Epic Fury no 2 update:

 The Regional War Unfolds

 

According to sources: Iran has attacked other countries with missiles!

Apart from targets in US Military Bases in Middle East and Israel.

Iran has been planning and the USA has been planning as well for years and months.

Days,weeks and perhaps next months,we shall see this regional war unfold.

Previous administrations have taken  steps to curtail and attempt to undermine the Iranian leadership for years to little and no avail. Diplomacy has not,not been effective at any stage in the near 47 year history of Iranian regime since its 1979 revolution. [ errors corrected] 

I am personally  upset that the Iranian everyday people had been targeted by the brutal iron-fisted Iranian Regime!

I personally hope that the leaders responsible for this massacre shall be held to justice. Either in this earthly life or the next.

May God be true, just and merciful.

Amen.

(This War is now significantly necessary in my opinion.)

Digital Anvil.

Epic Fury.

Epic Fury:

Air dominance rages while Iran slugs out missles and drones in retaliation.

Israel has a Number of layered missile defences which intercept ballistic missiles and drones from Iran.

Iran has launched many ballistic missiles at key US Military Bases around the Middle East.

Iran is believed to be near myopic in its survelliance and defensive infrastructure.

Command and Control nodes in Iran have and  are being taken out.

Iran has massive collection of mobile missile launchers in its large geographic space.

Iranian Internet had been studiously shut down.

Digital Anvil.

The War Underway:

Truth Social confirms:

 

 " Major Combat Operations Underway"in Iran

I suggest my readers check out their local news outlets for more.

( amen: Digital Anvil )

 Iran/ Israel War underway

 

As of 25 minutes ago approximately, according to news flash: Israel has preemptively attacked Iran.

Check instant new services for more...

 

(amen:Digital Anvil ) 

 

Asking Questions, Hoping for Answers:

 

Is Western Culture re-aligned ?

 

The current cultural moment in the West is that the pendulum of the world clock is swinging lazily away from the 'avant-garde' left. It takes progressiveness to highlight the very few flaws and mistakes of the West. Things that needed to be addressed, were.

But the Far -left or new Left have gone too far.

Being progressive used to mean fighting for women to have equal rights, the same opportunities and ( largely) the same pay. Many women earn much more than men. The imbalance is shrinking and men have encountered perhaps for  1 or 2 decades  a narrowing of career and work opportunities similar to that experienced by Western women in earlier centuries. At least in remuneration or earnings, if not wider stripping  away of classic male-only roles and careers are being forecast by some futurists.

 

Suddenly being progressive  means fighting for the removal of " woman" as a viable and necessary  concept. 

 

Somehow  mobilising for equal rights for the tiny minority of transsexuals meant accepting that overall women's rights should be denied and rendered invisible; in favour of trans-women. This is seen by a recent court case in AU with the founder of  an exclusive website being sued by a woman for " discrimination and denial of entry." This website is a safe place which is only for females not faux females nor ambitious and predatory males.

What's occurred  in the West was a customised ruin, a kind of bespoke replacement meant to transform society but ensured damaged, even irreparable lives, trashed norms and 'unsalvagable' values.

Pressures,clarity and social correction from various insistent and persistent conservative voices has limited the sociopolitical damage to Western society. Other   forces are being brought to bear,fissures are being healed. Everyday People are relaying their concern to politicians,  corporate leaders  and other thinkers. There is a renewed commonsense approach to life in Western climes again

A resurgence of traditional norms,values and expectations have occurred.Fractures are mending with the collective voices being raised in nation after nation.

The clock  hadn't struck high noon.

Midnight has been truly averted.

"A time of crisis and disenchantment calls out for a re-thinking of who we are..." " whereby we don't collapse into cynicism and despair"

Alistair McGrath.

The richest and most complex elements of modern society are science and religion. Both are routinely looked to provide answers for the often recurrent problems in new dress and  other truly new issues.

Each separate element dazzles us with ( confrontational- at times ) solutions but are dependent on the individual's worldview to accept their offered resolution and ideological concepts.

It would seem, and in fact has,  that the influential optimism of the post global -war period has waned dramatically. 

We should, according to professor  Alister McGrath, reach the inevitable but the most unsettling and avoided question: 

what is wrong with us?

A question that many do  not wish to contemplate and most don't ask. With repeated  geo-failures, troublesome global events and shared, inherent illusions we lose our grand way and so are spiralling into chaos.

Perhaps the solution lies in asking this difficult questions but supposing there  are answers.

What is life?

" As far as we know, we're the only species on earth that asks this question, and dares to hope that we might find an answer. It seems that we are born to wonder, not merely to exist. To wonder is to reflect, to turn over in our minds what is known, to expand our imaginative capacity and to ask what greater truth and beauty might lie behind our world or beyond our settled horizons of vision....and whether they point to something deeper."

Alister McGrath.

As always, left- striving academia, causes distrust in the spaces beyond the walls of the intellectual castle, formal philosophy is still one of the most avoided academic topics but is gleefully and argued in other forms in the lives of everyday people.

These talks commence with children who need guidance in handling the difficult and puzzling world they enter. The big picture is taught which helps to make sense to others about the fundamentals of the life- journey.

Happily, parents grasped the aspects of philosophy without  needing degrees.

Aristotle earned his crown,many centuries ago and most men and women carry the tradition of reasoning and dialogue into the public and private spaces today.

The quest for meaning:

 

If you,believe as i do, you are probably aware of the 3 basic assumptions that I've stated in a previous essay entitled: Life: The Big 3.

You will find the post here:-Life: The Big 3

You could be aware of the basic belief of mine (and of many others ) about the three main assumptions  that under -gird reality?

 

I conclude that the primary element in the life -journey is "meaning",no matter how difficult or how triumphant the events of your life might be. Without meaning our lives drift,achieving haphazard aims ( with the tide of forces ) that may not be in our own best interests. 

 Overarching the entire whole life- journey is the element of "choice." One cannot not choose. Why? Making a choice or not making a choice is still choosing. One's choice may sometimes  be  not to choose.

 

The power of " Purpose" is another supreme driver.  The universal quest  of purpose which can help refine meaning and solve the issue of drifting as mentioned earlier.

 

 

  " Where professional philosophers have virtually given up about the subject of meaning, psychologists have moved on this fundamental human concern, helping us to understand meaning of its core facets, and the difference it makes, to life. We apparently  feel that we .can make a difference to things, and to take control of our lives:  but we need a sense of identity and purpose of When and Where and Who."

"When we.have traumatic experiences in life and when we experience our awareness with mortality .We, basically, as human beings actively seek to invest meanıng and seek for systems of meaning which embrace an understanding of the world,our personal significance and our capacity to transcend our limits and locations as we sense we are a part of something bigger and greater."

Alister McGrath. ( edited)

A theme in this essay is to demonstrate the importance of meaning for human flourishing.

Of necessity, life is remarkably nuanced and complex. After all we are unique ( each and everyone) and deliciously contradictory and blatantly self - absorbed.

Although I've spoken briefly about the overarching purpose and meaning of our life-journey,we intuitively know that facts and reasoning are not enough.

Thus God revealed himself,according to His Book and science discovered a glimpse of God behind the universe.

Facts are the ' raw stuff' of life: data not yet interpreted and wholly refined.

Science is man's invention owned by God. Awesome and dazzling,it is itself is a prima fascie case for the need of wisdom. Though feelings are trumped by facts, facts alone are alone.

Man's search for meaning is sometimes obscured by facts. Even though facts matter.

For example,we are aware that there are two sexes or genders alone. Somehow many individuals are seeking meaning beyond the aegis of biological sex.

Some have endeavored  to correct this horrific state of affairs in a teen's mind by altering their  biological sex  with life- changing surgeries and cross - sex chemicals!

Discovering that "affirming' this 'psychological mindset' invites,even after decades,no true solution. Some groups even seek to prevent de- transitioning of a trans-sexual or preventing a return to their original biological sex. Interference should not occur.

Facts and reasoning can create a loveless world without citizens finding their true souls,joy and fulfillment.

Perhaps this environment establishing a weary world of facts was released from its prison by that genius Ludwig Wittgenstein penning this statement:

"to believe in a God means to understand the question about the meaning of life."

To believe in the God means to see that the facts of the matter are necessary but not the only matter.

 

 

by Digital Anvil. 

 

 

 

Making Goodness Fashionable

One of the great figures of civic leadership and Christian ministry is William Wilberforce. He is world-renowned for leading the charge to abolish the slave trade, which was motivated by his faith in Jesus.

One of the other aims of Wilberforce's life was to "make goodness fashionable". I love that phrase! Most of us don't understand how unfashionable goodness was in 18th-century England. This was a time of widespread drunkenness of both rich and poor, of political graft and rampant prostitution. As Eric Metaxas writes, this was "a time of open debauchery in every sphere of the culture".

Making goodness fashionable was about as (un)popular then as it is now. But it is just as needed now as it was then. Can I encourage you to do all you can to make goodness fashionable?

Share this daily- reading.

Agreed: with gratitude to Karl Faase.

Myth with a postcode

Martin Shaw is an author, storyteller and mythologist from Dartmoor in the UK. Shaw has a deep knowledge of the world of mythology and teaches and writes about the influence of myth.

Recently, Shaw became a Christian after a remarkable experience, and has been growing in his personal faith.

I listened to Justin Brierley interview Shaw, where he reflected on whether the story of Jesus was a myth like the others he knows of and teaches.

Shaw’s response was instructive, he said the problem with believing that the story of Jesus is a myth is that it’s a myth with a distinct postcode.

The story of Jesus took place in a specific geographical location and moment in history that can be researched, known and understood.

Jesus reflects history not mythology.

We interviewed Martin Shaw in our series, Encounter. If you'd like to hear more about Shaw, search Encounter

Share this daily- reading.

(Many thanks to Karl Faase. I'm pleased to promote the series)

War Like Time-Lapse Photography

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor who lived in Germany through the Second World War and was executed by the Nazis for his involvement in a plot to kill Hitler.

Bonhoeffer was a prolific writer with unusual insight. He wrote often about the scourge of war and what it shows us about humanity.

He once compared war with time-lapse photography. When you watch time-lapse photography, subtle changes that naturally occur over hours and hours, which pass unnoticed, are accentuated and made obvious.

Bonhoeffer wrote that war did the same for human behaviour. Attitudes and actions that went unnoticed were now obvious. He concluded that war did not produce these attitudes, it only revealed and emphasised them.

We can all tend to blame circumstances for our poor or inexcusable behaviour. Perhaps all they do is make obvious the attitudes that lie beneath the surface of our lives every day.

Circumstances won’t create your character - they reveal it. Use what is exposed to grow closer to the person God intends you to be.

Share this daily-reading

Agreed with thanks to Karl Faase.

Luke 17:

Luke 17:26-37 Key Verse: “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.” v 30   Jesus is speaking with his disciples about the coming of God's Kingdom. We refer to this as the second coming, when Jesus will return again and establish His Kingdom.  The key in this passage is that Jesus wants His disciples to know and us to know, is that we won’t know the time. It will come when it’s least expected.   Jesus gives two examples His listeners would know, Noah and the flood, Lot and the city of Sodom. In both circumstances, destruction would arrive via both the flood and fire when everyone was just getting on with life.    The key theme is that you can’t know the time, so always be ready.   This is true of the second coming but it is also true of life in general. None of us knows what today or tomorrow will bring. We are all a heartbeat from disaster. That can be a health, relational, financial, or situational crisis. They are usually totally unexpected.   Nudge: If that is the case, be ready in all of life. Live well, love people around you, forgive and move on, don’t hold grudges. Life is too short to live with anger and resentment. We all pray that disaster won’t strike today, but knowing it might, be prepared in every part of life.   Share this daily- reading. (Agreed with many thanks to Karl Faase)

Christian Morality, Pagan Sexuality and The Epstein Files :

The Epstein Files, Pagan History, and Christian Morality

Years ago, before Epstein, the #MeToo movement, or even same-sex “marriage,” talk show host and Jewish theologian Dennis Prager wrote a fascinating article called “Judaism’s Sexual Revolution.” In it, he described how the pagan world was a sexual free-for-all that debased women and children in the service of male lust. Nearly every aspect of life was sexualised. The pagan gods engaged in no-holds-barred sex, and so did the people. As philosopher Martha Nussbaum, quoted by Prager, wrote, children and women were “very often treated interchangeably as [simple] objects of [male] desire.” 

The very same awful treatment of God’s image bearers is on display again in the revelations emerging from the Epstein files. An incredible number of victims were trafficked and abused. An incredible number of evildoers were involved. A bunch of powerful people worked to keep it all hidden. That so much evil could have continued for so long staggers the imagination. 

A remarkable difference today is that, unlike pre-Christian pagan societies, such behavior is considered evil rather than normal. That’s because the claim that God created sex only for a man and a woman in marriage was so revolutionary. As Prager wrote,  

"This revolution forced the sexual genie into the marital bottle. It ensured that sex no longer dominated society, it heightened male-female love and sexuality (and thereby almost alone created the possibility of love and eroticism within marriage), and it began the arduous task of elevating the status of women." 

As Christianity, which shared the Genesis account of creation, grew and expanded in influence, it collided with Roman paganism, which also victimized women and children. Except for some in the elite class, Roman women were often treated worse than Roman cattle. Even upper-class women were little more than possessions, and when it came to sexuality, they were at their husband's beck and call and could be disposed of at will. 

Slave women, who were a full third of Rome’s female population, could expect beatings and rape. The “fortunate” ones were sold into prostitution. Unwanted girls were left to die of exposure. 

Into that world came Christianity, specifically the writings of St. Paul. As historian Sarah Ruden wrote in her 2010 book, Paul Among the People, to call Paul an “oppressor of women,” as modern scholars do, could “hardly be more wrong.”: 

"It is profoundly ignorant to think of the Apostle Paul as a sour proto-Puritan descending upon happy-go-lucky pagan hippies, ordering them to stop having fun.” On the contrary, “Paul’s teachings on sexual purity and marriage were adopted as liberating in the pornographic, sexually exploitive Greco-Roman culture of the time . . ." 

Christianity “worked a cultural revolution,” Ruden wrote, “restraining and channeling the male Eros, elevating the status of both women and of the human body, and infusing marriage—and marital sexuality—with love.” In Ruden’s words, Christian ideas about marriage were “as different from anything before or since as the command to turn the other cheek.” 

“No wonder,” Prager wrote, that the “improvement of the condition of women has only occurred in Western civilization.” It is also no wonder that biblical sexual morality was so despised by the ancient pagans in power. Not because it robbed them of “fun,” but because they could no longer rationalize their predations. 

Of course, modern pagans also despise Christian sexual morality, but they are also forced to borrow from it as they condemn the kind of horrific treatment of  women and children revealed in the Epstein files. The “uncomfortable truth about the Epstein accusations,” as Paul Anleitner posted on X, is that… 

"We only find them morally reprehensible because of Christianity. 

"Before the spread of Christianity, “civilized” Greek and Roman elites openly flaunted underage s*x slaves. This was normal. Emperor Hadrian built an entire city in honor of his favorite boy. We’ve heard for decades that Christianity is a barrier to moral progress, but if you undercut the moral foundations of Christianity from the West, culture reverts back to pagan norms."

That is why it’s so tragic when Christians abandon the clear, life-giving vision of human sexuality that liberated the pagan world. Yet that’s what many have done, even thinking themselves “loving” and “tolerant” in the process. It is, in fact, cruel—not loving—to withhold truth from broken people in a confused culture. 

And that is not our only betrayal. To protect churches, Christian institutions, and favored leaders, Christians have often turned a blind eye to, or even covered up abuse, harassment, or worse happening within. That’s a betrayal of people made in the image of God, as well as of the Truth that can set them—and us—free. 

In other words, the correct response to our failure to live up to the biblical vision of human dignity is not to pat ourselves on the back for that vision. Rather, it is to confess our own hypocrisy and to repent of our own sins. No matter who is implicated in this horror, we should pray that, as Jesus said, “there is nothing hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.”  

We should also pray that the long, continued, evil efforts to keep these files hidden will fail, and that God will bring justice that is long overdue. Finally, we should, as professor Paul deHart posted on X, “Thank God that pagan morality was overthrown.” If it had not been, there would be no movement to reveal this evil, punish the evildoers, and offer the victims justice.

 

 

(Agreed: Digital Anvil) 

Again,if you have an alt view or comment,please do so?

[To my readers,I would like to be able to write like the above but when I come across such quality essays, I post, even though I don't know who authored it.]

 China/Iran Revolutions and the White Robed Stranger:

 

  This may surprise

It's been said that China may be an unofficial Christian nation in the next 30 years. 

Iran's underground church is similarly poised to be a Christian nation majority by the next 35 years as some estimates go! Some sooner,some later!

Estimates vary from 100 million to 400 million of believing followers in the current state in China! We owe much of that to Hudson Taylor, the English missionary among others.

As the underground church in China continues to grow, efforts to suppress it seem only to fertilise its growth instead.

I've seen similar smuggled-out documentaries about the underground church in Iran whereby a senior cleric confessed that they've had to close 50,000 mosques out of 75,000 total there. 

Either nation is mirroring each other in their response to significant forces and changes within. 

What began as isolated anecdotes about Iran ( and other Middle East nations ) years ago with many Arab residents talking of visions/ dreams of a white robed figure explaining who He is. The shimmery white figure would state that he was Jesus 'whom you are yearning for' during the watches of the night. Even a website had been created reportedly in Canada asking respondents to tell their story.

Of nocturnal visits from the white robed stranger in some Muslim countries.

The paradigm shifts in  these countries are  more realised with each passing decade.

(This message was originally written months ago, but it is only posted now. )

(Opinion and fact by Digital Anvil.)

Desperate for Him:

Desperate for Him

It’s tempting to think we’re strong, we’re capable, and “we’ve got this.” But in reality, we are powerless on our own. We desperately need God—every moment of every day.

We wouldn’t be here if He didn’t create us. We wouldn’t live if He didn’t sustain us. We wouldn’t flourish if He didn’t guide, protect, and empower us. 

The author of 1 Chronicles knew the importance of depending on God. He said:

“Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!”

‭‭1 Chronicles‬ ‭16‬:‭11‬ ‭ESV‬‬

In a world that’s constantly focused on itself, it’s crucial to recognize our need to depend on God. We need His strength, we need His power, and—to put it simply—we just need Him! 

If you’re feeling confident in your own self-sufficiency, ask yourself: Who made this world? Who created my body, my mind, and my soul? My eyes, my legs, my lungs? Who has the power to save—or to destroy? Who holds the keys to life?

Just as we continually need air, we need the power and presence of God to sustain our every move. 

So how can we seek His strength and presence continually? By staying connected to Him: talking to Him throughout the day, prioritizing Him in the midst of busy schedules, humbly asking for His power. 

God will never deny a heart that is genuinely seeking Him. 

So come to Him with your weakness and He will give you strength. Come to Him with your questions, your needs, and your wants, and He will give you Himself. And that is the very best thing of all. 

Thanks to Anonymous.

(Agreed:Digital Anvil )

In Your Midst.

 “The kingdom of God is in your midst.” (v21)

Jesus is being questioned by the Pharisees, key religious leaders of his time. They are asking when the “kingdom of God would come”. This is something that Jesus taught and it was also something that scholars of the Old Testament Scriptures were looking for. A messiah was promised and each time a new prophet or popular leader emerged there was this question - is this the One?

It is interesting that Jesus uses a phrase to describe their questioning, that the kingdom of God can't be “observed”. Biblical scholars make the point that this word actually means “hostile observation”. These were “hostile, doubting eyes” and they were unable to see what was unfolding before them.

There was good reason for the leaders and influential people of Jesus’ time to doubt this was the Messiah. Here was Jesus, from the backwater town of Nazareth, a carpenter and His key followers were an unschooled bunch of fisherman and very average people. If God were inaugurating a new kingdom would it be through this lot?

Yet Jesus proclaims, the “kingdom of God is in your midst”, and the inference is, they can’t see it, probably because they look with “hostile eyes” and have a preconception of what it will look like.

God's kingdom comes through unlikely people in ways that will surprise us.

Share this daily- reading.

From Digital Anvil with many,many thanks to Karl Faase.

Helen Keller.

Quote:

Life is a daring adventure or its nothing.

Helen Keller.

( Agreed: Digital Anvil)

 Question ?

 

In a world where profoundly evil things happen, how do we raise good people? 

( by Digital Anvil)

If you have an answer,then...

Easy or Difficult

 

The easier the situation, easier to make it more difficult.

The more difficult the situation, the easier it is to make a mistake.

(  A muse -ing by Digital Anvil )

 Sometimes:

 

 

Sometimes we tell our deepest darkest secrets to virtual strangers and they-- sometimes-- become our friends.

( by Digital Anvil )

 Matter

 

We know what matters to people when they repeat themselves.

(By Digital Anvil.)

 Money and Fun

 

When fortune enters your life,and you don't know where to spend it,spend your time, energy and money on relationships.

It actually is fun.

(By Digital Anvil.)

 A Muse-ing

 

In a world of uncertainty and lovelack,its difficult to love those who don't love back!

But thank Heaven above among friends,You and I can find love!

( A  muse- ing by Digital Anvil)

 

Objective vs Subjective or Outer vs Inner

 

Instead of objective reality, man's inner life itself becomes the source of truth. 

The modern self finds itself in the midst of what Robert Bellah has described as a culture of "expressive individualism"- where each of us seeks to give expression to our individual inner lives rather than seeing ourselves as embedded in communities and bound by natural and supernatural laws.? 

Authenticity to inner feelings rather than adherence to transcendent truths, becomes the norm. This modern self, then, gives rise to a " fleshscape "or  inner sanctum society that is not accountable to anyone outside of oneself,  but to the therapists who counsel how to be  true to oneself.

(Agreed in part)

Flag:

Always a Flag that never flags.

 Bible Errors ?

 

 

I just spent some time reading the bible

and found many errors

Most of which were found in me!

and some in You !

( By Digital.Anvil.)

Exonerated: Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

 The short and the longer of it:

"Milestones" in the 8/26/96 TIME magazine summarises it this way:

EXONERATED. DIETRICH BONHOEFFER,

An Influential Lutheran theologian hanged in 1945 for high treason against

 Germany; by a Berlin court, which ruled that a 1946 law nullifying Nazi-era 

judgements formally overturned the death sentence an SS tribunal had 

imposed. Bonhoeffer, whose writings held up the suffering Christ as a 

model of submission to God's will, had denounced Hitler as the "anti-Christ."

 He died at 39, one month before Germany surrendered.

 

 These articles ( above and below ) are old and merely advise older news for

 the hoped- for benefit of my readers.

 

Overturning of Nazi German rulings

  

" The Berlin Public Prosecutor's Office  had announced that it was initiating 

proceedings to have the 1945 death sentence against theologian Dietrich 

Bonhoeffer revoked. 

That announcement was followed by another also 

seeking rehabilitation of Wilhem Canaris and Hans Oster, two of the figures

 executed in April 1945 in connection with the failed July 20, 1944 

assassination attempt upon Hitler.

 

Prosecutors may also seek to rehabilitate Claus Graf Schenk zu Stauffenberg

 and Hans von Dohnanyi reversed as well. Both were involved in the July 20

plot.

 The Berlin prosecutors argue in their petition on Bonhoeffer's behalf that

 the 1945 court proceedings against him were conducted not so much to 

determine the facts of the case, but rather to give a veneer of legitimacy to 

the decision to execute him. Bonhoeffer had been imprisoned in 1943 for

 subversion; in 1945, he was transferred from a Berlin prison to the 

Buchenwald concentration camp (Thuringia) and shortly thereafter to the

 one in Flossenbürg (Bavaria), where he was executed on April 9, 1945, one

 day after being sentenced to death and very shortly before Germany's 

capitulation and the end of the war on May 8.

 In acknowledging the efforts now underway for Bonhoeffer,

 Canaris and Oster, Rudiger Reiff of the Berlin Public Prosecutor's Office

noted that "very, very many sentences" that had been handed down by

 Nazi-era courts against individuals opposed to the regime and have yet to

 be reversed. "

 

(From Digital Anvil) 

 

 Journalists vs Activists

 

 

Many journalists  have warned that the tech platforms and some liberal legacy media outlets can be weapons of mass destruction to democracy, amplifying misinformation and weakening public debate. Younger generations, who have little experience of journalism before social media, are especially exposed.

It should also be noted that some journalists are activists- in -disguise.   ( Not equal- reporters nor balanced-reporting  journalists.)

(By Digital Anvil)

Nothing Replaces Persistence

In life, we can often believe that getting ahead and achieving is all about how smart we are or educated or even how well connected.

But there is another great attribute we often forget; It's called persistence.

An old poem expresses this well - no one knows who originally wrote this but it talks about persistence:

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful individuals with talent. Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not. The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are all powerful."

Don't waste your God-given talents by giving up too soon. Pray for the ability to persist and see through to the end what God has called you to do.

Share this post

Much thankfulness for this daily-reading to Karl Faase.

(Agreed: Digital Anvil)

Toxic: (Re-work A)

 

 Serious reflections are sometimes warranted.

 

 Toxic? 

 

A word oft used to describe males and masculinity!

Although there are reasons for that term,the progressives' viewpoint is too loose and   unwarranted, for such a strong and wide -ranging term. Such a term is oft used for men being men, while women are treated as though they are not similarly flawed. The world appears to admire (some ) women as though they are super human. 

However the word has been debated, written about and applied to a difficult- to- be- negative- about yet pervasive tool.

Our "digital" world seems (too) unrealistic to be real. IRL once meant " in real life." 

But for many the IDW (in Digital world )  is "real" enough that it replaces the real world? The world we actually breathe,sleep,work, reproduce and eat in. The real world populated with species from all over, to Man over all.

How is the  IDW ( replacement world) a real world?  It would seem that to those users  who deem this ubiquitous tool essential to each and  every life - journey.?? IF this claim is to be believed then it is in accordance  with the importance,utility and relevance of their shared reality?

This environment of the IDW is thoroughly special  to the Millennials and Gen Z. In Western nations; Mobiles are as necessary as food and water. Life would be much, much harder without them. The world has billions of them. Many own two mobiles.

Gen Z is especially hooked to the IDW( in digital world ) which is fostered by smart mobiles. This addiction has consequences for the shared reality that our real world creates.

Why ? The outcome ( of this Digital World ) makes it  more difficult for real relationships to form in the real world. Least of which, the element of conversation with real people who are physically present so that not just audio but the whole range of subtle cues, bodily and otherwise are available for scrutiny and interaction.

 

Social media  creates faux relationships with smart mobiles mediating "perfect moments" and filtered images or perfected photographs for inevitable comparisons, while people remain fully disconnected from more meaningful relationships.

 

Customs,norms and core values have altered significantly with Gen Z.

In some surveys, its been observed that Gen Z has minimalised some of the  values of their parents. For some, there are individuals whose lives  are eccentric,vastly and culturally different to their fellow Gen Z  members. These "unusual" individuals are like strangers in a strange land. So they live but are  treated by many who label them as  "toxic individuals "

It's a sad state of affairs that new ( and older) relationships that are too "difficult to maintain," therefore labelled as toxic. Approximately 50 % of Gen Z have this disturbing mentality. Such "toxicity" is "too much" for the younger generation Z, so for them, about 50 % of their relationships could be cancelled or annulled. Absurdly awkward for someone who is an individual living in the digital-- and the Real world.

Good, meaningful relationships are like strong, tall trees, the slower but  more worthwhile growth means nurturing and  maturing people over a longer period of time. Not resorting to a "quick fix, " just because of uncomfortable, alien notions,ideas and differing values. It means more patience,listening and forgiveness needs to be applied.

In the long game, it means greater honest interaction, trustworthiness and valid cross- pollination of ideas, values and life.

Cultural and sociopolitical  exchange takes time, unlike instant coffee. Like good tea or coffee, better comes with effort,time and quality of re/sources. Who doesn't like barista coffee or steeped hot tea?

 

 

( by Digital Anvil ) 

Be an Optimist (2)

Be an Optimist (2)

“In this world you will have trouble but be brave! I have defeated the world.” John 16:33 NCV  ( empathsis mine )

Whatever circumstances you find yourself in, they don’t have to define you or defeat you. Even if you cannot change them, you can overcome them. George Bernard Shaw wrote: “People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them.”

When it comes to faith, we rely far too much on circumstantial evidence. Doubt is letting our circumstances dictate how we feel and what we believe. When we let our circumstances get between us and God, it creates a smokescreen of doubt. 

Faith is putting the promises of God between you and your circumstances. It doesn’t mean you deny reality. It simply means you’re in touch with a greater reality—one more real than what you can touch or taste or see or hear or feel or smell. Jesus was a realist: “In this world you will have trouble.” But He was also an optimist: “Take heart! I have overcome the world” (NIV). Our optimism is anchored to the empty tomb. If Jesus walked out of the tomb, and He did, you don’t have a problem that He cannot solve. And you need to start living as though you believe that is true. There are seven promises in the book of Revelation that begin with the same phrase: “To him who overcomes.” And it reminds us of our true identity as overcomers. We aren’t just conquerors; we are more than conquerors!

SoulFood: Gal 5:22–23 Exo 23:1–9 Luke 6:27–36 Rom 12:14–21

( Agreed: Digital Anvil with thanks to Vision.org.au.)

 I'm Not a Vet: 

I'm not a Vet but i can tell the difference between a human and a horse.

( Agreed: Digital Anvil )

 

What Could You Possibly Mean ?

 

I Do:

In a world where love can be difficult to comprehend, it serves as a reminder that solid marriages are a daily occurrence rather than an one- time isolated event.

As a result, a "today I do" mentality should permeate all relationships.

By Digital Anvil.

 Rarity

 

Beauty inside (  letter) and beauty outside ( envelope )

Rare indeed..

( By Digital Anvil )

Dedicated to Ruby

Beauty:

Beauty can be the envelope, but not the letter.

 

  by Digital Anvil.

Be Optimistic.

Be Optimistic (1)

“God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.” Genesis 1:31 NKJV

Before the age of two, Helen Keller lost her vision and her hearing. In an instant, her world went dark and silent. Then a godsend named Anne Sullivan broke through Helen’s solitary confinement and touched her soul. As a result, Helen became the first deaf/blind person to earn a bachelor’s degree. She also authored a dozen books, including a manifesto on her philosophy of life, Optimism.

“No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars,” she wrote, “or sailed to an uncharted land.” The last page of her book echoes the first page of Scripture: “Optimism is the harmony of man’s spirit and the spirit of God pronouncing His works good.”

 If God’s Spirit is within you, optimism is the order of the day. Optimism isn’t at odds with the reality all around us. It simply means we’re anchored to another reality—the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ—that is deeper and stronger and longer than the reality we can perceive with our five senses. 

Helen Keller proved that with an optimistic spirit, even the most difficult of circumstances cannot define you. And even if you cannot change them, you can overcome them. She proved that as amazing as the human eye is, there’s something more amazing—the mind’s eye that enables us to imagine the unthinkable and believe the impossible. It’s why she said, “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” Or as Paul put it: “Brothers and sisters, think about the things that are good and worthy of praise” (Philippians 4:8 NCV). In other words, be optimistic.

SoulFood: Num 30:1–32:24 Luke 8:40–56 Ps 125 Pro 4:3–4

Digital Anvil thanks Vision.org.au For the above daily- reading.

Modernism and Post: .A Troubled Essay.

 Where did it come from and what did it mean?

 

Modernism: a term fast achieving a posture of decline while some enthusiastically add the prefix: 'post'

The term of Modernism

 represents an age of gross optimism, revolutionary theories and paradigm shifts in society, culture and politics. 

 An Age of Man or Humankind that represented the rise of human reason over nature, the world and its explanation. With the certainty of Francis Bacon's scientific method, the crucial ideas or the fundamentals that ruled the mechanisms,physics and processes were soon evident with vast loads of data potentially collected and interpreted.

 Many Historians stipulate this age began as Copernicus published: On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres. 

The time: year 1543. 

But wholesale transformative time had arrived with social and religious reformation of the medieval Church and the 'plain citizen.' Feudalism was being captured and wrestled to the ground. Progress, at first was slow, but proceeded, accelerating in the decades and centuries that followed.

 

The Scientific Revolution had set the course of humanity for some centuries to come. Man, not God, became the ultimate measure. God began to take a backseat, he was not the driver any longer. Seeds were planted, however all was not as it seemed. While God and his followers were gradually pushed to the margins, man continued his spectacular, amazonian march into the future, technologically driven and scientifically sound. 

Everything, no problem, was unsolvable, nothing thwarted or is unyieldingly unavailable. Man, science and its sister, technology, advances our agenda for the conceivable centuries.

 

Women, often " invisible' , overlooked and unacknowledged were thrust into the mainstream with excellent results. More and more women being educated contributed, advancing Humankind, then in my opinion, momentum stalled with some strange over- the- top conceptions.  In this current cultural moment ,women began to consolidate their overlooked intellects. But then strange beliefs were generated.

One idea floated was that Men, in particular, white, older males were said to blame for ALL and every social ill according to some vocal female critics. In time,a new generation  of girls began to question and disrupt every known Western tradition. Reversing ancient customs, norms and values with a few disastrous results.

 Suddenly biological sex became a fiction,a mere assignation at birth. Centuries,scores of obvious research and studies were overthrown,cancelled and even the medical professional could not say what a woman is ? or that  " transwomen" were still men!

 Absurdities became " common knowledge" and  even genuine comedy was forbidden for the TV crowd. Laughter had been re-shaped and outlawed. Polite applause was 'learned' instead of raucous laughter. Satire was "out." Banned from "reasonable" society.

To demonstrate these current clownish reversals: a popular and famous comedian was arrested by  5 armed Police at Heathrow Airport and escorted to awaiting armoured van for the crime of posting a somewhat critical opinion on a current issue in politics on social media.

Something any 16 year old could joke about  at school with impunity,though with more crudity. Absurd?

War was declared on reason and critical thinking. Suddenly language had some of its assumed meaning, altered. If you didn't follow the demanded grammar changes, you were annulled or cancelled. At best,you were severely embarrassed,at worst HR could have a word. And re-education was the ordered course. But the western nations somehow were ravaged by the ideology that promised not a progress of clarity but a confused population too cowered to protest. But all had been silenced and the flower of youth seemed wilted.

AU seemed to avoid the more repugnant and troublesome states of play.

Even girl and boyhood had its state of play re-conformed to multiple expressions of sexuality. Children became  genuinely confused and had unscientific  organ surgeries and  had reversed biological/ pharmacological sex treatments. (some tomboys became permanently "blended" fe/males all in the name of scientific progress ?) The genitalia of males and females occurring together in a single person. Not from birth but after sex affirming surgery.

Toddlers, as young as three, were being taught about gender sexuality. SEX education for walking but not really talking babies.

Gender theory was being taught to little children and recommended to adults as gospel truth?. With the apparent common consent of the western youth marshaling their forces, even the older adults began living in fear of ridicule,job loss and social  banishment.

Okay, i'll stop writing about the excesses and absurdities of what is known as 'post -modernist thought'. Uberreach or overreached nonsense.

I'll deal with it in another essay.

thus to return to the word...

Modernism can be summed as the title of Thomas Paine's book; The Age of Reason.

( by Digital Anvil )

But as defined by some urgent and persistent voices,"feelings"became more important than logic and reasoning. But that's for another day.

Among the many stronger voices in the form of published authors we have: Douglas Murray.

The War on the West and the Madness of the Crowd are two spell- binding books ( most cited) by the above author.

 

NB: The above essay does Not constitute a book review.

You do You:

You do you

Have you heard the phrase—“you do you”?

At its best, it affirms that people ought to be themselves and not just fit the current stereotypes. There is, however, a downside: what if “doing you” is toxic to yourself or to others?

The Bible has a response to “you do you.” First, it says we are all created unique and special—doing you is how you were created. But the Bible also reminds us that we have a propensity to sin, to fall short of God’s standards.

Jesus gives us a way to know God, get ourselves right, and be our unique selves. “You do you”—but do this with one eye on your unique gifts and the other on the standards God calls us to live by.

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From Digital Anvil with thanks to Karl Faase for this daily- reading.

Don’t compare yourself with others

“Each one should test their own actions ... without comparing themselves to someone else.” Galatians 6:4 NIV

 

Paul wrote: “Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else”. 

 

Jesus was insistent on this. After the resurrection, He appeared to some of His followers. He gave Peter, an Apostle, a specific assignment that included great sacrifice. Peter responded by pointing at John and asking, “‘Lord, what about him?’ Jesus answered, ‘If I want him to live until I come back, that is not your business. You follow me’” ( from the book of John 21:21-22 NCV).

In other words, stay focused on your own assignment. A little boy named Adam wanted to be like his friend Bobby. Adam loved the way Bobby walked and talked. Bobby, however, wanted to be like Charlie. Something about Charlie’s stride and accent intrigued him. Charlie, on the other hand, was impressed with Danny. Charlie wanted to look and sound like him. Danny, of all things, had a hero as well: Adam. He wanted to be just like Adam. So, Adam was imitating Bobby, who was imitating Charlie, who was imitating Danny, who was imitating Adam. It turns out that all Adam needed to do was to be himself! You can learn from others, but you can only find joy and fulfillment in being who God created you to be. So stay in your own lane. Run your own race. Nothing good happens when you compare and compete.

 Furthermore, God will not evaluate and reward you according to the talents of others, but according to how faithful you were with the gifts He gave you. You are not responsible for the nature of your gifts, but for how you use them.

From Digital Anvil with many thanks to Vision.org.au for this daily- reading.

To Know is to Believe ?

 

 

Belief is essential to life. 

Most of what we “know” about the world is really what we “believe” on the basis of someone else’s word. We trust the testimony of historians because we cannot personally verify world history. We trust the accuracy of maps because we cannot visit every corner of the globe. 

In almost every area of life, we rely on belief.

 

This is important to recognise. Because what we believe shapes how we live. Our beliefs aren’t neutral. They steer our decisions, hopes, fears, and habits. They form the framework by which we interpret the world and relate to those around us. Whether we realize it or not, we all run on a web of beliefs.

 

We should deeply consider, then, WHAT we believe, and WHY. Especially as Christians.

 Right belief, we learn, is central to our faith, identity, confidence and entire Christian existence.

So what do we believe, exactly?

 

To help distill this, we turn  to one of the most powerful statements of belief in Church history: the Apostles’ Creed. Rooted in baptismal confessions of the second century, and reaching its near-final form by the fourth, the Apostles’ Creed gathers the essential doctrines of Scripture into twelve articles that have been articulated, defended, prayed, and memorised for nearly 2,000 years. Together, they offer a concise narrative of God’s redemptive story.

Every stanza begins with two small but significant words: “I believe.”

 These words can change our life.

 

Biblically speaking, belief is more than just intellectual agreement. When we say “credo” (I believe) with the Apostles' Creed, we are pledging allegiance, locating ourselves in God’s story and confessing not only what we think but what we love, trust, and are prepared to live and die for.

In a world where truth and fiction are often blurred, the Creed gives us solid ground. It’s the DNA of our faith: informative and performative, educational and sacramental, a summary of our doctrine and an invitation into God’s story all at once.

So, to begin this life- journey, pause and ask: What do you believe?

 

(From Digital Anvil with gratitude to the folk at the wondrous Glorify App.)