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Post a Comment On: Bruce Charlton's Notions

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Blogger Chent said...

A good description of the situation. We are told that God will win at the end, but everything appears so gloomy and dark. Sometimes, I think that the wrong ones are us and we are only the members of a religion in extinction. Such as the Hinayana Buddhists that said (about V d.C): "The real religion is dying". They have been extinct for 1500 years (current Buddhism is not hinayana).

Sorry, Bruce, I know that despair is a sin (I learned it from you). But it is difficult to have hope when you see how things are going and you see Satan wining each game.

30 May 2018 at 12:51

Blogger William Wildblood said...

Here's what Jesus had to say about the present time. From Matthew chapter 24.

"For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened."

So in a weird sort of way you could see the current darkness as a cause for optimism. If even the 'elect' could be deceived as Jesus says a little later then things have to be bad. But they have to be really bad, about as bad as can be, before the darkness is swept away and the light can dawn. Perhaps all possibilities have to be worked out before truth can reassert itself.

30 May 2018 at 14:36

Blogger whitestone said...

The question on my lips is. What is god doing while all this is going on? Some kind of divine intervention might be called for.

30 May 2018 at 16:38

Blogger Bruce Charlton said...

I personally don't feel despair (or, not often) - In fact the clarity makes things simpler.

Reading the Fourth Gospel - it was the same when Jesus was alive, the same for his disciples... yet the Gospel is joyously hope-full.

We know what to do.

And the passages on the blind/ those who see; those who love/ hate the world; tell us what to expect.

Also, I find that knowing the endemic corruption prevents a recurrent temptation I have to put my faith in worldly institutions.

In a deep sense, it is 'easier' for us than for previous generations. Such are the latter days, the end times.

30 May 2018 at 17:42

Blogger j. barrett said...

I believe it was Bruce himself that wrote something to the effect of "the Earth is a school and not a playground". We are simply nearing the final exam. Stand ready to show what you have learned. Is theosis possible without a great test?

Be assured, whoever comes through the other side of this uncorrupted will be indomitable. Even more exciting is, perhaps this is only the first rung? What if the next domain is harder still? What joy!


I often reflect on what it would mean to be a spiritual thoroughbred, to not merely endure but to prevail.

30 May 2018 at 19:33

Blogger John Fitzgerald said...

I think Satan had a big win in last week's Irish abortion referendum. The sight of people singing and dancing in celebration of such a monstrosity in the 'land of Saints and Scholars' has to rank as one of the most saddening and shocking events of my time on this Earth. Desperate, desperate stuff. As bad as anything I've ever seen.

30 May 2018 at 20:38

Blogger Chiu ChunLing said...

Well, it was always inevitable that Satan should 'win' in certain arenas.

Social media platforms like Facebook are essentially refined sources of narcissistic supply. It is as inevitable that they should reflect the appetites of narcissists as that brothels should cater to sensualists. The mass media generally has always been preferred by people who desired to have others tell them what to 'think' rather than how to think, it is no surprise that opinions that don't require thoughtful reflection should come to dominate there.

Since before the time of John the Baptist, it was a commonplace for true prophets to be lone voices crying in the wilderness the unpopular message of repentance.

Until the wickedness of the worldly brings down their own monuments to their vanity and pride on their heads. It always happens that way, for the devil will not save his children in the end. Even if Satan wanted to avert the vast human misery of a decadent civilization collapsing, it would not be possible without removing the decadence. And it's not like Satan really wants to avoid the misery of the fools that chose him.

He just wants to try and inflict it on those who reject him. But that's beyond his power two...because it is only over the carnal mind and sensual life that Satan has power.

31 May 2018 at 08:20

Blogger Bruce Charlton said...

@jb - The interesting thing is that it does not (for most people) feel like an exam. This is where my faith comes in: I firmly believe that God intervenes (as he does in CS Lewis's fiction) to ensure that nobody chooses damnation without being given the clarity to recognise that it is not inevitable, that there is an alternative, that it is never-too-late.

This is an article of faith; because I cannot see into another's soul - and a corrupted person would be likely to lie about or deny their moment of clarity then wrong choice.

So maybe it is not very much like an examination... Perhaps the prodigal son parable is a better comparison?

@JF - It is horrible. Knowing 'how things have worked out' in mainland Britain, it is particularly gratuitous and dishonest. But it is a natural, almost inevitable, consequence of materialism.

@CCL - Wise words.

31 May 2018 at 11:32

Blogger Chiu ChunLing said...

Except for "two", that wasn't any kind of cleverness, I just wasn't paying attention there.

1 June 2018 at 17:15