tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post7155662940401945700..comments2024-03-28T09:59:13.754-07:00Comments on bionic mosquito: Argumentationbionic mosquitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12002548958078731031noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-22455054260992952792019-07-28T22:06:30.360-07:002019-07-28T22:06:30.360-07:00"it appears that there are cracks forming in ..."it appears that there are cracks forming in Screwtape’s plans."<br /><br />I hope so. You should check out Peter Kreeft's video on "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm08x8YiuXk" rel="nofollow">How to Win the Culture War</a>" from 2011. He assumes the role of C.S. Lewis' Screwtape telling Wormwood how to destroy the Catholic Church in 7 ways.<br /><br />1. Politicization. Train them to make all aspects of life political issues with potential political solutions. <br />2. Happy Talk. Convince them to talk happy, even as the ship rushes closer to the rocks. <br />3. Organizationalism. Convince them to run the Church like a business. <br />4. Neo-Worship. Get them to substitute New for True.<br />5. Egalitarianism, not Excellence. <br />6. Yuppie-dom, Materialism, Consumerism<br />7. Spirituality, not Sanctity.<br /><br />In other words, convince Catholics to be "PHONEYS".A Texas Libertarianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02980539931923054404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-15414154510490993422019-07-26T18:40:37.401-07:002019-07-26T18:40:37.401-07:00This article basically reinforces the statement I ...This article basically reinforces the statement I posted in a comment yesterday under the blog post, An Interesting Conversation, namely, that “If you collapse reason, you are far more likely to end up with nihilism than you are with theocracy.”<br /><br />From C.S. Lewis, <br />“The trouble about argument is that it moves the whole struggle on to the Enemy’s own ground. He can argue too, whereas in really practical propaganda of the kind I am suggesting He has been shown for centuries to be greatly inferior of Our Father Below. By the very act of arguing, you awake the patient’s reason; and once it is awake, who can foresee the result.”<br /><br />From Bionic Mosquito, <br />“Once you bring argumentation into the picture, you risk awakening that which Screwtape and his type have worked so long to purge from man – man’s reason.”<br /><br />In other words, Satan and his hordes don’t fare well against sound reasoning. <br /><br />In the comment I posted yesterday, I said that nihilism was a belief in destruction for the sake of destruction alone. Satan is the ultimate nihilist. He is not interested in building anything good. I will go so far as to say that it is impossible for him to create anything good. Instead, all he can do is to destroy the good that others have created. This is completely, totally, 100% unreasonable. It is nihilism taken as far as it can possibly go. <br /><br />Therefore, anything which is opposed to reason and which works to silence reasoned dialogue is Satanic and evil. This argument alone should convince us that the growing use of censorship by governments, large corporations, and social media to shut down reasoned argument is evil.<br /> <br />The collapse of reason does not lead to theocracy, it leads to death and destruction. The exercise and use of reason leads us to life and liberty. <br /><br />“You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”--Jesus the ChristRogerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08156823478509665137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-15610136888230794652019-07-26T17:29:27.637-07:002019-07-26T17:29:27.637-07:00It sounds like you are just starting The Screwtape...It sounds like you are just starting The Screwtape Letters. If you like the book, you might try to find a copy of Screwtape Writes Again. Walter Martin (the real Bible Answer Man, not that goof Hank Hanegraaff) wrote the "sequel."Mister Spockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04790678390017800846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-43337289918587592512019-07-26T12:21:06.577-07:002019-07-26T12:21:06.577-07:00"But merely having more stuff isn’t liberty, ..."But merely having more stuff isn’t liberty, as man is made for so much more."<br /><br /><br /><i>Rumi replied: There is one thing in this world<br />that must never be forgotten. If you were to forget<br />all else, but did not forget that, then you<br />would have no reason to worry. But if you performed<br />and remembered everything else, yet forgot<br />that one thing, then you would have done<br />nothing whatsoever.</i><br /><br /><i>It is just as if a king sent you to the country to<br />carry out a specific task. If you go and accomplish<br />a hundred other tasks, but do not perform that<br />particular task, then it is as though you performed<br />nothing at all. So, everyone comes into this world<br />for a particular task, and that is their purpose. If<br />they do not perform it, then they will have done<br />nothing.</i><br /><br /><i>You say, “Look at all the work I do accomplish,<br />even if I do not perform that task.” You<br />weren’t created for those other tasks! It is just as<br />if you were given a sword of priceless Indian steel,<br />such as can only be found in the treasuries of<br />kings, and you were to treat it as a butcher’s knife<br />for cutting up putrid meat, saying, “I am not letting<br />this sword stand idle, I am using it in so many<br />useful ways.” Or it is like taking a solid gold bowl<br />to cook turnips in, when a single grain of that<br />gold could buy a hundred pots. Or it is as if you<br />took a Damascene dagger of the finest temper to<br />hang a broken gourd from, saying, “I am making<br />good use of it. I am hanging a gourd on it. I am<br />not letting this dagger go to waste.” How foolish<br />that would be! The gourd can hang perfectly well<br />from a wooden or iron nail whose value is a mere<br />farthing, so why use a dagger valued at a hundred<br />pounds?</i> —Discourses of Rumi<br /><br /><br />Ahmed Fareshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07105255828394485657noreply@blogger.com