418 Case in Point

I want to refer back to the USA Today, Friday, May 24, 2013, News, p.10A for a case in point to demonstrate how Scripture says any movement away from God and Godly behavior is always a step down the road toward evil:

“Normally tranquil Sweden on edge as unrest brews. Hundreds of rioters take to the streets in immigrant suburbs. . . Swedes have been increasingly worried over immigrants failing to integrate and the cost to the state in benefits.”

One must note here, Gentle Reader, well-meaning Sweden does not appear to have solved anything in improving social order or reducing overall budget costs to the state by abandoning Lutheranism in 2000 as the official religion. I would even say, if I may, that compromise of their Christian identity has not served them well or at all.

It seems to me that not seeing the necessity of re-committing to Christian values as cornerstones of Swedish living and government, will leave the Swedes open to further and further compromise and ever increasing struggle in the future. Scripture tells us that an empty house, so to speak, is known to open the way to occupation by something else, including but not limited to heartache, strife, suffering and even despair.

Not that having a Christian identity prohibits trouble in and of itself. It is a fallen world, one where Christians frequently suffer more than non-Christians for a multitude of reasons.

But, as can be seen in the article, Sweden’s surrender of her former formidable bulwark of faith is already bringing something other than the desired resolution and relief from internal stresses she must have hoped would eventuate from the drastic action taken in 2000. In fact, the things unfolding (and there are more than this incident) within her borders can certainly be said to be spiraling into greater and more profound opposition to Sweden’s tranquil way of life than ever dreamed possible. A spiritual people, her Christianity nourished her tranquil being.

I would even imagine from what I read, that to the Swedes, it must seem that there is a hail of one thing after the other disturbing their peace and manifesting in a virtual maelstrom of criticism, distortion, and manipulation, all about her, by non-Christian, even atheistic minorities.

What a nightmare! Things are not better in Sweden, no. As I see it, they are worse than ever. There, they are more than a step down the road toward evil. They are in the thick of it.

And that is not good.

To be continued . . .

417 Bottom-line Behavior

In the last blog, I referred to the fact that Scripture does not advise detouring from spiritual focus on God.

History also frowns on radical behavior that abandons sustaining the good for all, in many instances defining that good exclusively as Judeo-Christian "good" or simply Christian “good”. 

I call nonchalance, concerning good for all, bottom-line behavior. Seemingly a small thing, Gentle Reader, bottom-line behavior is a value system that has been known to devolve into rank social evil (i.e., The Holocaust).

Recall the worldwide reaction to the Jewish Holocaust of World War II. Christian nations were appalled. Hitler was recognized as an atheistic madman unleashed. Again, note that both scripturally and certainly, in this instance, historically speaking, any movement away from God and Godly behavior is always a step down the road toward evil, Gentle Reader.

To be continued .  . .

416 As Things Change

In my last blog, Gentle Reader, I ended with this statement: It would be better if all would follow Britain’s lead by espousing a policy of allegiance to the highest good as things change, thus sustaining the good for all.

Let’s talk about that a bit, using our now linked snapshots of Britain and Sweden and adding in that promised bit of Americana I mentioned earlier. As described in Blog 415, Gentle Reader, Britain can be said not to have abandoned the rule of Christianity. Now, I am going to introduce the proposal that America can also be so described. Though we have been a declared Christian nation for fewer than 300 years, as of now, America has not abandoned her Christian origins and ongoing Christian identity.

I also established that the tranquil and gentle Swedes have abandoned a 500-year Lutheran affiliation to espouse “holy” communication, among other things; thereby replacing good spiritual focus on God with something to worship other than God. Scripture, Gentle Reader, sees any move away from God as a move toward evil. Let me be clear, Sweden has both taken a move Scripture does not advise, and a move which also abandons the principle of sustaining the good for all.

To be continued . . .

415 Finding Links

Follow me now as I link the above snapshots of me and my manners, English manners and Swedish identity, tossing in some Americana for good measure.

First, back to the Scriptural principle I have chosen to evaluate these snapshots: Scripture adjures as valuable replacing evil with good—not the opposite thinking.

We identified that for me and my manners, my replacing courteous going-out-of-my-way to accommodate others with dodging and complaining was error; being convicted of such by the Christian Brit, strong-minded Mrs. Bale, who good-humoredly coexists with eccentric behavior of all kinds, even her own. So, thankfully, now I know I must behave better.

We then identified Britain’s sustained policy of recognizing good and giving credit where credit is due displayed in its over a millennial term as a professing Christian nation and its intention to keep on doing so. In contrast, we considered what must have been a difficult decision for the gentle, intelligent and spiritual Swedes to abandon a 500-year policy of national Christian recognition in favor of modernism, if you will. I then suggested that such a move must at least be causing some social disarray among them, at the very least. And as the USA Today reported last Friday, indeed it has, reporting immigration issues as disturbing to Swedish tranquility.

Determined not to pick on Sweden, I want it understood that I know all countries are experiencing the occasional immigrant failure to integrate, nowadays; but, it must be said, not all are abandoning the rule of Christianity in order to accommodate the transitional distortions inherent in rapidly changing times. It would be better for many reasons actually, if all would follow Britain’s lead by espousing a policy of allegiance to the highest good as things change, thus sustaining the good for all.

To be continued . . .