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I don't tend to quote Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882) because he had lingering errors in his theology. But with most Americans of his generation, the Bible was still a dominant influence. Emerson and the culture were in agreement that
God exists,
God is perfectly just,
God defines sin,
God hates sin,
God justly punishes the sins of individuals
and chastens nations for the prevailing sins of individuals.
Emerson was not the only observer to note that by the 1830s, Christianity was fading away in America. De Tocqueville documented this late in the decade when he published "Democracy in America."
Emerson's comments, below, on a particular sin of his day correspond to today's sin of the voting Ohio majority on "abortion rights."
"It showed how prosperity has hurt us, and that we could not be shocked by crime. It showed that the old religion and the sense of right had faded and gone out; that while we reckoned ourselves a highly cultivated nation, our bellies had run away with our brains."
Emerson observed that the essence of courtesy, of Christianity, of love, "is to prefer another, to postpone oneself, to protect another from oneself. That is the distinction of the [good], to defend the weak and redress the injured, as it is of the savage and brutal to usurp and use others…The end for which man is made is not crime in any forms, and a man cannot steal without incurring the penalties of the thief. A man who commits a crime defeats the end of his existence. He was created for benefit, and he exists for harm…The habit of oppression cuts out the moral eyes, and, though the intellect goes on simulating the moral as before, its sanity is gradually destroyed. "
"Paradise is under the shadow of swords;…divine sentiments which are always soliciting us are breathed into us from on high and are an offset to a Universe of suffering and crime; that self-reliance, the height and perfection of man, is reliance on God. The insight of [Biblical] sentiment will disclose to him unexpected aids in the nature of things. The Persian Saadi said, “Beware of hurting the orphan. When the orphan sets a-crying, the throne of the Almighty is rocked from side to side.”
Emerson preached against the fear of man, and conformity to cultural and moral decline.
"He only who is able to stand alone is qualified for society. And that I understand to be the end for which a soul exists in this world—to be himself the counterbalance of all falsehood and all wrong. “The army of unright is encamped from pole to pole, but the road of victory is known to the just.”
Pro 2:6 For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;
Pro 2:7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly;
Pro 2:8 He guards the paths of justice, And preserves the way of His saints. NKJV
Yesterday, February 24, was the projected, anticipated but classified D-Day attack on Iran by American air power. But it did not happen.
One possible reason: A week ago, self-described "jerk" Tucker Carlson had the courage to confront his friend Ambassador Mike Huckabee on definitions of Israel's claims to geographic territory. Huckabee insisted that the Bible gave today's secularized, anti-Biblical Israel all the land currently held, and Palestine, and more: all across those current Arab nations stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates.
Is this accurate Biblical theology? No.
Huckabee so angered the nations of the Islamic world that there will now be none of the necessary alliances President Trump needed to wage war against Shia Iran. Huckabee’s statement caused immediate, unified, diplomatic condemnation from many possible wartime allies, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt.
Thank you, Tucker, for asking theological questions.
In Pete Hegseth’s world, generals and admirals are valued by their weight and muscle tone, not their seriousness in defending the Constitution. Personal loyalty to the president with a Ken or Barbie shine trumps courage, competence, and patriotism every day of the week.
Yet, these guys are not responsible for bad sewage design on an aircraft carrier, F-35s that are only operational 35% of the time, a slow, expensive, discombobulated logistics tail for every major American weapons system, or for US foreign policy founded on the nutty idea that we can borrow our way into permanent global dominance. They perpetuate it because, like their predecessors, they are not interested in how the system works, only in how it can work for them.
Dr. Karen Kwiatkowski, Lt. Col., USAF, Ret.
This time by Medvedev — answering RT’s question about France and Britain’s plans to transfer nuclear weapons to Ukraine:
“I’ll say something obvious and harsh.
"Information from the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation about France and Britain’s intention to transfer nuclear technologies to the Kiev Nazi regime radically changes the situation. And it’s not about the destruction of the NPT and other things in international law. This is a direct transfer of nuclear weapons to a warring country.
"There can’t be the slightest doubt that under such circumstances, Russia will have to use any, including non-strategic nuclear weapons, against targets in Ukraine that pose a threat to our country. And if necessary, against the supplier countries that become accomplices in a nuclear conflict with Russia.
"This is the symmetrical response to which the Russian Federation has the right.”
