Romanticism

Hile, Stranger here, and make yourself comfortable for what may be one of the more interesting commentaries I have yet posted. Upon post-modernism A.K.A. Romanticism. Bon apetite.



The truth is constant, always valid, and unable to change or fluctuate. If a truth is accepted then necessarily it becomes a foundation for thought. Yet if truth be only partially rejected then no idea or thought, no argument or construction, nothing will be completely true or even mostly true. This is merely the first phase of whit is now known as post-modernism. The relentless dismantling of any absolute has a plethora of consequences in society at large.



The fatal and first stroke of post-modernism is taking objective truth and making it subjective from a first person view. Or, in other words, denying any absolute and accepting truth to be a personal quest in which all differ in what fact they discover and accept. This places the acquisition and substantiation of any verity solely on the choice of the individual. Meaning everyone is their own god making for themselves their own purposes.



A society founded on this principle shall surely degrade into anarchic chaos. For all ideas would be equally invalid as well as equally valued. Only the amount of people accepting an idea as more or less fact would differ. It seems post-modernism's primary goal is to remove error by quietly killing any standard. The saving of pride done by this act is tremendous, simply because one might hold an opinion opposite to my own does not subtract any credence to what I hold to. If by some chance I adopt their viewpoint then my idea was more of an experiment than a rule.



By removing the possibility of wrong this world view adds into society a general feeling of "why bother?" Few shall see the need for rigor, or hard work for non can, in the end, succeed. There is now no longer any goal other than a sort of self propelling. A slothful tendency will pervade those who believe in nothing and anything.



What seems to be on of the main reasons for accepting such a mindset is the denial of God. It becomes an ultimate atheism, there being now no absolute there is necessarily no prime being. There is now no final judgment, no accountability for deeds or thoughts, and no life after death. They shall become their own law and accept their ultimate fate.



Having accepted their end they shall descend into hopelessness. What in the beginning was an attempt to substantiate whatever lifestyle they wished to lead shall be what they wished to avoid all along. All pursue happiness, those who do so through post-modernism will realize they are chasing only sorrow, and gaining it.



Romantics, this is what they are. Post-modernism emphasizes the experience, the emotion, and the journey over the truth, the logic, and the destination. Thinking if they travel wide enough, and experience many cultures and ideas humanity will gain a peace and balance. In its search, society will embrace countless radical and possibly dangerous ideas to reach this purpose.



My sister composed with this theme, "What you feel isn't what is real." Many would disagree. In fact, the denial of truth must place faith in the subjective and the emotional. This makes the experiential and the transient a temporary truth. People will take an action for as long as they 'feel like it' and then they shall move on to another area in hopes of a more fulfilling experience.



This lifestyle denies logic at its core and when confronted by either truth or logic will simply exercise the authority of self. Their main defense will be along the lines of, that may work for you but it doesn't mean it's true for me as well. In the face of this defiance no arguing shall prevail for they have hardened their hearts to change.



Proceeding hand in hand with the denial of logic is the assertion truth can only be personal. A truth you hold to is simply that, and my truth does not have to spread any further than me to be valid. Creating within society millions of tiny bastions, broadcasting their own ideas while ignoring whatever does not fit with their perception.



Already knowing life to be short as well as final the shall endeavor to live every moment for their own pleasure. Why should they waste time on others? Society will surely become steeped in greed as well as perverse and wild deeds. People will go to extra-ordinary lengths to enjoy every moment and they shall also become bitter or even violent when they cannot.



In the end post-modernism is a world view constructed to distract entire nations from God for as long as possible.



Dt

Quiet Tears

In the land where all is shadows and mist, where a bird's song is ne'er heard, and where there are no rainbows when a storm passes. In this land, the Heartland it was called, journeyed a wanderer across the barrenness of the frigid plains. The moon is always shining there and sunlight stays hidden behind great mountains. In order to survive the nomad killed all creatures he encountered and hastily ate them. It was always best to keep moving, to ever be escaping unperceived danger.

A frosty wind cut along the vales and dales penetrating all defense against its slow death. Shelter was nearly impossible to find and nearly as hard to make, for every cave was constantly filled and guarded by ferocious beasts. The landscape itself was full of treacherous pitfalls as well as thin ice over water. It was constantly precipitating, snow, rain, sleet, hail all would fall on a normal day and seemingly hail would fall the most often of all.

The wild and savage wilderness was dangerous beyond all compare yet it held a beauty for the traveler. The moonlight was as many silver threads glistening pale upon the ice capped fields. It was as cold and pale as a dead man yet enchanting despite all association with the grave. The man journeyed away from sunlight, ever to the north and away from other men. Somehow he survived alone, at least for then.

He could not be any more alone in the void and the night than he was in a city of men in the southern latitudes. Each of them was consumed with their own quests and would not deign to share bread with a friend. The pariah had embraced the hinter lands and could better endure the frozen tundra than the frozen smiles of so many men. He adored the places none had been for no where else had he found a place he identified with.

It was there, on the day of unceasing sleet, on the day when the wind howled louder than any train, when no shelter could endure nor comfort made. It was then he made it to the center of the wasteland, the north most point of all the earth. At the core of cold he pitched his tent and waited. He waited for the equinox, the time when sun would overtake moon. He sat for the time when the rim of the earth no longer swam away from the celestial body of heat and light. He waited for two months and ten days but who can tell time in the shadow of the moon? It seemed to be eternity and a lifetime he held his ground.

Yet the sun did rise and when the sun rose it stayed. The athlete no longer would remain only in shadows and moonlight but to be made warm in the full light of day. The wanderer had found a place to be home at, at least while the sun shone. He would now journey only west to remain in sunlight all the longer. For he had enough of being full of an icy soul and now that the thaw had come he yearned for warmth to be his only lot; never more to weep frozen tears in silence, but to run his course with joy.

Dt

Heartfelt apologies

Hello. This is the Stranger and I have written this to you on account of some very... peculiar circumstances in my life which force me to make my posts a little more spaced out. I know the month of June had almost no posts and I apologize for the lapse, but I must cry your pardon once again and ask you to be patient. Thank you, and please don't ask me to explain any further it's rather complicated.

Dt

Broken

He was a guardian, and he did protect.





There stood a Soldier among the crowd of trinkets, to reason with them about the purpose they should aspire to. He had placed himself upon a stage and delivered the speech he had rehearsed over and again. "We are men of few words, but many deeds. Swift to do and quick to deliver we stand in the gap. We are so many princes, with so many steeds charging to victory. We are the guardians and we will protect."



Silence met his passionate words and once more the Soldier walked away hearing only cheers and trumpets. "Reporting for duty!" the Soldier stated with a crisp salute. "At ease Private." responded the Sergeant, with a somehow better salute.



"Is all of your gear checked and double checked?" "Yes sir!" "Have you memorized the map layout of your mission area?" "Yes sir!" "Do you know by instinct the requirements of your mission, and shall you abide and do those requirement and only them?" "Yes sir, and yes again sir!"



The Sergeant nodded and his former official demeanor fell away as a genuine smile lit his face, "God speed private." said the Sergeant. Salutes, departure, and the Soldier fell in with his squad for their mission. The mission for the next five months was survive the first semester of freshman year at a public high school, and his squad was a group of students he didn't know all piled in a giant yellow bus.



Dt



To be continued...

One Standard Day

The fresh scent of pine had won over her senses long ago. She felt the green and knew all of her mute yet weighty desires to be answered. The heaviness of the city she itself from her like water as she danced among the trees. She existed off of the aroma while her spirit rose to heights anew and soared there. She would have been content then, but there was still more in that forest of glory and the morn had only just shed soft light.



The living air sighed past her like so many threads of silk. With every step and every breath her laugh became more wild. Zephyrs which were the foundations for eagles' wings dove down from heaven to grace the forest. The delight she found from them poured form her lips in song. How could it be any better, she asked entranced by the gift, but she knew more than the caress of the sky and more still then the perfume of the earth.



The stillness in the thrushes spoke poetry to her even as water trickled reverently in its stream. The wind's breath stirred the trees to their whispering life and they shared sweet secrets with her. The soft call of the mourning dove enhanced the feeling, welling in her spirit. Then the joy of the morning burst forth coupled with his companion, who is peace like a river. My cup is full, she declared, I cannot take any more in. Yet more there was for creation is no so empty to make known Him part way.



The trumpet of the dawn lit upon the forest there and revealed greater greens and deeper blues like so many gems to her awed eyes. Sparkling in the lake was a treasury made for her, and in the leaves and blades of grass stood captured a beauty beyond knowledge. The great blueness above joined with the earth beneath in their dance of light and dark to remind her of the dew. Just as the dew refreshed all the animals and brought life to so many plants, so did all creation fall like dew to her tired soul. For her there was nothing left but to cry and the tears were lovelier than all the blazes of the sun to He who did for her all this and more.



It was then she asked in her relief, gratefulness, and confusion... Why, why for one as I? For what reason would you create knowing we would deny? How come you toiled and spun with the knowledge of our treason? And all the answer she ever got and all the answer there ever was also happened to be in the great big sky.



Why? Because, and love.



Dt

The Daily Struggle

The long awaited (and hopefully anticipated) second part to my commentary on warfare has come. I pray you benefit.




4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake.

-- I Thes. 1:4-5

Before going forth into warfare for the sake of others make sure of your own status. Remaining in a good status requires two aspects, these being humility and devotion. For the root problem has been and shall always be sin. Without sin there would be no fallen angels, no entropy, and no war either against the flesh within or the world without. When sin is paid for a person is taken out of the darkness, enslavement, and freed from a mindset for the work of the devil. This does not necessarily mean they are scotch free from hard work (it simply means without the grace provided by the gospel, hard work would never pan out...). This is mostly a recap of what I said earlier in a different form.

What needs to be added is the following, sin led to fallen angels and fallen man, sin can attract the fallen or enticement can be produced by the fallen. Yet with resistance to sin the spirits flee. No matter how you look at the issue the main problem is sin and the only solution is the gospel. This is the essence of humility, with confession humility grows and dependence on God becomes increasingly tangible. Doing so will soak in deeper reliance on God and this stunning realization; if we are faithful in "small" things, He is faithful in big things. Of course remaining pure is no small matter but I propose the "big" area is when we try to expand to helping others. James 4:5-7, 1 Peter 5:4-6, Luke 16:9-11.

Humility keeps us dependant and suppresses pride (like the desire to grab our own glory in deliverance). Devotion to God is very specific to fighting one particular struggle, faithlessness. Unbelief is, in essence, thinking God not big enough, the gospel not good enough, nor the Word effective enough to actually deliver from sin. This mindset can either be veiled in a habitual pattern of sin, because if we had the faith repentance would be possible, or in actual doubting of the goodness or power of God. I have found through observation unbelief often is accompanied by oppression. How or when the oppressor comes is speculation but the symptoms are classic and easily identifiable. Hopelessness, depression, brooding, anxiety, and things like these compound the cause, unbelief. Rom. 10:16-18, Gal. 3:1-9, Matt. 17:17-21, 1 Sam. 15:10; 24-25 16:14-15; 23.

Humility and devotion are merely the evidences of something much better, the gospel. These truths are merely fruits from the double beamed tree. Just as no one ever lived without a heart nor did a car ever start without an engine just so do these truths depend on the Mover for their efficacy. Go and do likewise.

Discernment is required. Some are given the gift of discernment of spirits as their spiritual gifting, but many are not. Whether or not you have (or think you have) been given this gift be sure to pray for discernment when you have reason to think an alien will is influencing you. When a temptation seems to never end, to last beyond reason or normal boundaries, and when prayer and recitation of the scriptures seem not avail much then sometimes this may be the influence of an imp. Be careful to remember our warfare is against our own flesh and that sin is always the root cause and root problem, in addressing the root other powers loose most of their leeway.

This warfare is easiest won by prevention, yet there are times when preventative measures fail and we fall. When this time occurs remember the authority, by the power of the Name, given unto us (in various places, one of which is Mark 16:17) and with faith standing against the deceiver. Remember to repent of your sin (repentance being asking forgiveness as well as the grace to turn away and walk in it no more, and then so doing) which brought you to the place of vulnerability in the first place.

Be devoted to God and thereby faith be inculcated into your heart. For faith is the root of our power, just as pride is the root of theirs. Faith protects when pride subverts, faith makes strong where pride makes vulnerable, faith makes effective where pride exposes, and faith give God the glory where pride seeks its own. Devote yourself to God and believe, whereby you shall stand in the day of darkness. Eph. 6:13.

Dt

P.s. For reasons I shall not say the commentary on deliverance of others shall not be posted now and may never be posted in the future. I sincerely hope the commentary has been beneficial to you but I adjure you to be wise and most of all draw near to God.