New Blog

I am now posting as the Impractical Christian. Basically it's a reboot of sorts.

Hiatus

I've decided to do a little restart of this blog next month. Until then this blog will be...on hold.

Summer Break

This blog is under lockdown!!!

First Communion Procession, a long time ago...

Chesterton on one type of liar

EVEN among liars there are two classes, one immeasurably better than another. The honest liar is the man who tells the truth about his old lies; who says on Wednesday, 'I told a magnificent lie on Monday.' He keeps the truth in circulation; no one version of things stagnates in him and becomes an evil secret. He does not have to live with old lies; a horrible domesticity.

Introduction to 'The Old Curiosity Shop.'

Cherubic Hymn

"We, who mystically represent the Cherubim, and chant the thrice-holy hymn to the Life-giving Trinity, let us set aside the cares of life that we may receive the King of all, Who comes invisibly escorted by the Heavenly Hosts."

Curious

I certainly know of some loyal readers of this blog, such as the ever-gracious Western Confucian, M.Z. Forrest, and the others who've linked to me, but a recent purview of my blog stats leave me wondering: who in the world is visiting from Pukalani, Maui? Whoever it is leads this bunch with 48 visits. Unless it's a glitch of some sort (since I know no-one from upcountry Maui) I salute you, unknown reader!

That Abstinence...Thing

Apparently, a new Oxford study shows that abstinence programs in the US and UK do nothing to prevent unprotected sex, unwanted pregnancies, the spread of venereal diseases, and other bugbears of the Leftist Society for the Promotion of Sex without Consequences. Curiously enough, abstinence programs in Uganda have been very effective in preventing the spread of HIV. So, why does one method work in the Third World and fail in the First?

Besides the obvious differences--the fact that abstinence programs in the US and UK aren't sponsored by the central government as in the Ugandan case, as well as the fact that concern over AIDS has not reached as critical levels as it has in Africa--I think this is a matter of cultural differences. Having an abstinence program in the godless and sex-obsessed West is about as effective as pouring a bottle of hand sanitizer into the Ala Wai Canal in order to get rid of the flesh-eating bacteria. Uganda, whose religious revival is a part of the flourishing of traditional Christianity in the Global South, can easily incorporate sane morality into its culture. How can the West, with its no-fault divorces, broken families, and growing generation of young people who don't believe in anything commit to something like having no sex before marriage? After all, if marriage doesn't mean anything, if it has no sense of sanctity, then sex outside marriage is of little consequence. The only risk is getting a disease, and whether or not a rubber is worn to prevent it doesn't matter to this generation anymore. Frankly, I don't think that wearing a little silver promise ring will do anything productive.

Ron Paul, MD on health care

GKC on the Last Generation of Thought

JUST as one generation could prevent the very existence of the next generation, by all entering a monastery or jumping into the sea, so one set of thinkers can in some degree prevent further thinking by teaching the next generation that there is no validity in any human thought. It is idle to talk always of the alternative of reason and faith. Reason is itself a matter of faith. It is an act of faith to assert that our thoughts have any relation to reality at all. If you are merely a sceptic, you must sooner or later ask yourself the question, 'Why should anything go right; even observation or deduction? Why should not good logic be as misleading as bad logic? They are both movements in the brain of a bewildered ape?' The young sceptic says. 'I have a right to think for myself.' But the old sceptic, the complete sceptic, says, 'I have no right to think for myself. I have no right to think at all.'

'Orthodoxy.'

A Quiet Moment

Chesterton Day by Day

A MAN must be orthodox upon most things, or he will never even have time to preach his own heresy.

'George Bernard Shaw.'

Holy Trinity Monastery

Chesterton Day by Day

THE party system in England is an enormous and most efficient machine for preventing political conflicts.

'George Bernard Shaw.'