Author: Paul

We used to talk about things that “separated the men from the boys.” And however poorly the phrase may have been used, it had a legitimate point: It’s one thing to be male, it’s quite another to be a proper man.

The same obviously applies to women: It’s one thing to be female and quite another to be a proper woman. 

But on whichever side of the biological divide you find yourself, it’s suffering for what you believe in that confirms you as legitimate, solid adult… as someone to be taken seriously. Continue reading “Suffering For Righteousness Marks You As A Man”

The West lost its backbone for a very simple reason: It lost its meta-narrative: its overarching story for what we believe and do.

The people of the West have no why for what they’re doing, save to fill their bellies and beds. Even their greatest dogma, Democracy, is an empty shell. Nothing could have made that point better than the covid time, when the world was turned upside down by edicts from potentates – precisely the thing democracy was supposed to prevent – while the belly-fillers of the West made not a peep. Continue reading “Why The West Has No Backbone”

Humanity is afflicted with a desire for a magic fix to its problems. And that desire, if it’s allowed to fester, soon enough becomes a demand for a magic fix for their problems… and particularly to problems they fixate upon. That much was obvious in the rise of Hitler, in the sale of socialism to the oppressed people of Eastern Europe, and in other disasters. But it goes even further, afflicting nearly the whole of mankind on a continuing basis.

 

Back when Western civilization still had a foothold in the public square, people paid attention to the freedom of belief, the freedom to choose a career, and the freedom to speak one’s mind. All good and necessary things, of course, but there was one freedom that they dared not mention… dared not consider. And that’s the one I’ll cover today: Political freedom… the ability to choose how we will be governed, if we wish to be governed at all.

 

There is a kinship between productive human beings; one that spreads all across this planet. It may be invisible to power and hierarchy, but we productive people recognize it. Continue reading “The Kinship of Producers”

Yes, you. All reasonably healthy humans are demi-gods.

I apologize for hitting you with a concept that may feel foreign, dangerous and ridiculous, but it needs to be said. And regardless that we lack proper definitions for such concepts, it’s true.

I’ll also remind you that there’s nothing sacrilegious about saying this: David, the great Psalmist, was bolder than I, flatly stating, “You are gods.” He even used the Hebrew word elohim, the same word used in “God created the heaven and the earth.” And Jesus repeated the line without reservation. Continue reading “You Are A Demi-God”

(Originally published October 13, 2021.)

I’m not telling you whether I’ve had the jab or not, because it doesn’t matter. What I am telling you is that a woman in Denver is about to die because the medical establishment won’t let her have a surgery, simply and only because she hasn’t had their shot. Bearing in mind that Denver hospitals have seen thousands of COVID patients over nearly two years, this isn’t defensible… it’s willfully causing a death. Continue reading “If We Don’t Stand Up For The Unvaxxed Now, We Wouldn’t Have Stood Up For Jews In The 1930s”

Yes, we’ve seen a string of irrational, malicious and even murderous rules lately, but that’s not what I’m addressing in this post.

Today my point is that rules by themselves – rules by their essence – are the opponents of righteousness. I know this strikes most people as impossible, but I’m convinced that it’s correct and important. Continue reading “Rules Versus Righteousness”

Passion, in our time, is badly misunderstood. And so I suppose I should start by saying that I’m not talking about the human sex drive, though the truth is that as you choke passion proper, sexual passion tends to be choked along with it. We express passion – real passion – when we make things sacred to ourselves; when we erect borders to protect things we care deeply about… when we say “This space is mine, and no one else is permitted unless I invite them in.”

 

It would be hard to overstate how important I think this is, and not just for Christians. This concept is deeply radical: If it doesn’t jar you, you probably haven’t grasped it. And at the same time it’s deeply transformational. I know that once I wrapped my mind around it, one important understanding after another followed behind it.

The philosophy that Jesus left us – not a theology, but a philosophy – stands ready to revolutionize human life.