Dwight Longenecker's Blog, page 302

Gargoyle Code Author Interview

I'm interviewed over here on Catholic Online about The Gargoyle Code.  Worth a try if you're suffering from insomnia...

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The End of a Beautiful Friendship

William Fahey on the end of a beautiful friendship...go here.[image error]

Ideas, Ideologies and Life

An excerpt from my upcoming book, The Romance of Religion:



In Fiddler on the Roof the jolly Jew Tevye sings a magnificent toast: "To life, to life, L'chaim, l'chaim, l'chaim to life!" He sings his anthem to life at his daughter's wedding in the midst of grinding poverty, persecution and pogroms.



His praise of life and love and "all things illimitably 'yes'" is all the more poignant and powerful because he sings with joy from a broken heart. This is the song of the true romantic: a song with zest for life in the midst of heartache, disappointment and evil.



Although the romantic hero Tevye longs to be a rich man he does not sing in praise of riches. He sings in praise of Life. It is true that he longs to be a rich man, but beneath that is his passion for life in whatever form it comes to him. Life is first. Life is basic. As a Jew, Tevye's hymn to life is especially poignant because at the end of the play he is expelled from his home simply for being a Jew, and his expulsion from Tzarist Russia in the early 1900's a harbinger of a later, more extreme expulsion of the Nazi's 'final solution'.



Tevye's toast to life is all the sharper because of the forces of death that are arrayed against him. For whatever particular reasons the Tzars or the Nazis persecuted the Jews, the underlying reason is that they regarded some human life as disposable. The reason they regarded some human lives as disposable is because they had a seemingly good cause that seemed more important than life itself. That is to say, they had a cause that was more important than other people's lives. They had a cause that kills, or if you like, they had a cause with claws.



A cause with claws invariably springs from a lofty ideology. No one sets out to commit mass murder; instead tyrants commit genocide to follow through with their ideology. History shows that mass murder can result from most any ideology. It could be a religious ideology. It could be a political ideology. It could be an economic ideology. It could be an ideology about class or caste. It could be an ideology about racial superiority, or it could be a combination of all these ideologies, but whatever the ideology and wherever and whenever, it is invariably an ideology that conceives a better life for all, and invariably the ideology which promises a better life for all is delivered by making sure there is no life for some.



So, for example, the Nazi system was a system of ethnic purity. They wanted to establish a superior race of human beings. Therefore those who were inferior were to be eliminated. The Marxists and French Revolutionaries wanted an economic and social system where all were equal, so they killed the economic overlords and those who were socially superior. The Ku Klux Klan desired a more pure racial system so those who were of the wrong color were eliminated. Communist Atheists wanted a superior humanistic society so those who believed in God were eliminated.



At least these other ideologies had lofty aims. They wanted to create a better human race or a better world. The ideology of our own society is the most boorish and vulgar of all. Our only ideology is that we wish to enjoy total individual sexual freedom, so those who impede that (the unborn) will be eliminated. Thus it is, that every human ideology that strives sincerely for a better life ends up destroying life. Those ideologies that dream of a better humanity inevitably end up killing individual humans...



...Push any ideology far enough and you will find violence, murder, mayhem, and genocide. This is because ideologies live for an idea, they do not live for life, and any ideology that does not put life first will invariably put it last. Similarly the good cause that does not first decide what is highest good will end up being bad, and the good cause that does not consider Life to be the highest good will end up taking Life.





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Bring on the Penal Laws

The Anchoress lets rip here--giving plenty of links and updates on the HHS Mandate firestorm.[image error]

Is Heaven a Fairy Tale?

I used to see Professor Stephen Hawking almost every afternoon when I lived and worked in Cambridge, England. The famous physicist would be moving along in his motorized wheelchair with his wife walking behind assisting him whenever necessary. I look back at that time and wonder what it would have been like if I'd had the nerve to invite him in for a cup of tea and a chat.



In this article published last Spring about Hawking he is quoted as saying that "heaven is a fairy story for those who are afraid of dying."



I've never really understood how a world class brain like Hawking could make such a shallow, sophomoric argument. He suggests that belief in heaven is a kind of wishful thinking for those who have trouble facing death. But what he forgets is that those who believe in heaven also believe in hell, and if they believe in heaven and hell, then they also believe in judgement, and the idea of judgement is not something I find terribly comforting.



I do believe in heaven, but I also believe that I may not get there. I hope to go up, but I may go down, and either way I will face a judge who will weigh up all my faith, hope and love, but also all of my doubt, despair and hatred. In other words, I might cook, and at very least I'll face the purgatorial fires. If I were engaging in wishful thinking, this is not what I would have wished for.



Let us stand it things on their head. Hawking also says that he believes that the brain is a computer which ceases to function when its components fail, and when it stops working that's it. The end. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.



Such a view is amazingly miniscule. It flies in the face of universal human experience in practically every culture and epoch everywhere in the world. People have everywhere and always believed in the afterlife. They have done so for many good reasons and experiences. Experiences and reasoning which, admittedly, are above the pay grade of the typical Cambridge physicist, but reasons and experiences which are nonetheless part of the whole human experience.



Furthermore, when it is examined, it is Hawkings view of not believing in the afterlife which turns out to be wishful thinking, for if there is no afterlife, then there is no final reckoning. There is no hell to pay and no heaven to win. If that is the case, then I can do what I want. I can run up the credit card and never have to pay it back. If there is no afterlife I can do what I DW please and then just turn out the lights. End of story. Lucky me!



If there is any kind of wishful thinking, manufacturing of fairy stories going on, it is in the immensely talented mind of Professor Hawking and his sort. If anybody is living in cloud cuckoo land where everything has a happy ending, then it is those who believe that when we die it is all over and everybody can simply sleep in peace and all our troubles will go bye bye.



But before we finish, a word in defense of fairy stories. Professor Hawking seems to despise them because they are all technicolor, cotton candy, sweetness and light and princesses who live happily ever after. He has obviously not read very many fairy stories, or perhaps his experience of fairy stories is limited to Disney classics.



The fairy stories I read are not full of sweetness and light, but darkness and dread. The hero launches out into the unknown with a heavy heart and an uncertain future. Rather than being guilty of wishful thinking and fanciful pipe dreams, the hero in the fairy story faces evil beyond his imagining and overcomes the beasts and dragons of the dark. He risks all to gain all, and the greatest fairy stories do not always have a happy ending, but they always have a just ending.



And it is stories like that which fill me with both terror and joy--because they are far more true than Professor Hawkings sweet little tale of falling happily asleep.[image error]

The Father of Lies

Whenever language is being manipulated, suspect the Father of Lies. I heard an interesting slant on the HHS Mandate debate on the radio this morning. The commentator noted that left wing journalist and former Clinton White House aide, George Stephanapoulos, in one of the primary debates raised the question of whether states had the right to ban contraception. Romney took the question and was flabbergasted. "No one is suggesting that anyone bans contraception! What's the point of this question?"



The point of the question is this: The Left realize they've lost the debate on abortion. Therefore they are moving the goalposts and deliberately making the debate about contraception. No one could possibly be against contraception right? I mean, everybody uses contraception. However, more and more people are finding abortion to be unpleasant, and are turning away from it in disgust. Although they pretend to ignore it, they see that the March for Life and the pro life cause is young, is growing and becoming impossible to ignore.



So, hey presto, we don't talk about "abortion" any more, but we talk about "preventative health services"--which mark my words--will not only include drugs that cause abortions, but eventually surgical abortions as well.  These "preventative women's health services" will all be lumped together and billed as "contraceptives" and nobody can possibly be against contraceptives--right?



So the woman's choice will be for "contraceptives". Of course, one of the contraceptive measures will be the availability of "procedures" or "medication" that "terminates pregnancy" or "removes the products of conception" or why not use other terms like "uterus evacuation" or just "D and C" or other convenient abbreviations like "FMRP" (Fetal Material Removal Procedure)



The irony is that the Catholic Church has always linked contraceptives and abortion. Now the enemies of life are doing the same thing. For them the narrative is no longer, "Contraceptives make fewer abortions necessary." (The shared assumption being that abortions are wrong) Instead the narrative is "Abortion is a form of contraceptive, and it's not really wrong at all." So in one sense we've won the debate. They agree with us. Abortion and contraception are linked. The chilling thing is that, just as they don't think contraception is wrong, so they also now admit that they don't think abortion is wrong either.



They even admit that abortion is killing an unborn human being, but they don't have a problem with that. Think of the way the death camps happened. First the Jews had to register. Then they had to wear a star. Then their businesses were boycotted. Then they had to pay higher taxes. Then they were taken to the ghetto. Then they were sent to 'work centers'. Then they were made to work as slaves. Then they were sent to 're-location centers' and 'transit camps'. Then they were shot and gassed.



This is exactly the way the Father of Lies always works. He introduces a lesser evil--something that no one in their right mind would have a problem with, then he gradually erodes the defenses until we're accepting something that we never thought we would allow. All along the way he changes the language, shifts the debate, avoids the light of truth, and squirms with ever ingenious squirmings to deceive.



Do not be fooled by Satan's lies. They are always more subtle than you imagine. What has now happened is that for the last fifty years our race has accepted the lie of contraception, and many Christians have accepted the lie--while still trying to hold out against abortion.



Now it may be too late.



Now, if you are opposed to abortion you will be painted as being opposed to contraception, and either you cave and say, "Well, I guess it all is a matter of personal choice after all" or you hold out against both and accept the persecution that will follow. If you try to make the distinction and allow for contraception, but not abortion, if you are a Catholic, the enemy will quite rightly call you a hypocrite because you are not faithful to your own church's teaching and they will dismiss anything you say.



Do you want to know how to spot the lies of the devil? Always look for the person--any person--who is working very hard to avoid suffering. Watch out for the person who is trying to make their world a little paradise where all suffering can be got rid of and everyone will live happily ever after. They are pursuing a lie to start with, and they will lie and distort reality for themselves and others in order to create their artificial Eden.



Catholics, on the other hand, should see the truth, understand the truth, speak the truth and live the truth--even though it brings them hardship, persecution, peril and sword.



In other words, watch out for the sheep. They may be wolves underneath.



Instead, follow the Shepherd. He will never lie to you.

A Heart for Valentine's Day

My true love hath my heart and I have his,
By just exchange one for another given;
I hold his dear, and mine he cannot mis,
There never was a better bargain driven.
My true love has my heart and I have his.

His heart in me keeps him and me in one,
My heart in him his thoughts and senses guides
He loves my heart, for once it was his own,
I cherish his, because in me it bides.
My true love has my heart and I have his.

Harlequin Romance and Hollywood Heroes

Here's an essay on love for Valentine's Day. Enjoy!

Today's Brain Teaser

Can you make the connection between these two?



Think about it...