Bruce G. Charlton's Blog, page 11

Christopher Langan - still producing good insights

Q: What should I do in my life? CML: Search for God. Ask God to establish a personal relationship with you. It's available! - you're attached to God by your soul. 

I hadn't looked at Christopher Michael Langan's work for a while, so I dropped-in at his CTMU Radio channel on YouTube, and browsed a few recent postings. 

The first thing I did was watch a three minute video called "Satan"; which I regard as excellent: concise, clear, decisive! 

The video is illustrative of the major differences in metaphysical assumptions between Langan and myself; in that his models of reality are highly abstract, and use the language of physics and mathematics. 

Whereas I am recurrently (whenever I remember) trying to understand and express reality in terms of Beings and their motivations - I regard the universe as ultimately "animistic" not abstract. 

Yet behind the different assumptions and expressions, I find myself in a high degree of agreement with CML. He is surely on the right side of the spiritual war; and, despite major personality differences between us, I certainly regard Langan as A Good Bloke. 

I can't claim to have read or watched more than a sliver of Langan's prodigious output, but here are some sources for those who wish to explore further. 

Is it ultimately incoherent when Western Civilization says, in effect: "We are superior because we know we are inferior"?

It must be a bizarrely conflicted life to be one of the Western leadership class who are engaged in geopolitics! 

(Small wonder that they bear the hallmarks of self-damaged/ deleted souls.) 

On the one hand, the "external" rhetoric of Western powers is one of implied superiority... 

The West intervenes everywhere in the world and attempts to destroy other societies +/- remaking them is "our" image; on the basis that other places are morally inferior - because they do not sufficiently adhere to "our" Western ideology, laws, values and morals. 

On the other hand, the "internal" rhetoric is of definite inferiority and self-abasement. 

The West, the people of each and every Western nations, are (by a vast inner propaganda of politics, bureaucracy, mass media, education, academia, corporations...) routinely assumed to be ethically inferior to people from... anywhere/ everywhere else. 

Such that our primary duty (for which we ought to sacrifice almost anything) is to enable any number of people without limit, from anywhere in the world but especially Not the West; to come to Western nations; there to be supported by the native populations (fed, housed, paid, educated, kept healthy...) to the same or higher level than the native population - and at the expense of native Westerners.  

So, there is a massive rhetorical incoherence between the arrogant and violent self-assertion of Western "foreign policy"; and the pervasive self-hatred and strategic self-destruction of the "home affairs" of Western nations. 

It is as if that ideological superiority which makes it our ethical duty to subvert, terrorize and make war on everybody-else; is rooted in the awareness of our moral inferiority to everybody else...* 

What explains and solves this apparent paradox and conflict of interest at the material level is quite simple. 

It is that "our" in relation to the West - who is the "we" that do all this stuff? 

It is that the Western leadership class (and their agents and clients among the other nations) regard themselves as morally superior to everybody else in the world, and at any point in history.  

This is why They strategically aim to destroy and impose Their values on all other civilizations and nations; and simultaneously destroy and impose their values on their home populations. 

This is why They do whatever They want, while subjecting everybody else to ever more invasive laws and regulations. 

This is why They destroy economies, impose "equality" or "diversity", reduce and limit housing and transport etc etc - while reciprocally leading jet-setting lives of international travel, multiple residences, mega-consumerism, colossal and wasteful extravagance of lifestyle - and vastly enriching themselves.

From the perspective of the Western rulers; this is natural, logical and wholly consistent with their own qualitative and separate superiority of nature. "They" are not like Us, and see deeper and further - so of course different rules apply to Them.   

Strategically, They are simply trying to conquer and subdue the entire world, to bring the entire world under Their good ideology; and to create an impenetrable defensive bubble around Themselves.

Looking-down from their high vantage point, and with an touch of compassionate regret (that emphasizes Their moral depth); They nobly accept the necessity of destroying most of the people and nearly-all of the places of the world. 

(And therefore of coercing and deceiving the masses into doing whatever is needful for this goal.)  

Sad, perhaps; but such a supreme "sacrifice" is required in order to make actual the dream of a good world of superior beings.  

So the Western leadership class regard themselves as superior, and as hard-nosed realists who are prepared to sacrifice almost-everybody/everything in order to achieve the kind of world that they regard as Good...

(Hence the snake-eyes.)

And yet they are pawns and dupes and suckers - because the real plan behind "the plan" is not human - but demonic; and the global destruction and sacrifice therefore is intended to include all the humans, including every man jack of the Western leadership class - every last one of them, and all their descendants.  

The demons are motivated by fear and hatred of divine creation in all its aspects; and (as un-incarnated spiritual beings) they do not require the people of this world, except for pleasure, as a gratifying source of "energy"; and demons do not need the planet earth.

In the meanwhile, the demons feed-upon the terror, lust, resentments, and despair of those who serve them, and those whose evil affiliations and acts are un-repented - especially the Western ruling class.

Thus apparent self-contradiction, paradox, and incoherence of aim and action at the human level...

Make clear and simple sense at the spiritual level. 

NOTE: It may seem that I am blaming everything on Them. But this is not so. Evil must be invited into the human heart; and the Western masses (i.e. Not the leadership classes) are deeply complicit in the geopolitical and internal strategies, in enough key ways that the continued domination of the leadership class is guaranteed. And at the root of this complicity are the materialistic, hedonic, atheistic, and anti-Christian assumptions; that affect the vast majority of Western masses of all kinds and regardless of whether the call and believe themselves to be spiritual, religious, or Christian. 

* This is especially obvious when moral behaviours of other civilizations or nations in their own countries is used to as rationale for destruction or takeover; but allowed and encouraged when the same peoples enter Western nations. Perhaps the most extreme example is slavery (although systemic and lethal violence against women is more common). Allegations of slavery in any other nation is regarded as evidence of their inferiority; yet when foreign populations enter Western nations they are allowed to practice slavery - so that slavery has now returned to the West in significant numbers and for many years, with full official connivance.  

A real creative scientist: Graham Cairns-Smith

1931-2016

It was probably 1990 or 91, while I was a lecturer at Glasgow University, Scotland; when I first met Graham Cairns-Smith. 

At that time he was a Reader in Physical Chemistry, and I interviewed him for an article that (I think) was published in the Glasgow Herald newspaper. 

That interview led to further discussions; because I realized quickly that GCS was not just a real scientist (truth-seeker, truth-speaker) - I had already met several of these - but a creative scientist; one who original in a genius way, and orientated towards developing new and true theories; rather than doing ever-more (and more expensive!) experiments. 

What jumped-out was the way he talked, the quietly sustained focus, that he went back to first principles, talked about theories; and the extreme clarity and simplicity with which he expressed his thinking. 

He very quickly explained his Big Idea, which was related to the origins of life on earth having have occurred via the replication of simple molecules, probably siliceous, possibly clays -- necessarily much simpler than the usual candidates of nucleic acids or proteins - which he ruled-out on chemical energetic grounds and the vastly improbable complexity required for their production. 

His ideas were accessibly published for a general audience in Seven Clues to the Origin of Life (1990) - and became widely influential, albeit often in somewhat garbled form - even in mainstream science fiction.

(Those many silicon-, instead of carbon-, based aliens mentioned in various media, might well be derived ultimately from GCS.) 

The way Graham discussed natural selection made me realize that I had never previously encountered anyone with his level of understanding; and with just a few deep insights - he made me begin to realize my own fascination with the subject; and set me onto the path whereby I worked on evolutionary theories for more than decade - worked with greater intensity and mental effort than I ever worked at anything else.   

Graham's quality was recognized at a high level among other real scientists, and he would (for instance) participate in meetings, symposia, lectures etc. where nearly-all the other people were Nobel laureates.

And/yet this status was not matched in terns of career, which was very modest. 

GCS was apparently almost obscure within Glasgow University. He rose to Reader but not Professor. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, but not of the (then) much more selective London RS. 

Many thousands of industrious but mediocre researchers garnered more elevated positions, greater system prestige, and achievement-awards - over his head, and those like him. 

This, because GCS was quiet, modest, and interested in "the science". 

I should make it clear: Graham was not at all bothered about promotions or prizes! -He was very happy with what he had. 

All that he asked for, was to be able to do the scientific work he was motivated to do. Anything else in the way of rewards was a bonus, a gratuity: nice, but inessential. 

And - because GDS retired before things got too bad around 2000, he was just able to have that minimum needful support from the UK university system. 

By the 1990s there was already a wide and increasing gulf between achievement in real science, and the system of rewards accorded to professional researchers in the bureaucracies that had once been genuinely scientific.

Going into the next millennium; it soon became evident that real science was dead and gone; and internally-motivated, creative people like Cairns-Smith could not longer expect even his moderate and delayed success; but had near-zero realistic career prospects of any kind within professional "science".     

I didn't know Graham well, and not at all on personal level. But his example made a decisive difference to my life and work. 

Also the fact that he recognized me to the extent of asking me to review and comment on the developing texts of his subsequent works, was a great confidence-booster, indicating that he believed that I too inhabited the same world of "real" scientists. 

Yesterday, in sorting through my library, I came across the copy of Evolving the Mind (1996) that he had sent me; and read the hand-written inscription thanking me for help with it. 

I then belatedly realized that a personal tribute of thanks to this creative, brilliant, honest and significant scientist - had become long overdue. 

What to do about "the re-entry problem" in relation to Christianity

Names and describes the re-entry problem - but doesn't suggest a valid Christian solution

Back at the beginnings of this blog I wrote a rather heart-felt post derived from what author Walker Percy termed "the re-entry problem":

What is not generally recognized is that the successful launch of self into the orbit of transcendence is necessarily attended by the problems of reentry. What goes up must come down. The best film of the year ends at nine o’clock. What do you do at ten? What did Faulkner do after writing the last sentence of Light in August? Get drunk for a week. What did Dostoevsky do after finishing The Idiot? Spend three days and nights at the roulette table.

A brief escape, to rise above our normal level - but then comes re-entry...

This re-entry problem applies to Christianity. 

For instance, a new convert will typically experience a great sense of exaltation and possibility on considering the profundities of his new faith. 

But what then? A crash-down into the mundane realities of joining and attending a church, and being expected to conform to a lifestyle so very dull and niggling - when compared with the great cosmic ultimates by which the Christian may have come to faith. 

This is not just emotionally disappointing, but the everyday experiences of (what he is told) means "being a Christian" is typically experientially utterly un-related to the original conversion. 

This problem is not unique to conversion, of course; we get a deflationary come-down after any exceptionally positive experience. 

But it hits hardest in relation to religion - because of our expectation of a qualitatively "more spiritual" life post-conversion. 

Most churches will argue that this expectation is false, and that real-life is what it is, and our job as Christians is to understand and value it accordingly...

But I do not fully agree; because I think this is usually just an excuse for the fact that church religion is almost-wholly assimilated to the mundane world, its values and priorities - and indeed even explicitly aspires to this "relevance".

The worldly aspects of church are propagandized and strongly insisted upon; while in contrast the spiritual aspects are vague aspirations, "just words" - and there is no pressure or encouragement towards pursuing them, nor do they affect church conduct - especially not if spiritual considerations interfere in any significant way with everyday church functioning. 

Well... it's facile to be critical about this world, and the many ways it falls short of our aspirations - and as of 2025 it is misguided to look for higher spirituality from any social institution (except in its unofficial and minor counter-currents to the Zeitgeist). 

Furthermore; it has proved impossible for most people, most of the time, to become spiritually better overall - which was probably why Jesus in the IV Gospel emphasized aspirations and repentance - rather than reform of behaviour - as necessary and sufficient for salvation. 

Yet the re-entry problem will not go away, and is a major difficulty for many people - such that recommending negative stoicism is probably counter-productive: the fact is we must each be motivated in Life, and that means the pursuit of some positive enhancement in our everyday spiritual aspirations and sense of spiritual achievement. 

Instead of giving-up on a spiritual life (and assimilating to the mundane), or aiming for the spiritually impossible (and despairing at the lack of progress); I think we should address the re-entry re-examining what the spiritual quest ought to be in accordance with our Christian goals. 

This may lead to re-framing our personal spiritual quest into something where genuinely valuable progress is realistically attainable, on a frequent, everyday basis. 

For me this implies that, because spiritual progress is not evident in this world; spiritual progress therefore instead "must be" logged and accumulated with reference to our future resurrected eternal life in Heaven.  

So that - whatever brief specific things we achieve in the here and now - in terms of love, understanding reality including evil, thinking from our real selves, participation in divine creation, repentance, aspirations and commitments, good-motivated actions, the attainment of an eternal and "cosmic" perspective to frame this mortal life etc... 

I strive to recognize that every and all such brief, partial and specific spiritual attainments shall be retained and stored; and will be added to the resources of our post-mortal resurrected selves. 

The conclusion: There are always such things we might be doing at any time or place; and they are always worth doing. 

Rather than such palliatives as getting drunk (Faulkner) or immersing ourselves in trivia (Dostoevsky); that is how we might positively respond to the re-entry problem - whenever it rears its ugly head. 

Taize "worship" - the dark side of Liberal Christianity

Artist's impression of a Liberal Christian priest about to perform the "Taizing" ritual

Various "Liberal Christian" churches around here are openly advertising so-called Taize services*.

I have become convinced that Taize is a crudely-obscurationist French translation of Tazer; and that this apparently innocuous form of "worship" must involve ritualistic electrocution.

Covert surveillance is required, but success in this aim has not yet been achieved.

Not many things illustrate the degree of demonic influence on present-day churches more vividly than that such (presumably?) sado-masochistic practices should so blatantly be performed in consecrated ground, under cover of quasi-liturgy.  

*Why openly advertised? This will surely be an example of the Law by which demons must operate by consent and be invited-into the soul - To be spiritually-effective; sin must announce its intention. 

"The problem of evil" just won't go away for Christians

It's remarkable that mainstream orthodox traditional Christian theology has been wrestling with the "problem" of explaining evil for the entirety of its recorded history*. 

Officially the origin and presence of evil has long-since been explained, to the complete satisfaction of theologians; who cannot understand why people continue to harp-on about it. 

Yet - somehow - it just won't go away! 

It seems that everybody who accepts the definition of the Christian God as omnipotent and omniscient, and creator of everything from nothing - rapidly and unavoidably crashes-up against the problem of explaining how this-God is also supposed to be wholly Good and loving of each and every one of his children - all the time.  

Again and again, later if not sooner, people find that - in this collision of principles included in the definition of "Omnipotent plus Good" something has-to give-way. 

Again and again, people insist that to be "God" - God must be omnipotent and creator from nothing; and this primary and prior assumption inevitably makes people realize that therefore God cannot be "Good" in the same way that human beings understand Good...

For Omni-God to be Good either pushes us towards a redefinition of Good as it applies to God - so that our human evaluations become irrelevant, and we must just submit (preferably uncritically) to God's incomprehensible Goodness...

(Christianity tends towards Islam...) 

Or else we are pushed towards a version of Oneness spirituality in which everything that has ever happened or could happen is actually Good - if only we could understand it; and again our own personal evaluations are declared worthless.

(Christianity tends towards Hinduism/ Buddhism...)    

Again and again; thoughtful people are pushed away from Christianity, because they recognize that their own profoundest understanding of Good and evil is being declared irrelevant. 

Of course there is the alternative of challenging the definition of God as omnipotent - but that has been declared not-Christian by nearly all the major Christian churches. 

And since most people believe that Christianity is derived from (one or another) Church - and the individual person's understanding must be subordinated to (one or another) external authority; then redefinition of the nature of God is disallowed.

Something must give-way - and something does give-way - and what gives-way is (nearly always) the possible validity and human desirability of Christianity itself.   

   **

*It is not a problem to explain evil if one regards the Fourth Gospel (John) as the prime and unique overall-valid source of Jesus's life and teachings. Jesus's depicted relationship both with his Father and his disciples are personal and loving - human-like; but raised to an ideal and eternal degree. God is stated and assumed to be wholly Good; but in the IV Gospel's substance, there is nothing to insist upon God's omnipotence and omniscience. Consequently; Jesus and his followers do not seem troubled in the slightest about how to explain evil. The problem of evil apparently comes from post-Jesus theological and philosophical definitions of God, and is apparently related to the development of Christian churches - including the notion that to-be-a-Christian (to follow Jesus, to attain salvation) one must be a member of the true Church.

NOTE: Mormon theology does not posit the Omni-God, nor creation from nothing; and evil is easily explained by Mormonism's pluralist metaphysics. It should be noted, however, that the extremely radical and distinctive qualities of Mormon theology and metaphysics do not much impinge upon the CJCLDS - where the emphasis is very much on doctrines and practices.

Chaotic evil will win, sooner or later: The instability of Rule of Law in the ongoing Totalitarian backlash against Chaos

My understanding of the international scene (which is, in this respect, a macrocosm of what is happening in many individual people); is that most of the populous nations of the world aspire to totalitarianism; but the leadership class of some powerful countries (Western civilization especially) have gone "beyond" totalitarianism - to become dominated by an impulse towards spiteful destruction and the strategic generation of chaos. 

In a nutshell: Chaotic Evil is ascendant, but Lawful Evil is attempting to save the System. 

The System reached its apex in early 2020, with the international Birdemic lockdown - but has been on the defensive ever since. 

Much of this geopolitical backlash focuses upon "Law" - which term here includes all forms of international treaties, contracts, rules, regulations, formal agreements and the like. 

The (Western and "globalist") agents of chaos have abandoned Law and do: whatever they currently want. 

Opportunism, expediency and spiteful-intent are their principles; and the leadership class retrospectively manufacture excuses/ rationales by complexifying/ confusing/ / overwhelming/ boring people. 

Or more often simply ignoring previous agreements and commitments and "changing the subject". 

This is made possible and easy by a combination of the colossal propaganda resources of the Western mass media and social media (long since included in the totalitarian System); operating upon the willing-addiction of the Western populations to mass/ social media. 

Thus in the West; totalitarian structures and processes are used to generate chaos - and to export chaos to the rest of the world.   

  

Against this Chaotic ascendancy (with its inflexion point in summer of 2020) there has been a totalitarian backlash, among the nations and civilizations whose leadership class desire a stable System of population surveillance and control to pursue their various religious-ideological goals. 

These nations are trying to generate a new and international System of Law, plans, treaties, agreements, etc - and these recent Laws are intended to be long-term mutually beneficial (to their leadership classes). 

So - on the face of it, those in favour of Law are pushing-back against the agents of chaos. 

Yet, the gravitational pull is nonetheless towards chaos; because (among such diverse nations and civilizations) there is no coherent basis for these new international Laws except the long-term self interest of the current leadership class, as a whole. 

This "enlightened self-interest" is always under pressure of subversion by internal rivalries within the leadership classes of the nations (encouraged by the external machinations of the agents of chaos and their mass media); and subverted by short-term and individual self-interest - corruption of leaders and factions by immediate temptations such as more-power, opportunities for theft, offers of bribes - and in response to a wide variety of negative threats such as extortion, blackmail, prison, torture, assassination etc.   

Furthermore, the situation of Laws being recent, and the continual revising and adding-to of these Laws - means that there is always the possibility (or likelihood) that todays Laws will sooner or later be superseded by tomorrow's Laws...

And tomorrow's Laws may be made by a different set of people, with different intentions...

We can see this happening already - what what yesterday seemed like solid treaties, agreements, rules; don't actually get implemented today - after circumstances have changed, and obedience has become inconvenient or inexpedient for the currently more powerful side. 

Therefore; the totalitarian backlash attempt to re-impose a stable framework of "Law" seems doomed to fail under present conditions. 

And this failure would be predicted both for international relationships between nations, and also within nations where the interests of bureaucrats and managers come up against the spiteful destructiveness of Chaotic Evil.  

The underlying fact is that Chaotic evil is much easier than Lawful Evil - because destruction is easier than creating. 

And because evil is unstable, and feeds-upon itself...

In a world where the leadership classes and most of the masses have taken the side against God and divine creation; there is consequently an innate tendency towards Chaos - that cannot long be resisted by even the most sincere totalitarian bureaucrats.

The corrupting effect of worldly engagement

It is one of the more obvious lessons of life experience that prolonged engagement with some kind of evil environment almost-always has a corrupting effect on people - and consequently on groups including nations. 

While theoretically avoidable, in practice is seems almost inevitable that dealing with evil and with those who are themselves deeply involved; responding to evil aggressions and temptations, trying to defend against them...

The process of repeatedly trying to seek and pursue the lesser of evils...

Over time, this wears down people and institutions, and they conform to the level of those they engage with - even when they start-out as on-the-side-of Good. 

This wearing-down certainly happened to me whenever (as was common enough) I was often engaged with the activities of those whose motivations I initially tried not to share. 

My principles would become compromised by compromise, my perspective would shift' and the attempt to resist some particular evil, would result in playing people at their own game. 

This can be seen in history; when nations at war progressively become more like those they war with. If World War II began as UK resistance to totalitarian tyranny and population manipulation; the UK very soon began to mirror exactly that which it purported to oppose - especially deliberate mass indiscriminate slaughter of innocents (innocents swiftly being redefined as complicit- and quasi-combatants). 

Total war meant totalitarian - which is intrinsically evil. 

(Although the totality was not uniform - e.g. there remained reciprocity of decent treatment of prisoners of war between the UK and Germany; at the same time as prisoners were slaughtered, starved, enslaved, and worked to death by both sides on the Eastern front.) 

We can see the same in everyday life, when someone somewhat decent takes a managerial job or gets involved in bureaucracy - we can observe the (usually rapid, mostly unconscious) assimilation to totalitarian standards and values. We can observe the assimilation, and this may be extreme.   

I experienced exactly this myself, while working (a couple of days a week, for a couple of years) for the NHS bureaucracy. 

Simply in order to be reasonable friendly - to make the most of a bad situation, and to do my bit effectively - I was quickly drawn into the characteristic habitual thinking of those who participate in the systemic evil of our society.

The has always been some element of this, due to the nature of "human condition". 

But in the past, groups and institutions were sometimes overall-good in terms of their aims and affiliations, and their discourse. And Men we unable to detach from their group-mind - it was simply how human consciousness was. 

And so people got the idea that the fundamental and primary issues of human values were located at the level of groups: that is, our convictions and principles ought to relates to tribes, institutions, religions, nations, ideologies... whatever.  

Whereas nowadays we inhabit a world where all institutions are Systemic; necessarily assimilated to a global ideology that is nameless (because universal), pursues inverted values, and serves a demonic agenda.

So that it is nigh impossible for those who must earn a living and engage with "the world" to avoid the pervasive converging influences that will almost certainly corrupt them - even if they begin by recognizing System-evil and wanting to avoid convergence, and instead adhere to transcendental values of Truth, Beauty and Virtue (which not many do). 

 

The "material" situation for many (most) people is one of being besieged by the world! And this is a war that cannot be won - but shall certainly be lost by trying to win it!

But, God would not place us in a situation where we could not personally achieve spiritual victory; by choosing salvation and learning eternal life lessons. 

Given the fact of global evil and the divine certainty that you and I or anyone can win the spiritual war; The Big Question for each and all is: how?

(i.e. There is, for every person, an effective and attainable answer to our predicament - our job is "merely" to find it! But, while seeking; we should be confident that it is there to be found...) 

What's the use of Jesus here-and-now? Theories about the effect of Jesus on mortal life

What's the use of Jesus in my actual, daily life, here-and-now? 

This question needs an answer that is simple and clear enough to be comprehended and grasped whole - or else it will be ineffectual. 
But also, of course, the answer must be true - not some kind of incoherent answer; nor one that will soon be contradicted by experience because of its implications. 
Furthermore, the answer needs to be one that may - in principle - be endorsed by intuition. It should Not be an answer that depends on "evidence" relating to the validity and interpretation of external authority. 
(...Or else we will enter an "infinite regress" - and one that does not begin with Jesus, but has Jesus at its far, inaccessible, end - where he will never be reached.) 

In other words; we need to know that the answer is true; and we need to know its truth for-ourselves, and from our-selves  so that we personally can take the fullest responsibility for choosing and living-by the answer. 

If it is agreed that Jesus's work was to offer Men the chance of resurrected eternal life in Heaven; then some modern people will regard this as irrelevant to this mortal life...
Either because this finite and temporary mortal life doesn't matter by comparison with eternity...
Or else (more likely) that our post-mortal state and destination, has nothing to do with the practical needs and minutiae of everyday life. 
(i.e. The idea that everlasting life in Heaven would be very nice and all that; but is just pie-in-the-sky - maybe, sometime in the future - when what is needed/wanted is pie on the table, now and for-sure.)

In the past, in the era of church-led Christianity; the everyday implications were set-out in detailed commandments, rules, practices, and (especially) prohibitions - that dictated our lives in all important - and indeed apparently trivial - instances.
The Christian life was a complex and comprehensive instructional blueprint, and Christian living was obedience to its dictates.
I believe that this needs to be replaced - because it manifestly doesn't work, and never really was what Jesus said and did - and people instead require a personal and internally-endorsed understanding of what it means to "follow Jesus". 

That is the nature of the task. When one becomes a Christian - in theory; then instead of looking to one church or another for instructions concerning "what to do next" - this is a personal quest. 
And I feel sure that the quest is not going to be satisfied by any answer that we feel to be drab, materialist, mundane, utilitarian, monochrome, military rations... 
We absolutely require an answer that is as broad and deep as our fullest and most-valued experience of this mortal life, and our most heart-felt aspirations for what we most desire life might ideally become.
And that answer must be the basis for a powerful and robust, inner-generated, personal motivation. 
(Or else, if insufficiently motivated; we will surely succumb to the endemic evil of this world.) 

So that if, like me, you value (insist-upon) that sense of life as being lived at a higher level - a state of awareness of the enchantment of living - then we need to know how the future, post-mortal promises of Jesus shall eventuate in the potential for here-and-now joy, meaning, purpose, and loving-creation. 
 

Bonald's explanation for AI-dolatry

The archetypal modern senior manager: heroic, far-sighted, at the cutting edge... 

A corrupt, mediocre, spiteful, psychopath

Bonald has come up with a convincing proximate explanation for the current AI-dolaltry; that seems to fit with the short/ medium term self-interest of the senior managerial class.  

My paraphrase of his argument is that the managerial class are strategically (and with calculated dishonesty) hyping AI by pretending that it can efficiently replace humans without significant loss of quality. 

This hype provides senior managers a pseudo-justification for making massive short-term savings on salaries by sacking a large percentage of the workforce; under cover of the lying notion that they are enhancing productivity by taking early advantage of a major technological breakthrough. 

What will actually happen is that the senior managers will save a lot of money for their corporations in the short term, will get performance related salary enhancements; and will surf out of the corporations on a wave of prestige, at a job well done - to get a better paid job elsewhere. 

When the company collapses due to the inevitable catastrophic failure of AI, this will no longer be a problem for the senior managers who implemented it - who by that point will long-since have departed to graze on pastures new; there to reap the rewards of their executive genius.