Belshazzar Had A Letter

Belshazzar had a Letter -

He never had but one -

Belshazzar's Correspondent

Concluded and begun

In that immortal Copy

The Conscience of us all

Can read without it Glasses

On Revelation's Wall -

Emily Dickinson

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Persevero,

Why It Could Be Difficult...

The Impossiblity of Neutrality

"A field studied as it "ought" to be studied is with Godly and consistent presuppositions. A field as it should not be studied is in ideologically-attempted neutrality. There is no such thing as religious neutrality, especially in academic fields. Religious ideas exist everywhere; they exist in the mathematics and physics department just as much as the sociology or theology department. When scholars attempt to study under the false premise of religious neutrality, error is bound to occur.

Religious neutrality is impossible for two reasons.

• First, there are no facts that exist without reference to other facts.
• Second, even the scientist depends on non-material, untestable laws to arrive at scientific (daresay, "objective") conclusions.

No field of knowledge or science is capable of demonstrating coherence outside a framework of basic assumptions (worldview), let alone accounting for its own conclusions. Therefore, no field of study will produce objective claims without operating within the worldview that the Creator upholds - the same Creator which created those fields of science to begin with. If God is who He says He is, knowledge itself only exists because he has decreed that it would exist. Jesus is actually Lord over everything, including all fields of academics and science and the realm of knowledge itself. Our knowledge is derivative of God's primary and ultimate exhaustive knowledge. It thus follows that a person studying any academic discipline who claims to "know" something inevitably has to do one of three things:

1. Admit that no knowledge (justified, true belief) is possible (relativism),
2. Admit that knowledge is possible, but only on the basis of undefined, unverified, and unobservable and therefore religious assumptions,
3. Or inconsistently hold that knowledge is mysteriously possible and there's no reason, justification, or purpose for it.

So, supposedly "religiously neutral" or "unbiased" scholars who do successfully gain facts and knowledge (justified, true belief) of the observable world only do so because they unintentionally - but do by necessity - borrow the epistemological machinery necessary to obtain that knowledge in the first place. It is fascinating then, to observe the atheist try and argue against Christianity, for argument itself supposes an ideological framework (like Christianity) that makes arguments even possible."

~ from Light Up the Darkness

by Jamin Hubner

* * *

Persevero,

Aleksandr Hrustevich Plays Vivaldi

Wow.

God Forgive Us

"It concerns us all to seriously reflect upon our own sins, and the sins of our land--which have brought these calamities upon us.

~

We and our countrymen are sinners, aggravated sinners! God proclaims that we are such--by His judgments now upon us: by withering fields and scanty harvests, by the sound of the trumpet and the alarm of war!

~

O my country, is not your wickedness great, and your iniquities infinite? Where is there a more sinful spot to be found upon our guilty globe? Pass over the land, take a survey of the inhabitants, inspect into their conduct--and what do you see? What do you hear?

~

You see the gigantic forms of vice bidding defiance to the God of heaven--while true religion and virtue are forced to retire, to avoid public contempt and insult!

~

You see herds of drunkards swilling down their cups, and drowning all morality within them!

~

You hear the swearer venting his fury against God--trifling with that Name which prostrate angels adore, and imprecating that damnation, under which the hardiest devil in hell trembles and groans!

~

You see avarice hoarding up her useless treasures, dishonest craft planning her schemes of unlawful gain, and oppression unmercifully grinding the face of the poor!

~

You see prodigality squandering her stores! You see luxury spreading her table!

~

You see vanity laughing aloud and dissolving in empty, unthinking mirth; regardless of God, of time and eternity!

~

You see sensuality wallowing in carnal pleasures, and aspiring, with perverted ambition--to sink as low as her four-footed brethren in the stalls!

~

You see cards more in use than the Bible; the backgammon table more frequented than the table of the Lord; novels and romances more read--than the history of the blessed Jesus!

~

You see trifling, and even evil diversions and amusements, become a gigantic business! The outcome of a horse-race is more anxiously attended to--than the concerns of eternity!

~

And where these grosser forms of vice do not shock your senses--you often meet with the appearances of a more refined impiety, which is equally dangerous!

~

You hear the conversation of reasonable creatures, of candidates for eternity-- engrossed by trifles, or vainly wasted on the affairs of time! These are their important subjects of conversation, even at the threshold of the house of God!

~

You see swarms of prayerless families all over our land! You see ignorant, wicked children, unrestrained and untaught by those to whom God and nature have entrusted their souls!

~

You see the holy religion of Jesus--abused, neglected, disobeyed, and dishonored by its professors!

~

You see crowds of professed believers, who are in reality, practical atheists! These nominal Christians are really unholy heathens! They are abandoned slaves of sin--who yet pretend to be the servants of the holy Jesus!

~

You see multitudes lying in a deep sleep in sin all around us! You see them eager in the pursuits of the vanities of time--but stupidly unconcerned about the important realities of the eternal world just before them! So few are concerned what shall become of them--when all their connections with earth and flesh must be broken, and they must take their flight into strange, unknown regions! So few lamenting their sins! So few crying for mercy and a new heart! So few flying to Jesus!"


This is an excerpt from a sermon orginally written in 1755 by Englishman Samuel Davies. And yet we in modern day America would do well to reflect on his words. Look around. Look around and consider the wickedness which abounds in this country. Among other things, we condone abortion and infanticide, and excuse the very perversions for which God destroyed Sodom and Gommorah. Do we honestly think that the Almighty will allow such rampant iniquity to go unpunished? Have we really persuaded ourselves that man may spit in the face of God with impunity? If so, then the Apostle Paul's words to the Galations should sound as alarm bells in our ears: "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." America has sown judgment for herself. And she will reap judgment if she does not repent and beg God for mercy; the mercy of which she is so undeserving, the mercy with which He is so generous.

* * *

Persevero,

Sunset Clouds

* * *

Persevero,

"Mock On, Mock On Voltaire, Rousseau"

Mock on, Mock on Voltaire, Rousseau;

Mock on, Mock on: 'tis all in vain!

You throw the sand against the wind,

And the wind blows it back again.

~

And every sand becomes a Gem

Reflected in the beams divine;

Blown back they blind the mocking eye,

But still in Israel's paths they shine.

~

The Atoms of Democritus

And Newton's Particles of light

Are sand upon the Red Sea shore,

Where Israel's tents do shine so bright.

William Blake

* * *
Persevero,

In The Year 2000

The Next Time You Sneeze...

Ever read The Secret House by David Bodanis? It's a fascinating book. I haven't read all of it yet, so this isn't going to be a review. The portions I have read, however, are nothing short of amazing. Bodanis (author of the bestselling E= mc2) takes the reader through an average day in and around an average house, revealing the jaw-dropping science that hides under the surface.

~

I was reading a bit of The Secret House earlier this morning when it struck me that an excerpt from it would make superb post material. So here it is...

"Having a cold means that you have lots of extremely small virus 'creatures' living in your throat and nose. (Viruses are even smaller than bacteria, containing little more than nucleic acid surrounded by protein, but capable of reproducing and propagating themselves when landed on a suitable target cell.) These viruses lead to an urge to sneeze, and however well brought up you are, however much you realize the social opprobrium such an explosion in confined quarters will produce, the urge to let loose soon becomes well nigh irresistable. The microbiological evidence is that viruses have evolved irritant proteins on their surface so they can trigger off a sneeze that will propel them to the fresh feeding grounds of new human hosts. A wadded-up old kleenex may be frantically jammed against the nose, but for a sneeze that wants to get out, there is no defense.

"Our guest's sneeze will speed out of his nose at 40 miles per hour or more - that's a Force 8 on the Beaufort scale. This compares with the gentle five miles per hour - Beaufort Force 2 - of normal breathing. Now while a kleenex is perfectly designed for feeling soft and reassuring when dabbed against a sniff, it's not at all well constructed to withstand the dual nostril blast of a sneeze. Beaufort Force 8 is, as the shipping manuals attest, capable of 'breaking twigs of trees.' There's no need to mention what ti can do to the guests's mere tissue. Just to make matters worse, a well-used kleenex is going to be a wet kleenex, and wood-pulp based products (as the kleenex) when wet drop to only 30% of their usual strength. (It would be even worse, but for the stiffening resin that's added to every one of the estimated 300 billion plus paper tissues sold yearly.) And then there is the problem of the holes.

"A paper tissue is more hole than tissue. Indeed a kleenex is soft precisely because its fibers are so far apart; woven closer together the kleenex would be a more sanitary object, but unfortunately feeling like a crinkly plastic sheet it would be a less saleable one too. The smallest nasal spray globules speed right through those market-enhancing holes. In the spray globules are the living virus creatures. One second after the guest's sneeze they will be through the tissue and already 12 to 15 inches in front of his nose, and in that time the sprayt globules they're riding on will undergo a curious change. Blasted in a 40 mile per hour wind they quickly dry out from the friction as they gush through the air. All that's left of the soft water globules is a flotilla of dart-shaped mucus residues. On these hardened carriers the viruses travel far, gliding horizontally across the front hallway, quite as alive as they were in the nose. They're going much slower now than at the sneeze release, and have at least a 30 minute flight in store before they hit the far wall. If, that is, there's nothing in their way. Let two horrified human dinner be standing in line with the flight path, and the darts will smack into them instead of the wall. They will land on the shirt, they will land on the face; they will crash- land on whatever part of the body they can reach."

~

Hmmm... now that's a description that makes one view sneezing in a different light. It makes me think of a hand grenade exploding and sending shrapnel all over the place. Time to duck and cover. The next time you see someone about to sneeze, forget the kleenex: hand 'em a bath-towel instead! It could dampen the devastating effects of the blast. Maybe.

* * *

              Persevero,         

7x13 = 28

Gotta love it.

A Man For All Seasons

When I first saw Robert Bolt's A Man For All Seasons on my school reading list, I was skeptical. Very skeptical. Why? Two reasons.

~

First, it was a play. A play, written for actors to perform on a stage. How could that be any fun to sit down and read through? I'm just not the type who heads for the bookshelf, and then drags down a volume of Shakespeare for pleasure reading. (this is not to say I do not appreciate Shakespeare - he's just not my favorite, that's all). Furthermore, the protaganist of the play is a... Roman Catholic. How can I possibly sympathize with or root for a hero who follows the very heresies which the Reformers fought against?

~

These were my objections to A Man For All Seasons. And they were why I started reading it thinking, "This is not gonna be good." However, after several pages, I started rethinking things. I went on to enjoy one of the most engaging pieces of literature I have ever read. Period.

~

Bolt's play is a masterful exploration of the tumultuous conflict between King Henry VIII and Sir Thomas More. More, a long-time friend and favorite of the King, rose to the position of Lord Chancellor in the year 1529. However, when Henry VIII boke with the Romish Church after the Pope denied him a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, More resigned. Then, in 1534, Parliament passed a bill requiring all subjects to take an oath, acknowledging Henry to be supreme above all foreign rulers, including the Pope. More refused, and after imprisonment and repeated interrogation, was executed in 1535.

~

A Man For All Seasons scores high on several levels. The characters are vivid and convincing. The dialogue is superb. And the confrontations are about as intense as confrontions get. One of my favorite scenes is when More is being interrogated...

--------------------------

CRANMER (Clears his throat fussily) Sir Thomas, [the Act] states in the preamble that the King's former marriage, to the Lady Catherine, was unlawful, she being previously his brother's wife and the - er - "Pope" having no authority to sanction it. (Gently) Is that what you deny? (No reply) Is that what you dispute? (No reply) Is that what you are not sure of? (No reply)

NORFOLK Thomas, you insult the King and His Council in the person of the Lord Archbishop!

MORE I insult no one. I will not take the oath. I will not tell you why I will not.

NORFOLK Then your reasons must be treasonable!

MORE Not "must be"; may be.

NORFOLK It's a fair assumption!

MORE The law requires more than an assumption; the law requires a fact. (CROMWELL looks at him and away again)

CRANMER I cannot judge your legal standing in the case; but until I know the ground of your objection, I can only guess your spiritual standing too.

MORE (For a second furiously affronted; then humor overtakes him) If you're willing to guess at that, Your Grace, it should be a small matter to guess my objections.

CROMWELL (Quickly) You do have objections to the Act?

NORFOLK (Happily) Well, we know that, Cromwell!

MORE You don't, my lord. You may suppose I have objections. All you know is that I will not swear to it. From sheer delight to give you trouble it might be.

NORFOLK Is it material why you won't?

MORE It's most material. For refusing to swear, my goods are forfeit and I am condemned to life imprisonment. You cannot lawfully harm me further. But if you were right in supposing I had reasons for refusing and right again in supposing my reasons to be treasonable, the law would let you cut my head off.

NORFOLK (He has followed with some difficulty) Oh yes.

CROMWELL (An admiring murmur) Oh, well done, Sir Thomas. I've been trying to make that clear to His Grace for some time.

------------------------------

So, was I able to "sympathize" with More? Yes and no. Bolt's play is more than just a historical account set in 16th century England; it's the story of one man's determination to remain true to his convictions. By no means do I agree with all of More's convictions. To the contrary, I strongly disagree with him on many points. Yet I can still learn from him. Here was a man who recognized something that many people miss: that convictions aren't paltry things to be traded in when it's convenient. As a Christian young man, that's a truth I need to grasp as well. Wishy-washy people never accomplish anything worthwhile. People in this day and age hold onto their convictions way too loosely. Either that, or they have no convictions at all. They just have opinions.

~

I highly recommend A Man For All Seasons as both a riveting historical drama and a thought-provoking play, though not for readers under 14 (due to mature themes and some language). Do yourself a favor and read it. You'll enjoy it. If you don't, well... that's another subject altogether.

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Persevero,

Being the LOTR Fan That I Am...

... I just had to share this.

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Persevero,

An Unholy Man in Heaven

While perusing the Monergism website, I came across this essay by J.C. Ryle, one of my favorite authors. It's superb, and I thought I'd share it. For those familiar with Ryle, it won't be a disappointment, and for newcomers, it will serve as an excellent introduction to the work of this great man. Enjoy!

--------------------------- 

  Suppose An Unholy Man Went To Heaven

by J.C. Ryle

Suppose for a moment that you were allowed to enter heaven without holiness. What would you do? What possible enjoyment could you feel there? To which of all the saints would you join yourself and by whose side would you sit? Their pleasures are not your pleasures, their tastes are not your tastes, their character not your character. How could you possibly be happy, if you had not been holy on earth?

Now perhaps you love the company of the light and careless, the worldly-minded and the covetous, the reveler and the pleasure-seeker, the ungodly and the profane. There will be none such in heaven.

Now perhaps you think the saints of God too strict and particular and serious. You rather avoid them. You have no delight in their society. There will be no other company in heaven.

Now perhaps you think praying and Scripture reading, and hymn singing, dull and melancholy and stupid work, a thing to be tolerated now and then, but not enjoyed. You reckon the Sabbath a burden and a weariness; you could not possibly spend more than a small part of it in worshipping God. But remember, heaven is a never-ending Sabbath. The inhabitants thereof rest not day and night, saying, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty," and singing the praise of the Lamb. How could an unholy man find pleasure in occupation such as this?

Think you that such an one would delight to meet David and Paul and John, after a life spent in doing the very things they spoke against? Would he take sweet counsel with them and find that he and they had much in common? Think you, above all, that he would rejoice to meet Jesus, the crucified One, face to face, after cleaving to the sins for which He died, after loving His enemies and despising His friends? Would he stand before Him with confidence and join in the cry, "This is our God... we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation" (Isaiah 25:9)? Think you not rather that the tongue of an unholy man would cleave to the roof of his mouth with shame, and his only desire would be to be cast out? He would feel a stranger in a land he knew not, a black sheep amid Christ's holy flock. The voice of cherubim and seraphim, the song of angels and archangels, and all the company of heaven, would be a language he could not understand. The very air would seem an air he could not breathe.

I know not what others may think, but to me it does seem clear that heaven would be a miserable place to an unholy man. It cannot be otherwise. People may say, in a vague way, they "hope to go to heaven", but they do not consider what they say... We must be heavenly-minded, and have heavenly tastes, in the life that now is, or else we shall never find ourselves in heaven, in the life to come.

And now, before I go any further, let me say a few words, by way of application. For one thing, let me ask everyone who may read these pages, are you holy? Listen, I pray you, to the question I put to you this day. Do you know anything of the holiness of which I have been speaking?

I do not ask whether you attend your church regularly, whether you have been baptized, and received the Lord's Supper, whether you have the name of Christian. I ask something more than all this: are you holy, or are you not?

I do not ask whether you approve of holiness in others, whether you like to read the lives of holy people and to talk of holy things, and to have on your table holy books, whether you mean to be holy, and hope you will be holy some day. I ask something further: are you yourself holy this very day, or are you not?

And why do I ask so straightly, and press the question so strongly? I do it because the Scripture says, "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." It is written, it is not my fancy; it is the Bible, not my private opinion; it is the word of God, not of man: "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14).

Alas, what searching, sifting words are these! What thoughts come across my mind, as I write them down! I look at the world and see the greater part of it lying in wickedness. I look at professing Christians and see the vast majority having nothing of Christianity but the name. I turn to the Bible and I hear the Spirit saying, "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord."

Surely it is a text that ought to make us consider our ways and search our heart. Surely it should raise within us solemn thoughts and send us to prayer. You may try to put me off by saying you feel much, and think much about these things, far more than many suppose: I answer, "This is not the point. The poor lost souls in hell do as much as this. The great question is not what you think, and what you feel, but what you do."

You may say, it was never meant that all Christians should be holy and that holiness, such as I have described, is only for great saints, and people of uncommon gifts. I answer, "I cannot see that in Scripture. I read that every man who hath this hope in Christ purifies himself' (I John 3:3). "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord."

You may say, it is impossible to be so holy and to do our duty in this life at the same time: the thing cannot be done. I answer, "You are mistaken." It can be done. With Christ on your side nothing is impossible. It has been done by many. David and Obadiah and Daniel and the servants of Nero's household are all examples that go to prove it.

You may say, if you were so holy you would be unlike other people. I answer, "I know it well. It is just what you ought to be. Christ's true servants were always unlike the world around them-a separate nation, a peculiar people, and you must be so too, if you would be saved!"

You may say, at this rate very few will be saved. I answer, "I know it. It is precisely what we are told in the sermon on the mount." The Lord Jesus said so eighteen hundred years ago. "Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it" (Matt. 7:14). Few will be saved because few will take the trouble to seek salvation. Men will not deny themselves the pleasures of sin and their own way for a little season...

You may say, these are hard sayings; the way is very narrow. I answer, "I know it. So says the sermon on the mount." The Lord Jesus said so eighteen hundred years ago. He always said that men must take up the cross daily, and that they must be ready to cut off hand or foot, if they would be His disciples. It is in religion as it is in other things, there are no gains without pains. That which costs nothing is worth nothing.

* * *

Persevero,

On Books

"How readest thou?" The Bible

"Books and friends should be few, but good." Patrick Henry

"When I am dead, I hope it may be said, though his sins were scarlet, his books were read." Hilaire Belloc

"A library is not a luxury, but a necessity." Henry Ward Beecher

"My books are my tools. They also serve as my counsel, my consolation, and my comfort. They are my source of wisdom and the font of my education. They are my friends and my delights. They are my surety, when all else is awry, that I have set my confidence in the substantial things of truth and right." C.H. Spurgeon

"The great ancients' writings, beside ours, look like illuminated manuscripts before plain press type." Philip James Bailey

"If you want to write well, read much." ~Benjamin Holmes

"When you sell a man a book you don't sell him just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue - you sell him a whole new life. Love and friendship and humour and ships at sea by night - there's all heaven and earth in a book, a real book I mean. " Christopher Morley

"I love the smell of book ink in the morning." Umberto Eco

"When I get a little money, I buy books; and if there is any left, I buy food and clothes." Erasmus

"If a book is worth reading, it is worth buying." John Ruskin

"If you cannot read all your books, at any rate handle, or as it were, fondle them - peer into them, let them fall open where they will, read from the first sentence that arrests your eye, set them back on the shelves with your own hands, arrange them on your own plan so that you at least know where they are. Let them be your friends; let them be your acquaintances." Winston Churchill

"Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?" Henry Ward Beecher

"Books, not authors, decide when they want to be written." Lloyd Alexander

"Outside a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside a dog, it's too dark to read." Groucho Marx

"Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn." Joseph Addison

(The majority of these quotations were

taken from The Christian Almanac, edited by

George Grant & Gregory Wilbur)

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Persevero,