Wisdom

Men Without Chests, Men Without Honor, Threaten Civilization

Men Without Chests, Men Without Honor, Threaten Civilization by Chris Banescu –
Mid-twentieth century C.S. Lewis witnessed and wrote about the increasing moral breakdown and intellectual decay of Western civilization. He observed how secular and atheistic academics, philosophers, politicians, intellectuals, and cultural elites abandoned reason, denied universal truths, undermined Christian doctrines, and rejected moral principles that formed the foundation of civilized society.  “Lewis walked our cultural ground,” explained Chris R. Armstrong. “He lived, as we do, in a society that denied objective value; lacked a coherent social ethic; wallowed in instant gratification, sexual license, moral evasion, and blame-shifting; and failed to pass on a moral framework to its children.”

In his book, The Abolition of Man, Lewis warned that moral relativism (the denial of universal and objective moral truths and principles), foolish emotionalism, and the rejection of reason would bring about cultural decay and growing depravity. [Read more…]

Christian Life Lived in the Midst of Enemies

Christian Life Lived in the Midst of Enemies“Jesus Christ lived in the midst of his enemies. At the end all his disciples deserted him. On the Cross he was utterly alone, surrounded by evildoers and mockers. For this cause he had come, to bring peace to the enemies of God. So the Christian, too, belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes. There is his commission, his work.

‘The kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but the devout people. O you blasphemers and betrayers of Christ! If Christ had done what you are doing who would ever have been spared?’ (Martin Luther).” ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The Parable of the Atheist and the Globe

Parable of the Atheist and the Globeby Elizabeth Banescu –

An atheist professor was on vacation exploring a town. He walked inside an Orthodox church and heard the priest teaching a Sunday class. The priest was explaining to the children how God created the whole universe, the solar system, and the earth.

The professor listened and when the class was over, approached the priest. “Father,” he began. “You still believe those children’s fairytales about some imaginary “god” who created the world and rules over everything in it?” The priest looked up from his notes. “Well, yes, of course we do. It’s certainly not a child’s tale,” he replied. The atheist smirked, “I thought so.” He then turned to leave.

But, as he was walking away something caught his eye. There on top of the pew, he saw the most beautiful globe. It had an intricate stand of silver, with oceans of blue stone, and the different continents and countries were fashioned out of various colorful gem stones. A ray of sunshine streaming through the window made the globe sparkle. It was magnificently crafted, thought the professor.

“Father,” the atheist gasped. “Who made this beautiful globe?” [Read more…]

Have the Courage to Be Fools for Christ

Have the Courage to Be Fools for Christ - Justice Antonin Scalia “God assumed from the beginning that the wise of the world would view Christians as fools…and He has not been disappointed. Devout Christians are destined to be regarded as fools in modern society. We are fools for Christ’s sake. We must pray for courage to endure the scorn of the sophisticated world. If I have brought any message today, it is this: Have the courage to have your wisdom regarded as stupidity. Be fools for Christ. And have the courage to suffer the contempt of the sophisticated world.” ~ Justice Antonin Scalia

God is Good and Goodness is Divine

God is not merely good, but goodness; goodness is not merely divine, but God.by Chris Banescu –

Most of recorded human history points to the reality of the Moral Law, written in our hearts, that governs the affairs of men. Since the beginning of time mankind has recognized (more definitively and clearly in some ages and civilizations than others) that universal concepts of right and wrong and good and evil do in fact exist.

We acknowledge this timeless truth every time we judge whether a person’s behavior is just or unjust, right or wrong, or good or evil. We make this determination not by claiming that a specific act is only “good” if we subjectively like and agree with it, but rather by comparing it with an actual standard of good and evil. Such an evaluation is logical only if these standards are real and absolute, otherwise it would make no sense in labeling anything as evil or good. [Read more…]

Lord, Help Me Be Decisive

Monahia Siluana Vlad, Mother Siluana Vladby Chris Banescu –

How can we become decisive, to know what we need to do?

We should ask God what to do and ask Him for decisiveness. There is no other way. Otherwise, we will be resolute one month, and after one month, we can fall worse than before. This is the work of the enemy [the devil] when we start working without God. Without the Lord we can do nothing. Nothing!

We must start from where we are, from our helplessness, not from the height of our desires. A true Christian makes the sign of the Cross all day long, in every place and in all work. Why? So he can start with God and His power, and not rely solely on our helplessness.

We wonder why we can’t do something. This is a sign of faithlessness. [Read more…]

Without a Sense of Moral Order Man Cannot Attain Any Order

Without a Sense of Moral Order Man Cannot Attain Any Orderby Chris Banescu –

The enduring and Christ-centered wisdom of Malcolm Muggeridge reminds us why the world around us is such a big mess, especially in the West. The main source of our troubles is the loss of our moral order — anchored in and supported by God — without which no other order can be attained.

“It’s good and evil after all that provide the theme of the drama of our mortal existence. In this sense you might capture them [enlighten them] with the positive and negative points that generate an electric current. Transpose the points and the current fails, the lights go out, darkness falls and all is confusion.

What I wish to put to you here is that the darkness falling on our civilization is likewise due to a transposition of good and evil. In other words, that we are suffering not from an energy crisis or an over-population crisis or an unemployment crisis – from none of these ills that are commonly specified. The root cause of trouble is that we have lost our sense of moral order in the universe without which no order whatsoever, economic, social, political is attainable. [Read more…]