Thinking about love tonight. . . and decided to post the homily “To Be One” from the wedding of two very good friends. (Four years later, there is a baby on the way!) See the articles section.

An argument from a reader:

Doug Hammonds, America’s best accountant, made a good point about my (sort of) defense of monarchy. Republican governments allow for easy turnover of bad folk (imagine Clinton for a lifetime). They also allow for more public accountability.

I am attracted by this argument (in the back of my mind as I wrote the original post):
The founders were a generation that believed in monarchy. They were good servants of the King. They built a form of government that would allow (as one of them said), “No King, but King Jesus.” So I remain a monarchist (All hail King Jesus!) who is comfortable with his life in the Republic.

As a result, I have decided to withdraw my endorsement of Prince Andrew for King of America and vote for George Bush. Shocking to all of you.

Kid British: Fireworks or die!: “For my ultimate Torrey class session, I received one of the most overdone pull questions. This is not to say that it is a bad question, in fact it is very good, which is why our Group chose it. But to ponder the question what do I do with Revelation?”

This post, which you must go read, tells you why I have the best students on the planet. Sadly, we are not always up to them, but they help us anyway. They are creative, smart, and Christians. I will miss you, Mr. Clede.

I am reading about Delphi and the religious system there. I have been to Delphi, the religious center of the Classical world, twice. Both times my spirit was deeply troubled even as I stood in one of the most staggeringly beautiful spots on the planet.

Delphi is in the midst of great mountains looking over the wine dark sea of Homer. Beneath were the dark green olive trees of Greece and above the rocks that form the backbone of the nation. For whatever reason, an active sense of evil seemed to hang over the place when I was there.

As I ascended to the Temple of Apollo where the priestess of the god sat, my heart grew more and more heavy. There the Pythia, this priestess, would utter mystic words to be interpreted by the priest in attendance. Wars were fought for control of Delphi and other wars launched at a word from the religious leaders of Delphi.

Now two things come to mind as I read about the great religion of Delphi. First, it was centered in a god that was subject to the will of men. The oracle would change depending on the political situation. How different from the Church of Jesus Christ which is based on a Revelation that cannot be changed! Political and ethical winds may blow, but the Church of Christ is not subject to them.

Of course, Christianity grows up and adapts to different times. The message of Sacred Scripture is made manifest to us over time by the power of the Holy Spirit. However, no development contradicts the ones that came before the others. The core message of salvation in Christ never changes. Delphi would move from paganism to neo-Platonism to some other philosophy. The gods of Delphi were subject to change, not just in social norms and ideas, but in the deepest message of Oracle.

Second, Delphi gave men answers to questions the asked. Christianity gives men answers to questions we did not know to ask. Delphi is concerned with man’s relationship to the god and getting that relationship in good order by works done for the god. Christianity is concerned about God’s desires for us. Our God needs nothing and demands of us only things that are actually for our good. The god of Delphi desired the smell of bulls for his pleasure. Our God demands nothing of us, providing all good things by His grace. He then commands us to do what will give Him glory by restoring us to a divine relationship we have lost.

I believe that the modern religious world is returning to Delphi. We desire a polytheistic world where the gods can be selected to match our tastes. We want a god who will meet our felt need and doctrines that will bend with the times. Over against this flexible, powerful, dark feelings based faith, is the religion of the Great Creator God. He is one in three persons. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. His Truth, Goodness, and Beauty are eternal and men and times cannot change this foundation.

I believe that after two thousand years the spirit of Delphi is awake again. How long before the smoke begins to arise again from the ancient crack in the earth that mysteriously disappeared? How long before some new Pythia sits in her ancient seat and directs the affairs of men? Not long. Secularism is an empty shell for men are religious by nature. Mother Earth and her pantheon of children stands opposed to the God of the Old Testament and New Testament. It will be in the end, the old battle the ancient gods versus the Ancient of Days.

Thanks be to God, that the Kingdom of this world will become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. And He shall reign forever and ever.

Amen.

This needs no comment. It was passed on to me by a friend that said it is being widely distributed. Safe to say, that this is a clear and encouraging statement.

May 10, 2004

Dear M:

Christ is Risen! Indeed, He is Risen! I hope that you are having a most joyful Pascal season.

I am in receipt of your letter dated May 4,2004, concerning the article about women’s ordination published in the May issue of THE WORD. If the woman who authored that article was insidiously trying to advocate such a practice in the Orthodox Church, I assure you that she will not succeed. I have made my position very clear on this issue on many occasions. The ordination of women will never happen in the Orthodox Church.

In the early church, there seemed to be an Order for Deaconesses. Whether the deaconesses had any liturgical function is still debatable. In my studies, I found that the main function of the deaconesses was to assist bishops baptizing adult women. In addition, they did perform certain social services, i.e., helping orphans, visiting the sick and feeding the hungry. Since we very seldom baptize adult Orthodox women today, I do not think that the Order of Deaconesses will serve any purpose. The Antiochian Women of the Archdiocese are teaching in our Sunday Schools, chanting in our choirs, raising funds for orphans, visiting the sick and feeding the poor, etc.

The two main sources of our theology are: (1) The Scripture and (2) Holy Tradition. Neither one of them mentions the ordination of women.

I understand your sensitivity to this issue, coming from an Episcopal background. What is happening in Protestant denominations is disgusting and scandalous. I wonder where this abomination will stop, if ever.

M, the Editor of THE WORD is the Very Reverend John Abdalah and I do not think that he an advocate of the ordination of women. Please know that I do not censor THE WORD Magazine. Nor do I agree with everything published in THE WORD. I suggest you write an article for THE WORD refuting what the author in the May issue said and I am sure THE WORD will be very happy to publish it.

Let me assure you, once again, that the Orthodox Church will never permit the ordination of women to the priesthood.

May the Eternal Light of the empty tomb always shine in your heart.

Yours in the Risen Lord,
Metropolitan PHILIP, Primate
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese
of North America

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Sarin? What Sarin?

Thanks to Hugh Hewitt for pointing out this article. This is the best summary of the state of the anti-war arguments and the media I have seen.

Touchstone Magazine - Mere Comments: “In the past year there were more than 600 homicides in Chicago, and most of them were gang (and drug) related.”

Young people die in Chicago from the breakdown of family, church, and morals. Doubt it? Ask a liberal critic how many of these young men and women were active Church goers, virgins or in intact marriages, with married mothers and fathers. Find poor people who go to Church, are chaste, in traditional families. How are they doing? What is their trajectory? We all know the answer. Morality works. Immorality fails.

Do they want to blame racism? Racism is bad and I am glad it is gone, but ask what the murder rate in segregated Chicago was. Racism did not cause family breakdown in the past. Why are white families being destroyed? Why has the murder rate gone up in places like West Virginia?

If you die because the culture of pornography destroyed your family, the left yawns. If you choose to go defend your country and advance freedom in Iraq, and you die, the left calls it a tragedy and wishes to finish off the President.

I say the tragedy is the cultural destruction produced by the same people who now suggest gay marriage will be good for us. They have been wrong about everything else. Why trust them now?

The luminous Joi Weaver gives us a top ten list:
Top Ten Books:

This list is in random order. I wouldn’t presume to know which of these
books I like best or has influenced me the most.

1. Farenheit 451 (Bradbury in general, but this in particular). This book
made me think about why people write and read books in the first place. I
don’t think I’ve felt the same way about books since.

2. Dune, by Frank Herbert. This was my first introduction to seeing how
religion, politics, and economics work together over a long period of time.

3. That Hideous Strength. This first brought home to me that earth is not
isolated; we are part of a creation that longs for redemption.

4. The Brothers Karamazov, by Dostoyevsky. I can’t explain exactly what
its influence on me has been, but I think it’s that it shows what one
light can do when all else is dark.

5. Orthodoxy, by G.K Chesterton. This is a solid firm view of
Christianity, presented with such wit that I often find myself laughing
out loud when I read it. The most important influence of this book,
however, has been a renewed sense of the simple joy of existence.

6. Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller When I read this unusual
book, it startled me. It should have seemed futile, but instead it brought
hope. God always preserves His church.

7. A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett. “If nature has made you
a giver, your hands are born open, and so is your heart. And though there
may be times when your hands are empty, your heart is always full, and you
can give things out of that.”

8. The Gospel of John. I studied this book in a church Bible quiz
program, and have loved it ever since. It’s hard to imagine being an
artist (a highly visual person and one who loves symbols) and not loving
John’s Gospel.

9. Revelations. My favorite book as a child. I never found it scary or
depressing; who can be depressed when you end up on the New Earth?

10. The Last Battle. I have never been afraid of the “End of the world,”
probably because of this book (as well as Voyage of the Dawn Treader and
Perelandra). The so-called end is only the beginning of the true story,
which will go on forever, and each chapter will be better than the last.

Here is a simple problem for feminism: no feminist society can reproduce itself. Let me assume that a group that cannot reproduce has a death wish and is not following a good strategy. Feminism takes precious women and keeps them from becoming mothers. We can always get more trial lawyers, but we cannot make more mothers if women become trial lawyers.

Of course, men also need to return to the home. Sadly, most important functions have left the home and church, by moving into big “business” and government. Both well educated men and women need to remember that raising children does not have to include “house work.” This part of “being home” can be hired out. The key is to center economic activity in the joint venture of home making and take home from a place to spend a few hours into the real cultural center of married life again.

Find a way for both man and woman to work together at home. These ideas need not send us all to Idaho to farm or Alabama to plant cotton in the age of technology. Many jobs can be done in carefully managed home, including a new type of law practice for mother. This new mercantilism can make the normal family, Mom and Dad with kids working at home together, normal again. At that point, large families can become an asset and not horrid cost. “Marge, we just cannot afford anymore kids. Think of college!” to “Marge, thank goodeness, Susan thought of a way to do our billing. Our fourth child is such a help.”

There are three reasons a monarchy appeals to me. First, I like the fact that the state is personified, not just an idea. People are more important than ideas. Does making an idea (or a written constitution) the uniting element discourage a healthy humanism? Second, in a properly run monarchy the monarch has little power to do evil, but great power to do good. A good king can pardon the unjustly punished and reward the overlooked. He is free to act without bowing the knee, since everyone else bows the knee to the king! Finally, it is unclear how binding an oath to an idea can be. I can pledge allegiance to a man, but can I really vow to a flag?

God save the Orthodox Tsar!

I have up loaded a new article on ID and Christianity called Afraid of Reason in the Publications/Articles section.

I am reminded by the folk at America’s best magazine, Touchstone, that C.S. Lewis published a famous “top ten list” of the books which most influenced his life. Let me take a shot at this and request other lists from readers. I am not listing the best books or the books that impact me now, but the books that have influenced the course of my life. To make the top ten list (or the close 20) is to have read the book more than five times, carefully, and not for work. The top ten list must have influenced my life for more than five of my forty years. Books in the top ten list should still be meaningful, thus giving some slight preference to the grown up me. The only rule for those playing along is that you must provide one sentence (no more than two!) of what the book meant to you.

1. The Bible
I don’t remember a time when the stories of this book were not being read to me and I read it every day. My parents raised me in an atmosphere super-saturated with this Book of Books.
2. That Hideous Strength (C.S. Lewis)
Torrey is based on the image of Saint Anne’s in this book. This is the truest account of the state of the West written in the last one hundred years.
3. Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)
I have read this book every year of my life since seventh grade. Even the smallest hobbit can do great things for God.
4. Republic (Plato)
The two years spent with this book and Al Geier were the most academically productive of my life. Since then, I have come to find almost every truth needed in the pages of this book, saving only the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
5. Nicholas and Alexandra (Massie)
This book seized my imagination and shaped my view of politics forever.
6. A Severe Mercy (Vanauken)
My favorite book on love, marriage, and the problem of pain.
7. Chronicles of Narnia (Lewis)
I still hope the elevator in Sutherland will open to Narnia someday.
8. Divine Comedy (Dante)
The most influential book of the last four years of my life.
9. Timaeus (Plato)
This is the first and last word on science for me.
10. Reason in the Balance (Johnson)
The book that still shapes the educational experience at Torrey.

Almost:

11. Abolition of Man (Lewis)
The best essay ever written? I have never stopped arguing with it.
12. A Night to Remember (Lord)
My dreams are still haunted from reading this book as a young boy. My views of cultural decline are captured by the death of the White Star liner.
13. Symposium (Plato)
It nearly helped destroy my life when I misunderstood its profound message about the nature of love.
14. The Complete Sherlock Holmes (especially Hound) (Doyle)
I wish I could live in London in 1890 with Mrs. Hudson bringing me breakfast on a silver tray.
15. The Death of Arthur (Malory)
Not a week goes by when I do not think on the Matter of Britain. Sin destroys even Camelot.
16. Complete Poems (Blake)
Not good for my soul, but at one time I was guided by them. Fading, but still a powerful influence.
17. Jane Eyre (Bronte)
My favorite novel in English (of the Great Books) and a true account of Christian love.
18. Uncle Arthur’s Bedtime Stories/Bible Stories (Maxwell)
I read these again and again. Moralistic, maudlin, and true.
19. The Dark is Rising Series (Cooper)
Like Blake generally a bad influence, but read and read again. Summary: What if pagans took over all the good parts of Christianity?
Tie:
20. How Should We Then Live? (Schaeffer)
Cultural apologetics god-father. Fading influence on my life, but at one time was a masterwork in my thinking.
and
20. Christianity and the Nature of Science (Moreland)
I kept it by my bed in grad school. It was a model to me for what was possible.

FOXNews.com - Top Stories - Gay Couples Begin to Wed in Massachusetts: “Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican opposed to same-sex marriage, had instructed Massachusetts town clerks to deny marriage licenses to all nonresident couples. However, officials in three municipalities said they would issue licenses to any couples who attested they knew of no impediment to their marriage. “

Why not defy the law? Courts will write new ones for the law breakers.

Civil disobedience suggestion:
Everyone in Massachusetts should get married. Now. To as many persons as possible. Everyone should declare that they are gay. Think of the benefits! If being gay is not about sex, one need not have homosexual relations to make this claim.

Everything else aside, this is a sad day for what was once Puritan New England. A state started by men and women who thought Old England too wicked leads the way to sin. How the Founders must weep in heaven!

One state enshrines immorality in its Constitution. Will the United States break the social contract with me and the majority of citizens? Allowing abortion and homosexual acts as a choice to individuals is one thing. Rewarding acts contrary to nature and nature’s God is another.

Judgment rests on Massachusetts. God’s holy wrath will fall on the United States of America unless this is reversed. His judgments are sure and true. Of course, it is no longer fashionable to speak of God’s judgments. God is allowed to exist only if He does nothing or presides like a senile Santa over baseball games. However, I believe best reason shows a God who judges slowly, but surely. His providence is not always manifest in the short term, but sin destroys a nation.

Now we will see if this is true for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has set itself against God openly.

Sinful actions by individuals is one thing, official glorification of sin by the state is another.

Today a WMD was used against American troops in Iraq. This would seem to indicate that they exist. Now that we know what was obvious, what will be made of it?

Some conservatives are cynical about the results, but I believe that Bush is about to be vindicated on his way to a landslide. The Democrats got way out on a limb on this issue. They said again and again, “Bush lied.” Well, now we know he did not lie. There were WMD in Iraq opposed to UN sanctions. What will they say?

First, Democrats will argue that some of the intelligence Bush used was wrong. Fair enough. It was wrong. So? The weapons were there. The key intelligence that Sadaam had WMD was vindicated. Just as Bush took a hit in public opinion for making a rational decision that was wrong (no WMD, but he believed there were), now the Democrats will take a hit for being hasty and saying the President “lied.” Bush stuck to his position when everyone, including some Republicans, was urging him to back down. Now he is vindicated.

Second, Democrats will argue that it is only one weapon. Where are the rest? This is silly and I think the American people will see it as partisan silliness. If terrorists in Iraq have this stuff, it is bizarre to think there is not more of it. Did they use the only Sarin gas shell in Iraq in a roadside bomb?

The major media cannot hide the fact that the entire Democrat assault on the War hinged on “no WMD.” WMD exist. Bye-bye, Kerry.

MSNBC - Religion: The Pop Prophets

Another story where “mainstream” media types discover that by gum there are Evangelicals out there! They believe stuff! They are political! Some of them are old! Some wear jeans! Some witness! Wow.

Imagine such story about African-Americans. “Who are these people? What is up with their books?” Here is a thought: Newsweek could hire some of these folk and let them write about their issues. Then perhaps some of the millions of Evangelicals would buy their magazine. Instead, Newsweek will keep talking down to us.

If you have not yet subscribed to “World”, a Christian news magazine, do so. Those folk understand both worlds.