The Northern Ireland Assembly has voted yet again to reject a proposal for Gay Marriage, defying the efforts of the UK Government, the European Union, the United Nations and, no doubt, the Illuminati and Martians too, to change the way mankind experiences sexuality.
Since time immemorial man and women have had a set of genitalia each, which when joined together quite possibly produce a child. In this way the human race is continued in a pleasant, friendly and enjoyable way. We are aware of sexual pleasure, much as we are aware of the pleasure of eating food. Eating and fecundating go beyond the urges of instinctive necessity and into the realms of pleasure.
But other parts of the body, although sensitive, are not genital. The anus, the mouth, and the hand are used in sexual and erotic touching, but they are not genitalia.
Our forefathers knew perfectly well where to draw the line. Anal sex, oral sex and masturbation were regarded as perversions.
So are you feeling a bit indignant, a bit offended, a bit pervy even. Well, so you should. There are not many of us who are fit to cast the first stone at our gay brothers and sisters.
But to confess that a lot of us like something a bit naughty does not make that naughtiness right and proper.
There are two main consequences of defining the back passage and the mouth as sexual organs.
Firstly, sexual activity becomes yet another dreary commodity, a spiral of ever decreasing thrills, as it becomes divorced from its primary function of producing children, and its cerimonial unity of man and woman.
Secondly, by rendering sexual activity as primarily a subjective source of pleasures, and expanding the genital areas to the anus and the mouth, we are leaving our daughters wide open to abuse. Young girls are taught in schools that to be sodomised is to be expected, that Women's Liberation means that they should be satisfied with no dignity, but that of a sexual object complete with multiple spunk filling orifices.
This cannot be right!
It is good that men should love men, and that women should love women, and that men should love women and that women should love men.
But let's put an end to this cult of sodomy. Private matters are private, but pornography that portrays oral sex and anal sex should be banned, and whereas civil unions of people of the same gender should be welcomed, let us leave marriage as it always has been, the sacred ceremony that unites woman and man.
Wednesday 29 April 2015
Monday 27 April 2015
Inoffensive Democracy
I attended the 'hustings' in the Parish Church yesterday afternoon. The five candidates sat and did not stand, behind a table before us. There was the current Member of Parliament, a Conservative, one of the 513 guilty men, a young Labour student careerist, a nice but clueless Liberal young man, a Ukip guy, a small businessman, and a Green tax inspector, who was as certain as any Jehovah's Witness that the end is high, and that the only answer is, of course, more taxation and more regulation.
But the strangest thing about the hustings was that neither barracking, nor asking questions was allowed. All ten questions were decided by who knows what power, but certainly not by us. So we had polite discourse on immigration, the deficit, and the development of the town centre.
But the burning issues of the day - those that get people hot under the collar - nothing, zilch.
The Green woman tried to raise global warming, Trident, and the bombing of Libya and the Ukip guy tried to raise the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
There were no questions concerning Equal Marriage, nuclear power, Scottish independence, our membership of the European Union. Nobody expressed an opinion on abortion or child sex education.
Nobody expressed an opinion about press censorship or the end of free speech.
Because, of course, free speech is dead.
Five years ago, at the hustings, people asked questions from the floor. I remember, a lady, a social worker asking about children's services. I didn't share her slant, but it was her thing, her passion.
But this free expression is no longer allowed.
Such is the fear that someone may say something Offensive, that the police may be involved, that all passion, all opinion, all controversy must be prevented.
And so we are silenced.
We got a vague idea about the candidates' competence and their commitment to the locality, but that was it.
Democracy or no, when debate is silenced we live in a Tyranny.
But the strangest thing about the hustings was that neither barracking, nor asking questions was allowed. All ten questions were decided by who knows what power, but certainly not by us. So we had polite discourse on immigration, the deficit, and the development of the town centre.
But the burning issues of the day - those that get people hot under the collar - nothing, zilch.
The Green woman tried to raise global warming, Trident, and the bombing of Libya and the Ukip guy tried to raise the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
There were no questions concerning Equal Marriage, nuclear power, Scottish independence, our membership of the European Union. Nobody expressed an opinion on abortion or child sex education.
Nobody expressed an opinion about press censorship or the end of free speech.
Because, of course, free speech is dead.
Five years ago, at the hustings, people asked questions from the floor. I remember, a lady, a social worker asking about children's services. I didn't share her slant, but it was her thing, her passion.
But this free expression is no longer allowed.
Such is the fear that someone may say something Offensive, that the police may be involved, that all passion, all opinion, all controversy must be prevented.
And so we are silenced.
We got a vague idea about the candidates' competence and their commitment to the locality, but that was it.
Democracy or no, when debate is silenced we live in a Tyranny.
Saturday 25 April 2015
They Loved Problems And Hated Solutions
G.K. Chesterton again. Amazingly, what is happening now was happening a hundred years ago.
'It may be said of Socialism, therefore, very briefly, that its friends recommend it as increasing equality, while its foes resist it as decreasing liberty. On the one hand it was said that the State could provide homes and meals for all, on the other it was answered that this could only be done by State Officials who would inspect homes and regulate meals. The compromise eventually made was one of the most interesting and even curious cases in history .
It was decided to do everything that had ever been denounced in Socialism, and nothing that had ever been desired in it.
Since it was supported to gain equality at the sacrifice of liberty , we proceeded to prove that it was possible to sacrifice liberty without gaining equality. Indeed there was not the faintest attempt to gain equality, least of all economic equality. But there was a very spirited and vigorous effort to eliminate liberty by means of an entirely new group of crude regulations and interferences.
But it was not the Socialist State regulating those whom it fed, like children, or even like convicts. It was the Capitalist State raiding those whom it had trampled on and deserted in every sort of den, like outlaws or broken men. It occurred to the wiser sociologists that, after all, it would be easier to proceed more promptly to the main business of bullying men, without having gone through the laborious preliminary business of supporting them. After all, it was easy to inspect the house without having helped build it; it was even possible, with luck, to prevent it being built.
.........the people of this age loved problems and hated solutions. It was easy to restrict the diet without providing the dinner.
'It may be said of Socialism, therefore, very briefly, that its friends recommend it as increasing equality, while its foes resist it as decreasing liberty. On the one hand it was said that the State could provide homes and meals for all, on the other it was answered that this could only be done by State Officials who would inspect homes and regulate meals. The compromise eventually made was one of the most interesting and even curious cases in history .
It was decided to do everything that had ever been denounced in Socialism, and nothing that had ever been desired in it.
Since it was supported to gain equality at the sacrifice of liberty , we proceeded to prove that it was possible to sacrifice liberty without gaining equality. Indeed there was not the faintest attempt to gain equality, least of all economic equality. But there was a very spirited and vigorous effort to eliminate liberty by means of an entirely new group of crude regulations and interferences.
But it was not the Socialist State regulating those whom it fed, like children, or even like convicts. It was the Capitalist State raiding those whom it had trampled on and deserted in every sort of den, like outlaws or broken men. It occurred to the wiser sociologists that, after all, it would be easier to proceed more promptly to the main business of bullying men, without having gone through the laborious preliminary business of supporting them. After all, it was easy to inspect the house without having helped build it; it was even possible, with luck, to prevent it being built.
.........the people of this age loved problems and hated solutions. It was easy to restrict the diet without providing the dinner.
Tuesday 21 April 2015
They'd Be Out Of Business If It Weren't True
What a relief! All those caring animal lovers at the RSPCA will be able to keep their jobs and keep the money rolling in from the gullible public. Guess what? You'd never believe it! There has been a shocking rise in animal abuse! Yes, that funny scruffy looking geezer is not just a child abuser, but an animal abuse too!
And the Earth's temperature is going to rise by 6% in the next century, so there are plenty more non job sinecures to go round there too.
And while we're at it, there are more children in state care than ever before - the children of obese parents. My gosh, those oiks are so vulgar!
And Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat Leader wants the wages of public bureaucrats to be protected against inflation. Lucky them.
It's a grand world for the parasites as the ship sinks under the weight of their debt. Zero hours contracts, unaffordable housing, women working, having abortions, cheap labour swamping the land, productivity ever lower - not the concern of the parasites. Bring on the histeria, the fear, the loathing, the witch hunts and the show trials - the reach of the State must extend ever further. They have empires to build.
And the Earth's temperature is going to rise by 6% in the next century, so there are plenty more non job sinecures to go round there too.
And while we're at it, there are more children in state care than ever before - the children of obese parents. My gosh, those oiks are so vulgar!
And Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat Leader wants the wages of public bureaucrats to be protected against inflation. Lucky them.
It's a grand world for the parasites as the ship sinks under the weight of their debt. Zero hours contracts, unaffordable housing, women working, having abortions, cheap labour swamping the land, productivity ever lower - not the concern of the parasites. Bring on the histeria, the fear, the loathing, the witch hunts and the show trials - the reach of the State must extend ever further. They have empires to build.
Saturday 18 April 2015
Al-Douri And Peace With Iran
The news that a one time senior Iraqi Baa'thist should die fighting for Isis reveals a little bit of the secrets of the Middle East. Al- Douri was a Sunni, but clearly a secularist. I suspect that the Islamist charade is mostly for European and American consumption, to keep the populace frightened, to give the masters an excuse to introduce the police state, so necessary for the War On Terror.
The truth is that the Western powers have been arming Iraqi Sunnis for several years. The creation of the Islamic State as a Sunni buffer zone between Syria and Shia Iran-Iraq is part of the deal with Iran, as was the overthrow of Morsi in Egypt, and the neutering of Hamas by Israel last summer.
Essentially, Iraq has been split up into spheres of influence. The Saudis and the Israelis appear nervous about the deal with Iran. Perhaps they have good reason.
The truth is that the Western powers have been arming Iraqi Sunnis for several years. The creation of the Islamic State as a Sunni buffer zone between Syria and Shia Iran-Iraq is part of the deal with Iran, as was the overthrow of Morsi in Egypt, and the neutering of Hamas by Israel last summer.
Essentially, Iraq has been split up into spheres of influence. The Saudis and the Israelis appear nervous about the deal with Iran. Perhaps they have good reason.
Thursday 16 April 2015
John Terry - A Reason To Vote Ukip
With the election three weeks away I am desperately trying to find reasons not to vote for Ukip. After all, some Ukip candidates support the death penalty, and I really don't want 'Defence' spending doubled. They do have policies I do like such as pulling out of the European Union, putting a break on immigration till we've digested the last lot, and repealing 'discrimination' laws which only serve to divide and rule. They are pretty left wing in the sense that they are statist, and nationalist too.
But to some extent Ukip is a teeny bit libertarian. In this country, the government is concerned with what you say. Perhaps for he first time since Charles I, there have been show trials of people who have said the wrong thing.
One of the most prominent victims of the totalitarian witch hunt was John Terry, the England football captain. He was accused of calling a certain Anton Ferdinand 'black', something that Mr. Ferdinand is, and which is not a defect of any sort.
Anyhow, the football oiks had to be given a lesson, and their Captain Fantastic put in the stocks.
And so, people walk through life, checking their thoughts before they open their mouths, lest they should speak aloud the wrong words and their lives are ruined.
But to some extent Ukip is a teeny bit libertarian. In this country, the government is concerned with what you say. Perhaps for he first time since Charles I, there have been show trials of people who have said the wrong thing.
One of the most prominent victims of the totalitarian witch hunt was John Terry, the England football captain. He was accused of calling a certain Anton Ferdinand 'black', something that Mr. Ferdinand is, and which is not a defect of any sort.
Anyhow, the football oiks had to be given a lesson, and their Captain Fantastic put in the stocks.
And so, people walk through life, checking their thoughts before they open their mouths, lest they should speak aloud the wrong words and their lives are ruined.
Tuesday 7 April 2015
Cries That Fail In A Furious And Infinite Wind
These days the Scottish Government provides a State Guardian to keep watch on every child in that unhappy land. Each child's parents are accountable to the Guardian for the righteous upbringing of their child. The State Guardian, needless to say, has Power but no Responsibility. The Scottish Government has made abundantly clear that should some misfortune befall a child the Named Person, as the Guardian is known, will suffer no consequences. Well, that's all right then.
No doubt the next Labour Government will introduce a similar scheme in England, along with the stalled I.D. project.
Those who love Caesar believe the State has a right to pry into the hearts and minds of every child. No doubt the Scottish Guardians will be on the look out for unauthorised religious views and irregular political activity. The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has already suggested that the children of known Islamists be taken into care.
Who next?
In the minds of the State Child Abusers political dissidence is child abuse.
We may not yet have Named Persons, but all schools - which children are forced to attend - have pastoral carers and child psychologists raping children's most intimate emotions and private thoughts.
Like all bureaucrats, they are dedicated to the growth of their empires and their own career progression. Hence they must find a problem where there is not one, or where the problem has been dealt with informally - for very few people will go to a Government agent for help if they can possibly avoid it. They know that the Pastoral Workers only care to find problems and to feed the Social Work machine.
Children are probed, encouraged to denounce their parents. State Violence snatches thousands of children each year, adding intolerable suffering to people who already have enough to cope with.
But, you know, they are only trying to help!
They have been helping themselves to the poor for many a long year!
These days the Caring Ones, the Progressives, read their Gender Studies handbook. A hundred years ago the Progressives believed in Eugenics. The 'Left' believed the Poor to be genetically, racially inferior to themselves. Not much has changed, then.
G.K. Chesterton saw it all going on a hundred years ago. This is what he wrote:
'Often a poor woman will tell a magistrate that she sticks to her husband, with the defiant and desperate air of a wanton resolved to run away from her husband. Often she will cry as hopelessly, and as it were, helplessly, when deprived of her child as if she were a child deprived of her doll. Indeed, a child in the street, crying for her lost doll, would probably receive more sympathy than she does.
Meanwhile the fun goes on; and many such conflicts are recorded, even in newspapers, between heartbroken parents and house-breaking philanthropists; always with one issue of course............
They have their great campaigns and cosmopolitan systems for the regimentation of millions, and the records of science and progress. .....
In recalling these small things of broken hearts or homes, we are but recording what cannot be recorded; trivial tragedies that will fade faster and faster in the flux of time, cries that fail in a furious and infinite wind, wild words of despair that are written only upon running water; unless, indeed, as some so stubbornly and strangely say, they are somewhere cut deep into a rock, in the red granite of the wrath of God.'
No doubt the next Labour Government will introduce a similar scheme in England, along with the stalled I.D. project.
Those who love Caesar believe the State has a right to pry into the hearts and minds of every child. No doubt the Scottish Guardians will be on the look out for unauthorised religious views and irregular political activity. The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has already suggested that the children of known Islamists be taken into care.
Who next?
In the minds of the State Child Abusers political dissidence is child abuse.
We may not yet have Named Persons, but all schools - which children are forced to attend - have pastoral carers and child psychologists raping children's most intimate emotions and private thoughts.
Like all bureaucrats, they are dedicated to the growth of their empires and their own career progression. Hence they must find a problem where there is not one, or where the problem has been dealt with informally - for very few people will go to a Government agent for help if they can possibly avoid it. They know that the Pastoral Workers only care to find problems and to feed the Social Work machine.
Children are probed, encouraged to denounce their parents. State Violence snatches thousands of children each year, adding intolerable suffering to people who already have enough to cope with.
But, you know, they are only trying to help!
They have been helping themselves to the poor for many a long year!
These days the Caring Ones, the Progressives, read their Gender Studies handbook. A hundred years ago the Progressives believed in Eugenics. The 'Left' believed the Poor to be genetically, racially inferior to themselves. Not much has changed, then.
G.K. Chesterton saw it all going on a hundred years ago. This is what he wrote:
'Often a poor woman will tell a magistrate that she sticks to her husband, with the defiant and desperate air of a wanton resolved to run away from her husband. Often she will cry as hopelessly, and as it were, helplessly, when deprived of her child as if she were a child deprived of her doll. Indeed, a child in the street, crying for her lost doll, would probably receive more sympathy than she does.
Meanwhile the fun goes on; and many such conflicts are recorded, even in newspapers, between heartbroken parents and house-breaking philanthropists; always with one issue of course............
They have their great campaigns and cosmopolitan systems for the regimentation of millions, and the records of science and progress. .....
In recalling these small things of broken hearts or homes, we are but recording what cannot be recorded; trivial tragedies that will fade faster and faster in the flux of time, cries that fail in a furious and infinite wind, wild words of despair that are written only upon running water; unless, indeed, as some so stubbornly and strangely say, they are somewhere cut deep into a rock, in the red granite of the wrath of God.'
Monday 6 April 2015
Toxic Masculinity, Transference and Suicide
Toxic Masculinity is a new phrase to me, one that I had been mercifully unaware of until now. It seems to be all those nice things about being a boy, but all twisted up and made horrible. Apparently all of us boys are presumed to be toxic, which makes me rather sad, because I'm quite nice really.
Yes, it seems that boys really are made of frogs and snails and puppy dogs' tails - and much much worse. We want power, power over other people, power over women and power over children. We are competitive and we are violent. Blimey! Most guys I know like to go fishing, and kick a ball about, and we kind of like to see our ladies and kiddies happy and smiling.
I know the hierarchical ambitious people are a bit nutty, but that's not most us. The worst that can be said about most guys is that we're a bit lazy.
I came across this term, Toxic Masculinity in a report by the Samaritans about suicide levels in middle aged poor men, which are quite high, it seems. Clearly the writers of the report had been reading their Gender Studies handbook, because as a poor man of a certain age I found it truly hard to recognise myself as the psychopathic troglodyte portrayed in the report. If I was half as bad as they think is the normal male condition, all rage and oppression, I really would top myself.
Suicide is a result of lack of power over oneself, rather than lack of power over others. Indeed, suicide, which is an evil deed, like all acts of violence, is a result of lack of power over ourselves, not over others. It is slaves, not the the masters who kill themselves.
The capitalist 'patriarchal' world is split into two basic classes. - those who manage and those who are managed, those who give the orders and those who obey.
In traditional society every man and every woman has a sphere of authority, either through skill, age, or position in the family. When the capitalist state comes along and removes all those spheres of authority the poor man is left with nothing. The poor man never had power, but he had authority, and it is this authority that the capitalist state is forever trying to steal. It is the loss of authority that leaves men and women feeling powerless and worthless. It is this theft of authority that is behind the portrayal of men as the enemies and abusers of women and children, and not the protectors, the providers, the servants of women and children that is our traditional role.
In a society that treats the poor as worthless - born sick, both mentally and physically, victims - ordinary people suffer huge emotional and spiritual damage.
The traits of 'Toxic Masculinity' that the Samaritans ascribe to the poor man are in fact the characteristics of the psychopathic military bureaucrat, the degraded wretches who man and woman the hierarchy. Violence, competitiveness, domination of women are the habits of the armed gang, not the habits of poor men. The Samaritans themselves are the managerial class, the overseer class, and they transfer their own sickness to the poor, to their victims. It is they, these Samaritan hierarchs who can only perceive the world through the prism of power. The original Good Samaritan knew very well that it was better to give than to receive, but these guys can only see Darwinian struggle.
The armed band, the hierarchs, compete with each other to extend the domain of the armed gang by dominating others. These servants of the capitalist state are the complete opposite of the workers and peasants whose life is one of solidarity and mutual help. We could not get by otherwise.
The bureaucrats want us to turn to them and their 'professional' help - they want power.
The bourgeois adherents of Gender Studies and State Feminism are simply bureaucratic Fascists. They will not see the world in terms of social class, they will not recognise the validity of the experience of the poor. The bourgeois experience is power, possession and submission. They wish to transfer their toxicity to us.
Yes, it seems that boys really are made of frogs and snails and puppy dogs' tails - and much much worse. We want power, power over other people, power over women and power over children. We are competitive and we are violent. Blimey! Most guys I know like to go fishing, and kick a ball about, and we kind of like to see our ladies and kiddies happy and smiling.
I know the hierarchical ambitious people are a bit nutty, but that's not most us. The worst that can be said about most guys is that we're a bit lazy.
I came across this term, Toxic Masculinity in a report by the Samaritans about suicide levels in middle aged poor men, which are quite high, it seems. Clearly the writers of the report had been reading their Gender Studies handbook, because as a poor man of a certain age I found it truly hard to recognise myself as the psychopathic troglodyte portrayed in the report. If I was half as bad as they think is the normal male condition, all rage and oppression, I really would top myself.
Suicide is a result of lack of power over oneself, rather than lack of power over others. Indeed, suicide, which is an evil deed, like all acts of violence, is a result of lack of power over ourselves, not over others. It is slaves, not the the masters who kill themselves.
The capitalist 'patriarchal' world is split into two basic classes. - those who manage and those who are managed, those who give the orders and those who obey.
In traditional society every man and every woman has a sphere of authority, either through skill, age, or position in the family. When the capitalist state comes along and removes all those spheres of authority the poor man is left with nothing. The poor man never had power, but he had authority, and it is this authority that the capitalist state is forever trying to steal. It is the loss of authority that leaves men and women feeling powerless and worthless. It is this theft of authority that is behind the portrayal of men as the enemies and abusers of women and children, and not the protectors, the providers, the servants of women and children that is our traditional role.
In a society that treats the poor as worthless - born sick, both mentally and physically, victims - ordinary people suffer huge emotional and spiritual damage.
The traits of 'Toxic Masculinity' that the Samaritans ascribe to the poor man are in fact the characteristics of the psychopathic military bureaucrat, the degraded wretches who man and woman the hierarchy. Violence, competitiveness, domination of women are the habits of the armed gang, not the habits of poor men. The Samaritans themselves are the managerial class, the overseer class, and they transfer their own sickness to the poor, to their victims. It is they, these Samaritan hierarchs who can only perceive the world through the prism of power. The original Good Samaritan knew very well that it was better to give than to receive, but these guys can only see Darwinian struggle.
The armed band, the hierarchs, compete with each other to extend the domain of the armed gang by dominating others. These servants of the capitalist state are the complete opposite of the workers and peasants whose life is one of solidarity and mutual help. We could not get by otherwise.
The bureaucrats want us to turn to them and their 'professional' help - they want power.
The bourgeois adherents of Gender Studies and State Feminism are simply bureaucratic Fascists. They will not see the world in terms of social class, they will not recognise the validity of the experience of the poor. The bourgeois experience is power, possession and submission. They wish to transfer their toxicity to us.
Sunday 5 April 2015
The Past Has To Be Painted Pitch Black
You might have noticed that these days the past is on trial, particularly that happy smiley decade, the 1970s. Ageing entertainers are dragged into court and sometimes even found guilty of molesting youngsters, despite the seeming lack of evidence. If you were not yet born, or were very young back then, you might be forgiven for thinking your elders were all wife beating, homophobic, racist kiddie fiddlers, whereas in fact it was a strangely non judgemental time, a gentler time with longer hair, a more hopeful time without debt and the constant war in foreign lands, something we were beginning to think belonged to the past. And above all, it was the most equal decade in the entire history of England. The gap between the rich and the poor was less than ever before or since. Two thirds of Oxbridge graduates were from state schools, manual workers were represented in Parliament, we were not yet monitored from the cradle to the grave, whilst out shopping, at work or going to school. Children were still free to play out!
I could go on, but I am sure you know.
History belongs to the victors and the victors at the moment appear to be the heirs of the New Labour coup of 1997.
However, it seems that the rewriting of history has been going on a long while. As you might have guessed I've been reading some G.K. Chesterton recently, and this is what G.K. had to say, a hundred years ago:
'But the homeless Englishman must not even remember a home. So far from the house being his castle, he must not have even a castle in the air. He must have no memories; that is why he is taught no history. Why is he told none of the truth about mediaeval civilisation except for a few cruelties and mistakes in chemistry? Why does a mediaeval burgher never appear till he can appear in a shirt and halter? Why does a mediaeval monastery never appear till it is 'corrupt' enough to shock the innocence of Henry VIII? Why do we hear of one charter - that of the barons - and not a word of the charters of the carpenters, smiths, shipwrights and all the rest? The reason is that the English peasant is not only not allowed to have an estate, he is not even allowed to have lost one. The past has been painted pitch black, that it may be worse than the present.'
I could go on, but I am sure you know.
History belongs to the victors and the victors at the moment appear to be the heirs of the New Labour coup of 1997.
However, it seems that the rewriting of history has been going on a long while. As you might have guessed I've been reading some G.K. Chesterton recently, and this is what G.K. had to say, a hundred years ago:
'But the homeless Englishman must not even remember a home. So far from the house being his castle, he must not have even a castle in the air. He must have no memories; that is why he is taught no history. Why is he told none of the truth about mediaeval civilisation except for a few cruelties and mistakes in chemistry? Why does a mediaeval burgher never appear till he can appear in a shirt and halter? Why does a mediaeval monastery never appear till it is 'corrupt' enough to shock the innocence of Henry VIII? Why do we hear of one charter - that of the barons - and not a word of the charters of the carpenters, smiths, shipwrights and all the rest? The reason is that the English peasant is not only not allowed to have an estate, he is not even allowed to have lost one. The past has been painted pitch black, that it may be worse than the present.'
Saturday 4 April 2015
Christ The Lord Is Risen Again
In the nineteenth century Catherine Winkworth translated many German hymns from the time of the Reformation , many of them in an anthology called Lyra Germanica. This lovely triumphant Easter hymn was originally written by M.Weisse in 1531.
Christ The Lord is risen again;
Christ hath broken every chain;
Hark! Angelic voices cry,
Singing evermore on high,
Alleluia!
He, who gave for us his life,
Who for us endured the strife,
Is our Paschal Lamb today;
We, too, sing for joy, and say
Alleluia!
He, who bore all pain and loss
Comfortless upon the cross,
Lives in glory now on high,
Pleads for us and hears our cry;
Alleluia!
He, who slumbered in the grave,
Is exalted now to save;
Now through Christendom it rings
That the Lamb is King of kings.
Alleluia!
He whose path no records tell,
Who descended into hell;
Who the strong man armed hath bound,
Now in highest heaven is crowned.
Alleluia!
Now He bids us tell abroad
How the lost may be restored,
How the penitent forgiven,
How we too may enter heav'n.
Alleluia!
Thou, our Paschal Lamb indeed,
Christ, Thy ransomed people feed:
Take our sins and guilt away,
Let us sing by night and day
Alleluia!
Christ The Lord is risen again;
Christ hath broken every chain;
Hark! Angelic voices cry,
Singing evermore on high,
Alleluia!
He, who gave for us his life,
Who for us endured the strife,
Is our Paschal Lamb today;
We, too, sing for joy, and say
Alleluia!
He, who bore all pain and loss
Comfortless upon the cross,
Lives in glory now on high,
Pleads for us and hears our cry;
Alleluia!
He, who slumbered in the grave,
Is exalted now to save;
Now through Christendom it rings
That the Lamb is King of kings.
Alleluia!
He whose path no records tell,
Who descended into hell;
Who the strong man armed hath bound,
Now in highest heaven is crowned.
Alleluia!
Now He bids us tell abroad
How the lost may be restored,
How the penitent forgiven,
How we too may enter heav'n.
Alleluia!
Thou, our Paschal Lamb indeed,
Christ, Thy ransomed people feed:
Take our sins and guilt away,
Let us sing by night and day
Alleluia!
Man's Descent To Hell
Today, Holy Saturday, is the day our Lord descended into Hell, a place of death, a place without love, without hope, without God.
A hundred years ago G.K.Chesterton wrote his little book, 'The Evil Of Eugenics'. In many passages he wrote of a situation that we can recognise all too clearly these days. We are not as original nor so modern as we might think.
'He must have a relation to Government like his relation to God. That is, the more he goes into the inner chambers, and the more he closes the doors, the more he is alone with the law. The social machinery which makes such a State uniform and submissive, will be worked outwards from the household as from a handle, or a single mechanical knob or button. In a horrible sense, loaded with fear and shame and every detail of dishonour, it will be true to say that charity begins at home .
Charity will begin at home in the sense that all home children will be like charity children. Philanthropy will begin at home , for all householders will be like paupers. Police administration will begin at home, for all citizens will be like convicts. And when the health and humours of daily life have passed into the domain of this social discipline , when it is admitted that the community must primarily control the primary habits, when all law begins, so to speak, next to the skin or nearest the vitals - then indeed it will appear absurd that marriage and maternity should not be similarly ordered. Then indeed it will seem to be illogical, that love should be free when life has lost its freedom.
So passed, to all appearances, from the minds of men, the strange dream and fantasy called freedom.'
A hundred years ago G.K.Chesterton wrote his little book, 'The Evil Of Eugenics'. In many passages he wrote of a situation that we can recognise all too clearly these days. We are not as original nor so modern as we might think.
'He must have a relation to Government like his relation to God. That is, the more he goes into the inner chambers, and the more he closes the doors, the more he is alone with the law. The social machinery which makes such a State uniform and submissive, will be worked outwards from the household as from a handle, or a single mechanical knob or button. In a horrible sense, loaded with fear and shame and every detail of dishonour, it will be true to say that charity begins at home .
Charity will begin at home in the sense that all home children will be like charity children. Philanthropy will begin at home , for all householders will be like paupers. Police administration will begin at home, for all citizens will be like convicts. And when the health and humours of daily life have passed into the domain of this social discipline , when it is admitted that the community must primarily control the primary habits, when all law begins, so to speak, next to the skin or nearest the vitals - then indeed it will appear absurd that marriage and maternity should not be similarly ordered. Then indeed it will seem to be illogical, that love should be free when life has lost its freedom.
So passed, to all appearances, from the minds of men, the strange dream and fantasy called freedom.'
Friday 3 April 2015
Wishing You A Good Friday
Good Friday is a very special day, so special that I can see no doodle on the Google homepage to commemorate the most important few days of the Christan calendar.
It can only be a matter of time before Caesar abolishes the Easter holiday for the workers with a fixed date celebration of International Dwarves Day.
To Caesar and those who love him, the Cross of Christ is as offensive as ever. Jesus is redeeming us from slavery - not exactly what Caesar wants. Jesus is paying for our sin - Caesar does not want that. Caesar wants us to keep paying for our sin that we may keep obeying him. Caesar does not want us to even think about sin, for therein lies the seed of liberation.
Caesar only wants us to obey the regulations and to pay our taxes. If you've got a problem, go and see a psychologist.
Power seems to expand year by year, but Jesus does not get down from the Cross. He continues to offend the world.
Power talks to us of our rights, not our duties, it talks to us of taking more rather than giving more, it talks to us about our Selves, and not about God, it prefers psychology to theology, it seeks not to love the Other, but to blame the Other.
For it is a blameless society that hates and scapegoats those who do not conform. The blameless ones herd together in their hate. What does Good Friday mean to a blameless person, a person who reckons up his virtue and compares himself favourably to his fellow? It means nothing at all.
But should we take that small first step and take ownership of our sin? Should we say, 'my sin is my own'? Should we say 'I am sinner'?
Now that would be really brave, really really brave, braver than coming out as Gay. I mean, when you stop sneering, hating and condemning others you'll having nothing to talk to your old friends about anymore. Caesar will frown upon you. Admit your sin and you are stepping outside of slave society, outside of a mob glued together by communal hate and gluttony.
Admit that you are a sinner, and know that only Jesus' love can save you. For Jesus is the Son of God, he is Love made man. Only his perfect love can save you, and when you know him as your Lord and Saviour you too can eat of his body and his blood, his sacrificial love and his unconditional love.
And though you will never be as perfect as He, yet you will be pointing upwards, and not downwards, and in some small way, at least, you will be free.
Caesar thought that he could destroy the Kingdom of Heaven by crucifying Christ but he was wrong.
No wonder the Cross is so offensive.
Happy Easter!
It can only be a matter of time before Caesar abolishes the Easter holiday for the workers with a fixed date celebration of International Dwarves Day.
To Caesar and those who love him, the Cross of Christ is as offensive as ever. Jesus is redeeming us from slavery - not exactly what Caesar wants. Jesus is paying for our sin - Caesar does not want that. Caesar wants us to keep paying for our sin that we may keep obeying him. Caesar does not want us to even think about sin, for therein lies the seed of liberation.
Caesar only wants us to obey the regulations and to pay our taxes. If you've got a problem, go and see a psychologist.
Power seems to expand year by year, but Jesus does not get down from the Cross. He continues to offend the world.
Power talks to us of our rights, not our duties, it talks to us of taking more rather than giving more, it talks to us about our Selves, and not about God, it prefers psychology to theology, it seeks not to love the Other, but to blame the Other.
For it is a blameless society that hates and scapegoats those who do not conform. The blameless ones herd together in their hate. What does Good Friday mean to a blameless person, a person who reckons up his virtue and compares himself favourably to his fellow? It means nothing at all.
But should we take that small first step and take ownership of our sin? Should we say, 'my sin is my own'? Should we say 'I am sinner'?
Now that would be really brave, really really brave, braver than coming out as Gay. I mean, when you stop sneering, hating and condemning others you'll having nothing to talk to your old friends about anymore. Caesar will frown upon you. Admit your sin and you are stepping outside of slave society, outside of a mob glued together by communal hate and gluttony.
Admit that you are a sinner, and know that only Jesus' love can save you. For Jesus is the Son of God, he is Love made man. Only his perfect love can save you, and when you know him as your Lord and Saviour you too can eat of his body and his blood, his sacrificial love and his unconditional love.
And though you will never be as perfect as He, yet you will be pointing upwards, and not downwards, and in some small way, at least, you will be free.
Caesar thought that he could destroy the Kingdom of Heaven by crucifying Christ but he was wrong.
No wonder the Cross is so offensive.
Happy Easter!
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