritual. They understood the values of the Judeo-Christian morals and principles western civilization was based on. They knew that, without them, we would be no better than the barbarians. If you look closely, you’ll see that bulwark was holding back the barbarians at the gate, but the New Atheists and agnostics opened the gates.
The gate has been breached and we must stop turning the other cheek when it comes to these radical departures from tradition. How to do that is ripe for discussion although, in my opinion, we have to concentrate on winning hearts and minds.
This election will be the closing the gates (or else). Elon Musk showed us the way to round up the barbarians inside the gates, I think, but it will take other conservative billionaires to take over other media companies, such as NBC/Universal. That would be the ideal one, but I have no idea what it would cost. We don’t have time for Long March backward.
I meant to reply yesterday. I was an IT guy, so Pascal always meant something different to me. But anyone’s conversion to Christianity is a good thing, in my eyes. And so many atheists have converted, when they understand that the Apostles were beaten, stoned, imprisoned, tortured, and executed, for FORTY YEARS, and not one of them recanted his belief in the Resurrection. Not one. But the Nixon appointees couldn’t keep a secret for two weeks. That’s not from me; someone else said that, and it’s so true.
I always felt sorry for Nixon. He proves the adage, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they are out to get you. Once the left’s euphoria over destroying his presidency started to wear off they had to wait for their next victim, Reagan. And then Bush 1 and 2. With repulsive and utterly corrupt presidents in between, which of course they ignored. They saved their most histrionic vitriol for Trump who they saw as a traitor to their side as he had been a lifelong dem. Leftists come in two kinds; those who will cheer the end of the west and those who will shrug their shoulders.
I remember reading Shakespeare in middle school 45 years ago and thinking how incredible it was that even though the man was writing nearly 500 years ago his depictions of human nature were still so incredibly accurate. At that moment I formed the opinion that human nature doesn't change, and in the decades since I've never come across any evidence to convince me otherwise.
A river runs through it and not just in the movies. In my admittedly limited reading of G K Chesterton, he provides both lamentation and optimism about the sorry state of culture and morality in the early 20th century. What I’ve read contrasts with C S Lewis in that Chesterton (at least in his earlier writings) in that he acts a bit more like a current events journalist and less like a Christian apologist/philosopher. Nevertheless, what he is addressing sounds remarkably like the problem we face today but, in regards to whole cloth constructions, to a lesser degree. That may in truth be my reaction to the historical and an overreaction to the current.
I find these letters to be remarkably brilliant and full of truth. They are also inspiring to me as a Christian believer and help me in my understanding of God's ways. Both of you are so insightful and the witty comments are excellent. I also want to say that I listen to Mr. Klaven on his Daily Wire podcasts and I am so grateful for his courage and conviction. I have shared many of the podcasts with my wife and friends and they have loved them too.
What I also want to say is that I know that you are always being attacked for speaking the truth and am so respectful that you continue to do so despite the attacks. I particularly loved your comments on the Good Friday episode where you talked about your faith that in many ways mirrors my beliefs.
As you well know, all great battles are spiritual battles and you are incredibly brave to have joined the battle so courageously. Always remember that there are so many millions of believers who support you than the nasty individuals who attack you.
I know you know this Biblical passage but want to end with it as you exemplify this so amazingly.
Joshua 1:9 Do not be afraid or discouraged for the LORD you God will be with you wherever you go.
kindest regards
Richard
Agreed! Keep up the excellent work!
One of THE most beautiful and meaningful songs (in melody and lyrics both) I have ever come across is Steve Winwood's "There's a River." For some reason, it's not a well-known song but I would encourage everyone to listen to it; you can find it on YouTube.
TNJ's recent musings on time and life and God being like a river put me in mind of this song again:
"There's a river pouring
From a pure and a crystal stream
And it carries my heart along
Carries me all my life
And I know it will bring me home.
There's a choir singing
With a force that can light the sky
I will join with a voice deep inside
Anthems for joys gone by
And for joys I am sure will come.
Golden treasure in the evening sky
It's good to be alive
Golden measure, hear the music cry
When my heart sings
Of golden things.
There's a dove ascending
Like my thoughts in the summer sky
And she carries my soul along
Clear to eternity
And I know
I am not alone."
I did not know this song and I love Stevie Winwood. Thanks for posting this.
I hope this song touches you, as it has touched me. I can't sing it all the way through without crying; I am (hopefully) still many miles away from death's doorstep but I would like this song to be played at my funeral when the time comes.
Humility is the rising road of restoration
"We struggle so to keep from losing what we have — our youth, our civilization, our world. But when, through faith and tradition, we plunge into the River of the Ever-Living Thing, we find that even death is part of a pattern grander than time." - Reading this helped me understand myself better... I am not a sad person, even losing my parents over time did not bring me the sadness I expected. Instead, I feel them with me at certain moments - their life runs through me - the River of Ever-Living Thing. I find comfort in traditions. Comfort in reading the Bible, knowing what was then is still now and everlasting.
I’ve noticed the new atheists and agnostics are changing their tunes. Not that they are any more open to Christ or God than they were 30!years ago, but they are now seeing the damage they’ve caused to society. They now understand (although Dawkins understood 10 years ago) that diminishing religion is tearing apart the fabric of our society, or as Dawkins put it, Christianity is a “bulwark against something worse.” And, indeed, now calls himself a “cultural Christian.”
Better late than never, I suppose. Our Founders were not all men of God, but they were all spiritual. They understood the values of the Judeo-Christian morals and principles western civilization was based on. They knew that, without them, we would be no better than the barbarians. If you look closely, you’ll see that bulwark was holding back the barbarians at the gate, but the New Atheists and agnostics opened the gates.
The gate has been breached and we must stop turning the other cheek when it comes to these radical departures from tradition. How to do that is ripe for discussion although, in my opinion, we have to concentrate on winning hearts and minds.
This election will be the closing the gates (or else). Elon Musk showed us the way to round up the barbarians inside the gates, I think, but it will take other conservative billionaires to take over other media companies, such as NBC/Universal. That would be the ideal one, but I have no idea what it would cost. We don’t have time for Long March backward.
If only they had read Pascal's Pensees all this could have been avoided. Everything old is new again.
I meant to reply yesterday. I was an IT guy, so Pascal always meant something different to me. But anyone’s conversion to Christianity is a good thing, in my eyes. And so many atheists have converted, when they understand that the Apostles were beaten, stoned, imprisoned, tortured, and executed, for FORTY YEARS, and not one of them recanted his belief in the Resurrection. Not one. But the Nixon appointees couldn’t keep a secret for two weeks. That’s not from me; someone else said that, and it’s so true.
I always felt sorry for Nixon. He proves the adage, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they are out to get you. Once the left’s euphoria over destroying his presidency started to wear off they had to wait for their next victim, Reagan. And then Bush 1 and 2. With repulsive and utterly corrupt presidents in between, which of course they ignored. They saved their most histrionic vitriol for Trump who they saw as a traitor to their side as he had been a lifelong dem. Leftists come in two kinds; those who will cheer the end of the west and those who will shrug their shoulders.
Jonathan Pageau would give this two thumbs up.
He and his brother Matthieu have opened my reading of the Bible to a dimension that I had only dimly perceived.
(My Substack is my attempt to grow in this way of seeing the cosmos—as a fractal pattern.)
Same here.
I remember reading Shakespeare in middle school 45 years ago and thinking how incredible it was that even though the man was writing nearly 500 years ago his depictions of human nature were still so incredibly accurate. At that moment I formed the opinion that human nature doesn't change, and in the decades since I've never come across any evidence to convince me otherwise.
A river runs through it and not just in the movies. In my admittedly limited reading of G K Chesterton, he provides both lamentation and optimism about the sorry state of culture and morality in the early 20th century. What I’ve read contrasts with C S Lewis in that Chesterton (at least in his earlier writings) in that he acts a bit more like a current events journalist and less like a Christian apologist/philosopher. Nevertheless, what he is addressing sounds remarkably like the problem we face today but, in regards to whole cloth constructions, to a lesser degree. That may in truth be my reaction to the historical and an overreaction to the current.