My lover

Lately I have been thinking more and more about the fact that Christ is the true lover of my soul. How amazing is it to wake up every morning thinking about how He soothes my soul, sings to me songs of romance, quickens my hearts with His tenderness, holds me and kisses the pain away when I cannot bear it, and gives me such rich presents that I cannot even think of repaying. Think of the prettiest sunset, the sweetest words of a friend, the most generous act of a person, the smell of rain after a thunderstorm, the loveliest flower, the best meal, the most passionate song, etc. Insert whatever you want, but the meaning is still there. Those, my friend, are the gifts that your Lover gives to you. Your Father, your Savior, your Lover, your very Bestfriend, your Judge, your Provider, your Maker, your Hope, your Healer, your King, your Servant, your Wisdom, your Peace, your Redemption, and your All in All. Whenever I read through the book Song of Songs, I can just imagine God sitting down, pen in hand, to write His beloved (me!) this love letter. I can imagine Him sitting outside my window singing it to me late at night. I can imagine Him thinking up the most romantic and sweetest ideas like a little butterfly landing on my shoulder as I'm watering my garden first thing in the morning. And maybe this all just sounds absolutely insane...the ravings of a lunatic...but I mean all of this. Lately I have fallen head over heals with my Lord and I'll tell you, it is ...haha I totally blanked out because...you know those times when you want to describe something but there are no words in English or any other language to truly convey the feelings that apply to the thing you're describing? ...that's what I feel. It is amazing...awesome...breathtaking...captivating...those come *no* where close to explaining the feelings I have for this new found Lover of my soul. I am listening to a song right now, and I am actually crying...I never thought I'd do this let alone tell anyone, but here I am posting this. I am led to tell you this because crying has been know to happen when one is moved so emotionally that they cannot help but express it in any other way. And I know...I don't know how...but God sent that song to me, today, right now...so I could possibly convey to you just a portion of this great and majestic feeling. Any of you who really know me would know that although I can be dramatic I am rarely super emotional...especially to tears...but God showed me that my role as a young woman is to be emotional...He is there and He will comfort me when it is unnecessary to be emotional, but this...this is a good emotional. I thank God for each of you reading this. May He bless and instruct every move of yours from this moment on. I pray for each of you.

My future?

Hello all...it's been sometime since I've posted something of good use on here. I hope to be posting more during the summer due to "free time". I do have a quick prayer request that I would love for you to stop and think about if only for a moment. I'm debating on my future right now, college or no. I've always really wanted to go, but I feel like God is telling me "no". I'm just at a loss of what to do right now (which is very rare for me) and I would appreciate any and all prayers! God bless you throughout your day in whatever you're doing and may you do all to the glory of God!

Devotion I read today

Many of us struggle with constant thoughts of worthlessness, discontentment, resentment, or fear. Those kinds of thoughts are merely temptation from our enemy - he is tempting us to believe lies about ourselves, others, or our King. Martin Luther once wrote, “You can’t stop the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.” We may not be able to keep the thoughts from entering our mind, but we can keep them from staying in our mind—by kicking them out the moment they arrive! Giving in to those thoughts and allowing them to linger in our head allows them to take root inside our heart and begin to control our life. Remember that protecting our inner sanctuary is not just a defensive action; it is offensive as well. And one of the best offensive moves we can make is to set up a guard station at the entrance of our mind. Instead of passively allowing any and all random thoughts to saunter right on in and hang out for as long as they want, we must actively begin chasing away any thought that is not a reflection of Jesus Christ.

One of the most effective of weapons against wayward thoughts is prayer. I’m not talking about just praying defensively, asking our God to give us strength to flee from temptation. I’m also talking about praying offensively, asking that Jesus Christ, in His amazing heroic strength and power, would wreak havoc on the enemy of our soul. There is nothing Satan hates more than seeing a lost sinner come to know Jesus Christ. When our enemy is attacking us, one of the very best ways to hit him below the belt is to pray specifically for an unsaved person in our life to discover Jesus Christ.

Identify the areas of your life where you are most vulnerable to temptation. Do you struggle with depression? Do you have a weakness in the area of sexual temptation? Whenever Satan tries to pounce on our vulnerable areas, we can use that opportunity to hit him back by praying for the salvation of someone in our life that is in need of Jesus Christ. It is important that we develop this technique as a habit in our life, rather than just a one-time attempt. When our enemy sees the consistency with which we use this tactic, he will back off in a hurry, and we just might get to see another life eternally changed in the process!

last class notes!

Lesson 22: Ottoman Turks: Conquest and Conflict

Janissaries were the elite of the elite of the Ottoman (Muslim) Turks (Turkey was Byzantine). They were the blood taxes capture from Europe at early ages, usually being the firstborns.

There has always been a conflict between Islam and a hope for the future. There was a continued motive and theme throughout the literature; Western Literary Leitmotif from Dante, Milton, Chaucer, Cervantes, Shakespeare, Scott, Bunyan, and Buchan. Those fictions are more true then historical backgrounds of our modern writers. The fiction held through the morals and ethics (including the Chivalric Code). The whole culture becomes one. Examples of fiction then were Chansons de Geste, the Qu'ran, the Iliad, the Odyssey, and Song of Roland.

Islamism didn't have to make sense under a microscope as long as you can believe the general idea without digging much deeper. Islamism teaches to not have a care about the present or the future. As such, you can easily strap bombs to yourself and blow other people up too.

Muslim - We are a part of the chain of being. One ontological and continual line of being carried down from Allah. You have a pantheistic type of view there. There is a little bit of "god" in all of us. We must make our way up the chain through revelation to full consciousness.

Christianity - we make the distinction between creature and Creator. We are fallen, dead, hopeless, and without any salvation. There is nothing we can do, no where to advance. God would be the one pushing us up the chain of being through the works of righteousness or Christ's work.

Muslim - God is totally impersonal and aloof. He has no pity, mercy, or affection. You either get what you deserve or you don't. You are judged by how far you get up the chain of being.

Christianity - Love of God is unconditional. Nothing you do will change His love towards you. He can't love you more or less. He loves without condition and not based on our works.

Muslim - Hope is because of meritorious obedience. It fluxuates from one day to the next. It depends on us and our works. The holier you are the better off you are.

Christianity - Hope is by the grace of God. We are gifted it, and we cannot attain it. It is only given through Christ.

Muslim - Works righteousness, good works, and people killed is all what gains you paradise. The better works the better off you are.

Christianity - God gives salvation by grace and you can't keep salvation by works (except works by fear and trembling or gratitude). We do it not to keep salvation, but out of thankfulness.

After Muhammad was exiled, he began to build an army leading to the cleansing: the slaughtering of the Jews.

North Africa (in the whole Middle East) was Christian from the middle of the 2nd century to the 8th century (600 years).

No country ever fell to the Muslims willingly and without a fight.

The Arabs and the Turks (Persian): they were both Muslim, but they were also different ethnicities.

Class notes

Guilds: Calling and Covenant Succession

The purpose of guilds were primarily due to whatever you were called to, and to pass it on to those coming behind you (succession). It was the duty of a father to either teach his son(s) or to apprentice them to someone else to learn a trade well. This was part of their worldview, passing on what you know to the generation after you. It's a very Christian-based idea. It was mainly done within the villages where it was the best place for parish life, trade and commercial centers, and continued traditions. Several important features of a feudal society were agrarianism, practicality, industry, craftsmanship, covenantalism, chivalry, gratitude, rootedness, stability, tradition, legacy and progress. With covenantal calling, we have different jobs and responsibilities. In the family sphere you have the primogenitor (the eldest son inheriting all the money and property when the father dies), the levitate (the practice of marrying the brother's childless widow in order to maintain his line), and courtship (getting to know someone with family interaction more thoroughly before marriage). In the church sphere you have discipleship, community, and gifting. Within the society you have the parish, motherland, and fiefdom; and because of the guilds, you had traditions, rituals, and standards. We can see that due to the guilds we have many important factors that influence us even today.

The guilds weren't about the barrels or the wheels or the candlesticks. They were about covenantal succession. Over time, passing on the passion so that successive generations can surpass past generations, reach higher, do better. That should be the goal for every teacher, every pastor, every businessman, and every mom. It's a part of the reason why this rickety creations, this peculiar notion of medievalism, with all of its faults and all of its flaws and all of its failings, with the corruptions that was rotting from the inside because of the fallenness of man and his institutions - nevertheless became a marvel of culture-building and of enduring impact which we feel to this very day.

A very random and not so great story I wrote during class (I was bored...obviously)

One day, a special day for all bakers of the kingdom of Dumdum, the king arose from his bonny bed eager to taste all the many flavors of rolls to be prepared for him. For nearly 2,167,329 seconds ago, this had been dubbed Make the King a Roll Day. The bakers of the city of Dumdum had created a club called "We Are The Awesome Awesome Bakers" (WATAAB). They were very bright. Their names were Bill Joe, Devin, Tammy, Lexing, and Stan. As they each hurried to prepare each of their unique and distinct rolls, they broke into cheerful chants. Soon, the dogs were howling. Bill Joe's specialty were cinnamon rolls, Devin's were grape rolls, Tammy's chocolate rolls, Lexing's basil rolls, and Stan's were eggplant rolls. Ah, the royal kitchen never smelled so conflicting! A skinny maid named Dedrie skittered through throwing handfuls of peppermints at their faces. This was to happen every seven minutes and thirty-five seconds. It was to be expected. As the peacock clock stuck five, a host of men dressed in black robes began to dance in a solemn manner around the castle while buckets of rice were hurled at their knees. Now, the five baking brothers (born of a man and woman formerly dubbed "the Frog King and Queen) bustled and scurried throughout the stinky kitchen. Stan was lovable, everyone knew it. However, he was the eldest and as so would gain everything once their father kicked the can. Because of this kinda cool fact, the other baker bys despised and abhorred poor, burly, and innocent Stan. His brothers were evil. They were constantly conniving to kick Stan's butt off the WATAAB club. Today would be the day, they chirped! As Devin distracted him with the proper technique of applying powdered lemons, the other wicked schemers placed hot chili peppers and chili powder into his lovely, delicious eggplant rolls. Poor clueless Stan. The king gleefully sucked upon the delicate and delectable munchies...until he came upon lovable Stan's very unique rolls. His face twisted into shapes unknown to anyone. Stan sat and sobbed. "How? How?!" he cried. "Out! Out!!" screamed his brothers. Thus, our dear sad hero was turned away from his frog palace and parents due to his unaccounted shame. He moved on to marry the prettiest and smartest girl in the town of UNoMoreNow and had 15 children. He became extremely famous thanks to his unprecedented eggplant rolls. None were like them within 1,282 kilometers.

The End

My supplemental reading

Classics of Western Thought - Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Reformation:

I read the Canterbury Tales: The Prologue, the prologue of the Pardoner's tale, the Pardoner's tale, and the Reeve's tale. This one wasn't as interesting as others I've read because it was all over the place with a lot of different random characters, and it was also a little difficult to follow.

I also read Everyman: this one was one of my favorites out of the whole book. It told the story of how God gave Death permission to take Everyman. Now, Everyman knew Death was coming after him so he asked Fellowship to come with him, but Fellowship, though seeming trustworthy at first said that he would do no such thing, nor help him save if he wanted to drink, be merry, have women, or kill. Everyman takes leave of him to turn to Kindred. No matter how Everyman begged and pleaded, Kindred wouldn't go with him on his dreaded journey. So Everyman calls out to Goods who lies in his corners, chests, bags, and in packs. But Goods says that his love is not that love, and he will not follow him. Everyman finally turns to Good-deeds, pleading for counsel and salvation, but sadly Good-deeds lies cold in the ground, bound by Everyman's many sins. Desperate, Everyman doesn't know what to do, when he hears Knowledge calling out to be his guide. With Knowledge's help, he is led to Confession where he seeks penance. Through Confession (the priest) he is then lead by Knowledge, Discretion, Strength, Beauty, and Five-Wits to his grave where all leave him but Good-deeds, who reassures Everyman that he will stay with him and vouch for him before God. This was the story of Everyman.

class notes from Wednesday

There must be a checks and balances type of society when the earth is populated with sinful men and women. We must always be responsible to someone who is keeping us in order. We have a nature that wants to be gaining more and more power without thinking of the consequences or of others. As we gain more authority our sin nature takes over and we become tyrannical.

There has and always will be several spheres in the world. The largest and most general ones are family, church and state. We can also add art, music, schools, guilds, and other groups like these. In the ideal Christian culture, God is the leader over all the spheres, with the top three we mentioned being at equal with each other. They have the same amount of authority and different jobs among the society. The state is to administer justice and Godly laws; the church is to make the call of salvation to the ungodly and to train those within God's house; and the family is to train up the children with discipline and to lead them in the right path.

Anarchy can lead to a Mahat system where you have nothing but individualism. You are nothing but a drone doing the same thing day after day.

In a culture running from God, beauty turns to ugliness, truth to lies, and goodness to evil.

You can always tell what a man loves by what he adorns or beautifies. That with which the most time is spent making beautiful is that which controls you.

There is a difference between rights and duties is the fact that rights make it about the self, while duties make it more about others. We are to always be thinking towards how we can benefit and help others rather then ourself.

Truth cannot change even if you attempt to change it or change the meaning. It will always remain the truth even if the majority denies it.

The culture's worldview will set the standard, morals, ethics, and laws. It will be the determiner of justice.

Goodness (sociological), Beauty (art), and Truth (theology) are all wrapped up and connected to each other. You can't have one without the others.

Everything ugly can come to Christ and be beautified.

When you can read a cathedral, you can read medievalism itself. This is a road map, a simplified guide to the whole of the civilization. All the ideas that had come to the Medievals through the gospel were poured into the design of the cathedrals.

Many different areas of life were touched by the influence of the monasteries. Their art, music, architecture, gardens, tools, clothes, and food were all manifestations of their theology. Their churches, monasteries, and guilds showed forth their virtue and chivalry ideals. They centralized the Scripture, philosophy and education while drawing lines for the different spheres and living out conciliarism. There were also practical aspects to their way of thinking. They had creativity and imagination leading to an adorned world with new technology and innovation. They had checks and balances, rights, liberty, justice, mercy, standards and absolutes, rules of law, stability, and reform. This led to a stable and secure culture. They were extremely future minded. They would volunteer to work on a cathedral that wouldn't be finished for another 450 years. Now a days, we don't even bother to do that, and our buildings suffer because of it. We don't get the beauty that was created back then.

Vocabulary:

apt - inclined, disposed, given, prone

embrasure - a splayed enlargement of a door or window toward the inner face of a wall

tympanum - the recessed, usually triangular space enclosed between the horizontal and sloping cornices of a pediment

aperture - an opening, as a hole, slit, crack, gap etc.

oblique - neither perpendicular nor parallel to a given line or surface; slanting; sloping

facade - the front of a building, especially an imposing or decorative one

sylvan - of, pertaining to, or inhabiting the woods

pedestrian - a person who goes or travels on foot

tetramorphic - a tetramorph is a symbolic arrangement of four differing elements. The term is derived from the Greek tetra, meaning four, and morph, shape

congruity - merit bestowed as a divine gift rather than earned

hue - a gradation or variety of a color; tint

consonance - accord or agreement

conciliar - of, pertaining to, or issued by a council

constancy - uniformity or regularity, as in qualities or conditions; invariableness

halcyon - calm, peaceful, tranquil

glazier - a person who fits windows or the like with glass or panes of glass

tracery - ornamental work consisting of ramified ribs, bars, or the like, as in the upper part of a Gothic window, in panels, screens, etc.

mullion - a vertical member, as of stone or woods, between the lights of a window, the panels in wainscoting or the like

gargoyle - a grotesquely carved figure of a human or animal

grotesque - any grotesque object, design, person or thing

narthex - an enclosed passage between the main entrance and the nave of a church

transept - any major transverse part of the body of a church, usually crossing the nave, at right angles, at the entrance to the choir

apse - a semicircular or polygonal termination or recess in a building, usually vaulted.

iconostasis - a partition or screen on which icons are placed, separating the sanctuary from the main part of the church.

triforium - the wall at the side of the nave, choir, or transept, corresponding to the space between the vaulting or ceiling and the roof of an aisle

clerestory - a portion of an interior rising above adjacent rooftops and having windows admitting daylight to the interior

tracery - ornamental work consisting of ramified ribs, bars, or the like, as in the upper part of a Gothic window in panels, screens, etc.

lectern - a reading desk in a church on which the Bible rests and from which the lessons are read during the church service.

pulpit - a platform or raised structure in a church from which the sermon is delivered or the sermon is conducted.

My goal this week

One of my primary problems growing up was learning to submit. I hated submitting to anyone especially guys I knew. As I am growing up more and more, reading more books on how to be a godly woman prepared for marriage, and learning more spiritually, it's becoming easier to become the woman God would want me to be. I am learning my place in my life. It is to be a help-meet, always there to lend a willing helpful hand, but also to be the silent and invisible person. I am to submit willingly to my husband's will and desire no matter how much I oppose it, only if it doesn't directly disobey God's law. I have been actually doing much better then I used to be, but as I went through my daily life today, my eyes were opened to see how much that thinking of mine had impacted my younger sister, Rebecca. She was now nearly as unsubmissive as I had been at her age, in fact, she was developing it much quicker then I had. This was most likely due to me being someone she looked up to and saw it as something I felt strongly about and so incorporated it into her lifestyle. Now, as the youngest, she is openly stubborn and unwilling to submit to anyone older then her. So my goal for this week: show her how happier it makes everyone (including yourself) when you listen and obey God through submission. Help her understand how it is the best role as a young girl preparing for marriage, and display it for her by submitting to the men and boys in my life who are mature enough to be given my respect and obedience. Lord, be with me, I pray.

Great is thy faithfulness, O God my father
There is no shadow of turning with Thee
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been, Thou for ever will be

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To thy great faithfulness, mercy and love

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside

Great is thy faithfulness
Great is thy faithfulness
All I have needed thy hand hath provided
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me

I really love this beautiful song just because it calls our attention to God's great majesty and omnipotence. He is in complete control of the whole universe...nothing can go wrong. God is in control and He is on the side of His children. "If God be for us, who can be against us?" and "What shall separate us from the love of God?" No one and nothing can possibly come in between us. Nothing is greater, higher, or more powerful then God Himself...the Creator of us all. How is it that the creature is better then the Creator? God is continual and bountiful in all His blessings. I am struck daily by the many instances in my life where it is extraordinarily clear how faithful God is to me. God, my heavenly Father, does not change from who He was before there was time. He continues on as He always have. He was the epitome of faithfulness then, so it would only make sense for Him to remain that. He has always been a Lord who provides that which His people need or want. We can see throughout history the many instances where God's people ask, and are granted their wish. We can also see times when they are not granted their wish because God deemed it better that they were given something different or nothing at all. "But we know that all things work together for the good of them that trust in Him." On this note, we can be sure that whatever happens in our life, it is to benefit us and those we influence around us. Let us never forget the faithfulness of the Faithful One.

notes for my last class

Thou can'st go wither thou wilt: I have dressed thee so well that thou will be understood by those endowed with intelligence: of others thou need'st not be concerned. Therefore, let no one blame me for selecting a cloudy style of writing, or at least, let them reserve their censure until they are capable of sifting the wheat that lies therein from chaff. ~Gabriel Gawaudin

There were many attractions of pilgrimage. It built up your mind and soul. Pilgrims were seen as brave and courageous men and women, however, Christianity was defined as creating solid, set, and rooted communities. We are tied to our callings. When those pilgrims were called away to the Holy Land, they were out of place due to their rootedness. Regardless of this, you must always follow your calling even if it isn't the path you would have chosen. They were tied securely to covenant community in a web of relationships and responsibility to and for one another. With their markets and fairs, they arranged, sold, and set up all their wares in distinct Christian fashions. There was great attention to detail. The friars carried on the rootedness through the communities as they traveled. They believed in penance and holiness; penance is basically repentance. True repentance can be best shown through actions. It's a turning 180 degrees around and cleaning up your mess. You resolve to walk in the grace of God and never go back. We are to spread healing and wholeness to the society that surrounds us. The world is constantly defiled and full of conflict and so it is up to us, the sane Christians, to bring about peace and Christ when the rest of the world goes crazy. Inspiration and Aspiration is the stirring of the Spirit to help us look forward at what God would have us do. We are known as a progressive people; moving towards God's future plan. Also, we are to line progress up with the eschaton of the mind of God. The future is linear and the gospel is the only way forwards. Just as the people did back then, we are called to plan, build, and invest for hundreds of years in the future as we are to be a generationally-minded people. Because of the penance, holiness, healing, wholeness, inspiration, and aspiration that I spoke of, those should instill in us a sense of adventure, curiosity, yearning, dreaming, and a purpose in life. With the troubadours came travelling singers, musicians, dance, art and theater; however, they were seen as the bottom of the rung type people because they had no rootedness or real home.

The troubadours had many different kinds of songs, different genres. There were courtly ballades, mock-popular songs, discordant verse form, lover's apologias, challenges, amorous encounters, laments, satirical poems, songs of debate, and songs of war and heroism. However, the troubadours had a huge impact. They travelers and as such could bring news, along with cultural habits and values. They brought the eagerness and wanderlust for new lands. Different nations began to share the same truths and words. A couple more interesting facts about the troubadours are that they gathered at the castles as entertainment for the people in the community, and they also had musical notation. They didn't rely simply on the oral traditions like had been done for years, but on their actual music.

There were some hazards to being a pilgrim though. Not only were the roads filled with brigands and highwaymen, but there were taxes and little food. It was dangerous to go by yourself on a treacherous road with thieves and robbers.

Traveling and studying give you a real sense of home and rootedness. It makes you appreciate what you have and your groundedness. You should travel as a young person so that you get to see the world for what it is, but also that when you go home you can see how much you really missed your home.

"If you always go to where you've always been and you always do what you've always done you'll always be who you always were."

The troubadours traveled from place to place and sang songs of adventure, love, satire, heroes, and chivalry. This incredibly descriptive and powerful means of communication provided the means by which the people of Christendom could see the wonders of the world though they never left their own village. As they began to imagine the wonders of their civilization, as they began to ponder what it must be like to actually be there and see what the troubadours had seen, it gave them a longing to travel, to set out on pilgrimage. The cathedrals were an obvious destination for pilgrimage in the early days of Christendom. Some of the great cathedrals of the Medieval age are marvels to behold to this day.

Rushdoony notes on Decentralization and Moral Responsibility

The Church and State are not meant to both be power-filled institutions. The people is where the power should be coming from. The Church dumbs down the individual once that person enters the church. They sit there and shouldn't have any opinion on any of the message, but rather they are there to provide money for the church. The modern State also seeks to gain complete control over the people in the name of one class or party when in reality they seek it for themselves. We know we are not to place our trust in men though. Power belongs to God. When any group on earth gains power, they use it to gain dominance over men, but not to distribute mercy, which is God's attribute. Mercy and justice are out-pourings from God's power. They are like a triangle, all connected and vital. Apart from God, there is no mercy, justice, power, or humanity. The tower of Babel was an attempt to escape God, and it became as nothing. The State is becoming the source of law. Law apart from God is cruel and evil, but still limited. When things go wrong, the individual will get in trouble, not the State, because that would decrease the power of the State. There has always been a will to be god...a will for centralization: tyrannical fathers, churchmen, and politicians. God does not associate or identify Himself with any office or institution. The king is to be reminded that he is speaking for God to the people...that does not make him God however. The Holy Spirit will work through the most humblest servant; for he does not need to wait on institutions to have his needs met. We are commanded to do God's will...not an institutions. Faith means sound morality, godly charity, and members one to another. We cannot ignore these things and claim faith. There is a need for moral responsibility when there is a culture strayed from God. The godly people are required to stand strong, so when the culture falls, Christianity is there to build it up again; when there is no hope. When Rome fell, everything did not collapse because Christianity was there to support it. An economic and monetary collapse is inevitable in a falling out of a nation. We must always be prepared for the inevitable fall of a pagan culture. We must have everything ready in advance.

even more rushdoony notes

Rushdoony notes for "Foundations of Social Orders":

The structure of society is built and when we begin to restructure it the Marxists interpret it as revolution. Law is an active morality. Every legal system is the moral code of society. It rests on religion. Law and morality is the manifestations of a religious faith. Religion is based under two god settings: theistic (faith in God) or political religion (the central institution is the ruler). They derive their ethics and morality from their politics. Politics is the true order. Man must guide and control because man is his own god. Predestination is by man. The state is the social organization of a creed or religion. It's the legal structuring of the moral side of the culture. It cannot be amoral. It is the religious structuring of society.

Also, the state cannot be neutral ...if it says it is then it really means that they are in the middle of abandoning one religion for another subtly. The state is no less religious than the church. Those are the two most religious aspects of a culture. In a Christian society they are equally religious. The state is the source of justice and the Church is the keys of the kingdom. The state is either just as religious or more then the church. It cannot be non-religious. The state as a tyrant is either focused on a man or on the state in general. It is always a religious institution of some sort. The state can have two functions. It can lean on the creed whether humanistic or Christian. It will be messianic if it's humanistic. If it's Christian it will be a ministry of justice to establish godly law and order.

Sovereignty - transcendental (beyond the world of God) or imminent (of this world and residing in man or an institution). God's law just be primary...over everything of us. In a Christian society the state has it's one job and that is to put forth justice over all people with Christian law. Each is governed by God and not the state because God is sovereign. When the state takes the sovereignty then it claims that it is most powerful and so it's word and law comes above and over everything. Two sovereigns cannot exist at any same time. They have opposing and neutral claims. The state claims that God does not exist. This is not possible however and so we can tell that the state is most assuredly not the sovereign. Caesar against Christ. This has happened throughout history and will continue to happen as the two religions fight in conflict with each other.

The doctrine of grace is also in conflict. Man's nature is complete evil and he struggles with it. He may handle it in different ways, but every religious system still deals with it. The state believes it can give out grace to all the evil of the world. There is evil found in many institutions as well as people. You just eliminate those things which cause evil among the culture. For Christians, the answer to evil is the grace of God and not of the state. Man's problem is not environment, but sin.

These are the problems that every social order must deal with. Now, they say that it is the environment's fault that people are the way they are now. We have moved from Christian to humanism. When a social order begins to crumble, the worst thing we can do is to make political defense the first line of defense. It's important, but it must not be the primary one.

If the creed you set is biblical, then the social order is again determined and you'll have a Christian social order. It will deny the sovereignty of God, and believe man is sinful so you must have checks and balances. You must have limited power and limited liberty.

new rushdoony notes!

The "Dark" Ages:

The savages were taking over though through the Germanic tribes. They practiced cannibalism. They were meager and limited. Families were torn apart, cities were torn apart, and the lands became waste. The dead laid around unburied. Europe began its descent and ruin.Christians were the source of charity. Wealth began to flow steadily through the hands of the clergy because people knew they would help. They became like a state, building up lands and freeing the serfs. The work of the monks became very vital to their history. Charlemagne made their work possible throughout northern Europe. The Saxons were a very savage people, but Charlemagne managed to baptize and convert them. The crusades began with a call to go out and conquer the Holy Land from the unbelievers. Pope Urban II preached a sermon summoning the faithful all over Europe to go to the Holy Land instead of fighting each other. The crusades were so very different then that though. It became not a conquering of the Muslims, but of the Christians. It was a time when the Church was not in control. It became an era ruled by the youths. The Church sought to rule all institutions as Rome gained more and more power in the surrounding areas. The Church has the spiritual and temporal sword to wield. They believed that the Pope must rule the governments of Europe as well as all the churches. The kingdom of God and the Church are identical according to them. Wherever God rules in the hearts of man, there is the kingdom of God. The church is an aspect of the kingdom of God. They believed also that God and the emperor were as one. The university was a law of itself. The beginnings of the doctrine of academic freedom develop. There was a revival of Aristotle's philosophy as well. Man is a rational political animal and was defined in terms of the state. Reason was how you understood anything. Revelation was only used to try to understand those things connected in another world. Creation was not understood in terms of the Bible. You use science and reason and so become an evolutionist.

It wasn't at all uncommon for an older rich man to marry a young girl so to prepare her to take care of his estate so when he dies that she might marry again well and be able to care for his estate and her new husband's life. He would prepare her for a life full of godliness and wisdom and all things that befit a wife.

some recent thoughts

Ok girls, so I'm reading this amazing book by Leslie Ludy called "Set-Apart Femininity". I'm really enjoying it and have had to limit my time in reading it and ignoring my other books or my jobs. I was reading a specific chapter last night about how often girls think that becoming a truly set apart girl for God with all the modesty and decorum appropriate for that will not attract any guys because guys have the natural instinct to go for the "sexier" and "more hip" girls. If we are dressed from head to toe in clothes and act like one of those good girls how will that gain any attention at all? But she had this extremely compelling statement that I thought I'd share with you. "But we must ask ourselves - what kind of guys are we seeking to attract? Do we really want to win the heart of a self-focused man who is only interested in our worldly allure and sex appeal? Or do we want to win the heart of a man who has been captured by Jesus Christ, a guy who sees the priceless value of a woman who shines with His spectacular, radiant loveliness?" There are and have been girls who have had a true Christian heart and have not flung themselves at guys in order to gain a husband. It has happened countless times before and God can do the exact same for you. This book is really encouraging me to change my type of lifestyle to one that is entirely pleasing to God, not just partially. It's hard, I will not skirt around that...it's one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my entire life because I'm so afraid about what others will look at me and see. I can only pray that they see nothing but Christ shining through every part of me and not me just being silly. This is far from a silly decision. It is one to put God first above all others including men and the world which deceitfully calls out to us to obey the call and flow of the culture. To put on skimpier clothes for the guys, to listen to the latest greatest music which fills our minds with thoughts of temporary relationships, to read books filled with those "perfect" love stories centered around the erotic side of any kind of a couple's relationship, those movies with the long and drawn out sexually arousing or graphic scenes, or those magazines which encourage the girls of this age to be the coolest, slimmest, prettiest, and most popular girl ever. That is not how we should view ourselves or our lives. How glorifying is that to God? Do you honestly think He is pleased when we worry or dwell on those thoughts? How much better would it be to spend that kind of time studying Him, His word, and praying to Him? Let me tell you from personal experience that it is so much more enjoyable to begin my day bright and early with my Lord and Savior as opposed to sleeping in and getting that "extra hour" of rest. It sets the stage for the perfect day no matter what happens, because I am confident that God directs every step of mine. I hope and pray that these words have reached out to you. I only speak that which God leads me to speak. May God richly bless you as you go throughout your day!

Music

The whole idea of Medieval music was to reflect God's glory in the order he had created in the cosmos, to reflect the beauty of God, to reflect his presence, the community element of his people gathered together for the purpose of understanding his glory in worship in the fullness of their lives. It is a glorious tradition, a glorious heritage that we have been given that I'm afraid we have sorely neglected. These are things we need to know, to recover, to incorporate - not because we need to go back to what someone else did, but because we need to understand who God worked with them in the time in which he placed them, and to build upon that for the time in which he has placed us, for his glory.

Yesterday summed up

There is no Valentine sweeter then that spent with the ones you love, right? That's why mine began with me missing my dad because he'd already left for work, loving my mum because she gave me chocolate and the earrings I've been begging for for months now, teasing Rakie about the flowers she got from someone, reminiscing with Becca, teasing Jon with Philip, spending time with Tori, Madison, Emily, Erin, Andrew, Marissa, Andi, Philip, and Rachel, rolling on the floor with laughter due to Hunter and Brandon's antics, and ended with me curled up in bed with good food and a loudly purring Dudley Winston. Yes, my day was good. Am I still as happy and cheerful as I was last night regardless of the lack of sleep I got? Of course, why ever not?! :D

...and a verse or two

Let us love one another for love is of God - 1 John 4:7

True Love = LOVE...is kind...doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own...beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things...Love never fails.

more thoughts

Though He sends us pain or depths of sorrow,
And there seems but darkness for the morrow,
God is love!

When the tempter goads with fear and terror,
And depression fills our soul with horror,
God is love!

When His Word and promises seem veiled,
And our faith, our deeds and love have failed,
God is love!

When we sin and grieve His loving heart,
But repent, He will not from us part;
God is love!

When He sends us tragedy and death,
And we struggle with our final breath,
God is love!

When we stand before Him, saved by grace,
We shall sing in Heaven through endless days;
God is love!

-William L. Windahl



Three little words they mean so much,
They are as good as a loving touch.
Say them often, just impromptu
Say them before they are long overdue.
They will help your love renew,
Just three little words, “I Love You.”


"The more love we give away, the more we have left!" – Gladys Wagoner

“Love’s reward is love” John ?

“If you have ever seen the “Fiddler on the Roof,” you know it has some beautiful music in it, and some of the lyrics are intriguing. Tevye asks his wife, “Do you love me?” She replies, “Haven’t I tended the children, milked the cows, washed your clothes and fixed your meals for 25 years?” “Yes,” he replies, “but do you love me?” After so much coaxing, she finally says, “Yes, I do love you.” Smiling, he says, “After 25 years, it’s good to know.” Why are we so reluctant to tell people we love them? I hope you will say “I love you,” to those you love today. It will enrich your own life as well as others.”

Today...is?

"Saint Valentine's Day (commonly shortened to Valentine's Day) – is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions."

""Singles Awareness (or Appreciation) Day" (SAD) is a humorous holiday, created by Trevor Mcwanda celebrated on February 14 (although some prefer the 13th or the 15th to get away from the commercialism associated with the 14th). It serves as an alternative to Valentine's Day for people who are single, that is, not involved in a romantic relationship."

My thoughts on these two different meanings for one day is this. Most people who are in some kind of relationship whether it be engaged, courting, dating, or married are often pulled into the idea that it is a celebration of love. One where you give chocolate, sweet messages, and flowers to the one you love. Some define it as a holiday of love for your sweetheart, while others define it as love for anyone, be it coworkers, friends, family etc. Those who are not often drop into a depressed state as they see countless numbers of other people engaged in activities and thoughts that make them happy and "floating off the ground". This causes envy and jealousy eventually leading to depression and celebrating Singles Awareness Day (*SAD*). It is not some holiday that is meant to be sad for anyone however! My little sister mentioned just last night how Valentine's Day would be so much more fun "if only she had a valentine". Ok, first of all, I was shocked to hear my little sister saying that, but as I thought more about it I remembered hearing something like that coming out of my mouth just a month or two ago. What I told my little sister, however, was this: we have waited already "so long" for our husbands which includes keeping your purity and keeping our hearts grounded in God. What if we had a valentine this year and did something (such as giving away a piece of our hearts, kiss, or something else to that degree) which made our day complete. However, in the years to come when we did finally get married and begin married life, how many Valentine's days will be ruined simply because we can't erase memories of that one valentine that one year. How many years will that go on till we just push it away in the back of our mind? So, my thoughts are that being single on this particular day is not SAD at all! Be glad and rejoice that you haven't done something utterly stupid that could ruin the rest of your Valentine's Days with your true soul mate. God is the truest lover you could ever wish for, and it is His earnest wish to have us save ourselves until we can actually commit to "until death do us part". He would also have us be happy and cheerful until that time. Whenever it comes it is in His timing and there isn't a thing we can do to make it come faster. Until then, rest in Christ alone and wait for Him to send you the one who is perfect for you. Don't waste it by wishing for a sweetheart some Valentine's Day. Instead, go out into the world and spread this message. Don't be caught SAD on February 14th. <3