Since it is so likely that they will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker.

-thus C.S. Lewis

Mos:19 — And it came to pass that he fought with the king; and when the king saw that he was about to overpower him, he fled and ran and got upon the tower which was near the temple.

6 And Gideon pursued after him and was about to get upon the tower to slay the king, and the king cast his eyes round about towards the land of Shemlon, and behold, the army of the Lamanites were within the borders of the land.

7 And now the king cried out in the anguish of his soul, saying: Gideon, spare me, for the Lamanites are upon us, and they will destroy us; yea, they will destroy my people.

8 And now the king was not so much concerned about his people as he was about his own life

Its difficult and probably unnecessary to sort out the day to day specifics in the Ukraine right now in the cloud of competing claims.

But what does seem certain is that we are getting close to launching our financial nuke, if we haven’t already: cutting off Russia from the international monetary system that we control.

I can’t help feeling that this is a mistake, that we will be squandering something pretty significant in return for no real gain.  It hurts us and Russia but does not help the Ukraine.  I fear we are ruling recklessly these days, without even an eye for short term gain.  Governance by emotional spasm.

The LO was researching some Hebrew for her Isaiah studies.  She said that is was interesting that the same word-core that means strength or power also means hold or grip.

I thought about the iron rod.

“Hold to the rod.”  We think that implies commitment and it does.  Maybe it also implies that we are strong, and therefore able to hold on strongly.

There are two different ways of holding the rod in Lehi’s vision.

The first group

they did press forward through the mist of darkness, ^aclinging to the rod of iron, even until they did come forth and partake of the ^bfruit of the tree.

This group all make it to the tree and all fall away under the mocking of the great and spacious building.  “Clinging” is not, it would seem, a good thing.

The other group does not fall away.  They are the ones who

did press their way forward, continually holding fast to the rod of iron, until they came forth and fell down and partook of the fruit of the tree.

I would be very interested in hearing what you think the difference is between the clingers and the ones who hold fast.

My thought–its tenuous but it feels right to me–is that the hold fasters have some strength and purpose in themselves.  We are all weak, but those who hold fast have used the savior’s lifeline to become less weak.

The clingers, fear of the darkness motivated them, but once they got to the tree and the darkness wasn’t obviously present, they had no real purpose of themselves and fell under the sway of the Great and Spacious Building’s values.

One of life’s little pleasures is getting up extra early–maybe you have work, maybe you just have projects–and sneaking around to get dressed and ready in the dark so you can let your loved one’s sleep a little longer.

Maybe I enjoy it so much because I only succeed about half the time.  The other half– sneak, sneak, oops, oof, crash, bang, clatter clatter clatter BOOM.

Niceness covering a will to power is terrible. The worst.

Second worst is niceness out of fear. Inoffensive niceness. What I guess you might call slave morality (my definition, I have not read neitzsche).

Notice that both types have niceness is just a tactic.

(more…)

You are missed.

The glory

The infinite magnificence

Of small things.

-thus P.E.

The regime up north announced that theywill be able to freeze bank accounts of people who donated to the Freedom Convoy.

This on top of the hints a few days back that they might take children away from the Convoy truckers on some kind of child welfare ground.

I am mostly quite proud that I retain my ability to be shocked despite all.  But I sometimes think that still being able to be shocked just means I’m a world-class naif.

A hard read. A good read.

Do not die alone.

https://mobile.twitter.com/lepetitete/status/1493738948832628740

One has a great deal of sympathy for Sarah nee Sarai.

The temple sealing is the promise. The home is the fulfillment.

Can we all just settle on one adjective for Noah, and can we all agree that adjective should be Noachide?  What a great word.

***

I had this vague memory reading Genesis 9 last week of a Jewish tradition regarding the Noachide covenant applying to everyone, not just Jews.

I looked it up.  Sure enough.

The Seven Laws of Noah

Its interesting to compare them to the Ten Commandments.

Also interesting–they don’t seem to bear more than a passing resemblance to the actual commandments found in Genesis 9.  I’m sure they have reasons for them if only I bothered to look them up.

But what interests me are the actual commandment God gave Noah.

(more…)

The “slippery slope” is when you notice the inevitable conclusions of progressive premises before they’re ready to defend them

-thus EDJCB

I and sundry lads repaired to a masque–a costume ball sort of thingy, don’t you know–and what to Bertram’s wondering eyes should appear on making his grand entrance on said precincts than said lads all dressed identically to Bertram, viz., as truckers.  What ho, what ho, what ho, quoth I.

Under the circumstances one felt rather obliged, after partaking freely of the potations, to form a convoy.  The proposition being put to the lads, they being of one mind and unanimous assent, we set for freely into the night with a parting “ten four, good buddy.”

It was dashed festive.

The c. eventually decided, a destination being rather essential in such matters, to pay a call on “Blackface Trudy” Trudeau.  Rather a rotter when at school, if one recalls, though a vehement faction maintained the mot juste was stinker, and a small but determined minority asserted he was Canadian.  But old school ties being what they are, the motion was moved, seconded, and carried to pay the rotter a visit.  Or stinker or Canadian, as the case may be.

Of course the stinker–or rotter or Canadian, as the case may be–was not in residence, having been called away at the last minute on urgent affairs.  But no matter.  The locals are rather cheery.  I anticipate plucking the gowans fine until the cows come home, if not later.