And thick darkness shall cover the land…The widespread blackouts in Manitoba and California – regions which otherwise share almost nothing else in common – signify our tenuous hold on what we call ‘civilization’. Contrary to Rousseau’s idealized version of the ‘noble savage’, life in its primitive state without creature comforts is more as his contemporary and foe Hobbes described it, ‘nasty, brutish and short’. How long would people in Manitoba live, in frigid cold, without outside civilization offering some sort of help? One may fare better and longer in California, but even here, nature ‘red in tooth and claw’ would eventually gain the upper hand…
After all, what’s holding it all together? The far-flung, fragile wires of our electrical grid appear, as someone once described it, like a feathery spider web, blown asunder by wind or ice. The same holds for our lines of communication. No electricity, no heat, no light, no refrigeration or freezing, and, eventually no food. What would be the end result of that in the heart of our metropoli ?
Hmm. Pray for the best, but expect the worst, as the hold adage goes. Stock up on some water, food, winter gear, flashlights. If you are able, and live rurally, put in a wood stove with at least a few cords tucked away.
You likely missed it, but yesterday was ‘International Pronoun Day’, with all of us being exhorted to use the ‘right pronoun’ for those who choose not to use, well, the right pronouns. Instead of the usual three, that is, masculine, feminine and neuter, with their plurals and declensions, we now have about 57, give or take a few, or dozen, or whatever. One student mentioned to me that at the secular university she had attended, but left when she discovered that they were not all that interested in truth, nor much in education, her residence door had a form wherein the prospective arrival would write down what pronoun by which they preferred to be addressed. It is already seen as bad manners not to address persons by their preferred pronoun, corresponding with their preferred gender, or non-gender, and already illegal in Britain, where a physician, David Mackereth, a Christian, was fired for refusing to refer to a bearded man with the requisite male genitalia as ‘she’.
Mackereth was taken in for questioning, and the following unfolded when grilled by his manager. When asked whether he would refer to a biological man as ‘Mrs’, the physician replied he could not, going on to say that it was “not a question of whether we agree or disagree but whether we are free to say so. I believe with all my heart that God made us male and female and that I should be allowed to believe this
I’m not out to upset anyone. I care deeply about transgender people. But we must be able to say what we think and defend what we believe in a non-combative way. Otherwise, we will turn into a dictatorial state in which we are all enslaved.
I’m afraid it’s a bit late for that, for we’re already a good way towards a ‘dictatorial state’ in which we are ‘all enslaved’.
But for freedom, Christ has set us free. So, dear reader, hold onto that, as long as you can.