SJW's Always Double Down

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As surely as The Son rose, the SJW did not cause the problems a business is facing, they were just misunderstood. Everyone just needs more consultation, endless consultation. Therefore they must double down: 

"Manly powerbrokers remain committed to again releasing their “Everyone in League” jersey in 2023 despite the role the controversial initiative played in the demise of Des Hasler.

The Sea Eagles terminated Hasler’s employment with a season remaining on his contract, alleging he had breached the terms of the agreement by bringing the club into disrepute...

...Seven players boycotted the “Everyone in League” clash against the Roosters in round 20, with the under-strength side suffering a 20-10 loss. The players returned the following week, but the side never recovered, losing their remaining matches to finish the season in 11th spot...

...The original launch was timed to coincide with Women in League round in a bid to bring attention to the contribution of females to football. However, the subsequent controversy overshadowed the NRL’s initiative and will likely be shifted to another time of the season in 2023.

ARLC chairman Peter V’landys flagged the prospect of the NRL launching an inclusivity round next year and Manly want to work with head office to avoid the pitfalls of their inaugural launch."

By every metric the pride jersey failed. Their branding of it as an "inclusion jersey" fell flat. The team did not rise to the occasion. The coach could not rally the players. And a team capable of going deep into the finals faded off, losing all of its games after that match, missing the finals altogether. 

But the mission to push inclusivity must go forward. Therefore, they will march onwards anyway. The goal of the Manly club is now to be the mascot of inclusivity. This was as predictable as it is tragic, because this is what SJW's do. 

But football is not about inclusion. It is about athletic supremacy. It is about ruthless defeat of the competition. It is about overcoming pain, and rising above the opponent and your own physical limits. Sport is the opposite of inclusion, and nothing can continue to function once it's purpose has been inverted. 

Manly's tragic results with their inclusion round are a warning: don't go down this road. Because part of the "inclusion" in NRL is a strong base of masculine Christian men from countries that view supporting pride and inclusivity of sexual sin as a great sin itself. The NRL is heading towards a real calamity here. Of course it is not in the nature of ideological fools to heed warnings.

China Prepares For Conflict

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The great Chinese buy up of Western assets is over. The West's reaction to Russia's moves to defend Russians in Ukraine, has alerted other global powers to how quickly the US and its allies will confiscate anything they can when the US feels it's will has been ignored. 

Rather than just preach about Western hypocrisy, though, China is insulating itself from exposure to increasing Western sanctions: 

"Hong Kong, June 18 (ANI): Chinese elites settled abroad are selling off their immovable assets after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) banned ownership to insulate the government from future economic sanctions from Western countries, especially the US.

This is seen as a fallout of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the subsequent Western sanctions on Russia. China, already facing a slew of sanctions impacting its government, various organisations and individuals, is taking steps to ensure that any Chinese action deemed controversial by the West does not invite sanctions that weaken the communist government, reported The HK Post.

The party is seeking compliance reports from its citizens abroad and many have sold off their shares in foreign companies and are in the process of divesting themselves of their real estate.

The sell-off clamour came about after the CCP’s Central Organisation Authority issued a notice a few weeks ago, reported The HK Post.

It specifically “prohibits spouses and children of ministerial-level officials from holding — directly or indirectly — any real estate abroad or shares in entities registered overseas”.

Australians have gotten used to saying: China owns Australia. But times are changing, and nationalist nations like China are recognising how having their wealth spread through the global system makes them more vulnerable to financial control. And they are taking steps to protect themselves from globalist pressure. 

A friend of mine asked an interesting question about this. He wondered if China had enough influence over Chinese expats to inspire them to sell assets in Western nations to deepen the economic recession that is already occurring? This would be an interesting move, and a real display of power. 

It would also be a slap in the face to Western countries that have become too dependent on foreign money. Sanctions can go both ways, especially if they are used creatively. 

The world is getting more interesting. Prepare for harder times ahead. 

The Trilogy We Deserved

So many Star Wars novels have been written, it's really an over exploited IP today. And in the last few years Star Wars has been so thoroughly trashed by Disney with sub par writing, and what feels like a deliberate anti-fan agenda, some people might forget how good Star Wars stories could actually be. 

The Zahn trilogy is the peak of Stars Wars heights outside the movies. And Heir to the Empire set this series off with a riveting story. The Empire is diminished but not finished, and it is under the control of a military genius not matched by anywhere else. Chances are if you read science fiction, you've read some Zahn. His own original works are interesting, though somewhat odd. But this series did something great. 

In this trilogy Zahn gave us the Star Wars formula in its perfected form. And it would have been simple for Disney to take this series, turn it into three scripts, stick to the basic plot and make increasing billions. It would have been so easy. They'd have classic Star Wars themes, galactic mysteries, world building, more Luke Skywalker in his prime, a pretty red head for Luke to court, and tonnes of action. A definite home run. But instead they gave us environmental activism, and a grumpy old man drinking green animal breastfeeding milk. Wow!

I loved this series when I was a kid. It was fun, exciting, and walked the line perfectly between matching the Star Wars formula, but also building new roads with it. 

One of the most interesting insights in this book that I learnt, was how Grand Admiral Thrawn studies his enemies, more often victims, through their cultural art. Arts tells him how certain beings think. I learnt this lesson again in Art in History years later at university. Art tells us where a society is at intellectually (our society is in deep trouble today). 

Zahn is clever writer, who knows how to give the Star Wars fan what they want. Of course what we want today is for them to just stop making anything, go away, and let the IP fade back into obscurity, maybe to be resurrected in some future day, by people who do not hate the original fans so desperately. 

But until that happens, at least we can remember it was good once. This was the trilogy we deserved. 

Calling Them Hyprocrites Is Pointless

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Progressives aren't really hypocritical, not as we understand the term. Not if you understand their target is Christianity, western Christianity especially, and European people of Christian descent in particular. 

Once you realize this, their values are consistent. They don't go after other groups with anywhere near the same ferocity, because those other groups are not their intended target. It's European Christians of the West that they want to disenfranchise, and they stay on point pretty consistently. 

This is why Muslims can be anti-gay and it does not matter. China can make all the coal fire power stations it wants. And crime can be as high amongst immigrant communities as they want. None of this matters, because none of this contradicts the core values of progressivism: western, European Christian society, needs to be diminished.

The Lost History Of Christianity

You have probably heard the famous phrase, "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." This phrase was coined by Tertullian, who originally phrased the statement this way: “The oftener we are mown down by you, the more in number we grow; the blood of Christians is seed." That's some Spartan strength there. 

This statement is famous in the modern Church, and in my experience particularly in conservative evangelical circles. Evangelical Christians tend to hold an inner guilt about not being persecuted and punished for their faith, or having too much prosperity. Whether as a side effect of anti-western white privilege propaganda, or a misreading of the Bible, or a combination of both, evangelicals tend to view the suffering Church as inherently superior and Christians from poor countries as almost default saints. Their enshrinement of Tertullian's statement, quoted as it is above, as gospel truth feeds into this tendency. 

Evangelicals tend to forget that there are three explicitly persecuted churches out of seven in Revelation 2-3, Smyrna, Philadelphia and Pergamum and one of them is criticized for a dangerous tendency to apostasy; Pergamum. Persecution is not a guarantee of holiness, or spiritual growth. Anyone who has worked with immigrant Church plants can testify to this fact, that being from poor or persecuted countries does not necessarily make you more holy or saintly. Though, for some it does refine them. 

The fact is Christian churches can and do disappear under sustained persecution and poverty. The blood of the martyrs is not always the seed of exponential growth. The book that taught me this was Philip Jenkens The Lost History of Christianity. 

In this book Philip Jenkins explains the rich history of what we would today call Middle Eastern Christianity, but which in the past was golden age and patriarchal hub of Christian civilisation. What we think of today as Muslim lands were once the most significant Christian lands in the world. These lands were not only the birth place of Christianity, but a place where Christianity flourished for over a millennia. Many Christians know that Islam conquered parts of Christian Rome, but not many realize how entrenched Christianity was in the Middle East, the East, and North Africa. 

Indeed, you may not even realize that as late as the time of the crusades, Christians were still the majority population in lands like Syria, Palestine (Israel), and other parts of the near East. That's right, those Crusaders were in large measure liberating Christians from Muslim overlords, not stealing Muslim lands, as is often claimed. Though, the situation was more complex than that. 

Jenkins' book shows clearly that Christianity can be wiped out of a land, and has been, and is again in parts of the world today. Sometimes sustained persecution makes the blood of the martyrs, not the seed of the church, but the graveyard of true faith. 

The core lesson of Jenkins book is a look at the difference between the kind of Christianity that lasts, and that which does not. Why the Coptic churches of Egypt and Ethiopia are still strong today, whereas in parts of Asia and the Middle East Christianity has gone extinct. 

Considering the trajectory of the modern world, this book likely holds some important lessons for Western Christians, who seem to think tempting the persecutor to rise above them, makes them more virtuous. It doesn't. Losing the liberty our ancestors achieved for our faith, might have some side effects that sloganized western Christians do not expect. 

The book is a call for the endurance of the saints. 

 

Radically Orthodox

Those who know their Church history reasonably well know that Athanasius was the leading orthodox voice in the fight for officially recognising the Divinity of Jesus at the Council of Nicea (325 AD). 

He was outspoken, bold, and instrumental in leading the rejection of Arianism, which denied Jesus's eternal divinity (like JW's do today). The Arians were like progressives, wanting to fit the doctrine of God to the philosophy of their day. Athanasius was orthodox, but radical, not conservative. He wanted to vigorously defend the truth. 

What you may not know, is that Athanasius was also constantly hounded for decades after Nicea, by conservative bishops, who saw him as too strong, too vocal, and got him exiled on many occasions with trumped up charges, even with the help of one Roman Emperor. These conservatives were even at times influenced by the progressive Arians, as we see today, conservatives often give in to progressive values, for various reasons. 

It's very rarely the conservatives who achieve anything. It's the outspoken radicals who get stuff done. It's they whom we remember. The conservatives value, above all else, the boat not being rocked. The radicals are willing to fight for the truth, even if it get's them exiled. Radically orthodox is where it's at. 

Athanasius truly was a great man.

God Never Stops Loving?

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Because God is love, evangelicalism says: "God's love will never be removed." "God loves everybody equally." "You can't do anything to remove yourself from the love of God." "God's love is unconditional." 

Evangelicalism meet the Bible: 

"5 For thus says the Lord: Do not enter the house of mourning, or go to lament or grieve for them, for I have taken away my peace from this people, my steadfast love and mercy, declares the Lord. 6 Both great and small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, and no one shall lament for them or cut himself or make himself bald for them. 7 No one shall break bread for the mourner, to comfort him for the dead, nor shall anyone give him the cup of consolation to drink for his father or his mother. 8 You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink. 9 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will silence in this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride" (Jeremiah 16:5-9). 

This passage from Jeremiah is in the context of God's final judgement on the nation of Judah, before it was sent into exile in Babylon. Note how this passage contradicts so much of the modern sentimentalism of evangelical teaching. Many popular Christian phrases, such as those above, are easily shown to be wrong from the words of Scripture itself. God does withdraw his love, and he explains the conditions under which he does, very clearly: when people commit great evil, and refuse to repent. 

"But this is Old Testament," you reply. 

Ok, how about Jesus: 

"8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love" (John 15:8-10). 

If we must abide in his love, by obeying his commandments, then how can we say his love is unconditional? In fact, the technical term for verse 10 is an "conditional clause" - if this, then this. If you follow his commands, you will abide in his love. Conditional. It is as if this verse existed to rebuke evangelical sentiment. 

In fact Jesus drives this home again in the passage, "You are my friends if you do what I command you" (John 15:14). The word 'friends' here can be translated "loved ones". So, we are his loved ones, if we do as he says. 

Again, the sentimental teachings of evangelicalism are shown wrong by Scripture. God is love, and therefore, he never stops loving. But he does withdraw his love from those who act wickedly. Indeed, true love must shun evil, because real love is good, and good hates evil.